Jinx Unchained

Chapter Nine

QUICK AUTHOR'S NOTE: Due to the size of this chapter, I broke it up into two parts. So you're getting chapter nine and chapter ten today. If you somehow wind up on chapter ten first, go read chapter nine first, otherwise it will make NO sense whatsoever. 😊

Treatment logbook. Doctor: Sarah Morichi. Patient: Jinx.

Day Eighteen

I had to make a difficult decision today, which was whether to leave Jinx on the drug or take her off of it again. While it's nice to have her lucid and actually answering my questions, she also becomes highly depressed and morose about everything she's done, and though it's good therapy for her to come to grips with her actions, it really doesn't further my study on her mental state. We're coming up on three weeks since we began, and the most I can say is that she likely suffers from paranoia and disassociation, but that's not really much of a diagnosis. I certainly can't take that to the Council and expect them to grant any other kind of special treatment for her. If this is all I can produce, it seems a certainty her trial will just continue, and she'll be sentenced to death. Still, despite all that, I decided to leave her on the drugs for a few more days. If nothing else, she deserves some peace if these turn out to be her final days...

Day Twenty-One

After two pretty much useless days with Jinx, at least where diagnosing her was concerned, I reported to the Council again today. They were less than thrilled to hear I am really still not making any progress. Though I had warned them this could take weeks, months, or even years, the Council had clearly only paid attention to the part where I said 'weeks.'

Lord Kiramman bade me continue, but he pulled me aside after our meeting and said that if I didn't produce something tangible within the next two weeks or so, the more hawkish members of his Council would demand Jinx's trial be resumed, with the girl to face her sentencing soon after. Though I understand the Council's desire for measurable progress, it is not something that is easy to deliver when it comes to issues of the mind. The reality is that while I have read a lot about mental illness, I simply have no experience treating it. Two weeks from now, I may just be stuck in the same spot as I am now.

Day Twenty-Three

Vi came to visit again, and she and her sister talked for a little while about nothing of any consequence. Afterwards, I asked Vi to please direct Jinx into areas that will help me diagnose her, but as soon as I did so, Vi turned incredibly morose, saying she doesn't want her sister to suffer like that. I explained to her that unless we can come up with something, her sister is just going to be sent back to trial, but it didn't seem to sway her much. I can sort of understand her reluctance. For the first time in a long time, Vi is able to have a somewhat normal conversation with her sister. To her, this is probably already as good as it's going to get, and she doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.

After Vi left, I had Jinx taken off the medication again. She seemed decidedly unhappy about my decision, but when I explained to her that unless we made some progress, the Council would just abort her treatments and likely sentence her to death, she seemed a little more amicable. Since we're running out of time, I've ordered a cold turkey withdrawal, rather than the phased three-day withdrawal we did the first time. I am extremely sorry for inflicting this on her, but we need to start making some progress.

Day Twenty-Five

Now that she's off the drugs again, I couldn't get much of anything out of Jinx yesterday, and today seemed no different, until Caitlyn allowed Martin to come visit. True to Vi's words, he had requested the visit himself, and since—by Caitlyn's own words—he's been a model prisoner, she granted the request.