Psychiatrist (1543 Series Story 2)

New Arrival

1.

     John Malcom sat at his desk reading over some files for a current case. The patient was a young man with a mental disorder that Malcom was unable to classify. The disorder was similar to that of HPPD (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder) but there were some symptoms that he young man did not have that most patients. The man saw man horrific things, most were of other people being killed, or other violence’s being done to them. The thing that made thee hallucinations unique to some degree to Malcom was that the “people” in the young man’s hallucinations were “people” that he’d never seen or met before: total strangers, which was an oddity for sure of some sort. Most patients that had hallucinations of people being killed or harmed, the person in the hallucination would be someone they knew, either friend or family and every now and then someone they didn’t like at all, but never complete strangers. Malcom felt a great attachment to this case, namely because the young man appeared to have a pretty good life before he had been committed to Mansfield Mental Hospital. The young man – named Timothy Durnell – had a girlfriend, who visited him every weekend at noon, a family whom he had a strong connection with, and a promising future. Then one day, he just lost it, for whatever reason that was. It was as whatever kept humans sane just snapped and allowed insanity to flood into his mind. In many ways, Malcom felt sorry for him. He seemed like a really good kid with a lot going for him…until he went insane, that is.

     Malcom had been going over the medical files for Durnell, and signing some sheets and such, when there was a knock on his office door. Puzzled as to who it could be, Malcom called whoever it was in.  The front door opened and a man walked in. He was tall, with remarkable ice blue eyes that immediately caught Malcom’s attention but also made him feel uncomfortable at the same time. The man walked in, and closed the door without saying a word, but his eyes seemed to say and ask so many things at the same time.

     “May I help you sir?” Malcom asked as he leaned back from his scrunched-over-his-desk posture to a more straight-back one. The man nodded but did not speak. He set down a seemingly heavy brief case, which Malcom had just himself noticed, and then took a seat in the chair on the other side of Malcom’s desk.

     “I’m Harry Mel. I recently transferred from Scranton Medical Asylum to here.” The man said handing over a piece of paper that he’d pulled out of his inside jacket pocket as he was speaking. Malcom read it over and saw that everything was in order. He remembered that Walter, who ordinarily helped all the new doctors and nurses get settled in, had asked him to help with one because he’d be out of town for his honeymoon. Malcom had agreed of course, but now he really wished someone else would deal with this guy; Malcom didn’t like those eyes, just the way they looked at him didn’t sit right with him. There was something…different about them; all he could say for certain was they weren’t exactly normal eyes.

     After closing the file that had been open, Malcom rose from his seat and walked around from his desk. “Follow me. I’ll show you to your new office.” Malcom said as he walked past Mel and towards his office door. Mel picked up his brief case and then followed Malcom out of his office and down the hall several doors and then into a blank, and empty office other than for a desk and a few filing cabinets. Mel walked around the desk and set his heavy brief case on to the desk, and then immediately began to move things around to his liking and Malcom, feeling thankful that Mel was so distracted with what he was doing, slipped away without a word and returned to his office, somehow feeling those ice blue eyes following him the entire time.

2.

     Two days later Malcom was in a therapy session with Tim in one of the open therapy rooms that had numerous other quite therapy sessions going on at the same time. Tim was showing some improvement but to Malcom, and all the other psychiatrists he discussed the case with, it was clear that Tim wouldn’t be well enough to leave the hospital for a very long time; if, that is, he is ever able to leave the hospital at all.