Part Two: The Patient

The door to the room opened fully and Johnson led a clustered, group of burly orderlies inside.
All of their attention seemed to be focused on a single figure, bundled in the centre of their unruly huddle.

McKellan's eyes shot downwards to the page in front of her, her hands frantically searching for a pen and her prepared paperwork.

"So then, Mr Keaton," Johnson orated loudly, almost with the air of an exasperated school principal. "This is your new psychiatrist, Doctor McKellan…as you've been made aware, the board has opted to continue with these therapy sessions despite past…incidents. Aren't you lucky?"

Johnson's hand on the table brought McKellan's attention upwards again.

"Jarrod Manson gave you all of the safety information?"

"Uh…yes, Doctor Johnson…"

"And you understood every word of it?"

"Yes…I did…"

"Good. We'll be watching from outside." He patted her wrist, his fingers lightly skimming the material of her sleeve before he added quietly. "Best of luck, Christine."

McKellan looked up for the first time, just as the white hem of Johnson's jacket disappeared behind the closing door.

Her eyes hesitantly lifted to analyse the figure sitting, solitary, at the far end of the room.

He sat upon the comforter, facing away from her and in appearance, staring at the plain-plaster wall at his back.
Her patient was clad in an alabaster white tunic and trousers, baggy enough to hide every aspect of his form and figure- aside from the fact that he was quite tall in stature.
There was a hood on the back of the modest gown that the patient had chosen to pull up slightly.
A loose crop of tawny brown hair sprouted from the side of the hood and the skin of his forearms and ankles- the only visible flesh on his body- was milky and marred by the telling perse lines of swollen veins.

For a moment, she waited.
She pressed her lips together, dampening them slightly and folded her hand on the desk.
Silence set in as she gave her patient a chance to turn to face her.

After about a minute of complete quietness passed, McKellan rose from her seat with slightly tremulous legs and cleared her throat.

"Hello there, Liu. Like Doctor Johnson said, my name is Doctor McKellan and I'll be your sit-in psychiatrist for the next few days…"

His head lifted slightly at the sound of her voice, instantly reacting to the sound but aside from a slight roll of his shoulders, he made no move to turn around to face her.
Or to offer any kind of response.

McKellan raised her voice slightly. "Is that alright with you, Liu?"

"Do I have a choice in the matter, Doctor?"
His voice was softer than McKellan had anticipated, slightly waning in nature and much deeper than the voice she had heard on the first session tape.
Then again, that was more than three years ago and Liu had only been sixteen then.

Establish a rapport with the patient.
That's what he said.

"I suppose not," she responded. "But I think it's better for both of us if we establish that when we start these sessions, we both want to be here. I really can't help you if you don't let me…" Liu gave no immediate signs of a desire to respond so McKellan continued. "I'd also like you to know that even though I'll have a few little tasks and reflections for us to work through…you can talk about anything you'd like here…if you have anything you'd like to tell me or anything you'd like to talk or vent about…or even any questions…it's what I'm here for…"

"I have a question for you, Doctor."

McKellan's heart leapt into her throat. "Yes, Liu?"

"Why…why haven't you asked me to turn around yet? Most doctors prefer me to face them."

"If you're more comfortable not facing front, that's fine with me. I'm happy with whatever you're happy with," she told him. "God knows, I'd get sick of having to stare at my face any long period of time anyway…"
She tried to laugh a little.
Liu didn't laugh.
Or turn around.
Or say anything in response.

McKellan cleared her throat again.
"So, yes. I want you to feel that you can trust me…"

Liu made a noise akin to a snort of mirth.
"Trust you? Not to be impertinent or anything, Doctor…but we've only just met. How do you expect to earn my trust so quickly?"

"I …I don't." McKellan replied quickly, coming to walk in front of the desk as her confidence grew. "I just want you to know that you can trust me, if you feel you need to. It's unfair to expect a person to simply place their trust in anyone who asks. I agree with you on that. While I don't expect your immediate trust though, I do however expect you to be honest with me during these sessions…"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Doctor, but that seems as equal a tall order as having to place all my trust in a stranger." There was a slight wheeze underscoring his voice.
McKellan couldn't tell if it was laughter she could hear or contempt.
Either way, her discourse strategy was working swimmingly.

He was talking to her in opinionated dialogue.
In psychiatric terms, this was an early achievement.

"Maybe you're right. You've made a fair point. That's why I'm going to offer you an agreement of sorts. I agree to be completely honest with you during these sessions, if you agree to be completely honest with me…"

"Completely honest?"

"Yes. You don't have to agree but I'd like you to consider the offer."

"And you'll be completely honest with me?"

"Certainly. Do we have an agreement?"

"…yes." His voice was almost amused. "We do. I'd shake on it but…well…"

He lifted his hands from where he sat, the chain-links around his wrists pulling taut, showing that he was rather attached to the comforter.
McKellan couldn't help but giggle at the gesture.

