The Darkest Soul of Light
Part 7
"Dr. Steward, a woman is waiting for you. She insisted on seeing you. She presented herself as Miss Ives," announced Mr. Renfield.
"Hasn't Mr. White come yet?" the woman at the table retorted.
"He came ten minutes earlier as usual," was the reply.
"Invite him, please, and send this lady away if she doesn't have any appointment," said Dr. Steward nonchalantly.
"She said that it is a matter of extreme emergency!"
"If my patients didn't have matters of extreme emergency, they wouldn't come," the old woman pronounced firmly.
"Yes, Ma'am. I'll send Mr. White here immediately." He left the room.
The woman heard some noise of two people arguing and instead Mr. White the door was opened by a dark haired, slim, tall woman. She immediately closed it after herself blocking the handle with her hand to prevent any attempts of Mr. Renfield to open the door again.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Steward. My name is Vanessa Ives. My friend recommended you as a specialist of mental health diseases…" This very moment she stopped abruptly because she recognized the woman. It was exactly the same face and stature of the Cut-Wife of Ballentree Moor. "My friend is Mr. Ferdinand Lyle." She finished her sentence.
"Oh, Miss Ives, yes, he told me about you. I thought you'd come at the beginning of the week not in the end of it. If you could wait so long, I recon one hour won't do you any harm. So, please, let my patient in. It isn't a good idea to embark on a voyage of discovery with a broken hand," the old woman emphasized the last words.
"Of course, Dr. Steward, but after an hour you will hear me out!" Vanessa let go the handle and Mr. Renfield nearly fell into the room. "Gentlemen!" She greeted the men and went outside.
"Now can we talk?" Again Miss Ives didn't wait to be invited into the room and she had a huge paper bag from a chemist's shop.
"Mr. Lyle told me about depression but I see impatience and agitation," Dr. Steward commented inviting Miss Ives to sit down. The woman refused to sit on a chair instead she put the paper bag on it.
"So, how can I help you, Miss Ives?" spoke the doctor beginning her observation.
"It's not about me. It's about a girl I met a few days ago. She's epileptic…" Vanessa was passing nervously from one side of the room to the other clutching and unclutching her hands.
"I don't treat epilepsy. My specialization is manic depression, nervous breakdown and dissociative identity disorder. I'm not interested in epilepsy. If you didn't come for yourself, then good evening, Miss Ives."
"Please, listen to me! She's a nine year old girl, very bright, not like any other kids I've met in my whole life. She had an awful seizure today that left her with too wounds on each of her hands as if she was pierced by huge nails," Miss Ives described the events not stopping passing from one side of the room to another.
"So, she started cutting herself. It's a problem at this young age. I would recommend you a child psychiatrist as I don't work with children." The old woman wrote something on a piece of paper.
"Do you actually listen?!" Vanessa hissed and stopped for a moment to look at this arrogant doctor. "I was present when she had that awful seizure. She was wearing gloves and didn't have any wounds on her palms until falling down! When I took off the gloves I saw two identical holes on this poor girl's hands!"
"Fine, Miss Ives. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning I would like to see that imaginary girl of yours. I charge ten shillings for a session the same as a good dentist. So, you may take this girl to the dentist or bring her to my office tomorrow. Your choice! Good bye, Miss Ives. Visiting hours for today is over."
"See you tomorrow at ten, Dr. Steward." Vanessa hiked the paper bag from the chair and stormed out of the office muttering curses on her way.
Miss Ives came home late and angry. She left the girl for almost three hours alone with those drastic wounds just because that arrogant doctor didn't want to listen to what she was going to say. Vanessa was intrigued, though, because doctor resembled her friend so much. She avenged the Cut-Wife of Ballentree Moor once, maybe her distant relative would help now. She extremely needed this help as all the people who once cared for her were far away and lost.
