No Such Thing

Prologue

 

It started out as volunteer work, something she had never been fond of, but it looked pretty damn good on a college application. In high school it was the small stuff; handing the elderly breakfast, giving the homeless blankets. This continued until college, where she actually found an interest in the practice, and expressed her feelings to an English professor her sophomore year. He guaranteed her that there would be little to no pay in any occupation involving community service because the very point of it all was to gain emotionally, not physically. Janet was one for helping others but there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she needed to do something for a living, not just for an emotional gain. He offered her the option of a Psychologist, who he described as “a doctor without needles.” She had looked into it, but decided there was no way she could afford the education to become anything close. No wonder their salary was so high, they needed to pay back every last cent they borrowed in med school.

 

A year or so after she graduated she got a job as a disability nurse all because of some paper she wrote in community college. The Dean of Medicine said he found it “so moving and inspirational” that he wanted to offer her a place at the hospital the minute she left campus. Janet's been grateful ever since, but the spot only offered so much money. Still, he had promised to pay so much of her expenses she'd be a fool to turn it down.

 

She loved the insane.

 

It was a sick, embarrassing fact she had come to realize within seconds of her training. Her profound love of helping the weak had always and continues to live on, but the very sight of a sick and trembling man with no sense left in him to even blink made her tingle. The mere thought of a woman clawing her way through her cell gave her this vivid feeling nothing else could compare. It was something she had considered a mental issue of it's own, but she yearned to be near the ill, not classified as one of them. Inevitable, she continued with her often dangerous occupation despite her parents wishes. She went from trainee to trainer in a matter of months, and the Dean had grown impeccably fond of her. Slips of a raise here, some extra benefits there. She was miles away from her family, and had no real friends besides the nurses at the institution, but even then they were meager acquaintances to her. As lonely as may have felt for anyone else, she felt so at home.

 

Seasons changed and years passed, until finally she was crowned head nurse at Carson Psychiatric Hospital.

 

Patients came and left on a daily basis. Some stayed longer than they should have, others who easily needed more help were often let go, but there were five who stood out to her. Five that could have been miles from the hospital, but never more than an in inch away from her mind.