psychotic. [c.h]

chapter one.

'i promise, darling, someone will love you.'

[ clara diez ]

"and you're sure you can take him? he's extremely dangerous, clara." the guard gave the girl a nervous glance.

clara gave nothing more than a noncommittal shrug in response. she really didn't want to engage in conversation with this guard, she had somewhere to be.

and that somewhere was a therapy session.

clara was somewhat of a prodigy. she was well known in the world of psychiatry, they'd never seen someone so young do so well in their field.

"i'll be fine, but as you know, i have work to do. open the door and get back to whatever you were doing." she spoke with almost no emotion.

she learned to perfect the absence of feelingly a while ago.

the unneccassary fluorescent lighting of the room was the first thing she noticed. it gave the room an eerie yellow glow.

the second was the dark haired man sitting at the table.

his hands were crossed in front of him, bound together by chains that he could no doubt break, if he wanted to. he was oddly relaxed, given their current environment.

his eyes turned slowly to the door as clara walked into the cell, following her every move. it was almost like he was waiting for something, hoping for something.

"clara diez. aged 21. born in london, moved to new york aged 8. studied at harvard for a year, dropped out because the course was too easy." he spoke without breaking eye contact.

"impressive," clara sat opposite him, raising her eyebrows, "but we're not here to talk about me, hood."

"don't you want to know how i know all of that? aren't you confused? scared?"

"please," she scoffed, "it's not that difficult to do a background check when you're a world-famous criminal."

the room went silent.

calum appeared to be lost in thought, his eyes slightly unfocused. he slowly brought his hand up to his head, and ran it thorough his thick hair.

"what do you know about me? i'm sure you've read my file, clara diez. so tell me, what did you learn?" he leaned forwards towards the girl.

clara stayed calm. sure, she didn't like the fact he was so close to her, but she wasn't going to act scared.

he lives off that stuff.

"i didn't read your file, hood. i know what you're in here for, your name, your age, and your hometown. that's common knowledge."

the criminal appeared to be taken aback. he'd had countless therapists before clara, and all of them had done their research on him. they knew almost everything about him, before they'd even met him. he hated it.

honestly, he thought clara was stupid to not read up on him. he was dangerous. they had at least fifty guards watching him at all times, for god's sake.

"how naïve, darling. you really should've read my file. oh well, it's too late now." he shrugged, "i understand you're not allowed to leave this room until the session's over, unless there's an emergency. that means you're not allowed to leave for three hours."

clara wasn't aware of that rule. they'd told her she was to talk to him, to try and get him to see sense, not that she would be stuck in a room with him for three hours with no way out.

"three hours, clara. do you think you'll be able to stay sane for that long? three hours is plenty of time to loose your mind." calum grinned across the table.

he noticed how confused clara was, and he revelled in it.

clara sensed his advantage. he was trying to put her off, scare her away.

so she did the same.

"calum, do you think you're sick? in the head? in the heart?"

calum had never been asked this before. usually, people just told him that he was sick. mad. crazy. insane. manic. psychotic.

"i'm not sick. i don't need to be diagnosed. there's nothing wrong with me." he insisted.

"and i'm not saying there is, calum."

her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she reached down to check it.

dread filled her when she saw the notification.

"shit." she cursed under her breath. "i'm sorry, calum, i'm going to have to cut this session short. would you like me to come back, or should i tell them to call someone else?"

he shrugged. "why're you leaving, darling? scared?"

she glared over her shoulder as she reached the door.

"i'm not scared of you, hood. and in answer to your question, that doesn't concern you."

the criminal watched the therapist leave, with one thing on his mind.

he wanted to find out why she looked so scared when she read that message.

and when calum wants something, he gets it.