Alice's Asylum

Chapter Five

I walked into the building. The reception lobby was bright and cheerful which surprised me considering the outside. There was a cushiony chair area over in the left for visitors to wait for visiting time and in the far left, there was a snack bar with a few tables. On my right was the reception area where you signed in. There was currently nobody standing behind the desk but there was a man standing in front of it. He wore a white doctor's coat, black trousers and a white shirt. He had an identity card pinned to his trousers.

"Hi, are you Doctor White?" The black haired, blue eyed man smiled at his name.

"I am indeed. You must be Jasper Whitlock." He held out his hand and I shook it.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine. Welcome to my hospital!" He waved his hand around dramatically.

"So how are we starting this then?" I asked him.

"Seeing as it's your first day, I want you to start in Recovery. The doctor there will take care of you and give you your job roles for the first two days here. If you do well there, I might see how well you'll do elsewhere in the institute."

"Okay so what's Recovery?" Doctor White gestured to a door that was next to the cushion area. We started to walk to it. There was a machine to open the door. Doctor White took his identity card and swiped it. The door beeped and opened. Doctor White pushed it open and held it for me. I walked through and looked around.

It was still morning so the room was empty with few staff walking around. There were tables with a gathering of five chairs around each. Each table had a different activity on it. There was a T.V in one corner of the room with a load of comfy chairs arranged around it. There was also a window in one of the walls. The lights were on and some people in white uniforms were busying themselves in there.

There were boxes of toys, puzzles and books in another corner of the room for patients to enjoy.

"Recovery is the first step of every patient's journey. Patients may stay in Recovery for weeks, months or years if we see change. Each patient is assigned on a course which will help that person to get back into the real world. The patients will visit a doctor or counselor in one of these three rooms," The doctor gestured to the three doors on the right. "Each patient has one visit to a counselor per week. For the rest of the week, the patients spend time in here and have sessions with other patients."

"Sounds fantastic." I approved.

"It is. You'll be shadowing the main doctor in Recovery for now. She'll be along shortly. Any questions for Recovery?"

"Firstly... What's through that window?" I pointed at the lit area.

"It's where patients get snacks and meals but also medication."

"Okay. Secondly, where are the patients and how many are there?"

"We hold fifteen patients in Recovery and they're asleep. Their day starts at half eight. They sleep in rooms through there." Doctor White pointed to a door opposite us.

"Finally, what happens to the patients who don't recover?"

"They go for Depth Treatment. This is individual treatment which goes to further depth and further counselling. We'll see how you deal in Recovery first before heading there."

"Okay thank you."

"Take a seat, Doctor Roude will be with you shortly." I thanked him and went to sit down in one of the comfy seats near the T.V. However I got bored and fidgety so I started to flick through the DVDs to see what the patients watched. Suddenly there was a voice clearing from behind me. I jumped in fright and stood up before turning to confront the voice.