Tapes, A Tale of a Mad Doctor

Tape 1

The tape hums to a start. 

"tape one." A female voice with a New York accent says a little to close to the mic. 

"patient Brad Maddox. He being a former therapist, I have been duly advised to not fall into his mind games." A click and brief silence, the tape halts its spinning then continues in its clockwise motion.

A large heavy door creaks open. Its squeaky hinges sound old and as if they needed oiling. A chair sliding against concrete floor can be heard and a small cough with the shuffling of paper being straightened and arranged. 

"good morning Mr. Maddox." A confident female voice says. "I due trust that you slept well." 

"Oh? A new therapist I see. Hmm." The male voice starts off, his voice rather sophisticated with some rough British infliction to it. The slide of chains against a metallic table can be heard. "Well I did not rather sleep well, dear." 

"Oh, a pity." The female says rather dismissively. 

A low chuckle from Maddox "you see the lady in the cell next to me refused to stop screaming, a bloody awful scream she belted out. No matter how many sedatives were pumped into her by the attendants, she still screamed bloody murder."

 A feminine sigh, "I'm so sorry for the discomfort sir. Any way on to business." She shuffles the papers even more against the metallic table."You see Mr. Maddox our visitation today will be brief. I am still waiting on the transfer of your papers." 

Another chuckle "ah yes, my old penitentiary. I do doubt that you'll ever be seeing those transcripts ever again." He pauses "given the fire and all." 

"that would be very inconvenient Mr. Maddox, would you care to tell me why you are here then?" She inquires her tone of voice shifting if only a little bit to curiosity. 

 "Ah yes." He says thoughtfully as the chair creaks forward. "I believe it had something to do with those girls" he lets out a low chuckle "that I, 'doctored'". 

"Yes, it does mention that in your case file here. Why don't we start there then? Who were these girls?" The therapist says, a hint of interest in her voice.

"Let me ask you this first." The rustle of heavy chains in the foreground and the slide of rough skin against a metal table. "Why did you choose your profession, hmm?" His tone inquisitive.

She hesitates before she answers "I wanted to help people. That's why I chose my line of work." She sounded rather shocked at the question. 

"Hmm, a basic answer I suppose. Selfless none the less." He pauses "I do have a hard time believing you though. You see, acting in motive to be selfless means that you are in fact, being selfish. Because you do want recognition of some sort, yes?" 

a brief pause "I suppose I do yes."

"then you are acting on selfish intent, that's why I do not believe your answer. It contradicts itself in its very nature." The therapist takes in a breath as if she were about to say something then stops. 

"Sir, sir." Maddox says as if trying to grab the attention of someone not present in the room "I'd like another one please. This one does not suit me at all."

A feminine gasp as if she was offended and then the creak of the door as it is slammed shut. The tape clicks off.