"Something funny about that, Doctor?"

Her breath halted in her throat and a sudden coldness shot through her chest.
She knew that voice.

"No," McKellan replied immediately, swallowing and trying to keep a confident stature. "Well…actually, I did…but only because I thought you were making a joke…"

"Do you always laugh at the harsh ways that some patients are treated, Doctor?"

"Of course not. I…I…just thought that you wanted me to laugh…"

"Liu thinks that it's fun to mock our ordeal sometimes but I disagree. Why should we be happy about being chained like an animal? About being confined? This is no way to treat a human being…"

"From my understanding, you're only being restrained for your own safety…and for my safety too. If there was a threat of harm to either of us, it would make this kind of therapy very difficult," McKellan answered, slowly and carefully, trying to busy herself by taking a note. "…I'm not…talking to Liu right now, am I?" She tried to keep her voice as slow and as even as possible. "I'm speaking to…Sully…is that right?"

"Very good, Doctor. You've read all the case files then…you know all about me and all about my history with all the other doctors who came trotting through that door before you...? I suppose Doctor Johnson warned you all about me too."

McKellan's eyes briefly slipped sideways to the camera.
That comment reminded her that Johnson was actually watching this session right now; she couldn't look intimidated. Even if she couldn't see his bespectacled eyes, she could feel the weight of his gaze on her.
Now was the time to show that she wasn't "expendable."

"I was told that Liu's safety is your highest priority. I think that's a very positive thing to hear because as Liu is my patient now, his safety and comfort is my top priority too…I think we should work together to make sure that Liu feels safe during these sessions…so…if I say or do anything that might upset Liu- like I did just there- you let me know, ok?"

"Just remember to keep your promise, Doctor, and be honest with Liu and I. I don't like when promises are broken. Sometimes when promises are broken, there have to be repercussions to make sure that they're not broken again…"

"And how does Liu feel about promises to him being broken? Does he take it as seriously as you do, Sully?"

"Liu…he…I …j-just don't like feeling as though someone has abused my trust in them…that's why I don't give it away so…so easily…anymore…" His voice faltered and died slightly, somewhere in his lower windpipe.

"That's fine, Liu. That's perfectly understandable," McKellan assured him, nodding to herself as she scribbled another short-hand note on to her page.

"You…you heard him speak right now…didn't you?" Liu hunched his shoulders slightly, the knobs of his spine emphasised by the hanging cloths of the tunic. "You heard…Sully…?"

McKellan nodded, despite knowing that he couldn't see her face.
"Yes…yes, I did, Liu." Daring herself to be brave and eager to prove her tenacity to her employers, she placed the pen down on the table and spoke again. "Liu…when did you first…meet Sully, exactly?"

"Can we please not talk about Sully?!"
His response was immediate, his voice was far too breathy and his tone was overwrought with desperation.
Almost as though he were close to tears.
Teetering on the edge of a precipice and far too aware of the fall that awaited him.

Her own heart instantly pierced by the unexpected display of vulnerability, McKellan was fast to reassure him. "It's alright, Liu. We don't have to talk about Sully if you don't want to…"

She sucked in a breath through her teeth and deciding that rapport with him was a more favourable outcome than deepening the conversational topics, she added. "I said earlier that you can talk to me about anything that you like. Even though we're going to be honest with each other, if there's something that's seriously making you uncomfortable…you also don't have to talk to me about it…"

"Thank you, Doctor…"

McKellan gave her notes a quick check, consulting what she had planned for this session and mentally dismissing anything that had been rendered risky or useless in one of her usual mental rituals.

Sometimes the questions that we ask are more telling than the answers that we give.

"Mhmm…so I have nothing very heavy planned for this session in terms of reflective exercises…but I do have a suggestion as to how we can get to know each other a little better. I want these sessions to feel like conversations rather than just one person talking and the other listening. Have you ever played the Three Questions Game with any of your other therapists?"

"No...not to my recollection…"
His tone was an odd mixture of slightly interested and mildly bored.
McKellan always took that as a challenge with all of her other patients.

"Good!" McKellan sat back against the edge of the desk, relieving some of the stress on the balls of her feet. "That means that we can start with the Beginner's version of the game. Basically we each take turns asking the other questions. We get three questions each to ask. When you're answering a question, you're not allowed to take tangents- you must only answer the question that you're asked and you're also not allowed to ask the other person a question of your own until you've given them a satisfactory answer. If the answering player is silent for longer than ten seconds or cannot answer the question, the other player wins automatically…does that sound ok?"

"I…yes, I suppose that sounds fine…but…what are the questions supposed to be about? Like what kind of questions are we supposed to be asking?"

