Comatose

Chapter 7: Fragmented

Sam heard a vehicle pull up outside. He looked out the window to see a black BMW in the driveway. A lady with dusky brown hair stepped out. He watched as she approached the house.

Helen answered the door. The lady smiled. She removed her sunglasses. "Are you Nurse Flood?"

Helen nodded. The lady offered Helen her hand. "Doctor Twila. I believe I was asked to work with a Fireman Sam?"

"Yes. He should be upstairs still. I'll show you to his room."

Twila nodded. She followed Helen into the house. "Just note he'll be a bit jumpy around other folks he's not seen before."

"Does he suffer from childhood trauma?"

"No. He was kidnapped and tortured recently. We've had a hard time getting him to settle really." replied Helen.

She paused right outside of Sam's door. Malcolm smiled. "Hello there, Twila."

"Hey Mal. How have you been since our last session?" asked Twila.

"Doing well. Here to see Sam?"

"Yep."

"Good luck." mused Malcolm.

Helen opened the door for Twila. "Sam, I've brought somebody here to see you."

Sam eyed Twila cautiously. A soft snarl escaped his lips. Twila wasn't at all phased by his murderous stare. She pulled up a chair and stand down. "Hello Sam. I'm Doctor Twila. I'm going to be your therapist for a while."

Sam didn't say word. He just continued to stare at her. She leaned back some in her chair. "Not much of a talker? That's understandable. I'll wait."

Sam backed up further onto the bed. He sat as far as he could away from her. Twila continued to sit patiently. She smiled at him kindly. "Comfortable?"

Sam shrugged quietly. His heart was doing flips in his chest. She could tell he was nervous and scared. Twila reached into her bag. She pulled out a small tin. She opened it to reveal some lemon tea cakes. "You hungry? Looks like you could use something sweet."

Sam carefully crawled towards her. She kept her tin out. "Go on. I make them for every patient I see."

He snatched one before retreating back to his corner. He smelled it. He looked at her. He had an unsure look on his face. "They aren't poisoned. I promise." She put the tin on the table behind her.

Sam took a bite of the cake. He hummed happily. He continued to munch on it while watching her. "See? I'm not so bad after all, huh?" she giggled.

Sam swallowed the cookie. "Better?" asked Twila

Sam nodded silently. Twila took a notebook out of her bag. She began taking some notes. "So tell me Sam, what's caused you to behave like this?"

"Polonium." he replied bluntly.

"The Professor that reeked havoc in PontyPandy a while ago?"

Sam nodded. "She hurt me. She locked me. She did things to me."

Twila leaned forward a bit in her chair. "Like what? Tell me what she did to you."

Sam went into horrific detail about what happened to him. Twila was fifty shades of white by the time she had written everything down. Her heart broke for this man. "I see. So you feel the need to protect those closet to you as a result?"

"Yes. It's like I have to hide them from something. Like I don't ever want them to leave. Not even for a second."

She closed her notebook. "You do have signs and symptoms of PTSD. I am going to prescribe something for it. I just...wow..."