Surrounded But Alone

Chapter 13- His Inward Turmoil

Present day
Doctor Harrison's Point of View;

"Well Presley I can say that you really did a lot to help your new friends," I said looking up from my files at him.

"Can I get you a bottle of water?" He asked after a short head nod.

I was thirsty at that point from all of that audible reading but I had already reached into my bag for my canteen.

"That's alright I've got," I showed him as I took it out. I saw him pull out from under his bed, a cooler, and take out a cold bottle of water. I partly saw the bandages from under his sleeve as he did that action.

"From the explosion, was it just your arms hurt," I asked after drinking a mouthful of water.

"They replaced the bandages in the hospital before they sent me here. I have to get it changed again tomorrow," he said not directly answering the question again. He tried to turn the bottle cap but as hands were visibly shaking and he couldn't seem to get a good grip on it. I'd seen this many times before in my severe anxiety patients.

"I see; the reason I asked is because you were unconscious when you came into the medical ward so the doctors had to get a timeline to know what they were dealing with. The interview with your friends helps them narrow the timeline of when you were last there and why. Let me open that for you," I said after taking another mouthful of water.

"Was that all you found?" He asked under his breath as he handed me the bottle. If the room wasn't deathly quiet you would have missed what he said. I knew that simple question was him trying to see just what more I knew about him.

"Only what your friends described to me. Mitchum didn't hear what you said to Gail but you remember what you talked to her about. Does anything else of what I read sound familiar?" I said giving him back the water. His hands still shaking brushed slightly against mine and it was freezing. Was this conversation alone stressing him out?

The first conversation we've ever had was when he woke up in the ICU. He sat back after drinking water and I saw him raise his head to look at me for the first time. I was going to call it off for the day but he spoke first.

"I remember how Gail saw the way I bother Mitchum, no matter how hard I try, he's always around for the worst of me."
That was probably the most he ever said to me in one go, which again caused his head to sink.

I knew that was Presley's own feeling of himself that he was deflecting onto Mitchum but I was finally getting him to say something that wasn't just agreeing with me.

"Why do you say that?" He shifted on the bed at my question and looked at the bottle water in his hand.

"He's the normal one of the two of us but he still bought my stuff from the school, here. Even worse is that he visits, if I had to end up here I would have preferred to do it without him. Now he's the guy with the crazy roommate that's why I never wanted him involved in this. I always make it hard for him by just being around."

What he was expressing wasn't out of the ordinary; in fact, it was a symptom.

"Can you tell me in what ways you think you have made it hard for him?" I asked hoping it would get him to talk now.

He passed his hand through his hair and folded his arms as if it was an effort for him to comfort himself before he answered. "It was after the argument Gail heard before we shut the door."