"Well, the possibilities are limitless. You can ask the other person any question you'd like. Though, usually, just to make it a little more challenging, both players are allowed to introduce a limitations rule at the start of the game. So we could say "no questions about childhood" or "no questions about movies" or something like that…" She put aside her note-pad. "Do you want to introduce a rule to start out with?"

"No questions about Sully."
His reply was sharp, fast and above all, a response that McKellan had expected.
Suddenly she was glad that he hadn't turned around: he couldn't see the wide, triumphant smile on her face.

"That's fine by me, Liu," she told him. "My rule is going to be: no questions about family…is that alright with you?"

"Yes…that's fine with me…," he spoke slowly and with carefully suppressed intrigue, though McKellan could practically hear the budding smile in his voice when he added. "Though, I have to warn you. I'm not very good at this kind of thing, Doctor..."

"Well, this is your lucky day, Liu, because no answer here can be the wrong one…do you want to go first or should I?"

The young man shrugged. "I believe that common courtesy dictates that the lady goes first?"

"Alright then," McKellan began. "What was your favourite game to play during recess in kindergarten?"

Liu let out a long exhale, stretching out his neck- presumably unintentional in his teasing of McKellan with the sight of a little more of his hair. "Kindergarten? That's a long time ago. Hmm…I guess I was always quite the fan of the game "What Time is it, Mr Wolf?". Or at least, that's one of the few games that I can recall actually playing…"

"I think I remember that one…that's the one where you have to creep up behind the person who's the Wolf...and then when you get too close, they have to chase you…"

"That's right, Doctor."

"I don't think I really liked that game very much. I always got caught…I'm not much of a runner…"

"When did you realise that, Doctor? That you weren't much of a runner?"

"Is that your question to me?"

"Sure."

McKellan let out a long sigh, smiling faintly as a memory seeped from her temples.
"It was probably during the Summer of '98, searching for Big Foot in Redwood Forest. We set up our base-camp somewhere near the old well but whenever we went on our expeditions, I was never fast enough to keep up with the other kids."

Liu could not suppress a low chuckle.
It was amusement that the laughter heralded: not mocking.

"Searching for BigFoot? Really, Doctor?"

"I was nine! You're allowed to want an adventure when you're nine. Nothing wrong with it now, either. Don't you believe in BigFoot, Liu?"

"Well, whether I do or whether I don't- I don't think you're going to find any sasquatches running around Redwood. If I remember right, it's a bit small for that. Surely someone would have found Big Foot long before you and your…expedition?"

"Ah but sometimes children are good at finding things that adults can't. Then again, maybe you're right. I doubt Big Foot would have hung around Redwood very long anyway…not enough entertainment for the discerning bipedal mammal…right, who's turn is it? Mine?"

"No, it's mine, I believe."

"You just asked me when I decided that I was a bad runner."

"And you asked me if I believed in Big Foot or not."

McKellan pursed her lips, raising her eyebrows- outwardly stumped but inwardly delighting that she was making some form of progress.

"Alright then, Liu," she conceded. "My mistake. Your turn to ask."

He placed his hands behind himself, leaning backwards on the lounge seat as he apparently mulled his thoughts around.

"This can't be right," McKellan thought, starting to feel unease creep over her. "I shouldn't be this confident right now. This shouldn't be so easy. He seems so…normal…"
Jarrod's words briefly flitted through her mind. "Then again…this is Liu…not Sully…"

"Do you believe in fairies?"

"P-Pardon?" McKellan stammered, jerked from her thoughts and slightly taken aback by the questions.

"Do you," Liu repeated, his voice slow but polite in tone. "Believe in fairies?"

McKellan took up her pen to make a note but then paused, a surprise smile starting to stretch across her lips as she put the pen back down again.

"That's a tricky question. You see, if I say no…a fairy is going to die because of me."

Liu's head dropped briefly, shaking but she could hear the smile in his voice again. "You've read Peter Pan, Doctor."

"The book and the play," McKellan confirmed. "I read both during Senior Year…loved Barrie's work so much that I still have the copy of the novel that I took to University with me. You must have read it too, then?"

"The Grove's library has a copy of the novel. I've been taking it out and putting it back in again over the last few years…it's actually a favourite of mine…" His voice began to grow quiet again, a kind of numb despair ghosting the words that he said. "It's one of the few good ones. We're not allowed to have too much fiction. Apparently, it puts ideas into our heads…and the therapy staff don't like ideas…"

His tone was dropping quickly, alarming the doctor.
Trying to salvage the positive nature of the conversation, she hastily asked one of the routine questions in her notes.

"So, my turn then? When…uh…hmm…when did you stop believing in Santa Claus?"

The barest sliver of an uncomfortable silence settled between them like a snowflake, fallen to earth.

