Stitches

Chapter 25 'Problems'

Two weeks later.

I woke up at the sound of my daughter crying. I went to her crib and held her in my arms, Atlas was still sleeping, that child was a hard sleeper, he could sleep through anything.
I was worn out, Orchid woke up at 7:00 am everyday. In weekdays it was good since I needed to go to work at Arkham as a psychiatrist but usually everyday i got home around 7pm.

Today was Saturday and I called the babysitter, Ella, to watch Orchid.

                                                                        Me: Hey El I need to go to work soon.

 El: Okay I'll be there as quick as I can.
          

After that I put Orchid in her crib and went to my room. I opened my walk in closet and I put on a black dress and my white doctor coat with my black heels. I put on a bit of makeup to hide the fact that i was exhausted.
I went downstairs just as the doorknob turned and the door opened,

"Hey Val," El entered the house and closed the door behind her, putting her keys in her bag.
"Hey El, Orchid is upstairs, she's awake and Atlas is asleep, I'll be back around 8:00" I said.  
"Special occasion?" she asked 

"You have no idea," I said and left, I got in my car and drove to Arkham.

🔪

I got called to treat a patient. I enter the treatment room which was not far from an interrogation room, I wasn't surprised to see that the patient was Jerome. We sat down on the metal chairs and I put my hands on the table.

"So Mr.Valeska how are you feeling today?" I asked 
"Really?" he said sarcastically,
He looked at me, I looked at him with a serious expression, he sighed and asked "How's Orchid and Atlas? "
"They're both good," I answered.

"So, Mr. Valeska, care to tell me why you tried to strangle Mr. Jones in the social room?" I asked as I read from the file.
"Because I wanted to.....besides, he talks too much," He said.
"Hm" I said as I wrote down what he said.

After all that, i told the guards to take him back to the social room but that after that he would have three hours of "therapy"
I knew I was being cold, but honestly it didn't bother me, I was doing what was necessary to free him.
I was outside the lunch room watching the patients try to socialize. One of them started to punch each other; the guards went and opened the gate for me, Jerome's eyes followed me everywhere I went.

I went towards the fighting patients. I pulled them apart and said "Hey, break it up!" 
"He called me stupid!" said George while pointing at Calvin. 

"Calvin, is this true?" I said while looking at Calvin 
"Yeah I did whatcha gonna do about it?" said Calvin 

I saw Tetch sitting on one of the tables, close to where the problem was happening. He smiled at me and I smiled back, I take it Jerome saw this because he had a sour look on his face, like he wanted to kill Tetch.
I pulled out a coin from my coat and said "Tell ya what guys, Tails you both get electroshock therapy and Heads Calvin you apologize and you both get ice cream"

They nodded, I flipped the coin, it landed on my hand, it was Heads.

"Well Calvin apologize to George," I said,
"I'm sorry" he mumbled, all the other patients looked at me.
"What was that?" I asked 
"I'm sorry" he said out loud.
"Guards! You know what to do" I yelled, the patients here were very ill... They didn't understand the world or how it worked, people said I was babying them but this situation didn't need an aggressive solution.

 They took both of them to get ice cream, separately in their rooms. One of the patients walked by me, she looked scared yet impressed. I went to leave but one of the patients, Joel, blocked the door.

"Joel, please step away from the door" I said, Joel was mute, he was in Arkham because he murdered his entire family out of rage. He grabbed me by the throat, lifted me up, choking me and pinning me against the wall. I struggled to break his grip, one of the guards came but I signaled him to stay back. I used my powers to give him a pain in his mind, to him it was like a very bad brain freeze. His grip loosened and I fell to the ground, one of the guards came over to help me up as the others held Joel back.

"Two weeks in solitary confinement," I said as I rubbed my neck.
The guards nodded and took him away. After that I went to my office, I looked in the mirror I had hanging on the wall. I saw the marks of Joel grip bruising around my neck.

"Oh god, that's horrendous," I said. I heard a knock at the door. "Come in" I said.

One of the guards came in. "Dr. Valleta, are you okay?" He asked. "Yes, im alright but I have to head out for a bit, tell the boss, Im on break" I said, he nods and leaves.