2. Veronica
Tuesday mornings mean I have a session with Dr. Davis. When the woman first became my doctor months ago, I hated seeing her. I wouldn”t say I liked the way she would try to get to know me.
The way she attempted to be my friend when I didn’t need anyone. I never needed anyone’s help.
Slowly, though, she grew on me.
Davis didn’t break like the doctors who tried to fix me before she came along; trust me, I’ve tried. Instead of cowering like a little bitch, Davis stood her ground and didn’t take shit from me. From then on, I was okay with her being the one I met with every week.
Walking the same halls, passing the same group of girls because they have nowhere better to stand, I keep my eyes forward but my ears open. Whenever I pass anyone, they grow quiet, and the whispers start.
I don’t mind them talking shit behind my back. Let them gossip. But if they try to say it to my face, I won’t back down. Maybe it’s because I”m looking for a fight. I crave feeling something.
With my hands clasped behind my back, I turn the corner to the entry for the offices, welcomed with silence and a random ass man working on a door at the end of the hall.
Besides him is Dr. Bennett, the head honcho of this fine establishment. Henry Bennett had been in charge way before I was admitted into this hotel for insane people. Henry hates it when I call him by his first name. He always says that it isn’t professional, but since when the fuck am I professional?I do it because it gets under his skin.
“What is this, Henry?” My eyes go to the newly installed keypad attached to the door, then up to Dr. Bennett. The doctor admits a small sigh at the use of his first name.
“We needed some more safety precautions for the doctors. We had a patient wander down and help themselves to objects inside the offices in another ward that they weren’t allowed to have. We are having these installed at every door.”
I don’t miss how the man installing said “safety precautions” swallows, aware that a patient is standing at his side. The way his whole face pales, almost translucent, allows me to see deep into his mind.He is nervous. Good. He should be.
Taking one tiny step toward him, the big guy flinches as a reaction but masks his fear. There is no need to worry; I wouldn’t do anything to scare him even if Dr. Bennett wasn’t here.
It’s not his fault that he has to do some minor work in this building.
“You mean another patient besides me is causing trouble?” My hand flies up to my chest as I pretend to be hurt at the thought. “How dare they?”
Dr. Bennett chuckles at the gesture while the man hits a few more keys. “Oh, Veronica, you still hold that title.”
“I’d like to keep it that way. I’m glad you put this lock in for us.” The old guy simply nods before turning towards Dr. Bennett.
“Every nurse and doctor will need a badge or the code to enter.” He hands Henry the paper with the code written on it, in chicken scratch, might I add.
I attempt to peer around the robust man, hoping to glimpse the numbers, but I’m unsuccessful. With the way he scribbled the four... no, five, numbers on the paper, I can’t make them out. I
f the paper were in my hand and held directly in front of my eyes, I probably still couldn’t decipher the numbers he had written.
“I will get on that right away. Thank you again, Mr. Williams.” Henry flashes him a warm smile before the man leaves with a nurse, who escorts him to the next area to get one of these keypads. “Now, why are you here?”
“You and I know why I’m locked up here, Henry.” My hands unclasp from behind my back and come up to cross over my chest.
“I meant outside of the doctor”s hall.”
“I have a session with Dr. Davis today. I was trying to get there on time, but now I’m going to be late because there is a door in my way.”
Dr. Bennett hums in response and then stands in front of the keypad. Glancing down at the paper, he inputs the code, and with a loud click, the door unlocks.
How in the world was he able to read the numbers? Is it because he is a man and they can read each other’s writing?
“Tell Dr. Davis to excuse your tardiness. Explain to her the door situation.” He suggests it because he knows how mad she gets when I am late. One time, I was ten minutes late. Boy, she was angry. She repeatedly made me write the same stupid sentence until my hand felt like it would fall off. I was afraid I had to ice my wrist with how sore it was.
And in this place, my hand is my best friend.
“Will do.”
Making my way down the doctor”s hall, I wonder why they wouldn’t just put locks on the office doors themselves. Looking over my shoulder at the door that holds the new security measure, I can already tell that one would be hard to bust open.
It doesn’t matter to me, though. I don’t need to break into the doctor”s offices. They are of no use to me.
Dr. Davis’s door is open wide, and she is sitting at her large oak desk, writing something down on a notepad.
Her black hair, which usually cascades down her back, is now tied into a low bun. The bangs framing her face are loose and falling as she glides the pen along the paper.
“Sorry, I’m a little late,” I announce myself. “Dr. Bennett had some guy install a high-tech keypad at the end of the hall.”
“Hmm?” Dr. Davis”s blue eyes meet mine. “That’s alright, Veronica.”
“Really? You always love to punish me when I’m late.”
“You also never apologized for it.” She glares at me over her glasses, then plucks them off her face. She gestures to the chair for me to sit in. “We have a lot to discuss today.”
After taking my seat and getting comfortable, I wait for her to begin, seeing as that’s how it always goes. I sit down; she asks me questions, and sometimes I avoid them.
Okay, most of the time, I avoid them. However, today seems different. The air inside this large office feels thick, almost stuffy. My eyes dance across her face as I try to read her expression.
Something is wrong.
She’s never this quiet.
