Psycho

Day 7

After mine and Mary's encounter yesterday, she never popped back in. Not that I cared, it just seemed odd since she was supposed to be evaluating me. I paid no attention to the knock on my door, just staring up at the ceiling as I lay in bed similarly to when I was locked in my room at Jason's. I found I was just losing my ability to care about anything since it didn't seem to matter to anyone; I'm crazy and my thoughts are "wrong".

"Hello, Katie. How are you doing today?" I recognized Mary's voice.

I turned my head towards her. "Are you evaluating me now?"

"Yes, I told you yesterday..."

"I know what you told me yesterday. I have Stockholm Syndrome, not Amnestic Syndrome," I interrupted her, not needing a recap of yesterday. I looked away and murmured, "Supposedly, at least."

Mary took a moment to probably think of what to say next. "Well...you may know a lot from being a psychologist, but you never worked in a mental hospital. You were being evaluated yesterday, you just didn't realize it."

I furrowed my eyebrows and sat up now. "Wha...when?"

"Throughout the day-when we first met, when nurses came in to check on you or give you food-everything is reported back to me so I know how you're doing all day without having to constantly come in here and check myself," she explained smugly.

I rolled my eyes at her pride. "If that's supposed to scare me, it's not working. I'm not mentally ill, not even when you're gone."

"Well, that's what I'm here to determine. So...let's just chat."

I raised an eyebrow at her, now understanding why a lot of my patients would get annoyed or short tempered with me. It's different on the other end, everyone treating you like you're fragile and can break at any moment. "About Jason?" I guessed.

Mary pulled out the chair on the other end of the room by the table. "If you'd like. Unless there's something else you would like to discuss."

"I'd like to see what you propose, since the whole reason I'm here is because I have some...weird and unhealthy obsession with Jason," I tilted my head, finding it hard to not have a hint of sarcasm to my tone.

I could tell Mary was losing her patience, but I'm sure she's dealt with worse than me. "How about...yourself. You life, your childhood, your family. Anything about you," she suggested.

"I'm sure most of it is in your file, there's not much to me. I'm an only child, parents really pushed me towards school so I finished early, and then I became a psychologist," I summed it up.

"I met your parents, you're very fortunate to have so much support from not only one parent, but two."

I chuckled. "They've never paid this much attention to me...I think part of the reason they pushed me with school so much was just to get me out on my own."

Mary now gave a look of interest as she tried breaking me down. It was quite interesting actually to watch her reactions to me. "And how did that affect you growing up?"

"I felt lonely," I answered simply, purposely not giving detail.

"And what about now? As an adult?" she leaned forward in her chair.

"Well forced isolation doesn't help," I played a little, giving my own smug grin to her now. Mary watched me intently now, and I just stared back. What all of these nurses and doctors keep forgetting is that I was a psychologist, and my job was picking people's minds and breaking them down from their words and actions. That hasn't changed. "I know you're trying to figure me out, what the source of my emotions could be, why I feel and think the way I do...but I can do the same thing with you."

Mary raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh really?" she challenged.

I nodded. "Yeah...being a psychologist myself, I know why most people become psychologists. Something in their life lacks, nothing interesting happens and their bored. So since nothing in their own life goes on, they become interested in others, and that's where the curiosity and digging comes from. You're no different," I explained, standing up and slowly making my way over to her. "Your interest in my parents specifically, rather than how I was treated by past peers, school, or even traumatic events, gives me the impression that you were lacking in the parent department." Mary now had an expression of nervousness, gulping as I leaned down to her level. "I know because I had the same approach with Jason and his family life, along with my other patients as well."

Mary was at a loss for words, and I knew I was getting to her. So I continued to push to let her know I wouldn't be pushed. "So, what was it? Divorce? Abuse? Absent parent?" I listed slowly to see what she would react to the most. It was the last one where her eyes shifted off and her breathing increased. I grinned, "Absent parent. So, which was it? Mom or dad?" I asked.

"This is inappropriate to discuss," she finally spoke.

Her reaction was more difficult to read, but I had an idea. "It was both, wasn't it! You didn't have either of your parents!"

"Katie..."

"You're just as alone as I am...an orphan even, since you show no signs of having anyone by your side. Childhood abandonment, and no one to help you through it. You didn't have parental support, so as soon as you see I have two parents you assume I had a great life and become envious, is that correct?"

There was a split second where Mary looked as if she would break, but she composed herself with a stern look. "You are not the psychologist anymore, Miss. Hartford," she said, standing up. "I'm evaluating you, and you're on the other end." She had a bit of a warning tone when she spoke, almost as if she were threatening me. "This session is over now," she concluded, walking away and out of the room.

I let out a breath, making my way back to the bed and just falling back. I never really thought about having an advantage, but this made me realize that having my psychologist experience would actually help me in the way that if another doctor tried breaking me down, I could do the same thing to them. I mean, isn't that proof that my mind still works just the same as before?

Writing this chapter was fun because I got to play with Katie's psychologist thinking. I'm curious if you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it, thoughts?

Luv ya!