1.
A few days later, Mel was meeting with Patient 1543 for their first session. Over the course of those few days, Mel had met frequently with McCoy and they discussed various treatment options and the probability of their success on 1543. All in all, there was virtually nothing they could do that someone else hadn't tired on 1543 before. It was like working a cold case, but Mel wouldn't give up the case. One, because he wanted to - needed to in some strange way, a form of compulsion - know more about Patient 1543, and also to see if McCoy was really right about his suspicions about 1543.
Mel met Patient 1543 in the same room where they had first met, and as before it was filled with other patients. Mel thought that holding the sessions there might throw 1543 off a little and thus enable Mel to do his job or at least satisfy - to one degree or another - his professional curiosity.
"Hello doctor." 1543 said as Mel sat down in a chair across from him. Mel smiled politely and returned the greeting after he had pulled out the tape recorder and started it.
"Hello. How are you feeling today?" Mel asked as he placed the recorder on the table next to him, then flipped open a medical file folder, one that was filled with blank paper. He pulled out his pen and clicked it ready, and dated the first blank sheet
"I'm good. The food here is a lot better than the previous medical facility." 1543 replied. "And you doctor? How are you?"
Before Mel could answer with the lie he'd been telling all day - Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm fine - 1543 answered for him.
"You haven't been sleeping well over the past few days...You have dreams, sometimes bad dreams...And the fact that you've been dreaming what you have worries you." 1543 said while staring intently into Mel's eyes. Mel tried to keep a straight face, but then 1543 hardened his stare and suddenly an image from the previous night's dream flashed into his mind. It was him butchering his wife with a machete. 1543 smiled as if he could see what the image was.
"Yes that's definitely bad doctor." He said. Mel looked at him and shrugged it off as best as he could.
"So, what can I call you, since I don't know your name or anything about you?" Mel asked as he wrote on the pad (1543 knows I haven't been sleeping well, and that I've been dreaming bad things. How? I haven't told anyone. It seems he only knows these things when he's staring into my eyes. If he can't look into my eyes can he still see these things?) then looked back up to 1543.
1543 smiled as he looked at Mel, and then looked out the window, as if disinterested. "Call me what you already refer to me as; my number is my name." He stated. Mel wrote on the pad some more (He wants be called by his number: 1543. Somehow, he already knows that is what I refer to him as, how? The same way he knows that I haven't been sleeping well? And why the number 1543? Why not any other number?).
"Why do you want me to call you by that number? Why not any other number?" Mel asked, a part of him genuinely curious, another part beginning to be freaked out.
1543 didn't answer at first, in fact he didn't even move. But then he turned to look at Mel. "You should stop asking so many questions." He simply said looking into Mel's eyes.
Mel quickly looked down, away from 1543's gaze and wrote in his notebook some more (Doesn't like me asking questions, why? What is he hiding?) then looked back up at 1543, who was now no longer looking at Mel, but across the room. Mel turned to see who 1543 was looking at and saw it was Devin, who was floor two's security guard in case one of the inmates became out of sorts and attempted to hurt others or him or herself. Devin wasn't armed with a gun; he had a baton, tranquilizers, and mace. Of which he'd only used the tranquilizers before; there never had been a reason for him to use the baton or the mace on anyone, inmate or not. Mel looked back to 1543 in time to see him harden his stare and cock his head to the side. And all too late did Mel realize what 1543 was doing.
"1543 stop it!" Mel urged. 1543 only smiled an insane smile.
"No." He simply said and then it started.
2.
Terry was just coming from a short break in the nurses's station when she came to the main room on floor two. She immediately noticed Mel and 1543; they were in the back of the room, yet 1543 wasn't looking at Mel, he wasn't even looking out the window as he frequently does, but rather he was looking towards her, but not at her.
She saw Mel turn around in his chair. His eyes went wide then he turned swiftly back around to 1543. Terry took one step towards them, confused by what was happening, but then Devin - the security guard for floor two - swung his baton at her. The baton whizzed by her face, missing by a few inches. Terry fell down on to the floor, looking up into eyes that were on Devin's face but did not belong to him, for Devin had remarkable green eyes, but the ones that were on Devin's face were an icy blue, the same as 1543.
Devin then turned and struck one of the patients who had was walking around - a Mr. Thomas Farridy, who was diagnosed with a severe case of acute stress disorder and, more recently, with Alzheimer's - straight in the face with the baton. Blood sprayed out of Thomas's nose like water out of a pressured pipe. Thomas stumbled backwards, but didn't topple over, which was rather remarkable for a man of nearly seventy.
Upon seeing the blood, Devin laughed, an insane, vile laugh. He swung again and this time hit Thomas on the side of the knee. Terry heard the crack of the bones in Thomas's knee. A moment later Thomas was on the floor, screaming in pain, and using colorful language to describe what he thought of Devin.
