MADMAN'S ARMS

15

"Good afternoon, Brandon. Nice to see you after this weekend," I watched the man before me and inspected his movements. His cheeks were rosy and his eyes were glazed and red. Had he been crying?

His body was almost showing through his white attire and while I waited for him to say something, I watched the details of the skin of his already exposed arms.

Suddenly I spotted a red, open, bloody little wound on the back of his wrist. He had done it again. I got sad by the vision and the fact that I was wrong about the thoughts that maybe I was the reason he didn't do it anymore since our sessions started.

"Did something happen this weekend, Brandon?" I asked with concern in my voice. Brandon looked at me and pierced his gaze into mine.

By now I wasn't afraid of him anymore, I just felt bad for him and wanted to comfort him because I had never seen that look on his face before.

"I missed you," His voice was lower than ever and he almost didn't sound like himself.

"What?"

"I said I fucking missed you!" I got scared of his shout. The guard walked towards him to give him a warning, but Brandon snatched his arm from the guard's grip and looked at him with fury worn all over his face.

My heart was racing from the shock of his shoutout. What did he mean by saying that? As far as I was told, he didn't have any capacity to feel, but this was just another proof that my theory about his emotions was real.

"It's okay," I cautioned as I looked at the guard, and he nodded his head in comprehension and took a step back. I walked over to the edge of the bed and carefully sat down with bent knees in front of him. I didn't dare to touch him even though I wanted to.

"Brandon, please talk to me,"

He hugged his knees with his head buried between them, and as he noticed I was this close to him, he carefully looked up so that I could only see his tear-filled eyes. I wondered what made him react that way. He seemed so vulnerable from out of nowhere. Usually, he was stone-cold against everything and everyone.

"I told you, Beverly!" The sadness in his voice didn't even make me think a little bit about telling him not to call me that.

"Did you do that to yourself because you missed me?" I dared to ask only because I needed to know, and if it was true, he probably wouldn't try to hurt me anyway.

"Yes," Once again his eyes penetrated my mind and it felt like I was blinded. Ever since the first time I saw him, I had felt like he hypnotized me with the use of only his eyes.

Time after time, my body was reacting the same way when I was around him, and I couldn't seem to find the reason why.

Another thing I couldn't comprehend was that he hurt himself again because he missed me, at least he claimed. But there must have been some other reason behind it as well. He couldn't be so attached to me already? He couldn't be attached at all?

"Do you know why you feel that way?" I kept a low voice as I carefully asked my question. We had to proceed forward with this to be able to do something about it.

"No, I never felt it before," Brandon's face was now completely showing and a little smile appeared on his full, pink lips.

I got a little happier myself as I witnessed him smiling again, and I beamed back at him and finally dared to place my hand on his arm. His body twitched and I reacted in the same way. I was still reserved even if I dared being this close to him now.

"Okay, I see," I decided to respond to him in a simple and understanding way. He looked at my hand that was gently placed on his arm, and he took a deep breath to fill his lungs before he exhaled heavily.

"I just know that I need you," He then said. My heart started thumping against my ribs due to the words that came out of the criminal's mouth. He didn't know what he was feeling himself because he was sick and in a different mind state than normal people.

Presumably, this was only a part of his game and all of this was just an act from his side. I knew that he was manipulative and a great actor, because he was a psychopath. The very definition of an actor.

"Can I ask you if you took your medication today, Brandon?"

"I don't need any god damn medication to know that I need you, Beverly!" Once again I reacted when he raised his voice at me and I removed my hand off his arm and took a step back away from him. The guard walked over to Brandon again but I stopped him before he approached with his hard grip.

"Leave him alone, he's done nothing wrong," I snarled at the hulky man before he took a quick step back from my orders. It was true that Brandon didn't do anything wrong, so it was just unnecessary in my opinion for the guard to make a move against him.

That would probably just make him more frustrated and stressed out. It was so unusual to see him like this, even if I had only known him for a week. I refused to believe that this was just an act from his side.

He was emotional for real and I could see right through it. After this, I almost started to believe that his diagnosis was incorrectly estimated. Because this was something else.

He had strong emotions and I could tell that it was a hundred percent true. But I needed more evidence to prove my point out loud. I knew it would be a hard fight and that it would bring thousands of people against me. Brandon was already stamped as a psychopath, and it would take a lot to get rid of that title after everything he did in his past.

But it was my duty to care for my patients, and if I came to a conclusion like this, it was also my duty to speak out about it. To teach myself, to teach others, and to make a change.