Vanessa bought different herbs to make her own painkiller for the girl. So, she hoped Florence would be still sleeping after so much suffering but another picture came to the fore. The child in her under-gown and shawl was striking matches to make up a fire and probably to heat up some food. As it was very painful for her to pick up something she put a match between her thumb and palm and stroke without paying attention to the bandages. The stove lit up and girl's left hand caught a fire which she quickly knocked off by slamming her palm on the table. Of cause, it caused her smarting pain. Miss Ives, who grasped girl's sore hand right over only worsened the pain.
"Ouch!" Florence cried with tears in her eyes.
"Florence, what on earth are you doing?!" Vanessa exclaimed sounding more worried than furious. The blood soaked from either part of both hands judging by the stains on the bandages.
"I thought you would come soon and wanted to heat up some chicken with cauliflower," explained the child.
"That's very thoughtful of you, but you could have set yourself on fire," Vanessa reprimanded. "From now on I don't want to see you doing anything with those hands of yours. Do you hear me?!"
The girl slightly nodded.
"If you need to put on some clothes, you ask me. If you are hungry, you tell me. If you need to wash, I'll help. Got it?"
Florence nodded again while tears were streaming down her face and dropping on the floor.
"Hush, everything will be fine!" Vanessa put her arms around girl's skinny shoulders and they were standing in the kitchen swaying for some time. The moment she embraced this child she forgot about her sorrow, pain and the loss of God. It seemed as if Florence gave her power to go ahead, to stand against the evil that surrounded her from the very childhood. Vanessa forgot her fear not to touch the girl because of the ability to harm this little, fragile human being.
"Let's treat your wounds and eat something." The woman proposed after some time. Florence nodded still sniffing.
Next morning they had an argument where Florence accused Miss Ives of being a cold-hearted person who wanted to give her away to the asylum. As the girl's couldn't do anything she let the woman dress her, in protest didn't eat anything for breakfast and was silent on their way to the doctor.
"Good morning, Miss Ives. An imaginary child isn't so imaginary as I thought, come in and sit down, please," Dr. Steward greeted Miss Ives with her small companion. "And what is your name?" She addressed to the girl.
"Her name is Florence Welch. I look after her," Vanessa answered nervously not quite sure if she could tell the truth.
"Miss Ives, I told you yesterday that I don't work with kids. Still she is here. That's why, I hope she is not deaf and can articulate an answer herself. Otherwise, it will be a waste of my time and your money. You may wait for her outside this room as this session is confidential and I don't talk with other people about my patients' affairs," the woman looked strictly at Miss Ives trying to kill her with the look.
"No, Ma'am, please, I would like Miss Ives to stay," Florence was taken aback by such impolite treatment of her so to speak 'guardian'.
"Why do you want her to stay? Is she your mother?" Dr. Steward stared at the two of them searching for any similar features.
"No, she hired me as a housemaid. Unfortunately, I can't do much due to circumstances and Miss Ives was severally liable to take care of me for some time. To whom have I the honor of speaking?" Once, a very shy child became an outstanding orator.
"My name is Dr. Florence Steward. So, we have the same name as you see. Still you didn't answer my question, Miss Welch. Why do you want Miss Ives to stay during the session?"
"I prone to think, that Miss Ives wants to put me into asylum. If my expectations prove to be right, I would like Miss Ives to see how they'll come after me," the girl said coldly.
Dr. Steward smirked. This had to be an interesting case.
"Miss Ives, you may sit over there, and you, Miss Welch, please, sit opposite my table."
Vanessa didn't give a dam to girl's last comment. She helped the child to unbutton and take off the coat and the hat. She sat in the corner as Florence sat in front of Dr. Steward's table.
"For a girl of your age you should be able to take off the coat by yourself," Dr. Steward noticed on purpose.
"My hands are covered in rash and blisters after two days of tidying up the house. So, I can barely move my fingers." Saying so Florence turned to look at Miss Ives, who just shook her head.
"If I didn't know, what happened to you, I would have thought that you were telling the truth as you don't even blink while lying. May I see your hands, Miss Welch?"
