Title: METALLIC TASTE
Rating: Mature
Pairing: England x S. Italy
Summary: AU. Arthur Kirkland was a new doctor at WW Hospital, Behavioral Unit. Behavioral Unit was a nice euphemism for the ward of the mentally unfit individuals of society. The doctor's first case was one of the most problematic patients, Lovino Vargas.
The First Taste
Arthur Kirkland, a young English bachelor who chose to become a psychiatrist. As of the moment, he was heading to the annex of WW Hospital. The annex was the Behavioral Unit.
The area was a good ten miles away from the main hospital and was an isolated place of about 32 acres. Majority of the area was filled with lush greenery.
'A classic mental institution…' The Brit thought as he saw the metal gates swing open when the identities of Arthur and the driver were confirmed.
Five days ago, Arthur Kirkland had received the approval for his residency at the Behavioral Unit. The doctor had taken up psychiatry as his specialization. After a year of general practice residency at the main hospital, he was granted the residency at the Behavioral Unit.
The driver stepped on the brakes once it had pulled over the curve. "We have arrived sir."
"Thank you." Arthur said and disembarked on the vehicle.
A grovel path laid beneath the man and he trudged to the double door entrance. There was an orderly waiting with a slightly annoyed face.
"Yo, doctor. Sorry if none of the other doctors could see to you as of the moment." The orderly said with a mocking voice. "They said that they are kind of tight right now dealing with a patient. I'm in-charge of showing you to your office."
The orderly had a platinum or white hair depending on the lighting. As they walked further down the hallway of the first floor, Arthur had noticed something peculiar. In contrast to the other orderlies who had the normal cut for the sleeves, he wore long sleeves. The new doctor had also noticed the crimson-like shade of the man's eyes.
'Is he an albino?' Arthur deduced from the physical appearance of the orderly and the fact that he was wearing long sleeves when in fact it was quite humid that particular day. 'Well whatever…'
The Brit wanted to shake off the possibility of the other being an albino but as an individual he was interested because it was his first time to meet someone with the condition first hand.
'It's not an everyday occurrence that you get to meet an albino.'
Thoughts aside, Arthur took note of the inner architecture of the building. The first floor was barren of any presence of patients. Apparently, the entire floor was the receiving area for the patients' visitors and it also served as the offices of doctors.
A gated stairway connected the first floor to the second floor. The gate could only be opened by keycards and authorized fingerprint scanner.
"Generally, most of the patients are, uh, behaved but the fingerprint scanner was added as a precaution." The orderly explained.
"Precaution?" Arthur asked.
"There was a time when one of the patients had gotten hold of the keycard and almost escaped the place. Quite the… troublesome person."
Arthur noticed that the orderly was carefully choosing his words.
"This is your office. Good day." Without any words left to say, the orderly had left Arthur in front of the door that had his plaque.
Arthur Kirkland, M.D.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Arthur sighed and twisted the knob. With a clicking sound, the door opened. The room was barren of any possession. There was not yet a table, chair, bookshelf or any fixture. For the Briton, it felt like the ward was impoverished.
'Perhaps they really are busy.' Another sigh escaped the lips of the doctor. 'All right, my first order of business is to get this room furnished.'
Arthur Kirkland then made his way outside of the office. He walked around the hallway and began to read the different sub-specialties of the psychiatrists in the Behavioral Unit. The sub-specialties were much of an assortment that it covered a wide spectrum; the place had screamed that it had the best specialists when it came to the human mind.
'Probably the best place in the world…'
The doctor made his way to the reception area and to his amazement the woman assigned had a much panicked expression. When the receptionist saw Arthur she gave a curt nod and explained the situation.
"Sir, it seems that patient Vargas is acting out again. The doctors are occupied with subduing him. The usual sedatives did not have an effect on him. Increasing the dosage would create a counter-reaction with his medications…"
Arthur took a gulp. 'Is this the same patient that the orderly talked about earlier?'
"Pardon my pompousness sir but the other doctors are requesting for your presence." The receptionist ducked for a moment and took out a card key. The woman then handed it over to the doctor. "This is for a temporary usage sir. When the matter settles down, you will have your own card."
"Ah, yes. Thank you." Arthur said, unsure how to reply to the woman. The doctor then made slashed the card through the metallic gate. With a beep it had recognized the code inscribed in the plastic item and gave him access to the second floor.
What Arthur saw was something beyond his imagination. The hallways were a mess. The other patients were shut in their respective rooms for their own safety.
"Please calm down Mr. Vargas. We can talk this out like adults. You're already an adult, correct?" One of the doctors tried to approach a young man whose eyes were seething to everyone and everything within his field of vision.
"Talk out. Pfft! Bastards, that's what you said last time before Feliciano's visit. In the end you didn't let me meet him." The patient growled at the doctor.
