The Case of Park Jimin

Chapter 2

"I wonder.....how long it take to make you scream" he said with a sick, twisted smile that made his beautiful face look sinister. Any normal person would see him as just a crazy person, locked up because he sees ghosts, but I see him as a challenge. A video game level that no one had ever beaten, but also as a person who is sincerely misunderstood.

"Are you done?"

My question rolled right over him, as if he didn't hear me. Instead he stared at the wall in front of him, occasionally smiling as if someone had told him a joke. While he was distracted i pulled a chair up beside the bed and opened his file and silently read it.

It said he was brought in at age 15 by his parents, who claimed he would talk to the walls and laugh as if they answered him. The doctors said that when he first came in he would talk about the shadows and the children's laughter. There were no shadows, and this isn't a children's mental hospital, no kids allowed.

The file wasn't the biggest I've seen but it had the most doctor signatures, all of them were crossed out. I took out my pen and signed my name to the very bottom corner, the only place where there was room. Once I read all the file and basically memorized all the meds that he needed to take on a weekly basis.

When I first started reading Mr. Parks file, he was staring at the wall like it was a beautiful woman, when I looked up he was staring at me...well more like my hair.

His eyes lit up with wonder, his face washed itself of its sinister quality and a child took its place. His hand reached out towards my hair, his small fingers twitched slightly as he got closer. "You know the rules Mr. Park, no touching someone without consent"

He pouted at my words and gave me a slight whine. "Just one touch Alyson" he said and I moved back in my seat. "How do you know my name?" I asked since I never gave my name.

My movement back and the question brought back the normal look on his face, the grim and haunted look. "Nametag" he said and I glanced down at the tiny thing on my shirt that read, Alyson Jones.

"Well then, Mr. Park, you know how this goes" I said and he groaned loudly before looking back at the wall. "Yes I know, her hair is pretty" he said and I glanced at the wall and back at him. I was the only one in the room and yet he was talking to the wall as if it was a friend he has known for years. Well according to his file, he has known that wall for years.

"Who's there" I asked quietly taking out my pen and paper. His eyes snapped to me "why do you care, your just here to remind me to pop my pills".

The venom in his voice might have scared other doctors but not me. "Actually, I'm here to listen to you and write down my thoughts" I started while writing down that he was talking to the wall "I'm not just here to remind you to pop your pills" I said repeating his words.

He looked back at the wall and back at me for a second "It's Mina, she is my friend" he said quietly as if this Mina character was listening to us right now. "She doesn't like it when I talk about her, she gets mad".

I wrote the name down in my book and leaned closer to Mr. Park. "What does she look like?" I asked, playing into his game. I felt like a mom talking to her son about his imaginary friend, and if that's the role I have to play, I'll play.

"Her hair goes down to her ankles, all knotted, tangled and soaking wet. It's been like that for years, I tell her to brush it but she doesn't listen" he said looking at the wall, studying it. "Her face has cuts and bruises while her makeup runs down her face like she was crying"

I glanced at the wall and retracted a shiver from how horrid this Mina girl sounds. When I thought he was done describing her, he continued. "Her nails are so long that they curled around her fingers and sometimes she randomly spits up dirty water onto my floor. I don't like it when she does that, it makes a mess"

Suddenly he turned to the wall and his eyes widened "I'm sorry, she just wanted to know....I know I promised but I like this one" he said to the wall and I got up slowly as he started shaking. I inched towards the door as he got up abruptly and started pacing around in the small room.

"I know what you want me to do but I want things too Mina" he said, his head started twitching from side to side then stopped twiching and looked at me like a rabid animal. "She wants to hear you scream!" He yelled and rushed at me.

I ripped open the door and slammed it closed with a very loud bang, quickly locking it while he pulled and thrashed the door handle around violently. I backed away from the door as he pressed his face against the bars on the door's window, screaming.

His screaming woke other patients, who then in turn went crazy, screaming in their rooms. This was the loudest this hallway has ever been, locked doors banged back and forth on their locks. I've never seen this type of riot, one were everyone thinks with the same mind and starts screaming at once.

I glanced back at Mr. Park who had a smug look on his handsome face, as if he knew this would happen when he screamed. In that moment the only thing I wanted do was wipe that look off his face, so I did.

"I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Park, remember to pop your pills"

I walked away with the screams following me, Mr. Park had joined back into the screaming symphony he created, but this time he screamed in anger.

For some reason, to me, his screams were the only ones I heard.

I wasn't the one screaming today Mr. Park, I guess it's going to take a while to make me scream.