Chapter 3 Autumn Blake
I abruptly looked up from my computer at the door after hearing it fling open and Janelle screaming at my client, Tyrik Richards, not to come into my office.
“Aye, this shit is an emergency, so I suggest you get the fuck out of my face!” he yelled at her.
I stood. “Janelle, it’s fine,” I told her, hurriedly walking over to them in the doorway.
“You sure? I can call the cops.”
“You think I give a fuck about some police, bitch?”
“Mr. Richards! Have a seat, please. Janelle, it’s okay.
” She looked at me for a beat before walking away.
I closed the door and let out a frustrating sigh.
Being in my line of work was sometimes dangerous and exhausting when some of my clients came in off their rockers.
I tried to stay neutral because I knew the mental battle they endured every day, but when clients like Tyrik didn’t respect boundaries, it made it a little hard to deal with.
I chose this profession as a psychiatrist because I wanted to help people who struggled with mental conditions.
I used to watch things like Hannibal and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and felt as if I could help people through their mental states and trauma.
Most of the time, it was due to them experiencing trauma throughout their childhoods and could be treated by having them purge and release.
Except for people like Tyrik, who suffered from severe bipolar disorder.
Because of the severity of some of my patients, I kept a gun hidden in the back of my waistband. I could never be too careful with them because of an incident that occurred before, when one of my clients got handsy with me; I had to make sure I protected myself at all costs.
I watched as Tyrik paced the floor across the room while I stayed near the door.
“Mr. Richards, what seems to be the emergency?”
“Mannn, I think you need to up the dosage on my medicine because the shit ain’t working. I be trying to chill, but these thoughts in my head ain’t going away. I can hear this voice in my head telling me to go kill my baby mama.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s have a seat and do the breathing exercise we talked about.”
“Doc, that breathing shit ain’t gon’ work. That bitch won’t let me see my kid, man! How the fuck is I’m gon’ be better for her if her ugly-ass mama keep trying to block me out of her life?”
“I understand how you feel, but I want you to listen to yourself and not that voice that you’re hearing. The more you act out, the worse this gets, Mr. Richards. If you want my help, you have to do what I say. Understand?”
“Mannn.”
“Breathe, Mr. Richards.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. He repeated the process several times before I finally saw his shoulders relax, and his face followed.
“Good?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Now, have a seat and tell me what happened.”
He took a seat on the couch, and I sat across from him.
“I texted Trisha and told her I was going to come pick Hanna up around three today. I get there, and they ain’t even home.
I called her ass to see where they were at, and she tells me they are in fucking Florida visiting her auntie and shit.
So I cussed her ass out, and she hung up in my face without saying shit.
This was my week to get my daughter, and that ho just gon’ run off with her!
Everything in me is telling me to kill this bitch, but I don’t want to go to jail and never see my daughter again. ”
I looked at him for a minute before I spoke. “That’s your motivation right there. Think about what hurting Hanna’s mother would do to her and you. She will lose both of her parents and possibly go into the system. Is that what you want?”
“You know that ain’t what I want, but I can’t control my thoughts and urges, Doc. I need something stronger, or I’m scared I’m gon’ follow through on those urges.”
“You’re on the highest mood stabilizer that we have, Mr. Richards. Have you taken your meds today?”
“I did!”
“Okay. It’s Lithium, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. If that’s not working, we can switch you to Lurasidone to see if that helps. Right now, I need you to just relax. Sometimes, to keep yourself in control, you must think good thoughts. Did she tell you that she was taking her out of town this week, and maybe you forgot?”
He looked away, seemingly thinking, before his eyes came back to me, and he shook his head.
“See, that’s why I said I need a higher dosage. I did forget that she told me last week they were going to visit her aunt.”
I cocked my head and smiled at him. “You don’t need a higher dosage, Mr. Richards. You need a calendar and to set a reminder on your phone.”
“How I’m gon’ remember to do that?”
“You remember to take your meds every day, don’t you?”
“That’s because that shit is imperative.”
“It’s also imperative that you stick around for Hanna, no?”
