Cognitive Deviance

17. Grievance

April 5, 2045 - 12:15 PM

It took an hour for the coroners to remove the corpses of James DeShawn and Finn from their cells in the psych ward and another hour to clean up the mess.

The day after Finn's arrest, Royce and Commissioner Mason were the first to find the bodies, both sprawled down on the floors with their limbs severed from their torsos. Their blood was splashed all over the walls, windows, and even the lights, darkening their cells a deep crimson as if a red lens had covered them. Finn's mask was pinned to the wall underneath the words NO PRISONERS while the words NO WITNESSES hovered above DeShawn's dismembered body.

Of all people, Royce was the first to scream. He bolted to the bathroom and spent twenty whole minutes washing himself off before disappearing for the next few days. The younger employees like Holden and Nikki were ordered to stay as far away as possible from the psych ward until the mess was cleaned up. That still didn't stop Nikki from having a panic attack and requiring comfort from both Carl and Margo along with more medication.

And the days only got better.

In the four days following the discovery of the bodies, Andrade ordered the Psychwatch officers to identify the rest of the victims from the incident in the public restroom near the zoo. One victim, a seventeen-year-old boy who died by twelve stab wounds, was identified as Theo Proctor. His family was the only one who continued to maintain contact with Psychwatch following the incident, as every other family member was too ignorant or angry to ask for help. Theo Proctor's mother had made an appointment with Margo to help cope with the grief over her lost son.

The session went downhill from the start.

Sandra Proctor sat at Margo's desk weeping uncontrollably. Her words were knives with which she tore herself apart, endlessly muttering self-deprecative phrases to emphasize her failure as a parent. In the middle of the session, she pulled out an e-cigarette and proceeded to deluge her sorrows in vapor.

"Ma'am," Margo said, "I apologize, but vaping is prohibited during sessions."

A puff of aerosol left Sandra's mouth and she stared at Margo with a look that could kill, a single tear drifting down her cheek. "My son is dead, Miss Sandoval," she croaked. "I have nothing left to lose. One way or another, this soothes the pain."

"There are admittedly better ways of dealing with the pain, Sandra. Pain should not be dealt with self-destructive behavior."

"Oh, come on. E-cigarettes aren't that bad compared to real cigarettes, and those went out of business years ago."

"True, but some—including the brand you're smoking right now—still contain harmful substances such as nicotine, which is known for being addictive. And like I said, it's incredibly unhealthy to replace an old problem with a new one."

Sandra dropped the e-cigarette down by her side. "Will you just leave me alone?" she croaked. "Like how you left my son?"

"We did not intend to leave your son alone, Sandra. He was in an offline neighborhood, and the only way we even found him was because someone informed us of the incident. I wish we could just go back in time and prevent this from ever happening."

Sandra started sobbing harder. "How the hell do you think I feel? In just four days, I've grown so distant from my husband and my family, it's like we've never even met before! They told me I'm the worst mother a child could ever have!"

"Wow, what a mess," Ellie retorted through Margo's ThoughtControl piece, and Margo quickly hung up on her sister once again.

"Sandra," Margo spoke sorrowfully.