"Who are you?" Sandy asked, looking up to see an unfamiliar man walking into his room.
"My name is Dr. Brahm…" the man replied. "I'm here to talk to you…"
Sandy was slightly confused. "My doctor is Ed Bauer…" he said.
"Well, I'm a different kind of Dr.…"
"What?" Sandy asked, before the realization hit him. "I'm not crazy… I don't need a fucking shrink!"
"I never said that you were crazy… I just want to talk to you…"
"Well… I don't wanna talk to you…"
"You don't have a choice…"
"Of course I have a choice…"
"You do want to leave this place, don't you? Your doctor has ordered a full psychiatric evaluation be completed before he discharges you…"
"I'm not crazy…" Sandy said.
"I never said that you were…"
"Then why are you here?"
"Your doctor says that he has witnessed some erratic behavior…"
"I have been in this hospital bed for days! How the fuck am I supposed to behave?"
"Tell me about what happened to you…"
"You have access to my medical records, don't you?" Sandy said. "Why don't you go read the damn things if you need to know so badly…"
"Do you want to stay in the hospital, Sandy?"
"No… Why would you say that?"
"It appears that you are purposely antagonizing me…"
"So what?" Sandy asked.
"It is almost as if you want me to tell the doctor that you are crazy, so that you won't have to go home…"
"So tell me this, then, why wouldn't I want to go home?"
"Because you're afraid…"
"You don't know shit…" Sandy said, turning away from him.
"Then educate me…"
"I'm not crazy…"
"Let's not use the word crazy… Let's say irrational…"
Sandy rolled his eyes.
"If you don't like me, that's fine Sandy… But after you are released you are going to need to see a professional on a regular basis… I can recommend someone else if you are uncomfortable with me…"
"I just want to go home…" Sandy said. "That's all… Just tell my doctor that I am fine, and that I'm not crazy, and that I can leave…"
"I need to do my job…"
"Well, if your job is to annoy the patients…"
"Just talk to me Sandy…"
"I am talking to you…"
"No. You are dodging the subject…"
"What exactly do you wanna know, huh? Do you want to hear that I was scared out of my mind when it happened? Do you wanna hear that I was afraid he was going to kill me? That every time I go to sleep I dream about it… That it's almost constantly on my mind… That I'm pretty damn sure that I will never, ever feel safe again… That every time I see a badge something inside of me snaps to the point where I become hysterical… And that it makes the images so much more vivid… That I can't get control of my thoughts… Because those monsters keep slipping into them… That I'm haunted by the fact that his lawyers might be able to get him off, but that I'm still too afraid to testify against him… Huh? Tell me… Do you wanna hear that? Do you wanna hear that I blame myself for not running at the first moment that I heard those footsteps behind me? That I know if I had been stronger I could have fought them off of me… That if only I had been carrying a gun… I could've… I could've killed them both… That sometimes I do have those moments where I wish they would've just finished the job and killed me… Because at least then I wouldn't have to feel like this… I wouldn't have be scared… I wouldn't have to hurt like this…" Sandy began to shake slightly as tears ran down his face. "Is that what you wanted to hear? Huh? Go ahead, tell me I'm crazy… I don't care anymore… I don't care… I just don't care…"
"These moments… Do you ever intend on acting on them?"
"No!" Sandy said. "No!"
"And why not?"
"Because when I can think half-way clearly I know that I don't want to die… Don't want to miss out on the rest of my life… Don't want to let that bastard get exactly what he wanted in the first place…" Sandy said. "Or maybe… Maybe it's because I'm just too spineless to go through with it…"
"Well…" the psychiatrist replied. "You seem perfectly sane to me…"
Sandy looked back over at him. "What?"
"But you are still going to need to make some follow up appointments with me… Or at least one of my colleagues…"
"Why?" Sandy asked, wiping his eyes. "You said that I was perfectly sane…"
"Just because you're not crazy, doesn't mean that you don't need help…"
"I don't need help…"
"Do you want to keep feeling like that?"
"There's nothing you can do anyway… You can't help me… You can't erase what happened to me…"
"But I can help you learn to deal with it, Sandy… I can help you not to be afraid anymore… I can help with the nightmares…"
Sandy sighed. "Look… You said I was sane… So I think that we're done here…"
"Sandy, you need help…"
"Not from you I don't…"
"I can recommend somebody else…"
"I don't need a fucking shrink!"
"Yes you do!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"You need help, Sandy!"
"I'm not broken! I don't need to be fixed!"
"You need help… You cannot keep going on like this… You cannot live like this, Sandy… You cannot live with this irrational fear…"
"MY FEAR IS NOT IRRATIONAL!"
"Sandy, listen to me…"
"I'm tired of listening to you! You don't know me! You don't know anything! Just leave me alone!"
"You need help…"
"STOP SAYING THAT!"
"You need help, Sandy…"
"SHUT UP!"
"Sandy, you need help…"
"What do you want from me?" Sandy asked, tired of arguing with him.
"I want you to agree to come see me…"
"Fine…" Sandy growled. "I will make an appointment… Can you leave now?"
"I will make sure that you do…" the man replied before finally walking out of the room.