The Birdcage

Keeps The Doctor Away

"Doctor Montgomery! Doctor Montgomery!" Nyx hurried to catch up to Doctor Montgomery in the hallway, followed closely by Ronnie, Perry and Jayson.

"Oh, hello." Montgomery said distractedly, seemingly caught off guard by her keen attitude. Taking in her wide smile, he raised a questioning brow.

"Doctor Montgomery, is my session with you today?"

"Too eager, dial it back." Jayson mouthed, positioned behind Montgomery's shoulder in the corridor.

"You're with me today, Dearie." Doctor Hannan emerged from her office with a smile. She was the epitome of sunshine and rainbows today, an impossibly sweet classic rosebud with her perfectly primped strawberry blonde hair, pink sundress and signature red heels.

Internally reluctant, Nyx turned back to Montgomery and set about lying through her teeth. "Oh... It's just... I thought we were getting on really well last time... and there's something worrying me I was hoping I could talk to you about. And... It's really not fair that I keep getting shunted about!" She stomped her foot for emphasis, stroppily crossing her arms. "I don't know who I have when and it's really confusing...!"

"Alright, alright!" Montgomery soothed, seeing she was working herself up into a state. He turned to Doctor Hannan. "I'm sure we can trade for this one session, Jean, if you don't mind."

"Sure." Doctor Hannan said flatly, wearing an expression that said she was none too pleased by this development; her lips pressed into a thin line and her eyes stern and cold, arms crossed over her chest. And then she seemed to recover herself, blinking and putting on a cheerful smile. "And please, call me Jeanie."

"Good, good." Montgomery nodded, clearly not paying attention beyond the information he required. "Come this way then." He gestured for Nyx to follow.

As they retreated into his office, Doctor Hannan turned to Jayson. "Are you in my next session?"

"No ma'am." Jayson replied quickly, ducking away from her sharp gaze that clearly said 'Then get out.'

***

It was partway through Nyx's spiel of made-up teenage drama to justify her being there that the shouting started outside.
Doctor Montgomery, who'd been growing visibly more irate at the absolutely meaningless drivel Nyx had been feeding him leapt up from behind his desk as an orderly rushed to the door, the Doctor moving to pull it open as the man knocked.

"What's going on?"

"There's a fight in the hallway outside."

"Again?" Montgomery exclaimed in exasperation. "Who is it this time?"

Nyx forced herself to suppress an smirk. She knew exactly who it was; Jayson and Perry had agreed to stage an argument for the purpose of luring the good doctor from his room.
And it seemed to work. Seemingly forgetting about her for the moment, Doctor Montgomery raced off with the orderly to break up the disagreement.

Instantly Nyx leapt to her feet- she only had a few minutes, if that. A quick glance over his desktop proved nothing of immediate interest, so she began pulling open the draws and carefully sifting through the contents. Mostly stationery and a few scrawled notes- the official patient notes were kept filed elsewhere for safekeeping, to be brought out when necessary for an appointment- she also found a wallet and flask that upon opening and taking a sniff was revealed to definitely contain alcohol. As she returned it, she glimpsed something metallic and cylindrical tucked at the back; it rolled noisily as she pulled the drawer and Nyx glimpsed curious markings on it in the half-shadow inside.

Putting her hand into the draw, she tried to reach over the piled contents to get to it, but jogged the table in the process. The picture of Doctor Montgomery and his wife wobbled and fell, colliding with the silver crucifix beside it and knocking it off the desk.

Reaching out, Nyx caught it mid-fall- and the world blurred and faded into mist.