destiny || m.c

III

robyn wiped the tears from her eyes as she hurried down the hallway after locking calum's door after herself. she abhorred seeing him like that and she despised herself for treating him that way, but dr irwin had told her that it was the only way it would stop him from becoming that... that monster again.

she hated thinking about that time. every time it would come to mind she would shove the thoughts away. even the thought of it would push the breath out of her lungs.

she had to ignore that now, she had to focus on her patient. he needed some help and some company. but when she got to michael's room, he wasn't there. robyn's already wildly beating heart doubled it's speed and she started panicking, breathing quickly and whirling around to try and see where he'd gone.

"michael?" there was no chance he had got out, you could only open the door from outside. so had someone let him out? had he made someone unlock the door? had she left it open when she left to go and see calum?

"i saw dr irwin take him out of there about twenty minutes ago." rachel, calum's nurse, noticed robyn staring into michael's room powerlessly and decided to help.

"thanks, rachel, do you know where they went?" robyn asked hopefully.

she nodded. "interview room 27." she pointed down the hall where the 'interview' rooms were situated. the truth is, the hospital called them 'interview' rooms, but these 'interviews' were more like interrogations. sometimes the doctors could really scare the patients - or worse. but dr irwin wasn't like that, he was much friendlier, and created a system of mutual trust with the patients.

despite that reassurance, robyn ran down the hall to the interview rooms and, without hesitation, knocked on the door marked 27 more times than is polite.

she heard dr irwin's voice, calm and collected, float through the door. "come in."

robyn threw the door open, and let a deep sense of relief wash over her as she saw michael, with a healthy physical appearance, sitting calmly in his seat.

well, as calm as he could look while hunched over in his chair, clutching the book tightly to his chest as other doctors watched his hands like halks, trying to seize any opportunity they could to take the book away.

but robyn knew the boy was never going to give that book up. not when he didn't trust a single person in this hospital. and why should he? they certainly didn't trust him.

"ah, robyn, how nice of you to join us. we were just talking about this book." dr irwin gave her a desperate look. she was his last option.

robyn nodded, and took a seat next to the curly haired doctor. she sighed, watching michael carefully to see if he would show any emotion. he just watched her back, tenacious, his eyes staring right into hers.

"hello, michael." robyn nodded to the boy, and shuffled through the sheets in front of dr irwin to see if they held any information she didn't already know.

"robyn." he echoed her nod, his tone monotonous as he greeted her back.

"could you give us any information about the book you hold in your hand? you told me it was 'your' story, but you didn't write it. what do you mean when you say it's yours?" she asked and offered him a kind smile. it had no effect.

he shook his head. "i can't. it's not written that way."

robyn shot a questioning sideways glance to dr irwin, but he just shook his head with a shrug. she sighed. "what's not written that way? the book? does it hold information about the asylum?"

michael snorted, a derisive sound that held some sort of harsh amusement. "not just the asylum. it holds information about everything."

robyn didn't even bother hiding her glance to dr irwin this time, her gaze held all kinds of confusion as she stared at him questioningly.

"michael, what exactly do you mean by that?" dr irwin said robyn's patient's name in a sort of forceful tone, he was starting to grow irritated. robyn could understand his reasons for this, he had tried countless methods countless times to get the book from the blue-haired boy, but each and every time he had failed.

"i can't say, but if you would listen to me and put each of my answers together and measure them against each other, you would probably figure it out, doctor." michael emphasised dr irwin's title, as if saying he didn't live up to the position of 'doctor'; he was supposed to be smart, to be able to figure out what things were from clues, even subtle ones.

this contempt planted doubts in robyn's mind, things she would never be able to voice out loud. would dr irwin be able to help her with michael? would he be able to aid her in fixing him, in getting him out of this place?

but of course he would, there was no room for doubt now. robyn forced a smile on her face, a smile that held irritation, anger, impatience, but also hope, determination, optimism. there was no way robyn would let michael sink into the depths of this dark, grey, dismal building.

"mr clifford, we are here to help you, and we are definitely not here to give up on you. since you seem to know so much about this place and about me, things no other human would be able to know, like my unexpressed feelings and my unspoken thoughts, you must know how unbelievably unwavering my determination is to get you out of this building, and you must know that there is no course of action that will lead to us not getting our hands on that book and our eyes not seeing the words written on the pages inside it. i will see you at six o'clock this evening and by then i hope you will have changed your mind and will let us read your story." robyn was angry, there was no doubt about that, but she made her best attempt to hide it as she stood up and walked out of the room.

she wasn't exactly sure why she was angry, and as she walked down the dark, dirty hallway she thought over the events of the day. but thinking about calum made tears come to her eyes again, and she wiped the away, more anger rising up inside her.

she realised then that she was angry at herself, but before she had time to figure out why, a hand wrapped around her waist from behind and a cloth was forced upon her mouth. her eyes went wide and she struggled against the arms, but her struggles became slowly weaker, her eyelids drooped and her vision blurred out of focus.