'Cause there's always time for second guesses I don't wanna know
If you're gonna be the death of me, that's how I wanna go
You've got it all worked out with so little time
Memories that I'd blackout if you were mine'
'Collar Full' - P!ATD
"Shelly, I have a proposition for you." Giselle said after a brief discussion about Sister Jude's punishment earlier. Shelly was a patient who she could easily regain trust with. Shelly understood Giselle's power only went so far against the nun. Giselle held a photograph of a man hiding from it Shelly. There was no orderly in the room which was good. This was something she shouldn't be suggesting anyway.
"What's that?" She asked sitting with her legs spread apart. Giselle found Shelly's passion a certain type of inspiring. Shelly was not ashamed, she knew what she wanted. Granted it was immoral desires Shelly still required the same amount of attention and care as any other patient. Come to think of it, Giselle may have been the only person in this facility that treated everyone with equal care and nurture. She only had about four patients she saw but they all smiled a little when they saw her.
"No names aloud Shelly, but do you know this man?" Giselle showed Shelly the picture of Spivey. Giselle watched intently for an initial reaction from her. She saw her eyebrows raise and her lips purse together.
"What about him?" She asked.
"I have a theory, that this patient may benefit from pleasure given to him by someone other than himself. He could find it more pleasing and abstain from self-serving action as much. It's a theory but I need a willing patient to work with him. You came to mind."
"Oooh Doctor that's very naughty. I thought you were supposed to correct my behavior not let me engage in it." She said smiling. Giselle nodded her head.
"Well, I'm hoping it helps relieve some of your tension as well. I know you've been here a while and you have needs. Keeping it all locked up is not good."
"You know what's not good? Keeping me in here without the light of day! I want to feel the sun on my skin Doctor, as much as I want to feel a man's skin on my own." She spoke with a light moan at the end.
"Shelly," Giselle spoke with condescendence. "I don't like your display of arousal, please tone it down a bit." She folded her hands on her desk and waited.
"Sorry Doc, I just look out the windows in the day room and I know the sun is out there, I just want to feel the warmth." She said closing her eyes. Giselle thought for a moment. She went through the floor plan of Briarcliff and tried to remember if there was any place with an open window or balcony. She could think of one place she accidently stumbled upon but she had to remember where it was.
"I think I can help you out a bit, but will you help me?" She asked. Shelly smiled.
"Oh you know I will. Just one question; how you going to hide two fornicating inmates?" She said with a wink. Giselle smiled and waved her arms about.
"I have my office. Just please, do not piss with my shit. Stay off my desk and for the love of all that is holy, clean up your damn mess." Giselle stated. Shelly smiled and looked around the office. She saw an old dusty couch in the corner and pointed.
"What about that?" Giselle looked at the piece of furniture that was used maybe twice since she got here. It had a spring sticking out and one of the legs was about to break. There were holes where the stuffing was trying to come out and she could only imagine it was a retired piece from the day room.
"You might break it, I can't have too much noise going on in here."
"I can be quiet, give me a gag!" She said getting up. "Anything else Doc?"
"Yeah, tomorrow evening alright?"
"Sounds peeerrrfect!" She said swaying her hips as she left the room. Giselle laughed to herself, she was worried Shelly would be too scared of a canning to even dare attempt this. There was a knock at the door and Giselle looked up. It was Sister Mary Eunice. She looked timid and waiting for Giselle's order.
"Sister? Come in." She walked over shyly and sat in the chair that Shelly just left.
"Giselle Sister Jude would like to see you in her office." She said not moving.
"And?"
"That's all." She said looking at Giselle.
"Sister you're still sitting down, there is something more you wish to speak about." The nun bowed her head and sighed.
"I feel a little useless some days. Why am I so stupid?" She said tearing up. "I screwed up and I let a reporter in and now she's stuck here and…" Giselle stopped the nun's rambling and wrapped her arms about the girl leaving the files open on her desk.
"Shh, Sister," the girl sobbed and could not stop. "You must calm yourself before I can help, I don't do crying remember?" Giselle spoke rubbing her back. Mary Eunice breathed slowly trying to compose herself. She sighed and sat up wiping her eyes. "Sister you have a pure heart, with kind intentions. The world needs more of that. There is too much cruelty in this place, you are very special Sister." Giselle said rubbing Mary Eunice's arm. "I am not a woman who strongly holds to her faith so I can't speak much about this, but I would presume you are one of God's favorite daughters. You have potential you just need a little more thought before you act. Let your mind interfere with your heart every once and a while. It's ok to be unkind a little bit. Just remember you will never please everyone. Alright?" Sister shook her head and sniffled a bit. "Good."
