Chapter 4: Two - Newcomers

Newcomers

“October?”

I looked away from the rich, brown eyes that were appraising me inquisitively and peered behind their owner to find Patty staring at me in shock.  “What are you doing out of bed?”

I stood up nimbly and rubbed my aching tailbone. “I just needed to use the bathroom, Patty.” I explained.

“I thought I heard you screaming…?” Her words sounded like a question, as if she was not sure if she had really heard it. I decided to use that uncertainty to my advantage.

“I didn’t scream.” I said, putting on a confused face. “You must have been hearing things.”

Patty frowned.

“I could have sworn I heard you…” She turned to the boy I had collided into. “Didn’t you hear her scream?”

He gave me an amused look. I thanked the heavens that he had his back to Patty; otherwise, she’d have instantly seen it. After a moment, the boy shook his head slowly.

“Nope.” He replied in a husky voice, sounding like he very much wanted to laugh. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Oh. Then it must have just been my imagination.” She smiled apologetically at me. “Sorry, dear. My mistake”

She let out a heavy sigh. “Come along, Mr. Feltman. Let’s get you to your room.”

The boy turned to follow her down the hall; but not before giving me one last smirk. I stood my ground, watching the back of his almost-blond head disappear down the corridor. So this was the new guy, I thought. Maybe Kara was right about him being the reason why they’d brought in a new doctor. There was definitely a dangerous air about him. I could almost touch it when he was standing in front of me.

I watched them until they disappeared into Sid’s room and then turned back the way I came. The chances of the voices coming back were pretty low, and I didn’t want to risk Patty overhearing me scream again.

I shut the door quietly and collapsed on my bed.

A million questions tumbled through my head, each one overlapping the other. Was I really a schizophrenic? Did my parents really hate me? Was I ever going to leave this place or was Kara’s dream actually a premonition? Was I going to be locked here forever…?

The only thing my questions seemed to do was only give me a splitting headache. I groaned in frustration and slapped my pillow over my head, covering my face. I felt bad about it, but I couldn’t help but hope that the new doctor was coming in because of the new guy I had crashed into in the hallway. I didn’t want to be the reason that Dr. Larkson had to recruit an extra pair of soul-prying eyes; that would mean that I really had to worry about my condition.

My condition. The words made me want to laugh. Was I already accepting the possibility that there might be something wrong with me? No, I thought, shaking my head. There was no way I would ever even consider believing Dr. Larkson. I knew what I had seen that night. That fire definitely hadn’t been an accident. There hadn’t been a leak in a gas pipe like the firemen believed – the voices had set the mansion on fire to punish me for not listening to them.

Now, four years after the tragic accident that took the lives of two of the people I loved the most in the world, I was still serving my sentence. The voices wanted to leave a permanent scar on my heart and mind to teach me a lesson for what I did that day and, well, they had succeeded. Nothing I could do would ever erase the trauma I endured after that night. They won. I was still being penalized.

Throwing the pillow off my face, I rolled out of bed and padded quietly across the room. I cracked the door open and peered out into the hallway, making sure the coast was clear so that I didn’t accidentally run into Patty or one of the nurses again.

Once I decided that it was safe to venture out of my room, I tiptoed out into the hall and made my way to the library in silence. I slipped into my own personal fortress with a smile on my face. There was no place on earth I loved more than a library. Well, except for the ice rink, but Abercoster’s didn’t really have one of those, so I had to make do with the library.

I trailed my fingers along the sturdy wooden shelves, the tips of my fingers lightly touching the spines of novels, encyclopedias and the other kinds of books that the Abercoster’s Institute had to provide. I reached the corner and plucked a large hardback book from one of

the higher shelves and scuttled over to the large beanbag chair in the room where I settled down to read it.

The book I had picked contained detailed descriptions on various types of psychological diseases. I had happened to come by it one day when I was perusing through the shelves of the library, looking for a spy novel. I had always had a bit of a weakness for them, and not having anything to read was driving me crazy. After discovering the book, I spent weeks going over its contents, trying to figure out which disease I’d most likely be diagnosed with. I had definitely not been expecting to be deemed as schizophrenic, let me tell you that.