“Yeah . . . This shit is just too much sometimes. I always feel like motherfuckas is against me because of my moods. I be feeling like Trish ass be doing shit to me on purpose to get me riled up.”
“What did we discuss last time?”
“You told me to call when I feel that way, but shit, I be forgettin’.”
“I’m going to need you to start remembering these things, Mr. Richards.
It’s for your stability. You don’t want Trisha to petition the court for full custody, only to never get to see Hanna.
You said she’s the only person who keeps you sane, right?
You don’t want to lose the only peace of sanity you have due to you not being able to remember important things.
” I stood from my chair and walked over to him. “Hand me your phone.”
He slipped his hand in his pocket, unlocked it, then handed it to me.
I tasked myself with setting an alarm every day for a reminder about his daughter, to take his meds, and to keep up with his therapy appointments.
We talked for a little bit more, then I made him apologize to Janelle before he left.
“He may be the craziest patient you’ve had, aside from Justin,” Janelle said, shaking her head.
“Don’t call them crazy, Janelle. They’re just misunderstood.”
She side-eyed me as we laughed.
“What was all that ruckus? Is everything okay?” Willow, my best friend and another psychiatrist, asked when she came out of her office.
“Everything is fine now. Mr. Richards had a moment is all.”
Willow shook her head. “We seriously need to inform Kenzi that we need to hire security as soon as possible. We don’t need a situation like last time to happen.”
“Yeah, I’m going to call her tonight. She just touched down in Tennessee, so I don’t want to bother her right now.”
“Okay, but get on it as soon as possible, Autumn. I don’t need you shooting a patient and be in prison. Jail is not for us pretty girls.”
“It would be self-defense, so jail won’t be an option.” I laughed but was very serious. There was no way I could spend a minute in jail. I wouldn’t shoot to kill, but I would wound their ass.
“Yeah, okay. Just be careful,” she warned.
“Gotcha, toots. Drinks tomorrow night?” I asked.
“I’ll check my schedule, but we should be good to go.”
“Okay. Let me prepare for my next client. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay.”
We both went back inside our offices as I sighed in exhaustion, ready for this day to hurry up and end.
Just a few more hours to go.
“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,” I sang to Taylor as I danced with her in my arms. Her little laughs filled the living room, and I smothered her with kisses.
“Are you hungry, baby girl?”
“Hungee, hungee!” she repeated.
I laughed. “Okay. Let’s get you some food before your daddy comes to get you.”
I walked her to the kitchen and placed her in her high chair. I swear, every day I got to see her pretty face brought me so much joy. Her daddy may have been a womanizing prick, but the one good thing that came out of our marriage was Taylor Amore Irving.
There was a time I loved Chris dearly. It wasn’t until after medical school that I had to do four more years of residency training, and things between us began to go downhill.
We married right out of college and moved to Ann Arbor to start our lives together. He was there, cheering me on all throughout medical school until I started my residency.
That was when the long hours and late nights started to get to me, and I wasn’t as active with him as I wanted to be. I tried to keep up, but I could tell he was checking out.
At first, it bothered me that he didn’t understand how bad I wanted this and how close I was to getting my medical license, but after a while, I realized I couldn’t please him.
The arguing started, and then things felt robotic.
The last year of my residency, I ended up pregnant, he ended up cheating with his assistant, and we ended our marriage.
We were good co-parents, but if I never had to see or talk to his ass, it would be too soon. Chris always made it his business to try to piss me off, but I never let it get to me.
I had been celibate going on two years, and I was fine with that. Niggas these days weren’t worth the ball sacks they spewed out of.
I warmed up Taylor’s mac and cheese, made her some homemade applesauce, and cut up some chicken nuggets for her. Being a mother had been one of my life’s greatest joys. When my career got too crazy, coming home to her made everything better.
After she finished eating, I took her to the bathroom to get cleaned up, just as the doorbell rang. I purposely took my time getting her together before I went to answer the door.
When I opened it, Chris stood with a slight frown.
“Why’d it take you so long to open the door?”
“Hello to you, too, Christopher. I was getting her cleaned up,” I said, rolling my eyes while handing her over to him, along with her bag.
