Hey everyone!
Long time since my last update... Truthfully I had writers block and gave myself a little break. (My brain had short-circuted.)
Work has been Uber crazy and just a horrible place to be at the moment and this heat is slowly and surely killing me! I hate the heat and sun! I have a right to complain, the weather is so random here in the UK that our body tempatures can't adapt easily when there is a sudden change in degrees! I still tell people that I am hoping for snow! Lol
Disclaimer is still the same!
Anyway here is chapter 4. I hope you like it. Leave a review telling me how I'm doing, or not, up to you.
Chapter 4: Experiments
We were in a stare-off for who knows how long. Both pairs of eyes trying to figure the other out. I copied Yuri's move and tilted my head to the side. Daring him to say something.
He narrowed his eyes at me whilst running his tongue slowly along his lips, he opened his mouth to say something when the doors to the ward were flung open, rather drastically. The interruption broke the trance.
I looked up at the newcomer and to my surprise it was my dear old medical teacher, Yakov Feltsman.
I would have moved to greet him but I didn't dare let Yuri out of my sights. I've learned not to turn my back on patients, the first time I did, a patient had tried to bite me and almost got his teeth pulled out as a consequence, until I interfered and deemed it to cruel of a punishment. Much to the disappointment of the local dentist. Sadistic much?
"Yakov! What a pleasant surprise!" I beamed at him, giving him one of my hundred watt smiles. He grunted a greeting in Russian but his attention was on Yuri. He pointed at him,
"Why hasn't this patient been restrained?" An accusatory tone to his voice.
I felt Yuri tense up behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him, the real Yuri was back and he was pleading at me with his warm chocolate eyes that I've grown to love. I didn't want to restrain him. 'Not in that way anyway.' I mentally punched myself. I said the first thing that came to mind, "He had an accident earlier and is in here getting some rest and recovering." Not an exact lie. I flipped the truth by shrugging my shoulders which earned me another grunt. "I'll see you in your office." With that Yakov turned and left the ward.
I deflated the air out of my body, then turned to face Yuri once again.
"You're causing me a lot of trouble, Yuri. Do you know that." It wasn't a question. I ran a hand through my hair again. Scolding myself for being irritated with a patient. Yuri squeaked and doubled back on the bed, hiding his face in the pillow. I let out another exasperated groan, this was not how I planned today to go.
After escorting Yuri back to his room, I had a warden stand on guard close by, just in case, gives me a piece of mind.
Making sure Yuri has his medication, I checked the bandage covering his head before I slowly wandered down the hallways, until I reached my office. I haven't seen Yakov in a while, as he's been travelling all over Europe to other asylums. He's been doing some research and his latest work with helping mentally ill people has made the news, even with the aftermath of the war that has been on the front page of every newspaper and radio programmes since the war was officially declared over on the 8th May 1945. Yakov is a genius, he taught me everything he knows.
He took me on as an apprentice when I finished school. Due to being born into an hereditary nobility family since my father and grandfather both served in the wars and my father is a 1st class captain for the Soviet army and my mother is a world renowned prima ballerina. The Nikiforov family are highly thought of.
But it also made for a very lonely childhood. Being the only son and heir to the Nikiforov fortune, I was kept on a very short leash. I didn't have any real friends, so I focused all my attention to studying and in my spare time, I taught myself to ice skate. But I was always lonely. When out on the ice, it always felt too big and empty for just one person and when I was at home, I would wonder the long hallways of the manor, go horse riding or practice dance.
It wasn't until I started training under Yakov's tutelage that I met Christophe. His parents didn't want him to enrol for the war, much to his disappointment and protests, as he had always wanted to get out there and do his part for his country so his parents compromised with him and sent him to a medic school in St Petersburg, so he could do his part safely behind the line of action.
Chris is two years younger than me but we instantly clicked and we've been close friends ever since. But I digress.
Opening the door to my office, I made my grand entrance.
"So Yakov, to what do I owe this visit?"
The old man adjusted himself in my office chair before saying anything. "Vitya, as you know I've been collaborating with a few doctors from other asylums, coming up with potential methods for curing the mentally ill." A brief pause to see my reaction. I wanted to know where he was going with this so I kept quiet and let him continue.
"After recent tests, we found a solution, here I'll show you." Yakov bent down to retrieve something under the desk and he lifted it up onto the table. It was a briefcase of some sorts but it didn't look like it held documents or important memos inside.
