(A/N: Hi everyone here's another chapter of 'Asylum', I apologize for the wait. Let me know how it's going so far! I hope you continue to enjoy this fic. Thank you to all reviewers for your support and encouragement. Whether it was lengthy or short , it is greatly valued and appreciated. Okay enough sensitivity and on with the story! Hazzah!)
An hour later Arnold came to.
"Ugh, my head" he grumbled putting his hand to his aching head. He squint his eyes unable to bear the brightness of the fluorescent lights hovering above him "Where..where am I?" He said, his voice sounding hoarse and dry.
"You're in my office at Hillview Mental Institution" a voice replied.
"Henrik? Wha-What happened?" Arnold questioned as he tried to sit up to look to where he heard his mentor's voice, but couldn't locate him; his head was spinning.
"Well it seems that your patient was more than you could handle." Henrik chuckled as he continued. "I told you she was sneaky, didn't I? Eh? Eh?" Arnold replied with a nod and a fake smile to hide the pain. As he was offered some water, he inquired. "Where is she? What h-happened to her?" he took a sip of water to moisten his dry mouth as he looked to his mentor for answers his dizziness beginning to diminish.
"Unfortunately, she's still on the loose." Henrik said. "There's a search party looking for her, but luckily they found you." he stated his expression showing some relief. As Arnold sat up the doctor checked the back of Arnold's head.
"It's quite a bump you got there" he stated poking at the reddish gumball size bump protruding at the back of his head. His mentor also noticed the swollen and bruised left cheek he received from his fight with Gerald. He took note of the deep cut he sustained above his eyebrow, which will need stitches, and the various scrapes along his arms. Henrik made note to question about those injuries at a later time.
Arnold grumbled embarrassed, "I must have fallen back on my head when she drugged me"
Arnold looked to the ground still contemplating today's outcome.
He thought disbelievingly, "I-I don't understand, she promised she was coming with me, she promised not to run away?"
Still stunned, Arnold muttered aloud to himself, "Why did she…do that?"
Henrik not knowing that the question wasn't directed at him, answered. "She's a mental patient Arnold! She is not in her right mind." he yammered at the confused man.
The doctor seemed astounded at the fact that Arnold made it this far with her without getting put into the hospital. One thing he didn't understand was the trusting and yielding nature he often showed to his patients, especially this one. He on the other hand was quite skeptical… about everything. Henrik liked to control the situation from every aspect creating boundaries where the patient would be unable to cross so they could return back to society and be model citizens. What they needed was boundaries, discipline, and awareness of rules.
Henrik sighed shaking his head, thinking. "Somebody's gotta knock some sense into this man."
Arnold put a hand to his face to hide the hurt he felt, he lowly whispered, "I thought she cared about me!" He was unable to grasp the fact that Helga was no longer the same woman he knew.
"What was it you said Arnold?" Henrik inquired curiously not able to catch what was said.
"Nothing Henrik, just thinking where she might go next." he shyly grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. He hoped he doesn't figure things out about his past relationship with her.
"Ah, good thinking Arnold! It's really important that we find her as soon as possible before she harms herself...or others." the doctor stated, patting him on the back.
Arnold winced as his rough hand hit his back, it created a sting from the bruise he sustained from collapsing to the tunnel floor.
The doctor spoke further, "By the way Arnold, I contacted a colleague of mine in Boston and spoke to him about your case and he gave me a brief hypothesis of what might work for Eleanor to merge her personalities together. Are you still up for it? I mean… Can you still handle this case?"
Arnold snapping out of his slump straightened himself up and answered. "Yes…yes, I can handle it."
Henrik grinned at his eagerness and further elaborated his colleague's analysis. "Alright then, he explained that usually the origination of Dissociative Identity Disorders or multiple personalities probably began during childhood undetected. Usually, this disorder stems in people who came from broken homes or those who have suffered abuse of some kind when they were children. Meaning that her personalities were always there, but as one. But… the manifestation of the personalities splitting probably occurred after the trauma. I guess in her case it was rape as you mentioned over the phone."
