Mind Games and D.I.D

32. They keep calling me Jane.

On Sunday Damian found his way to the Brian Lawson centre. He walked inside the front door and stopped in front of a very prim and proper looking receptionist.

"Hi, I'm here to visit Ferrie Anders," Damian stated politely. The receptionist gave him a quick glance, then looked down at a list on her computer.

"And what is your name?" The woman queried.

"Damian Peyton."

"Okay. Jane Anders, do you mean?"

"Uh, yes. Her name is Ferrie," he tried to correct her.

"Oh yes. She is having trouble letting go of that name, isn't she?" She uttered smugly. Damian officially didn't like talking to this pretentious woman already.

"But she is known as Ferrie."

"Right," she responded with a patronising smile. The receptionist then picked up her phone and dialled three numbers.

"Hi Gordon, I have a visitor here for Jane Anders. Could you please let me know where she is?" She asked, then waited half a minute for an answer. Damian found himself almost frowning at her. "Alright. Thank you, Gordon. Bye," she hung up the phone and glared back up at Damian. "Sorry. The staff only know her by 'Jane.'"

"Okay..." Damian replied blankly.

"Right. So, I'll buzz you through the door. Then if you go through the foyer on the other side and take a left, there is a door outside. She is in the garden area," she informed him. Damian forced a smile onto his face.

"Thanks," he said as politely as he could muster, then walked towards the door. He glared back at her again as the door buzzed and unlocked for him, then yanked the open and followed her directions. He thought about Ferrie, and how that even when she was on the strongest medication, she would always insist her name was Ferrie. That was her name, and she hadn't accepted Jane as her name in a long time. So, even if that woman did ask where 'Ferrie' was, he was positive that anyone would have known exactly who she was talking about.

Damian wandered through the door leading outside that the receptionist specified. Then spotted her just in the distance, sitting on a bench reading a book. He smiled, but then felt instant concern about her appearance. She was wearing a bland cotton shirt and matching pants with an overly slouched posture. Damian slowly walked over as she glanced up, then paused in amazement.

"Damian!" She cried as she jumped up, letting the book fall to the ground and ran up to him. He smiled and held his arms out before she crashed into him.

"You're the only person to come to visit me here other than Martin."

"I didn't know you were in here until this week... none of us did," Damian replied. Ferrie lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled.

"It's okay. I didn't tell anyone. Come sit with me," she took his hand and led him back to the wooden bench. After picking the book up they sat down together

"You look like you haven't been eating, Ferrie," he stared hard into her eyes with overly drooping eyelids.

"I wasn't. But they injected medication in me and now I'm..." she paused as her eyes began to well with tears. "I don't like it here, Damian," she spoke quietly.

"I know this place is strict, but just hang in there... you've only got less than twenty days left," he said encouragingly. She smiled weakly.

"They keep calling me Jane, no matter how much I tell them my name is Ferrie, they just keep doing it!" She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "I am so angry inside, like I want to smash someone..."

"Please don't."

"I won't. One guy got into a fight a few days ago and they put him in isolation. I heard he knocked someone's eye out," she said like it was a regular occurrence there.

"Shit," Damian gasped.

"But this medication, I feel like it's draining my will to live," she almost whispered. Damian caressed the top of her hand to try comfort her.

"It's going to be okay."

"When I get out, yeah. But at least I've made a friend," Ferrie said, attempting to sound a little cheerier.

"Yeah?" He asked feeling glad for her. She pointed to a girl in the garden with similar clothes and long wild blonde hair.

"That's Georgia. She's schizophrenic and she talks to herself a lot, but she's nice."

"That's good."

"Damian, I'm... I'm sorry about that thing that happened. I really just didn't want Drake near her because she could-"

"It's okay, don't worry about it. And really, don't worry about Drake."

"Okay... you're too good to me," she said as her eyes teared up again.

"Stop," he said softly. "I don't like seeing you like this, Ferrie. This is not you."

"I know..." she replied as tears began streaming down her face. Damian then pulled her into his arms and hugged her. A strict voice then came from in front of them.

"No PDA's, please. You are making the other patients uncomfortable," a man in white pressed clothes said. Damian shook his head at him. This wasn't a public display of affection; it was merely a comforting hug. So Damian ignored him.

"Stop now, mister or I'll be forced to escort you off the premises," the man commanded strictly.

"What is your name, sir?" He asked politely while glancing up at the stern man.

"Gordon McKay."

"Oh," Damian said, then kissed Ferrie's forehead and stepped up to be face to face with Gordon. Looking at this man, with black slicked back hair and looking like he was in his late forties. Damian then stood up staunchly to where he was roughly the same height as the man.

"Gordon McKay, go fuck yourself!" Damian almost yelled in his face. Shock engulfed Gordon's face, and since he had more muscle than Damian, he easily ripped him around and dragged him off. Although Damian didn't put up a fight. He peered back at Ferrie, happy to see he had at least gotten a smile on her face.

"I don't think I'll be allowed back. I'll see you when your sentence is up!" He yelled to her as he was dragged away.

"I love you," Ferrie called out.

"I love you, too!" He strained to say before he was yanked out of sight.

Damian was soon pushed past the receptionist to see a smug smirk on her face, then was pushed out the front entrance. He stumbled a little but regained his balance as he glared back to see Gordon standing staunchly in the entranceway with a frown plastered on his face and his arms crossed.

"You're correct. You are not allowed back," Gordon confirmed. "I'm banning your name, so get lost!"

"Thanks for the lovely time. You and that bitch in there can go fuck yourselves!" He muttered calmly as he backed off, then jogged to his car and peeled out of the driveway.