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Insanity's Light
By Ceso
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"Damnit!" I screamed, pounding my fists angrily into my pillow. My life was over was I knew it. I continued to scream into my pillow for a few moments, before allowing heart-wrenching sobs to overtake me.
Pathetic? Maybe.
My name is Aino Minako, and I work as a doctor at 'Shallow Bridges home for the Mentally Ill'. Cute name, in my opinion. Except a little forward. Who wants to go to a place with 'Mentally Ill' as its title.
Well as adorable as I found this place to be mere moments ago, I suddenly found myself hating it.
I had just received a call (which is never good) telling me I was getting transferred. They're sending me to a more remote location, to a place where they send the really mentally ill patients. It was top security, meant to keep even the trickiest of patients in.
Now a transfer like this sounds like a promotion, but in reality, it was what I dreaded most. It would mean moving, and besides, my boyfriend lived here! In town.
"Miiiiinako." Came a disgustingly cheerful voice from my living room. Crap.
I did not feel like entertaining today, but I still forced myself out of bed and into the living room.
"There you are!" The voice laughed, "You look terrible! What's wrong dear?"
I stared into the eyes of my boyfriend, resisting the terrible urge to strangle him. You never tell a person who looks like crap, that they looks like crap!
With an annoyed sigh, I threw myself onto the couch, "I got transferred." I said, muttered.
"That's--- but why?" He asked concerned.
My boyfriend had his times, but he was still a really great guy. His name was Thomas Arnold Fetcher, and worked as a brain surgeon in town. He had an adorable personality and was undoubtedly cute, but he was a bit…. Boring.
"They said Golden Oaks (The name of my new facility) needed more experienced staff."
"Oh."
"Ya." I murmured.
~*~
Golden Oaks looked like a beautiful mansion on the outside, but once you stepped inside, it seemed as though you had stepped into a tight lock security prison.
"Welcome to Golden Oaks, how may I assist you?" Asked a snobby looking secretary at the front desk.
"I'm a new doctor here, I'm supposed to be meeting Doctor Howard actually…"
"Your Doctor Aino?" She asked, looking me up and down.
"Yes." I replied tardily.
"Right this way."
I followed her past a pair of doors that beeped when they shut. The patient's area was very… white. It wasn't what you saw on TV though, every so often, colour would appear, in the form of a foamy picture or a chair.
"Doctor Howard, Doctor Aino is here to see you sir." The secretary said as she stepped into a room.
"Send her in."
I didn't wait for the secretary's nod before stepping inside.
Doctor Howard was an older gentleman, with graying hair and small specks that rested on the tip of his nose. His outfit was very much a doctors.
"Welcome to our Facility Doctor Aino. I have heard great things about you." He said pleasantly, putting away the papers he had been working on.
"Likewise." I said, shaking his hand. For an older man, he certainly had a tight grip.
"Well, I won't bore you with pleasantries, you'll be assigned to unit B. Your schedule is with our secretary; you should get it on your way out. You'll notice your hours are similar to those at Shallow Bridges. We want to make you as comfortable as possible."
"Thank you." I smiled.
Doctor Howard leaned forward gazing sternly at me, "Don't thank me yet. Unit B is one of our toughest units. We wanted to give you something easier to start off with, but your previous boss told us you could take a lot. To be truthful, many people quit after the first day of working with Unit B."
I pursed my lips thoughtfully, "What's in Unit B?"
"Mostly Bipolar, but a few Schizophrenics and MPD's."
"I didn't think Bipolar needed to be hospitalized."
He gave me a weary smile, "These are the heavy Bipolar cases."
"How many nurses?" I asked, knowing the answer wasn't going to be good.
"Three." He sighed regretfully, "Like I said, it's a bad wing."
"Doctors?"
"You're the only doctor in that Unit," He must have noticed my distressed look because he continued, "We plan on hiring more though, so it shouldn't be too long before we have a full staff."
"Great." I sighed heavily.
"Cheer up, I'll show you your unit now, if you'll follow me." He motioned for me to follow as he stepped out the door.
Apparently my unit was one of the most heavily guarded ones. The patients there were notorious for breakouts.
"Ah! Helen!" Doctor Howard exclaimed as they stopped at a woman. The woman was pretty in her own right, but the deep bags under her eyes, and the miserable look in her face ruined it.
"Helen, This is Doctor Aino." He explained, smiling charmingly.
"Hello Doctor Aino." The woman smiled slightly, "Did you see were Buttons went?"
At my confused look, Doctor Howard explained, "Buttons was her cat, he died a few years back." He added the last part as a whisper.
My mouth went into a perfect 'O' before Doctor Howard quickly walked on. The next woman we met had MPS. Apparently she suffered from child abuse as a child and now bore 4 personalities inside her named: July, Brittany, Sally and Ginny.
I met many people, each with their own story. This was the most interesting part of my job, learning how patients received their mental illnesses. I remember once, one of my professors described mental illnesses as this:
If you break your arm, your brain tells you its broken. If you hurt your brain, it is unable to tell you it's broken.