"When did I-? Mmm…" Liu leaned forward as he spoke, resting his elbows upon his knees. "When did I stop believing? Maybe when I was ten, for sure? Eleven maybe? Ah! No…no, no, no….it was when I was ten. Definitely." He gave a small chortle. "Hmph. I remember on Christmas Eve that year…I was hiding behind the couch in the living room…I had a camcorder." His tone lightened, becoming almost airy. Each syllable an "Every year dad used to dress up in these big boots and make foot prints across the floorboards near the tree for us to find but after a few years, we got suspicious so we came up with this plan to catch him in the act. The whole thing was J-…"

No.
You should have stopped him, McKellan.

"Liu?"

"It…it…w-was him…h-he and I…we…we decided to…"

His voice was choked, his windpipe apparently bound by the emotion that was rapidly crashing over him.

"Liu…we don't have to talk about it if-…"

"It was…" She heard him sniff, sucking back and swallowing and suddenly something in her chest was jolting, burning intensely. "It was my brother and…and I…w-we hid…yes, we hid and…we…we…s-surprised him…"

The young man was breathing heavily now.
The doctor couldn't tell if he was crying or not but his shoulders were heaving, mirroring the mounting anxiety that surged through his slender frame.

McKellan straightened up, her spine rigid and her fingers tense around the rim of the table, white-knuckled.

His body suddenly seized and Liu was completely still, sitting bolt upright.
Like a marionette puppet pulled by his master.

Now, he was quiet.
Now, he was far too quiet for her liking.

"Liu? Are you feeling al-…"

"I…I'm fine…I'm sorry….I just…it's…it's…it's Liu's turn to ask a question now, isn't it, Doctor?"

The sound of that voice set McKellan's fingertips skimming along the edge of the table top.
Where is that panic button?
I'm not going to press it.
I just need to know where it is.

She struggled to take a breath, suddenly feeling as though her lungs were clamped with an iron corset.

"Yes, yes it is…it's Liu's turn now…so let's let Liu ask a question then, Sully."

The figure on the lounge-chair was shuddering again, his body trembling from the top of his head, downward.
His voice was soft but slightly hoarse, thick with a kind of fear that McKellan herself, had never heard before.

Not from her most anxious of patients.
Not from her loved ones in their most fearful moments.
Not from her own throat in the throes of her own nightmares.

Not from any human being that she had ever encountered before.

"Doctor McKellan…do you believe in monsters?"

She could have let the question simmer and stew but opting to avoid another tense silence that might provoke her thoughts any further, she simply responded honestly but quietly:
"I…I believe that people can create monsters…real or not…"

"Have you ever created a monster before, Doctor?"

McKellan swallowed faintly, the thoughts of Johnson watching her on camera suddenly evaporating from her mind, instantly replaced with the uncontrollable desire to run from the room.

"This is the Three Questions Game…we've both already asked all of our questions…"

"No, no, no…you and Liu have already asked all of your little questions. Now I want a turn…"

To McKellan's sudden shock, the young man upon the lounge seat suddenly shifted, turning around to face her. He moved slowly, his limbs loose in his shackles like that of a ragdoll and he only drew himself back to full height when he was completely at her fore, staring her in the face.

"…and besides, I thought we agreed to be honest with each other at the start of this session?"

Slowly, he lifted his head to meet her eyes.
Irises of the deepest green that the young doctor had ever seen, bore forth from sunken clouds of grey.
His face was finely sculpted but with flesh of an ashen pallor and marring this flesh were faded yet grotesque lines of burnt plum and encrusted yellow.
The abused scar-tissue stretched across the bridge of his nose and protruded from either corner of his mouth, creating a macabre Glasgow Smile.

For a brief second, all she could do was stare at her patient.
He, in turn, stared back at her.

It struck her, very briefly, that this was not only the first time that she was looking upon him but also the first time that he was looking upon her.
For the eclipsed eternity that they stared…his eyes never left hers.
Those verdant orbs held her.
They held her, irrevocably.

Finally, the young man spoke again.

"Are you afraid of us, Doctor?" He chuckled wheezily. "Please try to be professional here; there's no need to be so scared. Here, I'll let you in on a little secret that might make you feel better…"
The patient grinned and leaned forward, the shadows on his face growing. "Liu once created a monster…"

McKellan forced herself to put on a brave face and to speak, folding her arms beneath her chest.
"Oh? That's interesting information to know. What kind of monster was it?"

"The clever kind, I'm afraid…" her patient returned, chortling to himself before adding. "And Doctor! Do you know where Liu's monster is, right now?"

"I…I'm afraid I don't understand the question…"

"Do…you…know…where…Liu's…monster…is…now?"

"No…I…I don't suppose I do."

Sully sat back, smirking triumphantly, his hands gripping the restraints and tugging on them, his eyes growing wide as his quavering voice allowed him one, excited whisper.

"Neither does he."