“Bye, Mommy’s princess. I’m going to miss you, my sweet potato pie.”
“Bye-bye, Mommy.” She gave me the open and closed wave.
I kissed her forehead. “Have fun,” I told her.
“I’ll bring her back next Sunday,” Chris just had to say to me, like I didn’t know the schedule.
“No shit?”
“Whatever, Autumn.” His eyes roved over my frame, and he subconsciously licked his lips.
I laughed. “You wish you could taste it, don’t you?”
A smirk lifted on his face. “I know you miss it.”
“Tuh. Take you and your mediocre tongue and go. Peace.” I slammed the door in his face and shook my head. His nasty ass would never touch me again, no matter how many flirty eyes or slick comments he made.
He had his chance, and he blew it.
If it wasn’t about Taylor Amore, then he could kick rocks.
Later that night . . .
I shut off the light and walked out of the bathroom after doing my nightly routine. I picked up my phone to FaceTime Kenzi, then turned down the blankets, climbing into bed. I could feel the bed conform to my body and instantly felt relief.
A few rings later, Kenzi’s face popped up on the screen.
“Hey, girly,” she said, smiling in the camera.
“Hey. Are you all settled in?” I asked.
“I am. We just left my brother’s house about an hour ago. Autumn, the baby’s room is sooo stinkin’ cute!” She gushed.
I smiled. “Aww, I know you’re excited.”
“I am! I can’t wait until she gets here.”
I laughed. “I bet you can’t. With the way you spoil Taylor, I have no doubts that your niece is going to be rotten.”
“You be knowing!” She laughed. “What’s going on, though? Is everything good at the office?”
“Aside from Tyrik Richards barging in on tip, everything went okay today.”
“Oh goodness. I think you might need to switch his medication. This isn’t the first time he’s done this.”
“I know, but I don’t think it’s the meds. I just think he overthinks and forgets shit way too much. I have no doubt that he forgot to take his meds before thinking about killing his daughter’s mother. He admitted to forgetting that she told him she was taking their daughter to Florida.”
“See, he can’t be forgetting important things like that. He needs someone who’s going to stay on top of him taking his meds.”
“True, which leads me to why I called in the first place. I think it’s time we get security in the building.
We deal with a lot of patients that have mental health issues, and that episode with Justin trying to choke my ass out, I don’t need it happening again.
I’d shoot the next person who comes near me like that again. ”
“What episode?” I could hear her fiancé ask in the background. I could see Kenzi cringe a little before she spoke.
“There was a situation that happened a few months ago where a patient tried to choke Autumn—”
“And you didn’t think to tell me that, Mona?”
“We had it under control, babe.”
“Mona,” he said in a stern tone. “It ain’t your job to handle shit when it comes to anybody getting violent with you or your colleagues. I’m the enforcer. It’s bad enough you treatin’ them looney motherfuckas. If anything happens to you, I’m going the fuck to jail.”
“You’re right, babe. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Autumn,” Ruger called out to me, coming into the camera.
“Yeah?”
“Y’all will have security by tomorrow.”
“Okay. Thanks, Ruger.”
“No thanks needed.” He looked at Kenzi. “Don’t let shit like that slip your mind again, Mona Lisa.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He kissed her lips, then disappeared from the camera. Kenzi sighed and shook her head.
I tittered. “Did I get you in trouble?”
“You did, but he’s right. And you were right to call me about this. That’s one thing I forgot to do before opening the doors to my practice. I should have done it after the first incident, but I’ve been so busy with planning the wedding that it slipped my mind.”
“It’s okay. Shit happens, but now we know.”
“Right. But anyway, how’s Tay-Tay?”
“She’s good. She’ll be home next week to start our week together. I miss my baby already, and she just left me today.”
“I know you do.”
“I didn’t really want anything but to tell you about the security situation. I know you’re on vacation, so I won’t hold you. Enjoy your family, pooh, and call me if you need me,” I told her.
“I will. Love you!”
“I love you more, sis. Good night.”
“Night, love.”
We hung up, and I put my phone on the charger and got comfortable. Today had been long, but I was determined to get some much-needed rest.