When I thought of having a mental illness, as simply your brain being hurt, it didn't make it so weird.
I suppose I forgot to tell you how I came into this line of work.
It was right after Usagi's battle with Chaos. I remember seeing all those people lying there, and it was then that I decided I wanted to do something more with my life. Ami was ecstatic.
So here I am today, my friends are all off living their lives. Usagi got married to Mamoru (as everyone knew she would) and gave birth to Chibiusa four years ago. Makoto is a head chief at this fancy new restaurant in town, Rei's grandpa passed away, leaving her with the shrine and Ami is a fellow doctor.
"Ah and least but not least…" Doctor Howard said, interrupting my train of thought. I had to admit, Doctor Howard was a pleasant guy to work with.
"Right in here. He's just had his meds so he many be a bit out of it…"
We walked into a room, totally plain with the exception of a bed. On the bed laid a man, who must have been very handsome in his former life. At the moment though, he was gaunt faced, with miserable eyes and a shadowy disposition.
"Good evening Duo. I've brought your new Doctor here to met you." He said smiling as he ushered Minako in the door, "Minako, This is Duo Maxwell. He has Bipolar, one of the worst cases to hit Golden oaks…"
I didn't hear what else Doctor Howard was saying, because at that moment, I had looked Duo straight in the eye. The scariest part was he was looking back. Though his entire body seemed lifeless, his eyes were… different.
I leaned down to his level; vaguely aware that Doctor Howard had stopped talking.
"Hello Duo." I whispered.
Duo opened his mouth to speak, but it seemed like such a struggle to do so. At first he was unable to say anything, struggling with the simplest of words until he finally managed to gasp out, "Hey."
I smiled comfortingly and placed my hand on his. His hands were so cold, yet I didn't want to let go. I felt bad for Duo, having to live his life the way he did. One day he was on top of the world, and the next he was in the dumps.
"He got over the mania stage a few days ago," Doctor Howard told me, "We've given him some meds to help with the depression, so he should be in tip top shape in a few days."
As well as one could be in his case, I thought to myself. It scared me to think that anyone could become like the people I worked with.
"I'll see you later Duo." I murmured, giving his hand one extra squeeze before standing up.
As I walked out of the room, I was aware of the pair of dead eyes watching my exit.
"Well Doctor Aino, how do you like your unit?" He asked as we made our way back to his office.
I smiled jokingly, "Give me a week, and then ask me again."
Doctor Howard smiled as we reached his office, "Well I'll see you tomorrow then, don't forget to pick up your schedule."
I nodded a farewell, and then walked out the thick doors. Stopping in front of the desk, I glanced at the secretary, "I'm supposed to pick up my schedule here?"
"Yes ma'am, here you are." She said giving me the folder. I nodded and took it, but as I was about to leave, the secretary suddenly giggled.
"What?" I asked offhandedly, rifling through my papers.
"I heard you got unit B?"
I give her an odd look, "You heard correctly, what's so funny?"
"That means you got him."
"Who?" I asked, getting slightly irritated.
"Duo." She giggled once more.
"What about him?" I asked, placing my hand on my hip.
"I thought you met him?"
"He was on his meds when I walked in, now tell me what's so funny?" I asked once more, slowly losing my patience.
"Oh Duo is a rather frisky one…" Another giggle.
"Frisky?" I asked raising an eyebrow. It was hard to believe someone so dead looking could be described as frisky. But then, he was on his meds when I saw him.
"Oh yes, he's quiet the man once he has the mind to be."
I thought that was a silly way to describe it, but let it go with a casual flick of my wrist, before walking out.
Tomorrow would be my first real day at Golden Oaks, and although I still wasn't too happy about the move, I couldn't help but feel slightly excited about tomorrow's activities.
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Hey guys! Lol as you can probably tell, I was in Psychology when I thought this one up. For anyone who doesn't know or is curious, I've put definitions at the bottom…
Bipolar Disorder (aka Maniac Depressive illness) – A disorder of affect or mood. It is characterized by extreme mood swings. The mood swings are episodic – in between episodes the person is usually completely well. Mania is the highest point of Bipolar. It is when activity and thought speed up, there is less need to sleep, mood is high and self conscious, with a sense of well being.
Schizophrenia – A brain disease, the result of physical and biochemical changes in the brain. Symptoms of Schizophrenia include disordered thinking, delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, changes in emotions and behavior. (Not split personality)
MPD (aka Multiple Personality Disorder OR Dissociate Identity Disorder) – The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about the environment and self)
Okay, the definition of Bipolar was shortened, but that's because it has such a long definition and it's pretty complex.
The illness I mentioned in this story are not usually hospitalized today, as we have a wide variety of medication to help them live healthy normal lives, but for the sake of the story I have placed them in hospitals.
Also, I apologize to anyone who was offended by the contents of this story.