I walk into the Doctor's office to greet him, he had sent me a message last night asking me to come in and speak with him. The doctor was at his desk when I arrived, he seemed lost in thought. He heard the door open and he looked up and noticed I had entered the room, he didn't speak, and he just waited for me to speak.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, please take a seat." The doctor waited for me to sit down, his whole focus was on me.
I felt a bit intimated with his stare towards me, however, I couldn't help but notice that he was a handsome man.
The doctor noticed I was eyeing him, and he seemed to smile at it. Then he quickly switched back to a very emotionless demeanor, it was almost like he caught himself smiling and felt like he had to be professional. It was quite endearing."I have a question for you."
"Yes sir?"
"I feel as though something you're doing in that office is causing a connection between you and one of my more problematic patients, the one who goes by the name of Archer Williams. You're bringing out qualities in him that I've never seen before, and I wish to know what exactly you are doing to cause this."
I chuckled a bit. "If you a concerned about me catching feelings for him, you have no reason to be. I am simply just trying to find ways to connect with him so he can feel comfortable talking with me."
The doctor nodded his head. He thought about what I said and after a few seconds, he spoke."I see, it's good that you aren't taking any sort of liking to him, however, I want to make sure you understand that you are handling a very dangerous patient. Be careful how you deal with him, he is very manipulative and I believe he hasn't shown you his true character just yet."
I was shocked, he has never shown any genuine concern for me since I started working here. "Are you worried about me?"
The doctor froze for a second, he seemed surprised by my question and he stared at me with widened eyes. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, in this place, care is never shown towards the employees. But he had grown a bit of a soft spot for me.He didn't answer right away, he just stared at me for a moment before answering. "Yes."
I smiled. "How sweet."
There was a moment of silence after my statement before the doctor spoke again. "And I still would like you to be more careful around him, he is a manipulator and a murderer. If he catches you off guard, you could find yourself in a very bad situation."
"I understand." After my statement, I went to my office to see Archer sitting at my desk.
He didn't really expect me to be there yet, and when I walked in, he looked up at me and stared. "Are you just staring at me?" His tone was blunt but I had to admit it was quite entertaining, the two of us just making eye contact without saying anything was quite funny.
I raised my eyebrow. "And are you just sitting in my seat?"
"Yes." He spoke with the same bluntness as before. "It's very comfortable and it has a nice vantage point, your desk has the perfect angle of being able to see the door." He was looking away now but he still didn't seem to get off the seat.
"I see. May I have my seat back?" I asked, politely.
"Why should I give you your seat back? It's much more comfortable here." His tone was blunt, almost playful.
"I see." I sat in the seat across from him. "Very well then."
"So, I have a question." He said after a moment of silence.
"Yes?"
"What would happen if I refused to give your seat back? Would you just force me to get off?" He said with a somewhat childish smirk on his face, he was teasing me.
"I guess I would have to order the doctors to strap you to my seat since you like it so much," I said in a teasing tone back.
That gave him a bit of a chuckle. "And if they did would you just stand there and watch? Or would you try to pull me off? I would fight you if you tried." He continued to tease me.
"I would watch."
He had a playful and almost childish smirk on his face as he continued to speak in the same teasing tone. "Would it be entertaining to watch me get strapped down to your seat and then watch as you sit on top of me? Maybe that's why you want me to keep this seat so bad. So you can watch as I struggle?"
"Oh calm yourself, I would never sit on a patient." I laughed.
His smile became a bit wider then he spoke again. "No? Not even me? How come? I have the most perfect and most gorgeous face in this entire psychiatric facility." He was still kidding but I would swear his ego got the best of him sometimes.
"Because I am your psychiatrist, Not a playmate."
"So you see me as a patient, nothing more?" He said quite innocently. He was looking directly into my eyes with those piercing white eyes of his. "Is it wrong of me to get the feeling like you see me as more than a patient sometimes though?"
"No. However, we are not here to talk about that. Tell me, where are you from Archer?" I asked, attempting to change the subject.
He seemed to grow a bit frustrated that I changed the subject and he seemed to get a bit pouty."I was born in a small town not too far from here, and my family is from the same area. Is that all you'd like to know? Where are you from?"
"I am from Bristol."
"Bristol? That's quite far from here." He sat there for a moment before adding."How'd you end up here so far away from home?"
"I needed a change in scenery," I said in a calming tone.
His expression grew a little more serious, suddenly I could feel something shift in his body language. It was like a flip switch on."How were things back in Bristol?"
"Boring. Why the sudden shift in your body?"
He paused for a moment before he spoke, it was like he was holding his breath but he didn't say anything. The shift in his body was quite dramatic, his tone became extremely serious and his facial features were now almost completely blank. The only thing he spoke was a single word. "Boring?"
"Yes. Boring."
