Gods and Monsters

IV

Mary Quinn's office - Brentwood, Essex

The spatial office was simple and relaxed. Beige walls, beige sofa, beige blinds. Beige. Usually the most boring colour, it worked surprisingly well in here. Mary Quinn sat on the opposite side of the desk, shaking Peggy's hand before sitting back down. Peggy moved over to the sofa and perched herself awkwardly on the edge before Mary made it clear she was welcome to lie back.

"Thank you for coming to see me, Peggy."

"Yeah, sure. So, what exactly are we going to be doing here?" Peggy asked tentatively.

Mary smiled. "Peggy, relax. This is going to be very casual and you're welcome to leave at anytime," Peggy glanced at the beige door and seriously considered leaving straight away now the offer was on the table. "I know we only have a short amount of time for our first session. I'm going to ask you a few questions, but mainly you'll do the speaking. Anything you say is strictly between us and I won't be sharing it with the police, Charlie or anyone else."

Deep breath. Peggy calmed down slightly as she sunk back into the sofa. "Okay, let's get to it then."

Stepping up from her desk, Mary moved round to the chair on the opposite side so Peggy could see her clearer. As was the case when Peggy first met Mary, her skirt showed off shapely legs. It must be those damn heels.

"Alright, so I have it here that you've been battling an addiction to prescription drugs; painkillers and antidepressants mostly, correct?"

"Yeah, it began after Nick's death."

"I'm sorry to hear about that. I hope you don't mind, but it would help if you were able to tell me about Nick's death, how it happened exactly. Please, take your time.

So Peggy did. It took a while, but once she was done she breathed a sigh of relief. "I just felt so guilty that I hadn't been able to save Nick. We were a team, and I let him down."

"Peggy, you can't blame yourself for what happened with Nick. The events that transpired were completely out of your control, and no one other than Nick knows why he discharged himself from hospital and returned home."

Sitting up, Peggy guffawed at this. "I'm not entirely sure that's the case, if I'm honest."

Mary leant forward. "Are you able to elaborate what you mean by that?"

"I have reason to believe that Nick was investigating our boss, Yates. I found newspaper clippings at his home which were all about Yates."

"And you think he's a posthuman?"

Confused, Peggy tilted her head slightly. "You know about posthumans too?"

A soothing laugh left Mary's lips. "Peggy, when you grow up in the Quinn family, you discuss posthumans more than you have hot dinners." It was nice for Peggy to speak to someone who genuinely understood without all the baggage. She could never tell a normal psychologist about posthumans, Yates or any of that stuff, but with Mary it was different. "Either way, that must be tough; working with your boss while you think he's involved in your partners death?"

"It is. I second guess everything he says, thinking that it's some ploy to get rid of me."

"I take it that's why it took you so long to come to a counsellor or psychologist like myself." Mary smiled at Peggy. Unlike Charlie's grin which was full of mischief and charm, Mary's had a more honest quality to it. "I understand we're limited for time because of your investigations, but I hope you've found our brief discussion today useful enough to return when you do have more time. Before you leave, how much do you know about the method of loci?"

"The method of who now? Peggy replied.

"The method of loci. It's a method of memory enhancement which uses visualisation to organise and recall information. You can create an imaginary location inside your head to organise thoughts and memories. It can be quite difficult to master, but if you wanted to, you could lock away the memories of Nick which have created this habit of yours."

Peggy stood up now as she walked across the room. "Wait, you want me to just forget Nick?"

"No, not at all. You can just compartmentalise the thoughts so they aren't at the forefront of your mind all the time. They'll still be inside your head, however you'll have greater control over accessing them and it could be a great first step in controlling your addiction. I'm not expecting anything major from you at the moment, but if you can think of a location that you want your memories to be stored in then that will be a good place for us to start. It can be something close to your heart, or perhaps an imaginary town. It's completely up to you."

Although she understood where Mary was coming from, Peggy couldn't help but wonder about the possibility of ejecting memories of Nick altogether. Would it help in the long run? She had more important things to consider for now, instead thanking Mary for her assistance. Peggy reached for the beige door and stepped out of the beige room into the beige corridor. Out here, it returned to its state of being the most colour in the universe. She would have to ask Mary how she did it. 

Continued in Part 5...