Bad Boy's Girl

Chapter 4

"Please tell the girl in the corner to leave Aurora," Miss Shannon says. I look behind me and no one is there. 

"Please leave Miss Shannon's room young lady, you do not need to be in here," I say, and I focus back on Miss Shannon. 

"A true princess," she mutters and takes the pills. 

     Miss Shannon has been in the mental health facility since she was 70. She has dementia, and her sister comes to visit from time to time, but other than that, no one comes to visit. I'd like to think if I were in her situation I'd have more people in my life who would want to see me, even if I'm old and going through a manic period. 

     Miss Shannon sees things that aren't there, like the girl in the corner she always nags about. You have to tell the girl to go away and take it seriously, or Miss Shannon throws a fit and we can't have that. On my first day on the job I wore pink scrubs and had my hair in a gold claw clip, she was so happy "Sleeping Beauty" had come to see her. She truly believes I'm a Disney princess, and when you work with mental health patients, sometimes it's best to play into the roles they place you into so that they feel less crazy, and more understood. Ironically, my mother named me after her favorite Disney princess, "Aurora" also known as "Briar Rose".  I wore some light prink scrubs, and my hair was curled from the night before but I put it up in a claw clip and my bangs fell out and framed my face, against my glasses. 

" Do you need anything else, Miss Shannon? Some cookies?" I ask. 

"No, thank you Aurora," she says, I tuck her back into bed and turn off the lights, but before I leave she says, "Stay away from those spinning wheels," I nod my head and close her door. 

I walk over to the front desk and sit down, writing down the meds Shannon took. 

"You're still here?" I glance up and Dr. Owens is at the front desk. Dr. Owens was fairly young for a doctor, he worked his ass off to get to where he is today. At 30 years old he opened up his practice and I've been working here for around a year and a half. I grab my coffee and lift to 'cheers' me. 

" Coffee makes time blend together," I say and take a sip. He chuckles and hands me a warm, fresh coffee. 

" Thank you, Dr. Owens," I say, I take it from him and his fingers briefly graze mine. 

" Of course, is Ashley in yet?" he asks. 

" Ashley is an hour late, which is why I'm still here," I say. 

" I'm really sorry about that, I'll give her a call and see where she is," he says, he comes over to the front desk around me and types in Ashely's number. 

Ashley usually worked the morning shift, and occasionally worked the afternoon shift if Derek wasn't able to come in, Ashely was a few years older than me and was going to school for Psychology as well but focused primarily on the psychiatry aspect. Ever since she and her fiance broke things off, she's been a wreck. 

"Ashley, it's Doctor Owens, you're late to your shift, please give me a call back at the office," he hangs up the phone. 

"You can leave Briar, I should be able to handle it from here, or I'll have one of the nurses take over," he says. 

"Are you sure, I really don't mind staying. It's not big deal." I state. He opens his mouth to answer but the phone rings. I don't miss a beat and answer it. 

" Better Hope, this is Briar speaking, how can I help you," I say, and glance over at Dr. Owens just looking at me. I start typing on the computer. 

" We do have an opening, but if this is an emergency, I can connect you to the crisis center and they can help get an ambulance over to your area," I say and keep typing. Dr. Owens is still looking at me and I smile at him, he gives me a smile back and I get back to typing. "Okay, I'll connect you and you can call back after he's released and we can set you up with an appointment with our lead Dr, Dr. Owens," I look over at Dr. Owens who still has that stupid grin on his face. "Great, you'll be connected to the crisis center now, have a nice day," I say and transfer her to the other line. "It's Briar, I'm connecting you to Mr. Reynolds, his son tried to commit and won't stop throwing up possible overdose, and use of opiates," I say and hang up the phone.