The Calling | The House of Voices #1

Thirteen - Lost Cause

Lost Cause

Darren:

“He’s not as bad as you think he is.”

“You’re right.” Dr. Pauline Larkson’s face transformed into a mask of wry disbelief. Raising one pale eyebrow, she leaned back in her large, cushioned black arm chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s worse.”

Sighing heavily, Darren shook his head in vehement disagreement. “He’s not that bad, Dr. Larkson.”

She opened the thick patient folder that lay in front of her on her desk and tapped pointedly at a note from Parish Feltman’s previous doctor. In front of her, Darren cringed. He’d read the entire file five times. He knew what the note said by heart – and he didn’t like what it said.

“Parish Feltman,” Pauline began, pushing her spectacles up her nose with her index finger. “is, in my opinion, a hopeless case. The boy is violent, self-destructive, arrogant and unwilling to listen to reason. Despite my vigilant attempts to keep the young man on his medication and help restore his mental health, he somehow, inexplicably, manages to trick every single supervising eye and discard his medication. In addition to being uncooperative, he has complete disregard for his family’s attempts to help him. He prefers isolation to human contact and refuses to interact with anyone his own age.

“While I admit that his behavior is mostly due to his Dissociative Identity Disorder, there may be a possibility that it is also because the boy does not believe that he can be cured and thus, rebels against his father and his therapists.” Pauline glanced up to give Darren a pointed glance. When he refused to meet her gaze, she frowned and continued.

“A disturbing fact that I noted while he was under my care was that, even under the influence of sedatives, Parish is extremely violent and hostile. Medication does not seem to dull the symptoms of his disease anymore and I fear that the only two possible solutions are to either up his dosage – which may, possibly, damage the boy’s psyche – or take him off medication completely and put him into solitary confinement.”

Finally finished, Pauline closed the folder and tossed it back onto her desk, a triumphant smile on her face. “Satisfied, Michelson? Or wasn’t that enough evidence for you?”

Darren’s fingers wrapped around the arms of the chair he was sitting in, anger coursed through his veins. How could she believe another doctor’s verdict without even trying to help the boy? She hadn’t even taken a second to get to know him, to see if he was really the hopeless cause as his previous doctor thought him to be. It took a great amount of self-control for Darren to remain in his seat.

“He is not a lost cause, Dr. Larkson.” He insisted adamantly. “It will take a little time, but I’m sure he can be cured.”

“Didn’t you hear what this said?” She frowned, picking up the folder and waving it in front of her new colleague. “Medication doesn’t work on him, Darren. How do expect to cure him if you can’t medicate him?”

“We haven’t even tested that theory!” Darren argued, rubbing one side of his face with his hand. “We don’t know if that’s even true.”

“Are you saying that Mr. Feltman’s previous doctor is lying?”

“No.” Darren felt his grip on the arms of the chair tighten.  “What I’m saying is that maybe he believed that medication wasn’t working for Parish, but maybe it was something else. We need to be sure before we go around making life-altering decisions for the boy.”

“And who’s going to make sure?” The older woman asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge. “He’s rude and uncooperative. He refuses to have a civil conversation with anyone here –  including you. The only one I’ve seen him have a proper conversation with was Mr. Witherberry. And even that didn’t last that long.”

She joined her hands on her desk and leaned forwards to look Darren in the eye. “So tell me, Dr. Michelson. How do you expect to treat a boy who refuses to be helped?”

Darren considered for a moment.

Everything his boss had just told him was true. Parish was impolite, uncaring and had no regard for anything or anyone. He didn’t even seem to care about his own self. He was vicious and violent when he switched personalities, and he seemed to be in a state of perpetual petulance.

“I’ll do it.” Darren answered after a moment. “I’ll treat him.”

“Are you sure?”  Pauline looked shocked. Narrowing her eyes, she went on. “Because I’m warning you right now, Michelson, you will have absolutely no help from anyone here. While the others – as well as myself – are willing to assist you, if need be, when it comes to October, no one – and I repeat, no one, wants anything to do with Parish Feltman. If you take this boy on, he will become your responsibility and yours alone. His failure – or by some miracle, his success – will be on your shoulders. Understood?”

Darren looked carefully into those shrewd blue eyes that were staring into his, searching for any signs that she may have been exaggerating. There weren’t any.

He was truly going to be alone in his fight to help Parish. Could he accept that? Could he handle the troublesome boy on his own? When he considered the alternative, the answer was clear. Yes, he would try to help the boy. He couldn’t discard him as easily as the others had.

“Yes.” He replied evenly, trying to check his temper. “I understand. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Dr. Larkson, I have some reports to write. Thank you for your time.”

He rose out of his seat, bowed his head politely at the older woman, and made his way to the door. Just as he’d laid his hand on the doorknob, Pauline cleared her throat.

“Oh, and Dr. Michelson,” He turned around to face her, the vein in his temple pulsing. “I hope I don’t need to remind you of what will happen if you are unable to cure the boy, do I?”

“No, Dr. Larkson.” He replied shortly, trying – and failing – to get the image out of his head. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he couldn’t help Parish. He swore to himself that he’d do everything in his power to make sure that the boy got better.

Because if Darren failed to help Parish Feltman get better, there was only one thing the Board would do.

They’d lock him up.

And Darren couldn’t live with himself if he let that happen.