"What a strange friendship we have Giselle." She said as Giselle returned to her desk to clean up the files.
"Why's that?"
"Well, think of our positions, it certainly is not allowed."
"Why because I am not a woman of God?" Giselle asked with a chuckle.
"Well no, because-"
"Giselle? Sister?" Said Sister Jude popping her head in. "I asked for you to send Giselle to me ten minutes ago! Whatever was the problem? A simple task Sister Mary Eunice is all I requested!"
"DO not chide the child, Sister Jude. I was walking about and just recently made it to my office. She had to find me before she could ask me to see you am I right?" Giselle spoke. She had had almost enough of Sister Jude recently. Sister Jude became stern and pointed a finger at her.
"You are lucky that you have friends on the outside or I'd cane you for backtalk."
"Sister, I am a Doctor! You cannot treat me like one of your patients!" She said squaring her shoulders.
"No I can't, you're right about that." She said with a sneer. "But I can revoke your office and have you stay in the day room with your patients!"
"You would not! I am making a great deal of progress with my patients!"
"Is that why Spivey still has his hands down his pants?!" Sister Jude said.
"It's a process, and with you interfering every time I get anywhere you can't expect instant results! Look at you Sister, how long did it take you to refuse pleasurable drinks? I bet you still think about it and yearn for a nice glass of whiskey."
"This is not a topic for discussion I am not one of your patients," She said calming herself to change the topic. "I wanted to talk to you about a new patient. The family is waiting outside my office I was hoping you could speak with their son while I'm talking to the parents. He's seems to be severely disturbed." Sister Jude walked over to her desk and looked at the files Giselle had on the desk. Her eyebrow rose at the names. "What are we doing with these two?" Giselle got nervous but didn't show it. She mentally checked what she wrote in Spivey's file and remembered she wrote 'questionable treatment prescribed, patient may experience prolonged benefits.'. Her heartbeat quickened.
"I saw Spivey today and Shelly is on my list tomorrow. I was just seeing what was on my plan for Shelly. She had that slip up the other day and I need to make adjustments to accommodate that." Sister Jude nodded and picked up a file and opened it. Giselle couldn't see which file it was from this angle but hoped it wasn't Spivey.
"So what do we suggest for her? You didn't make any changes."
"Well the Sister came in and I was going to put up the files before I came to see you." Giselle walked over to Jude and grabbed the files and placed them in her file cabinet. "Now where is this child?"
Jed was strapped down to a bed and Giselle and the orderly Jeff were in the room with him. He seemed like a normal kid minus the straight jacket Jeff had just fitted him with. Giselle leaned on the footboard of the bed and looked at Jed.
"Jed, how are you feeling today?" She asked. He looked at her blankly and fell back against the pillows. "Jed?" She said with concern. Jeff and Giselle rushed to his sides and Giselle began checking vital signs. "He's barely got a pulse. Body temputaure is raising. Jeff we're going to need a wet cloth and-" Jed started coughing and then he was thrashing back and forth and talking in a strange language. Giselle had never seen anything like this.
"Jep?" Giselle taking a step back. His head snapped to her and she jumped a little.
"Oh little Elly! I'm so glad you're trapped in here! You're such a disgrace to the family!" He said in a voice that sounded just like her fathers. She clutched her dress and swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Jep, you need to calm down." She spoke in her motherly tone.
"Elly you need to suck my big fat dick! Just like your sweetheart likes!" He said thrusting his hips in the air with a cruel laugh. Giselle turned red and let go of her dress putting her hands on the back of her neck to breathe. She looked at the confused orderly.
"He needs to be sedated immediately." She spoke with authority. The orderly nodded and left the room Elly was about to follow when Jed's voice yelled at her again. She turned and saw a man in a wrinkled suit and disheveled hair.
"Hey sweet cheeks, you going to just stand around and be useless just like you were after Carter died?" Giselle grabbed the door frame and blinked back tears. Names to faces… she couldn't remember his face, but she knew this death was sad. This one was a tipping point in her life. Why couldn't she remember, all she could do was cry. She pushed herself off the frame and ran out of the room following Jeff.
When Jeff and Giselle returned to the patients room she saw Doctor Thredson walking her way, no doubt he had seen the new patient. The doctor took a look at Giselle's face seeing her tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes and whatever mission he was on before was no longer important. He grabbed the sides of Giselle's bare arms and looked into her dark eyes.