Henrik continued speaking as he paced around his office, his hands clasped behind his back, and his gaze focused to the floor. "He stated that people who have suffered abuse during their childhood in one way or another live their lives filled with fear, torment, and hopelessness, which makes them liable to suffer from this disorder. Therefore, your patient when she was young must have had different traits of those personalities to handle different parts of her troubled life. But once she was raped her personalities were walled off from each other so no single persona can handle all problems. Hence, the fact that not all of her personalities remember certain events of her past. Each...had their own task. Now, here's the tricky part Arnold, recovery will rely on whether you can distinguish how to integrate all 3 personalities into one cohesive one again. Some personalities may resist the process seeing it as death, so you need to convince all of them to cooperate as one. Now I don't know how or what you can say or do to make that happen, but it needs to happen...and soon."
With determination Arnold spoke, "I'll do my best Henrik to help her out" He sighed with concern on his face, "I just hope it's enough."
Arnold began processing what his mentor explained to him.
He thought, "So that explains her behavior as a child. I didn't realize that was her way to cope her neglectful home life."
Interrupting Arnold's thought, Henrik stated. "Oh and Arnold, before you go… make sure you stop by the nurse's station and get yourself patched up, okay? That bump needs to be looked at!"
Arnold stood up from Dr. Henrik Benson's office, and nodded. He soon bid him goodbye and headed to the nurse's station. He made it his goal to find Helga, but not before making a few stops. An idea came to mind as he first stopped at the boarding house, and then headed to her parent's condo.
Arriving at her parent's new home, he braced himself as he got out of his car.
"Here's goes nothing" he said, showing some uneasiness in his walk as he headed for their door.
Upon reaching it, Arnold took a deep breath and exhaled. He knocked on the door three times, but no one came. He knocked again and heard Big Bob's gruff voice resonate through the door. "Criminy, what now? These damn salesmen don't know when to stop! I'll show them where they can shove their products."
Big Bob abruptly opened the door not wanting to hear what Arnold had to say, "Hey, we're not interested in anything you have to sell us, you got that!"
Then he made to close the door, however, Arnold placed his foot out to block it from completely closing.
Bob uttered, "What the-"
"No, no Mr. Pataki I'm not a salesman" Arnold threw in quickly before Big bob blew a fit. His eyes plead for the man to hear him out.
"Yeah, then what the heck do you want?" Big Bob rudely asked.
"Remember me? I'm Arnold, Helga's…uh… friend?" He mentioned uneasily and began to scratch the back of his head, knowing that Big Bob would definitely remember him. Besides, he was practically engaged to his daughter once upon a time!
"Oh…you again?" Big Bob grunted.
Arnold replied, "Uh yeah, I came here to get something of Helga's, you see she has developed-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah what's she done now?" Bob nonchalantly asked.
"Well...nothing Mr. Pataki. She's been in a mental institution for almost two years and I just-"
"WHAT?" He roared, scaring the wits out of Arnold temporarily, as he flinched.
Big Bob then calmed down somewhat from his outburst and said. "I'm not even gonna ask."
But upon looking into Arnold's face he saw fear and great distress. Big Bob sighed and looked down in thought for a moment, his concern started to show through his aging rugged features. He looked to Arnold once again, and then quietly spoke. "So..uh..is she...um...you know?" Bob made a gesture to ask Arnold if she's crazy.
"Not... really Mr. Pataki, listen… I don't have much time can you please help me?" Arnold strongly requested.
"Sure..sure.." Big Bob let Arnold in and lead him to the den.
Meanwhile, Big Bob headed back upfront to find Miriam. Arnold heard his voice down the hall mumbling something to his wife and she in turn gasped. She sounded genuinely alarmed at the news he had given her. Arnold tensed up a little. He didn't feel comfortable here. Everything just felt…awkward. So he grabbed what he needed and made his way back towards Helga's parents. As he approached them, Miriam and Bob looked to him anxiously.
Mr. Pataki spoke uneasily. "When you see Ol..Helga... tell her...uh..you know..." He coughed "tell her that we...we..care about her." Miriam nodded in agreement with her husband as they held on to each other. As Arnold looked at them, he noticed that they both looked immensely worried for their youngest daughter. He saw fear already set in their eyes. Miriam appeared to have sobered up rather quickly and also looked to be on the verge of crying.
Arnold responded to their request, "I will." For a moment, Arnold seemed glad that they showed concern, but the damage was done; she needed this constantly long ago. But regardless, he respectfully bid them goodbye as he took leave and made his way out their door.
