"Doctor Carson? The patient in room 217… Yes, right, Alice… She's having some sort of breakdown. Yes, I locked her in her room… She was screaming for some person named Dinah? Of course I've read her history! There is no mention of a Dinah!... Yes, please hurry. Thank you." I hung up the phone at the nurses' station and retreated to the employee lounge. I sunk down into the sofa, burying my head in my hands to help me think. There has to be some reason she's yelling for Dinah. Who is Dinah? I asked this question over and over in my head, but never coming to a conclusion. Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock… The clock on the wall tapped out the beat to the seconds, the minute hand spinning around the face. I grabbed the huge binder sitting on the wooden endtable beside me, containing patient records. I flipped through it until I came across the name Alice Pleasance written across the top of the page. I scanned through her family history, again finding nothing.

"God!" I exclaimed to nobody in particular, shaking my head. I sat waiting for what felt like an eternity before a tall, grey-haired man walked into the room. "Doctor Carson, thank God."

"Come with me, Ethel." Rich Carson, one of the leading experts in psychiatry at our institution, led me out into the hallway. We walked for a while, in stiff silence, me trailing several paces behind him. I had to walk quickly to keep up with his fast gait. "Here we are…" I looked at the room we had arrived at: The medicine closet.

"Doctor…" I began to speak, but was cut off by Carson.

"Was she violent?" He questioned, which startled me. I shook my head furiously, responding, "No, never! Alice isn't like that…"

"Nurse Ethel. Please remember she is a psychiatric patient. They can be perfectly pleasant one moment, and thrashing around wildly the next." Carson stared at me expressionlessly.

I frowned, nodding. "Yes, I know. But Alice doesn't do that. I'd hate to see her on drugs…"

"Nurse! I am not asking your opinion!" Doctor Carson grabbed a bottle of pills and stormed out of the room, leaving me standing there, speechless. I stood in stunned silence for several moments, then ran out of the room to follow him. By the time I got to Alice's room, Carson had already given her the pill, and was attempting to talk to her.

"Miss Pleasance, just tell me: Who is Dinah?" He demanded. Alice was sitting in a chair, and Carson was standing in front of her.

Alice's eyes lit up at the sound of Dinah's name. "Dinah? You've found her? Oh, thank goodness… Where is she?" The woman looked around the room, crow's lines wrinkling around her eyes as she smiled.

"Alice…" I made my presence known, kneeling down beside the old lady. "Honey, who is Dinah?" I held one of her hands in both of mine, looking pleadingly at her.

"Dinah? You've never met her? Oh… She's such a good mouser, and she loves to cuddle, and the way she gets milk on her whiskers when she drinks! I've missed her so much!" Alice sighed with pleasure.

Doctor Carson and I exchanged glances. "Sweetheart, is Dinah a cat?"

Thank you for your reviews! At the time of writing this, I've gotten two reviews on this story so far. I'd be really happy if more people added their thoughts! There will be at least one more installment of this story, explaining what's wrong with Alice. I might break it up into two chapters, though...