A Psychopath's Heart

1

Today is the day. I start my first day at my new job. Moving to London has been a big change, and while yes, I will miss my job in my hometown, I am sure adventures await with this one. Excited to start my new day, I run to my closet, throw on a blue dress and some black heels, and throw my raven hair into a bun before heading out to work. 

After a 10-minute drive, I arrive at Oak Valley Psychiatric Hospital to start my day. Walking in, I can't help but notice how gloomy all the nurses look. Everyone looks dreadful! Yes, we may all work with those who are insane, however, we can't become insane ourselves. We need to smile. I dismiss my gloomy co-workers and head to the office to greet the head doctor. 

I knock on his door and he yells for me to come in. He seems....lovely. I open the door, make my way to his desk, and sit down across from him. I smile politely.

"Hello, sir," I say with a soft smile on my face.

He glances at me for a minute and returns to his computer typing away. "You're the new one. Here is your first patient." He says while tossing me a quite thick folder. "Nurse Amelia will take you to your office." He gestures to the Nurse to walk me out.

I thank him and follow the nurse to my office. After she leaves, I take a glance through the folder. How exciting! While I read over the folder, I noticed he is known for murdering his past shrinks. How lucky I am. It was unsettling, but exciting to be dealing with someone like him. I have 30 minutes until my first session with him. 

There is not much about his childhood, no siblings, no family, and no friends. How sad. I study his folder some more before preparing myself for the session. I walk down the halls and approach the last door on the left. I tighten my grip on my notebook and take a deep breath before walking into the interrogation room.  I noticed he was strapped to his chair, it almost pained my heart to see this.

He fixed his cold glare on me and smirked, "Come to fix me?"

I remove my coat and sit across from him. "No," I stated bluntly. 

"Then what are you doing here?"  His words came out sharp and sarcastic, he kept the same glaring look.

I leaned on the table a bit and stared directly into his piercing baby-blue eyes. "To learn you."

"And what do you plan on doing with that information?" His body stayed completely stiff, he didn't move his head even an inch, but I swore it felt like he was staring straight through me.

I lean back in my chair to seem relaxed. "I'm not sure yet, maybe I will figure it out as we go along," I say with a slight smile.

"Figure me out?" His gaze didn't change in the slightest, but it felt like he was analyzing me. "You do realize I have killed 23 people, 23 people who were just trying to 'fix' me" He scoffed at the last bit, he seemed to find it incredibly amusing that people thought they could figure him out and change him.

"Who said I was here to fix you?" I asked.

"Hm." He thought for a moment, his mind seemingly working overtime. "A fair point." There was nothing more I could do or say to push his buttons, he seemed calm. His look never changed but something deeper was going on behind it. "Are you looking for my weaknesses, then? Are you here out of pure interest?" He shrugged, he was genuinely curious.

I pull out my notebook and write down some notes. "I am here to learn about you, so I would assume need to know both strengths and weaknesses."

"I wish the other 23 knew that." A flash of anger crossed through his features, but it was quickly suppressed. He watched me write in my notebook. "What are you writing?" He smirked.

"You want to know what I am writing?" I asked while smiling

"Well, I am a bit curious." A small smile crept on his face, he seemed relaxed in his seat, chained to the chair and yet he still exuded a sense of danger.

"My first impression of you," I state while closing the notebook.

"And what is that? Don't be afraid to offend me." He said with a smug grin waiting for my response.

"Arrogant, but sad. You are truly a sad case." I said bluntly hoping to get some reaction out of him.

The comment seemed to catch him off guard. He smirked as he looked away for a moment. My comment seemed to affect him. "And why do you suppose I'm sad? What could you possibly know about me?"  

"I can see you are a coward." I grabbed my notes and continued writing my thoughts.

"A coward?" The words left an ugly impression on his face and his eyes widened. They widened because I had hit a nerve, and he took offense to the word. "I am many things," He said, his tone sharp, "But I'm no coward."

"You killed 23 people because they wanted to get to know you and possibly fix you. You killed them because you were scared they could fix you and what they might find about you." I stared directly into his eyes waiting for his reaction.

"I did what I had to." The words were sharp, his tone was sharp. He looked directly at me, but I could see that he was struggling to not show any emotion even though he was clearly getting riled up about the subject. "I don't need to be fixed. All of those people tried to fix me, tried to change me, but I am perfectly fine the way I am." 

"I agree."

"You agree?" His tone was sarcastic, and the corners of his lips turned into a smile. "So I don't need to be fixed."

"I feel like you need to be understood."

Those words caught him off guard again, once again he looked away from me. Something was going on inside him, he was analyzing his thoughts, maybe even starting to rethink them to some degree, But even though he would never admit it, he seemed interested in me. "And you would be the one to understand....me?"

I pondered a minute on his question and answered honestly. "I am not sure, but I would like to try."

Those words felt like music to his ears. His gaze slowly turned back to me, and he stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "The world would be a better place if you had been my psychiatrist first."

I smiled warmly at him. "I will see you tomorrow morning Archer."

"I am going to start looking forward to it." He smirked leaning back in his seat. When I left, I could feel him watching me as I left.

The first day was done, and it wasn't as bad as I assumed, I didn't die, so that's a plus.