His whole body was like a statue now, his face was emotionless and blank. The only difference was the way he was staring at me. It was like he was looking at you right through me. The whole environment seemed to change, it was almost as if his mere presence was causing the whole room to turn somber.His eyes almost looked as if they were staring through a mirror into my own soul. He spoke again, but it was so much more serious than anything he'd ever spoken before, he was completely monotone and his tone was very harsh. "Boring?"
"Yes. How many times are we going to repeat this same word?"
"I want you to elaborate." He said in the same harsh tone. His body was still like a statue, but the whole room felt heavy. It was almost as if he was making sure I knew that you didn't make him laugh or smile ever again like I did before. As he got more serious the whole room seemed to turn a darker shade, like when the sun went down.He stared me down and I could almost see the anger and sadness in his eyes.
"And I wanted to know why your body shifted, but you did not answer that. So why should I provide you an answer?"
"The simple answer is that you made me angry." He said rather softly. There was no anger in his voice or face, he said it with coldness and seriousness."I was fine when we were joking around earlier but that 'boredom' of yours struck a chord in me. Are you just going to keep dismissing my questions?"
"I am your shrink, it's my job to ask questions and get to know you. If you don't like it, you could always ask for a different shrink." I stated, coldly.
"Is that what you think? That I dislike talking to you? That's not true." His tone became sharper, I could sense his rage building inside of him. "I don't dislike talking to you, I dislike *what* we're talking about. It reminds me of horrible memories that I choose to avoid thinking about. I was having a fun time just minutes ago, what caused this sudden change?"
"So me asking you where you were from, brought up memories?"
He paused for a moment and I could feel the tension in the air. Then he finally spoke."Yes. They did, very horrible memories."
"Tell me about them."
"Do you really want to hear about them?" He asked me, his tone shifting again. He said it in quite a different and kinder tone than before.
"Yes."
He sighed and sat back in his seat. "You have to promise me one thing before I tell you though. You can't tell a single soul whatever I'm going to say to you."
"I promise."
He then sat there for a moment as if he was gathering his thoughts. When he finally spoke his tone was blunt but he spoke at a much faster pace."Okay. I grew up in a not-so-well-off neighborhood, my home life was never the best. I never had the best relationship with my parents and my siblings. My mom was emotionally abusive to me and my siblings and my dad was never home very much. When they did argue I had to try and break it up which was probably a bad decision because my parents always took that out on me later."
"What happened to your siblings after your parents died?"
"They went down different paths...They all had their own problems from growing up in that household. They each dealt with their traumas in different ways. My older brother became a heavy drug addict, my younger sister became very mentally unstable. To be frank everyone in my family was messed up in their own individual way."
"Unique."
"Yes, in their own ways, each of them was quite unique when it came to their trauma. Each of them was a mess in their own way."
"You speak of them in past tense, are they dead?"
"No." He spoke with a flat voice when he answered. "They're still alive, I just don't talk or associate with them much anymore. I try and keep my distance, they all remind me of what I went through. They all trigger me, so it's best if I keep my distance."
"I see." I start to write down my notes.
Archer watched me for a moment before he asked me a question. "Do you write down *everything* I tell you? It feels like you're writing a book about me."
"I write down what stands out to me," I explained.
"So what is it that stood out about that? The fact that I grew up in a dysfunctional family? The fact that I suffered from abuse? What is it that made you write it down?"
"Yes. it definitely contributes to the person who you are today."
"So you think I'm a mess then?" He said with slight irritation in his tone. I could tell he didn't like getting called out, although I had to admit that he was right. I was writing down exactly what he was saying and it was most likely going to be used to make a psychological profile of him.
"Did I say you were a mess?"
"No, you didn't say those exact words, but you made it pretty obvious."
"Do you remember what I told you on the first day?"
"What exactly are you referring to? You've said quite a bit."
I laughed. "I told you I didn't want to fix you, but to try and understand you. That is why I write down what stands out to me."
"So basically you're saying that I have a lot of problems then?" He was trying to be a little more playful with this comment but I could tell it had an underlining of anger underneath it.
"You are in a psych ward for murdering, of course, you have a lot of problems." I laughed. "However, no that is not what I am saying."
"Then care to explain what you mean?" He said in an almost mocking tone, I could tell his patience and ego were taking a hit from my answers.
"You love to argue don't you?"
"I do." He said immediately with no hesitation. He had a slight smirk on his face and while it was hard to tell with his tone of voice and his cold blank expression, I could tell he was enjoying this.
"I hope you have enjoyed your fun, however, our time is now up, I will see you tomorrow," I stated with a smirk. I have the doctors come in remove him from my seat and strap him back to his.
He sat there silently, he had never felt like such an idiot. He had been outplayed in every aspect of this conversation. He was trying not to show how much his ego was being bruised and his anger was rising. He let out a sigh and let the doctors take him away. He'd come up with a plan to really make me see his bad side tomorrow, it was the only way he could save his ego now.