At this time, Mel raced forward towards Devin only to get the butt end of the baton slammed into his stomach. A blow that actually sent him sliding across the floor for several feet. Terry managed to get up to her feet but Devin struck her on the top of the head with the baton. She was unconscious before she sunk to the floor.
Several other guards came running from the corridor on either side of the room, but Devin seemed to have been prepared for it and struck almost all of them into unconsciousness. Several of them he seriously injured with his baton, and as a result the floor was slick with splotches of dark red blood.
Mel, slowly recovered from the blow that he had received, but by the time he was able to stand Devin had injured five guards, leaving one standing that was a present struggling with Devin, and injured several patients.
As Devin and the other guard were struggling Mel came up behind them with struck Devin on the back of the head with one of the batons as hard as he could. There was some blood that flowed from the wound and Devin sank to his knees, still conscious but foggy. The other guard slammed Devin onto the ground, knocking him unconscious and it was over.
Mel sank slowly into a chair, his heart was thumping in his chest like a jackhammer, and he had blood stains on his white coat. Not his blood, but the blood that was on the floor, from patients and guards alike. He took off the coat and tossed it onto one of the tables nearby.
After a few minutes, Mel was calmed down enough and began to treat some of the injured patients as best as he could. He was giving instructions to one of the nurses on how to splint Mr. Farridy's broken knee, when he felt a cold stare fall on him. He looked around to see 1543 staring at him from across the room, a smile was on his face that was scarily similar to the one Devin had been wearing the entire time of his...outburst of violence. Mel returned 1543's stare, with a stare of his own. 1543 had not moved during the entire incident and in fact, to Mel, he looked entertained and slightly amused.
The staring contest continued for a few moments but then Mel broke the stare and continued to treat the various wounds of the patients and guards.
3.
Terry woke up on the couch in Mel's office. The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt like hell and that there was a gauze bandage on her head. She moaned in mild pain as she sat up slowly. Mel was sitting as his desk and must've heard it for he stood up and walked around to her.
"How bad is it?" He asked as he pulled a chair over to the couch and cat down facing Terry who was now sitting upright on the couch.
"A six out of ten." She replied after thinking for a moment to gauge the level of pain being sensed by her nervous system. Mel nodded as if that was what he was expecting then walked over to a cabinet in his desk and produced two Advil and bottled water. He walked back and handed them to Terry, who took them with gratitude and quickly said thanks. Mel didn't seem to hear it and walked back to his desk where he sat back down in his office chair. He looked ragged - not necessarily in appearance but in his eyes, not to mention to dark bags under his eyes - as if he hadn't been sleeping. But at the same time it looked like stress to her, the stress of having to keep a deep dark secret. She had seen it before in mental patients, and even in a few friends, but never in Mel, he wasn't the secretive type - at least she didn't get that impression, but at the same time she didn't know him as well as others might.
"What's wrong?" Terry asked after she took the Advil with several gulps of water that even though it was room temperature was refreshing.
"I don't know. It's just...him." Mel said as he leaned back a bit in his office chair. Terry looked at him confused, but then understood what he meant.
"You mean 1543?" She asked as she stood up and walked over to the chair on the other side of Mel's desk. Mel nodded, his brow was creased as if in deep thought and his eyes had a distant look to them that Terry didn't especially like.
After a few moments, Mel reached over and picked up his telephone and began dialing the number that McCoy told him to contact if any problem should arise concerning 1543, and well they had a problem alright.
"Who are you calling?" Terry asked.
"McCoy." Mel said moving the receiver away from his mouth a bit as he did. Terry nodded a bit. Soon Mel was talking to McCoy on the phone. Only after two minutes of explaining what had happened Mel hung up.
"He's on his way." He said, Terry nodded, wondering why he needed to come here, but then again she'd find out in a short while.
4.
Doctor McCoy walked into Mel's office nearly half an hour later. Terry was resting on the sofa reading a book, and Mel was reviewing the recording from his first therapy session, making notes on the results, which were largely inconclusive.
McCoy entered without knocking this time. Mel looked up immediately, a part of him always on the lookout for McCoy. When he finally did arrive, Mel was shocked. The last time he had looked like a healthy middle aged gent, but now he looked almost a decade older. His hair was in disarray, and his eyes had an old, weary look to them, there also was deep, large bags under his eyes. To Mel, he looked like a man who hadn't been sleeping well, or been able to get any rest for several days.
"Hey Mel, sorry it took me so long, I've been having a rough day." He said as he wearily plopped himself down on to the chair in front of Mel's office desk.