"What happened? What did he do?"
"He's inhuman. There is an evil in that boy unlike anything I've ever read about. There is no logical explanation for his behavior Doctor. He is-"
"Oh no not you too!" He said rolling his eyes. She stepped back and looked appalled.
"That boy knew exactly what my father said to me when he last visited. How could he know that? I believe in science just as you do, but believe me Doctor, if you spend more than a minute with that boy you'll understand."
"Do you know how ridiculous that even sounds? You think he's possessed, Sister Jude has arranged for an exorcism, this place is primitive! We aren't living in the middle ages! This is 1964 you and I have to assess the boy like the professionals we are not revert to their primitive ways."
"Excuse you Doctor Thredson, but my methods are anything but primitive. After seeing the patient I believe Sister Jude's suggestion may be just what the boy needs. If he's not possessed then what's the harm? I'm sure he'll become my patient eventually and I will deal with him like I would any other patient, but right now, this boy is too much." Giselle said blinking back her tears. Thredson shook his head and looked around.
"I had hoped you were above their influence."
"And I had hoped you would be an understanding gentleman, I guess we were both let down today." She said marching back to meet go see make sure Jeff treated the boy. Giselle stood just inside the room with her arms crossed, the boy was sitting back turned to her and looking at the cross in the room. Giselle noticed the boy was not the same as the previous demon she had seen. She closed her eyes and heard the whispers of his words still lurking about her. A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped. She turned and saw the face of Monseigneur Timothy.
"What happened while you were with the boy Miss. Tyler?"
"He said unspeakable things and knew of my past. I believe there is an evil in that boy. I cannot rely on my medical knowledge to diagnose the poor boy. What will we do to treat him?" The Monseigneur smiled at her and placed a condoling hand on her shoulder.
"Fear not my child-"
"Miss. Tyler." She corrected. Although she believed in good and evil she did not believe in the Catholic ideology and refused to let them try and include her. She only used the Sister's titles out of respect. The Monseigneur nodded his head.
"My apologies Miss. Tyler. I have already called in a specialist and we will take care of the boy. If all goes as planned he may be another one of your patients starting tomorrow. For now I would like to leave the boy alone until our specialist comes in." The Monseigneur moved his hand to Giselle's back and began to usher her out of the room. "I would also request that you get a good night's sleep tonight, tomorrow will hopefully be a full day for you if I'm not mistaken?"
"I've got Pepper and Shelly tomorrow, we will be correcting their behavior and addressing the issues of their violations to the room search this morning." Giselle and Timothy walked by an upset looking Doctor Thredson who joined the trio.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but may I have just ten minutes alone with the boy?" Thredson asked. "Perhaps I can-"
"The boy needs rest if he is to make it through tonight's treatment." Timothy said tilting his head as if the Doctor should have known that. Giselle tightened her jaw getting upset with the Doctor, he could spend as much time as possible with the boy but there could be no logical diagnoses.
"I understand that Monseigneur but what if we missed something. I cannot allow your barbaric treatment to continue without first considering all possible explanations and observing the patient-"
"Doctor, professional to professional, an extreme case of schizophrenia is about the only thing I could diagnose the boy with. However that does not explain how the patient has obtained knowledge that can present another's personal fears to said person. What we are working with here is something that goes against all our textbooks and studies. Believe me Doctor; there is nothing we can do." She said nodding a good-bye to Timothy and walking to her office. Thredson looked at the Monseigneur and he forced a smile to the man.
"Miss. Tyler is a particularly brilliant mind sometimes. We were blessed to have her here, I had just hoped that all her time here could change her outbursts like that. I was hoping that while you're here you could possibly help her some. She needs someone like you Doctor Thredson. But I can see you two don't see eye to eye. That could be a problem."
"The only problem we are facing here is the methods of your treatment! Are you aware Sister Jude distributes corporal punishment to patients? I also witnessed electro-shock therapy to treat homosexuality. This institutions is –"
"Is under my watchful eye. I am aware of what goes on here Doctor. I assure you I would not let anything continue if I did not find it to be effective." Thredson sighed and put his hands in his pants pockets. He could clearly make it nowhere with these people. What's worse is that he possibly lost the trust he was gaining with Giselle.
"I hope you change your mind before you go through with this." Thredson said point at Jed's door before he walked back to his office where a typewriter was waiting for him. He had to start writing his diagnoses on Kit before he completely lost his train of thought.