Arthur, who was several meters away, watched the chaos before him. It was as if a typhoon had passed and wrecked the area. The orderlies were prepared with the necessary medications to subdue the patient but the doctors had not yet given the go-signal.
"Lovino, listen, we are doing this for your own good. You're a good child right?" Another doctor called out.
"Why the fuck do you say I am good?" There was so much emphasis on the word good that Arthur inwardly cringed. It felt like the patient loathe the very word. Or it could be that he associated the word with something untoward.
To Arthur amazement, the patient had stopped any movement on his part. Instead, the young man had stood still. The first doctor, who first called out, sent silent signals to subdue the young patient.
The wails that echoed had ceased and there was dead silence hanging in the atmosphere.
"Please bring Mr. Vargas to the infirmary and have those wounds healed." The doctor who had just spoken earlier told the albino orderly that Arthur recognized.
"Yes sir." The albino orderly motioned another person who carried a stretcher to come closer. Both of them worked hand-in-hand and placed the unconscious patient on the stretcher and made their way away from the wreck.
"Ah, Dr. Kirkland. We apologize for being unable to properly greet you. It seems that you came at the wrong moment…" The doctor shifted his stance and faced the Briton. "I'm Dr. Berwarld Oxenstierna, head of the Behavioral Unit."
"This is Dr. Eduard von Brock. In-charge of the psychotherapy." Dr. Oxenstierna pointed out to the other man beside him.
"You came at a rather peculiar time, so we were quite unprepared." Dr. von Brock said with a goofy grin.
"If you'll excuse me, I will make sure that the other patients have not been… terribly affected by Mr. Vargas' outburst. Mr. von Brock, please accompany and show him around the place." Dr. Oxenstierna left both men, his white coat swishing along with his movements.
"You can call me Eduard." Dr. von Brock, rather Eduard, introduced himself once again. The doctor pushed his glasses upwards. "I think that Gilbert had given you the rundown about the place's blueprints."
"Gilbert?" Arthur gave a quizzical look.
"Ah, I see, he didn't introduce himself. Gilbert Beilschmidt was the orderly earlier who had waited for you by the entrance." Eduard explained. "The furniture of your office should arrive by this afternoon. If it weren't for the fiasco earlier, we could have told the delivery to have it sent earlier."
"It's alright." Arthur reassured. 'It really seems that this Mr. Vargas is very problematic…'
Both men had gone back down the first floor. Eduard had acquainted Arthur with the other doctors who were mostly preoccupied with the cases they were currently handling. Despite the piles of papers on their desks, the doctors had acknowledged the presence and arrival of Arthur.
"Well, the place is quite understaffed. We are happy that you decided to have your residency here." Eduard said.
"Ah, well…" Arthur had closed his mouth. There were no words that formulated in his head to give a proper reply.
Eduard just smiled. The Brit followed the other doctor to his office. Compared to the other offices that he had just entered, it was in a better state. Most of the papers were neatly piled on another desk, with labels pasted at eyes' level on the wall.
"Dr. Oxenstierna was supposed to give this to you but he is quite in a cinch, so I'll give this to you." The psychotherapist handed the keycard embellished with the name Arthur Kirkland. "We can have the fingerprint scanning tomorrow. Hopefully things would settle by then."
Arthur nodded and placed the card inside one of his pockets.
"Well, I think that this is all for the day." Eduard smiled and the Brit could only nod then left the room.
Arthur Kirkland had thought that his day was rather, peculiar. At the front desk, he returned the keycard that was given to him earlier. The woman had also called for a taxi to pick the doctor.
The mind of the doctor reeled back to the scene of the second floor of the WW Hospital Behavioral Unit. The patient known as Lovino Vargas had begun to intrigue him. The fellow looked quite young, around seventeen or eighteen years-old.
The following day, when Arthur had returned back for his official first day, he did not imagine that he would be assigned to Lovino Vargas.
"Although he is a troubled patient, during his sane moments, he is the most normal among the other patients. He only acts out during certain days; particularly if he would be administered with his stronger medications." Dr. Oxenstierna explained. "As I read through your CV, you have also worked on a similar case before."
"Ah… yes," Arthur replied with reluctance to continue further with the topic.
"Anyhow, this sounds a little late but welcome to the Behavioral Unit of WW Hospital." The other man said then left the office of the Brit.
Compared to yesterday, the office had already been filled with the necessary furniture. Even though it was his first day, the table had already been massed with papers. All the papers contained the medical history of Lovino Vargas.
TBC
A/N: Yes, I know I shouldn't be posting another multi-chapter when I have an unfinished one. But this one wouldn't leave me alone. Please do type and tell me about what you think. Reviews really make any author happy. Pretty please type a review? OK? Yey! :*