The Psychiatrist

ONE.

Each room contained one. All shapes and sizes, all races and religions and all varieties of age locked behind solitary iron doors in the vastness of the corridor. They were admitted for different reasons; schizophrenia, depression, mental defects, all sorts of cases. They weren’t bad people but they weren’t good either. There were people here who had believed they were werewolves and ripped their best friends to pieces, there were others who had killed because voices in their head had told them to. Others just couldn’t stop screaming, so they were emitted. And I was sent to diagnose each new case, the centres most reliable and level-headed psychiatrist.

My suit was sharper than the rest of the workers here, so that’s how the cases knew to respect me. My air smelt more of Gucci than Nivea and my hair shone in a way that no one else’s did. The crazies were obviously very unglamorous, but even the staff weren’t pretty. The women were all plain and placid, taking their work more seriously than their appearance; not that I didn’t put my work first. I just found it easy to read people. Coming here made me feel like a queen.

The case who’s cell I had just left had a bad case of manic depression and had to be detained to prevent suicide. God, she needed a haircut. I smiled to myself and straightened my lapel on the right side of my jacket. I dropped the folder into the basket on the desk loudly and leant over the desk to the nurse.

“I think she’ll be better with a little ‘love and care’,” I said, smirking at the nurse. ‘Love and Care’ was a joke name we used for serotonin-based ‘Happiness drugs’ that we used on the depressed cases.

“Yes miss,” she replied, getting up out of her chair and smiling sweetly at me. This nurse was prettier than the others. I felt my cheeks flame up at the thought. Her hips and hair swayed gently in time as she walked in those stupid flat shoes, and her face was clear of blemishes and makeup. A natural beauty.

I made a quick note on my file to plant some ‘stolen drugs’ in this girl’s locker for later on and moved on to the next nurse quickly.
A new file passed from one hand to mine and I flicked open the brown paper to see the picture of the kid I was to treat next. His hair was shorn to an army style cut and his face looked blank and stupid. Mildly attractive. I chuckled to myself and shut the folder again, beginning to stride back down the corridor; head raised high, killer heels stabbing into the floor. I knew what all the staff thought of me here, so I didn’t care acting like I owned the place. This was mine realm, only sanity can grant you passage. I respect the power the mind has over the body taking each case from one high to a low, while I’m here on my nice little sane island.

Still chuckling quietly, I entered the small, clean white room. The boy was drooped over the table, looking like he had been dropped there from a great height. If it weren’t for his slow breathing I wouldn’t have thought he hadn’t survived. I entered in a clatter of expensive shoes, but he didn’t move. I locked the door behind me, as was routine and checked the camera was blinking red so security could see me. Eurgh, security was a bunch of retarded perverts; even the women. Sometimes I regretted being born like this.

“Hello?” I asked, sitting down on the opposite side of the table, laying out my files and papers in front of me.

The boy shot up out of the chair. The first thing I noticed about this boy was his bared teeth, hissing at me. They were shiny white, not the normality for a crazy. His eyes were wild and his stance was poised and ready to attack. Some people were so rude.

“Please, sit down,” I said, shuffling my papers, trying to seem professional when my heart was beating rapidly. The boy didn’t move. “Sit.”

He slowly moved to the chair, never looking away from my eyes. I coughed and shuffled the papers again. He was dressed in the regulation uniform, but he had wet patches and tears where he had shredded the sleeves with his teeth while alone in the room.

“So. Do you know why you’re here?” I asked, looking through the documents to find his admission form. I was sure it had been here a minute ago, I had just seen his picture, where was it?

The boy shook his head slowly. I shuffled faster, not seeing any documents of use that regarded the boy at all.
Gerdle, Mary- Schizophrenia

He’s still staring at me.

Twicks, Julia- Memory loss

Weeks, Carlie- Anger issues

I really wish he would stop it.

Ingles, Caroline- Hallucinations

No, these were all girls; there was no files for this boy here.

“Well, that’s helpful; because neither do I,” I mumbled sarcastically, getting up off the chair and heading to the door. I swung open the exit and shut it again, seeing his eyes never move from my face in my peripheral vision. I leant against the outside of the door shakily. He was a strange boy, his stare made me feel awkward and…less professional. Shaking my head frantically, I turned and pasted on my glossy smile again, smirking down the corridor.

I walked down the corridor, glaring at all the workers who passed me by without a glance. I stalked up to the reception desk and looked over to find the nurse not there. No one was at the desk. I swear, since the bloody Tories took over the whole health system has got to shit.