I flipped the book open and flipped over to the “S” section of it, scanning each page carefully until I landed at the correct page. I skimmed through the chapter on schizophrenia quickly, not knowing whether to smile or throw the book against the wall in frustration when I realized that I had been right about the inconsistencies in my diagnosis.

There were so many other symptoms linked to the disease that I wasn’t experiencing. Dr. Larkson really was labeling me with a disease that I didn’t have.

“Someone’s out of bed late.”

I whipped around in the chair and froze. Leaning casually against the doorframe was an amused looking man, probably in his mid-twenties.

“I, um…” I stammered nervously. I didn’t know who he was to think of a proper excuse. Was he a visiting parent? A member of the board? A new patient…? “I was just doing some research.” I finished uselessly.

“Don’t worry.” He said with a grin. The man smiled, pushing himself off the doorframe and walking over to me. “I won’t tell on you. Don’t want to make enemies on my first day here.”

That’s when it hit me. He was the new doctor.

“You’re the new shrink?” I asked incredulously, trying hard not to gape.

He was completely different to how I had expected him to look. I had assumed that the board would send an experienced, middle-aged, tweed coat wearing doctor to the institute – not a twenty-something year-old who looked like he belonged in a movie.

“I prefer the term therapist.” He replied, smiling genuinely. “I thought no one knew that I was coming here.”

I shrugged casually. “Word spreads around pretty quick around here.”

“So I gathered.” He mused, nodding his head. “I’m Darren, by the way.” He held out his hand for me to shake. I stared at it suspiciously. No doctor had ever offered to shake my hand, or even introduced themselves to me by their first name. I was used to things being way more formal. When I didn’t shake his hand, his face fell slightly. “And you are?”

“October.” I replied shortly. “October Grimmes.”

His azure eyes lit up as his smile made a reappearance.

“You’re October?” His eyebrows rose as he asked the question. I nodded unsurely. “You’re actually going to be reporting to me from now on.” He revealed, smiling.

“Yeah. I heard.”

“Oh.” His face fell again. “Look, maybe—”

“Look, Doc.” I held up a hand, stopping him short. “I should really head back to my room or else I’m going to be in serious trouble with the nurses. We can talk during our session together, okay?”

I started to inch towards the door. “See you Doc.”

“It’s Darren.” He corrected blankly. “I was actually hoping for a chance to get to know my patients before I started my sessions, so—”

“That’s great Doc,” I cut in, ignoring him. “So I take it that you want to have a little heart-to-heart with the new kid, right? I’ll just run along now so that you can get to it. G’night!”

“October, that’s not what I—” I heard his cries of protest become muffled through the thick wooden door that I had just slammed in his face. I didn’t hang around for him to come out and catch up with me, but instead bolted for my room, where I locked myself inside.

“Jeez.” Kara yelped in surprise, bolting upright in bed. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Running from the new shrink.” I answered as I ran over to my closet and yanked it open. “He’s trying to psychoanalyze me.”

“You met the new shrink?” She asked, turning away as I proceeded to undress, stripping myself of my striped t-shirt and denim shorts. “What’s he like?”

I pulled on a large, baggy t-shirt over my bra and climbed into bed.

“Young. Polite. Good-looking.” I answered vaguely as I crawled under my scarlet covers.

“Young?” Kara asked in surprise, her eyebrows quirking. “That’s weird. I figured that the Board would send an old geezer. How old is the guy?”

“I don’t know… twenty-four, twenty-five, I guess?”

She let out a low whistle. “You’re serious?” I nodded. “Damn, girl. You’re lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m still stuck with daily, hour-long therapy sessions with Larky, while you’ll be getting to spend some quality time with some young good-looking doctor.” She chuckled as she crawled further beneath her yellow covers. “I call that lucky.”

I rolled over and flicked my lamp off. Kara thought I was lucky; I knew I was doomed. If the Board was sending a new therapist here to counsel me, it was because they honestly believed that I was some kind of psychopathic whack-job…

Was I ever going to get out of here?