Johanna Crane-Despite the high death rate, people continue to move here. It's rather like the tourists that go to war-torn countries and complain when they are inevitably captured. Humans are a strange species.
Christineoftheopera-Medicine has come a long way. He was annoying me, so I shut him up. He'll be back soon enough, with his idiotic comments and foolish behavior.
It's a new doctor. Fresh out of school, determined to see what makes her tick.
She always hated the new recruits. 'What if we tried this?' 'What about this?' NO. Just no.
This one is no different. He has an annoyingly eager grin on his face. Idiot. If he thinks he'll understand anything, he's dumber than a box of rocks.
"How are you today?" Oh, he's polite! Well, good for him.
"Peachy."
After the typical questions-what did she do to get caught this time? She's unhurt, hopefully?-he leans forward, his game-show-host grin widening a little.
"Why do you do it?"
"Do what."
The grin shrinks a little. Only a little.
"Hurt people. Kill people."
"Oh, that." She makes herself as comfortable as possible in the hard wooden chair. The handcuffs are itchy-she always hated anything on her wrists, bracelets or otherwise. "You really want to know?"
The grin widens again.
"I really do want to help you, Miss Richardson."
"Well, you see, Doctor…" She leans forward and he shrinks back just a touch. Ha. Not so brave after all, hm? "When I was six years old, my mum and I were driving through the countryside. And I saw this beautiful black pony for sale. And I begged her to let me have it. Pitched a screaming fit, pledged my soul to Satan…and do you know what she said?"
"No."
"She. Said. No." She takes a deep breath to hold back the giggles. "And at that moment, something inside me just…snapped." She settles back in the chair, not bothering to hide her own smug grin. "And that's why I do what I do."
His grin withers and dies and he pushes the button to call the orderly. There. That'll teach this upstart to expect a straight answer.
THE END