Entering his car, Arnold started his search heading to familiar places first. He drove around the city for hours as he thought of places she had been to, or have mentioned she wanted to go to, but there was no sight of her anywhere. Eventually, he extended his search beyond Hillwood, which proved to be unsuccessful as well. Well into the night, Arnold grew tired and weary. He stopped at a gas station midway to the next town in order to grab a cup of coffee and refill his gas tank.
Entering the restroom to freshen up, he splashed water on his face and looked up into the restroom mirror. He sighed, "Where would you be if you were on the run?" he questioned, hoping for a sign of clairvoyance. But he got nothing. He held on to the rim of the sink, feeling hopelessness taking over.
"It's no use" He thought as he exhausted all resources. He remembered how he had lost hope for a moment in time when he attempted to save the neighborhood and a certain deep voice helped him regain momentum. He smiled a bit and thought, "No I can't give up now."
With renewed energy and a fresh state of mind, he decided to keep going. "She believes in me, and I will not let her down."
With that said, Arnold headed back out into the streets to search for her.
With a positive outlook, Arnold continued driving about 20 more miles out of town until exhaustion from the day caught up with him. Arnold concerned with not falling asleep at the wheel planned to head back to the city in a few minutes when he passed a blonde woman walking on the side of the road wearing an oversized shirt with pants.
On instinct, he stopped and backed up the car to her, he stopped, and eyed the woman as he sat in the car. She stood still for a moment, but then approached the car from the passenger window, smiling innocently.
As she came up by the window, based on her profile, he suspected it was her. The lack of light in the area proved to be difficult for her to clearly see the face of the man who stopped for her. Still… she felt she needed a ride and this is the first car that actually stopped for her in hours.
She shrugged her shoulders and decided to go for it. Speaking with a mediocre French accent, she uttered. "Excuse me Monsieur, I'm not from here...and I was wondering if you can give me a...how you say...ah oui...a lift?" She smiled and batted her eyelashes, not that he could see it anyway, but nonetheless she did it. Hearing her voice then confirmed that it was Helga, which made him somewhat feel relieved.
"She's alright" he thought.
Arnold at that moment had a plan; he merely nodded not wanting to reveal his identity right away.
"Where iz it you are headed?" she inquired. Arnold scrambled to find what he should do next. He's not known to fool anyone, especially Helga G. Pataki or whoever she was at this moment. He had never acted as someone else a day in his life, unless you count Romeo back in the fourth grade, which was well… a sub par performance in his point of view.
"Just do it" he thought as he pep talked himself, trying to channel the minimal amount of talent in acting he had.
"Here's hoping for the performance of a lifetime." He thought as he gulped feeling anxious before speaking. Dropping his voice a few octaves he said, "Well little lady, I was just going into the next town." he uttered, slightly coughing afterwards due to his scratchy throat. He never had to lower his voice so drastically, he rolled his eyes. "So much for the performance of a lifetime!"
Nevertheless, she bought it as she smiled and replied. "Ahh, oui then I shall ride to the next town then, Thank You..uh...what iz your name?"
"Uh, Smith, yeah, " he replied somewhat nervous.
She giggled then replied. "Thank You, Mr. Smith"
"And you are?" he asked inquisitively, trying to sound smooth.
"Oh pardon-me, my name is Cecile" Arnold's eyes widened in surprise.
He thought, "She must have switched or...not. Maybe she's faking it and it's still Eleanor, Helga was a talented actress. She sure fooled me as Cecile long ago. But I can't take that chance." he returned his focus to her.
"Nice to meet you…Cecile" He nodded and she smiled and hopped in the car. Sensing something familiar about him she glanced at him for a moment, trying to get a good look at the man, but by then Arnold turned his head forward.
Trying to distract her, he mentioned, "Why don't you get some sleep, I'm sure you're exhausted from walking."
He assured her, "Don't worry I won't try anything, I promise." Cecile hesitated for a moment, and looked down at herself worriedly, but as they drove on for a few minutes she began to feel sleepy and soon fell asleep.
Seeing that Helga was fast asleep, Arnold knew what he had to do.
He sighed regretfully and shook his head as he tightly gripped the wheel with one hand. He definitely did not want to do this to her, but after what happened in the tunnel he couldn't afford another escape. As she slept, he silently retrieved his last syringe and gently injected her with the tranquilizer fluid. The woman barely flinched and slept on.
So Arnold made a U-turn back to the Institution. "This is for your own good Helga!"
Thank you ever so much for reading and please take the time to review. I'd appreciate it ever so much! Oh that was sooo lame...