“Hello?” I said, wondering where she had gone. I leant over the wooden desk to find all the chairs empty. “Hello?” I was getting irritated now. I gave up on the stupid nurses and walked around the table to collect the set of files I needed. I shoved the chairs out of the way and knelt down to the cabinet under the desks. I pulled back the decaying metal roughly, he said I would only be here for a short while, the rollers were stuck. I tore the drawer backwards and wrinkled my nose in disgust. This cabinet can’t have been opened in a while, or some louse had dropped foul chemicals in here. I shuffled through the papers and flicked through the names, not finding any boys at all.

I heard a banging noise from behind the counter and shut the drawer and stood up to see what was going on. Nothing. The hallway was empty, the doors were all still locked tight and the nurses were still nowhere in sight. Must be on their breaks, foul creatures.

I bent back down to open the second drawer when the lights began to flicker. I rolled my eyes and sighed, standing up again. Darkness swirled over the corridor and I blinked, confused. I ran my hands along the desk to walk back down the corridor. I stretched my arms out in front of me, hoping I wouldn’t walk into anything and look like an idiot. My perma-tanned hands looked ghostly in the darkness, feeling into the darkness ahead.

“Sit.” The lights flickered back on.

I whirled around, blinking rapidly as pink spots appeared in my eyes from the brightness of the fluorescent lights. I swear I did nothing wrong, he said I would only be here a while. Something hit my shoulders and I stumbled backwards. I felt something hit the backs of my knees and I fell down onto what appeared to be an office chair. I hit my wrist painfully on the metal armrest and I hissed.

I opened my eyes again and saw the boy from the cell staring back at me. My stomach lurched slightly. “What are you doing here? You’re meant to be in there!” I yelped. The lights flickered off again.

“In where? Here?” he replied as the fluorescent tubes came back to life again, his hands gesturing. I looked around the room to see the small clean room. I was sat down.

“What?” I replied, looking at him again. He looked different, his hair was longer, he had a sharp suit on. He was beautiful. I raised an eyebrow and smiled at him flirtatiously. He stared coldly back.
“Your husband said that you’d only be here a while, but I’m afraid we may need to admit you for a little longer Ms Gerdle,” he said, coolly.

“My….husband?”

“Yes.”

I blinked again, this time in confusion. “Who are you?”

The man looked up at me, through his horn rimmed glasses. “Ms Gerdle, I am Dr Trent, we have known each other for a while now, don’t you remember?”

“Yes Trent. May I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Don’t you think I’m beautiful?”

He coughed slightly, adjusting his glasses quickly. “Well, Miss Gerdle, I don’t think that is really an appropriate ques-,” he began.

“It certainly is an appropriate question Trent,” I snapped. I got up off the bed and glared down at the Doctor. “Give me an answer. Am I beautiful?”

He looked down and avoided my fierce stare, adjusting his glasses again. “Miss-“

“Answer me Trent.”

“Do not call me ‘Trent’ Miss, I am a professional and do not wish to be tre-“

My temper snapped and I had taken enough of this man. I stepped forwards and slapped that perfect face. His head lolled to one side and then it swayed back into place, his eyes goggling. He stood up, fists clenching, stepping towards me. I stepped back, as if doing a strange sort of dance with Trent. I backed against the door and looked around wildly. My hand backed against a key lodged in the door and I quickly turned around, yanking the door open. I heard Trent yell behind me, but I slammed the door on his face.

Outside, I breathed in deeply, pressing my back against the door. I heard breathing from the room behind me and I shuddered, thinking of the beautiful man that lay only an inch away.

I noticed the nurses moving from room to room, and I blinked twice, to make sure they were real. They carried on walking, up and down, checking their clipboards and talking quietly to one another. I stepped forwards and shook my head.

“What’s going on?” I asked one nurse. She flinched away from me slightly and her eyes widened.

“Um, I am just going to check on Mr-,” she stammered.

“Not that!” I snapped. “I mean, who is that strange man inside this room?”

The nurse, who I recognised as the ‘natural beauty’ from earlier flushed a little and nervously shuffled her files. She handed me a file and looked away from my eyes. “He’s called Daniel Trent. A more serious case. You just saw him Miss?” she said, timidly.

I snatched the file away from her and waved her on her way. She almost sprinted away, tripping over her own feet. I smiled, I still had the power. I flipped open the file and saw a picture of the boy from the room earlier. Not the beautiful man I had just seen. I sighed and pressed a finger to my temple, this job was really getting to me. I suppose I was just tired.