"No it's fine. All my patients are in recovery from today's...mishap, if you will." Mel said as leaned back in his chair.
McCoy nodded and some movement from Terry caught him off guard and he literally jumped in his chair. Mel couldn't help but smile a little, amused by McCoy's reaction.
"McCoy this is Patient 1543's assigned nurse, Mrs. Terry Lee." Mel said, gesturing towards Terry, who smiled and offered her hand. McCoy shook it gently with a smile.
"Pleased to meet you." He said as he shook her hand. Terry returned the greeting and then they sat around the desk to get to the matter at hand.
"So tell me what happened." McCoy said as he shifted about in his chair until he was comfortable. Terry opened her mouth to tell, but stopped when Mel discretely shook his head, a gesture that went unnoticed by McCoy.
"First I have a question for you McCoy. It's a bit unusual, but I don't think there is anything about 1543 that is not unusual." Mel began, to which McCoy nodded his head as if to say, 'You're blood well right about that.' and then Mel continued. "Was there any cases of violence that seemed to occur without provocation while 1543 was staying at your mental facility?"
McCoy began to chuckle. "You don't really think that 1543 can - " but then the chuckling and the talking stopped when McCoy saw through the expression on Mel's face that he was dead serious.
McCoy stared at the floor for a time. His brow creased and his hands fidgeting in his lap as he thought. It was as if there was a memory but it had been buried under tons and tons of wet cement and now McCoy was trying to dig it up with a shovel. Sweat began to form on his creased brow and still his hands fidgeted. But then after several minutes, the deep through broke and McCoy rose his eyes to look at Mel and Terry, who both were waiting with the upmost patience for a reply.
"Yes, I do recall several incidents of violence at Palmerton while 1543 was staying there, though none of them had any direct relation to him. He was always a calm patient, but something in his eyes always made me feel he could be dangerous when he wished to be, but I never saw him be dangerous." McCoy said his tone reflective, as one might expect someone to speak when looking on events that have long since passed.
Mel nodded his head, and seemed to consider what McCoy had said only moments before. Both Terry and McCoy looked at him with looks of curiosity. Mel didn't pay them any mind yet, for he was deep in his own thoughts, thinking of how to phrase his next statement in such a way that it wouldn't land him on floor two, but this time as a patient than a psychiatrist.
"Today I was having my first session with 1543. I was holding it in the therapy room where all the other patients were, I thought it would throw him off a little. But it didn't work. When I asked about his past or even his name, he began to become very defensive. When he realized I wouldn't stop, he looked at Devin." Mel said, then saw McCoy's look of confusion, so he explained who Devin was and that seemed to clear up the confusion. "And as he was looking at Devin, I thought I knew what he was up to, and I was right; but I was too late and he did whatever he did to Devin. And you both already know what happened because of that."
McCoy looked at Mel with a serious - terrified even - look. Fear was shining in his eyes as clear as the sun shines during a cloudless day. "Do you mean to say that 1543 can make people become insane?" McCoy asked, whispering it, as if the mere question would make it real.
Mel shrugged. But then Terry spoke up. "No I don't think 1543 made Devin lose his marbles. But I think that 1543 was controlling Devin, like a kid controlling a remote control car." She said.
Mel looked at her curiously, but McCoy scoffed at her with his eyes.
"I can't believe that you just said that. You mean that you think 1543 can actually control someone, anyone for the sake of argument?" McCoy asked, bewildered by her statement.
"Yes I do." Terry replied and then told of the change in eye color in Devin with profound detail. And at that McCoy looked at stumped, for he deep down he knew that 1543 was certainly not a normal mental patient that simply had abnormal observation skills. There was something more at work in and around 1543 and McCoy knew it but didn't want to acknowledge it.
"That's not controlling we're talking about now." McCoy said wearily, the saying 'I'm too old for this (insert colorful language here)' coming to mind. He looked into Mel's then Terry's eyes. "We're talking about possession to one degree or another."
Both Terry and Mel nodded soberly. It was a serious thing and if it was as it appeared, having 1543 at Scranton could possibly be the most dangerous things either of them would experience in their entire life.
Suddenly there was a loud bang sound, that was similar to the slamming of a door, but only it was much louder. The sound was almost deafening and made McCoy jump in his chair in general shock and surprise.
"What the hell was that?" McCoy asked from the floor of Mel's office for after jumping in his chair, it toppled over and left him on the floor with the ceiling as his view.
Terry was standing up looking around the office with pure astonishment at the sound. Mel was still sitting in his office chair, looking bewildered.
"I don't know. Let's find out, hu?" Mel said as he got up from his office chair. Terry and McCoy followed him as he left the office.
I'm too old for this (insert colorful language here). McCoy thought as he exited the office after Mel and Terry.