I watched as he flicked open the metal catches and lifted the lid before he began to fiddle with what was inside. "Come closer Vitya." I shuffled around the desk so I could see the mysterious object.
I saw a voltage pack with wires and dials connected to a sort of converted stethoscope that had sponge and wool padding wrapped around the ends.
"What is all this?" It looked barbaric and something that is meant to cause a lot of pain. I took a step back from the offending machine.
"Ah it's only a prototype but it does work. In our experiments, 6 out of 10 patients felt more self aware and alert."
I couldn't help but notice the gleefulness in his voice. 'Is he enjoying using patients as guinea pigs or is he happy that there is now a cure?'
"How does it work?" Some part of me regretted saying those words, but I couldn't deny that I was curious.
"Electric currents triggers a seizure in the lateral orbitofrontal to provide relief of the current disorder, effectively stopping the behaviour of mental actions."
I watched as Yakov flipped on some switches, the dials lit up as he turned a knob and I watched the electromagnetic needle spike. He picked up the electrodes and held it against my arm.
I flinched at the contact. "What are you doing?"
"Don't worry Vitya, this is only a test, I've set the watt on low so you can have a feel of what it would be like."
I didn't like this at all, my heart started racing causing the drumming of my Pulse to play a deafening beat in my ears, almost blocking out every other sound.
"Ready?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer as he slightly turned the dial and I could hear the electricity hum through the wires until it made contact with my skin.
I gasped out loud when the current seeped through my arm, I could feel it bouncing around my muscle tissue and nerves making my arm spasm for a few seconds.
Yakov turned the machine off and took the rods away.
The lingering aftermath of the shock left my arm feeling all tingly and surprisingly painless.
Yakov laughed at my reaction. I pushed my glasses back up my nose and gently rubbed my arm, flattening down the hairs that had stood up straight from the static.
"What do you think?" He asked me, leaning his head in his hands for support.
"I- I don't know, what voltage would the patients receive?"
Yakov looked into the case and took out a folder containing his research and diagrams. He found a sheet of paper that was recorded from the last experiment he did.
"240 voltage, Current: 0.75 amps and charge: 403.2 mc. This patient responded well to electroshock therapy. We tested him 3 times. Each controlled shock seizure to the brain helped stimulate the cortex and lateral orbitofrontal lobe, making him somewhat functional like a normal human being without help. He was still slow in some movements and body basics, but nevertheless, it was successful."
Yakov lit up a cigar and settled back into my leather chair, giving me time to take in this information.
I stepped away from the machine, wanting some distance from it. I wasn't sure how I felt about making my patients endure such treatment. That's not how I run things here. I don't endorse rough treatment on any of my patients.
"So shall we grab a patient and try it on them? Might be the start of something for you, help clear out some of these invalids."
For the first time ever, I felt resentment towards my former teacher. My fists clenched in tight balls by my sides, something stirred within me, something I didn't know I was capable of feeling. But looking up at him, I could see something was off about him. Something dark was seeping into his aura. I didn't like it at all. He was changing. I'm ending this.
"No, Yakov, my patients are not guinea pigs. They are human beings that have been unfortunate to be taken by such ailments. This kind of treatment," I pointed at his machine. " is not how we do things here."
My heart had picked up its pace again and was running laps around a circuit in my chest. But I was not backing down to him.
"Viktor. Listen to me, this could be your ticket to fame, this device is what you need to give this place the extra push it needs to be world famous. You'll be world famous. That means money boy."
"Is this what it's all about to you? Money? Being well known?" I asked him incredulous to what I was hearing.
"Yes Vitya, isn't curing these "human beings" what you're here for? Think of the doors to possibilities and opportunities that would open up to you?"
I felt my body shake. My anger flaring, as I slammed my hands down on my desk and lent over the wooden panel to look him dead In the eyes. I spoke low and slow so he got the message.
"I'm not interested so please take this barbaric contraption out of my office and out of my hospital. And don't you dare think to come to me with such monstrous ideas ever again."
We locked eyes, time seemed to have stopped in the suspensive atmosphere that we've created.
Yakov's nose flared open and close. Shock flashed through his cold blue eyes.
He abruptly stood up, locked the machine back in the case and headed for the door. My eyes followed his every move. He looked back at me,
"Don't go against me on this Viktor, I never lose."