Florence again glanced at Vanessa who nodded in approval. The old woman saw this silent language but for now she didn't want to attract much attention to this minor violence of the rules.
"If it is extremely necessary, then, yes." The girl agreed to show her sore hands.
The girl patiently waited, until the doctor has unwrapped the bandages.
"How did you get them?" Mrs. Steward askedexamining girl's wounds. Florence winced a little when she turned her hands palms up.
"I thought Miss Ives had already told that dramatic story," Florence grumbled obviously not liking the pain caused by the old woman's not so gentle touch.
Dr. Steward turned to her table and switched on the recording gramophone.
"This is for me. I record my sessions for later review, saves for taking notes," she explained more to Vanessa than to the girl, who was definitely relieved that Dr. Steward left her hands alone for a while. "So, tell me this dramatic story of yours."
The doctor left girl's hands without bandages on purpose. She needed to see the behavior of this smart girl. The wounds had to be the reminders of what happened to her yesterday. Dr. Steward listened to the girl and asked Miss Ives the same question. Then she talked to Florence about the first time she suffered from seizures.
"I don't remember exactly my age because my parents didn't celebrate our birthdays. We celebrated religious holidays but not birthdays. I think I was two or something around that age," The girl started talking and was immediately interrupted by the doctor.
"Miss Welch, in this room you should tell the truth or you may go. I can't help those who lie to me." The old woman said strictly.
"I'm not lying!" huffed Florence.
"No, you are! Children remember things starting from the age of 4 or 5. The brain is growing together with the person. It is impossible for you to remember what you were doing at the age of two!"
"If you give me a book and some time to read several pages, I can prove that I have an extraordinary memory," the child suggested staring at the woman as if she was going to eat her alive.
"There is no need in it. See those two shelves. Please, read the names of the books on both of them." The doctor didn't hesitate to take a dare because she noticed at the beginning from child's speech that this girl was an extraordinary one.
It took one minute for the girl to read all the titles as she was a slow reader.
"Now look at Miss Ives, please."
The girl turned her gaze away from the shelves. Dr. Steward came to the shelves and changed two books that were standing next to each other.
"Now tell me what I have changed?"
Florence came to the shelves and showed exactly the books that were not on their places.
"That's right," the doctor said it so nonchalantly as if she wasn't at all surprised by girl's ability. "Fine, let's say you remember yourself from the age of 2, what happened then?"
Florence answered doctor's questions until the end of the session.
"That will do for today." The woman stopped the session because the child has already felt uncomfortable to reply all the questions she asked in detail. "Could you wait for Miss Ives in the receiving office?"
"Yes, Dr. Steward. Good day!" Florence left the room.
"I see a wonderful bright young lady with excellent manners by the way and tense relations with her parents. Miss Welch takes her epilepsy as a given. On the other hand, you take it as a burden. Why so?"
"I'm just trying to help," said Vanessa.
"I also have to make a point, that you and Miss Welch have some kind of an incomprehensible bond. Every time I tried to throw dirt on you she spoke in support of the woman she barely knows. This is not illustrative for a child. Children by their nature are selfish. I have to be sincere with you, Miss Ives. There is no cure for epilepsy. Alienists do researches and advance theories but nobody knows the core of the disease. Although, I would like to observe this girl as she has an unusual talent. I would prescribe her some sedatives to ease the symptoms and painkillers for the wounds."
"Thank you, Dr. Steward."
"That's not all. I would like to see you coming to the sessions every other day at ten o'clock without Miss Welch. You found a purpose in life in this girl but you still have your own 'demons' to fight and this confession is not for child's ears. The cost for two sessions will be 15 shillings."
"We are interesting guinea pigs for you, aren't we, Dr. Steward?" Vanessa smirked.
"Won't it be great if I help?" The old woman retorted.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. Steward. Good day."
Miss Ives took Florence's coat and hat and left the room.
To be continued…