“Is this about the fight I got into last week?” I choose to be the first to speak because the silence is killing me. “Polly was talking shit, and somehow my fist met her face. I think I may be getting powers. I might not control them yet, but I’ll get a hold of it.”
The corner of Dr. Davis’s lips pulls upward, but she soon hides the smile. “No, Veronica, this isn’t about the fight or your alleged superpowers you are experiencing.”
“Magical powers, like a witch. Different from a superhero.” I lean forward in my seat. “What gives? You never brush off one of my fights.”
“I’m not sure how to tell you this without... well, without it pushing you over the edge.” The edge? I don’t remember climbing the mountain of my craziness and stopping at the edge.
“What do you mean?”
Her apologetic eyes scan mine, trying to read my expression, but I keep my face dull. However, she might notice the fire trying to spark behind my brown eyes.
“I will be leaving the facility at the end of the month.” The fuck did she say? “An opportunity presented itself, and I would be stupid to turn it down. I just wanted you to know that this decision has nothing to do with you.”
If I clench my teeth any harder, then they will crack away to nothing. The arms of this wooden chair would be broken if the magical power bullshit I spun was true.
Or if I had some superhuman strength, but since I’m not that special, I dig my nails into the wood and leave crescent indents.
“Veronica, you have been one of my best patients, and I am grateful you gave me a chance, given your history with the other doctors you had.”
“You’re leaving?”
A breath full of sorrow leaves her. “Yes. Veronica, I am so sorry.”
The chair screeches against the worn-out floor as I push it back, standing tall. Dr. Davis”s whole body tenses while she waits to see what I will do. Even though I am pissed at her leaving me, I wouldn’t hurt her.
There are several people I can count on one hand in this shithole that I would never hurt, and she is one of them. My hand lifts and rubs across my mouth as thoughts churn. If she is leaving, then that means... Oh, hell no!
Quickly, I turn on my heels and march out of her office, taking a sharp right turn. Her voice calls out, my name growing fainter the closer I reach the end of the hall.
Once I do and am met with a huge window, the soles of my shoes squeak against the freshly waxed floor as I make a left and end up at his office.
He is on the phone when I barge up to his desk, the palms of my hands slamming down on the surface of his desk with a loud smack.
Pain shoots up from my palms to my shoulder from the force I used, causing my body to recoil for only a moment before I put my mask back on.
“I’ll have to call you right back,” he tells the person on the other end slowly, then hangs up.
“I take it you heard the news.”
“I don’t want another fucking doctor.”
“That’s not how this works, Veronica. You need a doctor.”
“Then you be that doctor!” I point my finger at him. “There is no way in hell another person is coming here to meddle in my brain.” The finger pointed at him pivots and finds my temple, pressing hard. “To try and fix me!”
“You know I can’t be your doctor. I don’t have the time,” he informs me as if I don’t already know this.
“That settles it, then. I’m not getting another doctor.” My arms fold over my chest.
“Veronica—”
“No!” I shout. “Dr. Davis was the only one that I liked! If you bring in another person, I will drive them away. Then I will scare off the next and the one after that, just as I did with the others.” After I get my point across, Dr. Bennett’s sympathetic eyes float over my shoulder.
My head twists, seeing Dr. Davis standing in the doorway, a glimmer of tears in her eyes as she watches me freak out.
“We already have a doctor lined up for you when Dr. Davis leaves.” My gaze whips back to Dr. Bennett.
“Just fucking great! Why doesn’t the patient get a say in who their doctor is?”
“Again, that’s not how it works.”
“It’s bullshit!”
“Veronica, why don’t you go back to your room? Calm down for a bit,” he suggests. I already know when I turn around, two male guards will be waiting to escort me back to my cell.
“Why, because you think I’m going to lash out? Fight the first patient that looks at me wrong?” I step closer to his desk, both arms dropping to my sides. “That sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic idea! I need to get my anger out.”
“Veronica!” Dr. Bennett’s voice booms through the office. I chew on my cheek, and my hand won’t stop smacking my thigh. It’s itching to hit something. “You will return to your room; there will be no detours on your way. A nurse will let you out when it is time for dinner.”
We hold eye contact for several seconds until I realize I won’t win—I never do with him. Pulling out an angry breath, I spin around and reach the door.
Dr. Davis steps out of my way, but I can’t be bothered with acknowledging her. She’s abandoning me. A guard stands beside me, and I wave him off.
“I know where my room is.”
“He will walk you to your room, Veronica.” Dr. Bennett’s order is loud for all of us to hear.
“Whatever.”
I start my walk down the hall and past other patients. All their whispers stop as they watch the guard walk behind me. Normally, when I walk freely down the hall, they see me as a threat, but when I have someone attached to me, the patients see me as a double threat.
They know not to fuck with me because I’m in a terrible mood.
I will have to get my anger out, or it will build up inside me and explode. Dr. Bennett wouldn’t like that. I enter my cell because calling it a room doesn’t feel right.
A twin bed is pushed into the left corner of the beige-colored space. The only plus side to this place is that I have a window, with bars, of course. Other than that, it’s nothing special.
My home sweet home.
The heavy door traps me inside, and as soon as the nurse leaves me alone, I let out a guttural scream as my fist crashes into the wall.