Chapter 2: Spencer

I felt anything but calm as I saw the brown-haired girl cradling herself, sitting on the middle of the pavement, barely aware of her surroundings. There was blood on her forehead, caused when she crashed headfirst into the pavement. She seemed to be hyperventilating, gasping for air while she was rocking back and forth, trying to make sense of it all. The policeman that she had appeared to be running from was getting closer to her and tried to calm her down, clearly not understanding why she was so afraid of him.

If he was being so kind and caring, why was she afraid? As he bent downwards to try and help her up, she let out a terrifying scream that caused goosebumps to form on my skin. She looked at him as though he was the devil incarnate. She whimpered and crawled back until there was some distance between her and the man, and resumed rocking herself back and forth. The policeman seemed intent on helping her and tried to approach her again.

''Stop! Stay back. She's afraid of you,'' I said as I continued to study her. The policeman backed off slightly. The look on her face showed both fear and confusion. She closed her eyes and started talking to herself. I went to my knees in front of her and studied her in silence. She fixed her eyes on the fabric of my cardigan and didn't look up.

''This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real.''

As soon as I heard her muttering those words I had an inkling of what was going in her mind. She had most likely gone through a traumatic experience which caused her to have an over-reactive adrenaline response, which then created deep neurological patterns in the brain. These patterns were most likely triggered by the policeman, causing her to have a hyper-responsive reaction. It could've been anything. Something he said, someone he looks like.

''Sir, you should leave,'' I said while not taking my eyes of the girl in front of me. To any normal person she would like a crazy person, but I knew that she wasn't. Something she had gone through had triggered this response. The policeman backed away unsurely, immediately calming the girl down a bit.

She noticed he backed away and looked around her, looking like a child who lost her mother in a big supermarket. She looked confused, scared and frustrated at the same time.

''I'm crazy,'' she breathed out as tears were streaming down her face. I couldn't bear the idea of this girl thinking that she was some lunatic while I knew that she wasn't. I knew how it felt to be afraid of your own mind.

''Look at me,'' I said, waiting for her to look up until I continued talking, ''- you are not crazy.'' I said and looked into her bright green eyes that looked back at me with a tired and undecided gaze, like she was trying to decide if I was good or evil.

''My name is Spencer Reid, what's yours?''

''Emma,'' she managed to mutter under her breath while she wiped some tears off her cheeks. I smiled nervously at her, not sure what I was supposed to do to help her.

''Emma darling, are you okay?!' A woman muttered with a very worried look on her face, approaching Emma. The woman aided me in helping her up.

''Don't worry Emma, let's get you back to my office,'' a grey-haired man said, wearing a hospital badge on his right hip. The woman gave me a short nod before she took over Emma and started guiding her back inside the building. I stared at them for a while, not knowing what to do.

''You did a good job boy, would you like to come inside for a moment? Tell us about what happened?'' the grey-haired man next to me said. I was annoyed about him calling me ''boy'', as many others usually did. I already had my P.H.D in Mathematics and my B.A. is Sociology and philosophy, soon psychology as well. Just because I was twenty-two didn't mean I was a boy. I was soon to be called doctor.

''Well?'' he said, waiting for my answer. I looked over my shoulder to the bus stop. I had just come here to pick up some books from one of my professors. I had found that the library didn't offer everything I needed, but had a professor who gladly wanted to lend me some of his books.

I would most likely be late for my lecture on the Oedipus complex. I saw Emma being guided back inside the hospital building. My curiosity and concern for the girl won. Plus, most likely the lecturer wouldn't have anything new to tell me anyways.

''Yes, yes of course.''

Five minutes later I was seated in one of the slightly uncomfortable chairs in the doctor's office. He introduced himself to me as Dr Gregor. There was an awkward silence in the room. Dr Gregor was seated opposite of me, Emma next to me and the older couple to our left on the even more uncomfortable chairs next to the wall. I could tell that they weren't family, Emma hadn't inherited any of their physical traits and it was clear to me that there was some sort of barrier between them that would not usually be seen between children and their parents. She was most likely in their care, but hadn't been for a long time.

After some awkward introductions, I decided I would start talking before Dr Gregor started to ask the question of what had happened.

''I think she had a hyper-responsive reaction which was set of by neurological patterns in her brain. These were probably triggered by the policeman, he-'' I looked at Emma who was studying her shoes, I felt very uncomfortable about having to talk about this with he in the room, ''-he probably reminded her of someone she previously knew,'' I concluded. I got looks from everyone in the room, including Emma.

''-do you work around here or something?'' Dr Gregor asked.

''No I study,'' I mumbled.

''Well young man- you are right, that is exactly what happened,'' he said. I noticed that he had refrained from calling me ''boy'' again. I looked at Emma shortly and was surprised that she looked back at me. She still looked shook-up, but somehow managed to give me a slight smile from the corner of her lips. I smiled back at her, awkwardly as usual. I looked back at the doctor.

''For how long has she been treated so far?'' I asked knowing that her fight-or-flight response wasn't anything close to that of an average human. She had ended up on the ground, shaking, rocking herself and she showed signs of tunnel vision, dilated pupils and general shock.

'''Six months I believe.''

''Six months?! How is that possible? What treatment has she had?'' I asked with a shocked looked on my face. The caretakers behind us stirred, clearly showing interest in why I was so shocked. Emma looked at me as well.

''I cannot share that information with you sir,'' Dr Gregor said, now calling me sir instead of young man.

''She gets antidepressants and has to write down memories that come back to her in a diary,'' the lady behind us, named Jenny, said. The doctor seemed frustrated that she had shared that information.

''Jenny-'' her husband said, clearly feeling that she shouldn't be sharing this information.

''That's it? Doctor, there are clearly signs that what she has gone through is effecting her severely, why hasn't she gone through cognitive behavioural therapy? These patterns in her brain clearly trigger negative emotions, these needs to be modified before this damage becomes permanent,'' I said with a severe tone in my voice. The doctor did not seem amused.

''Mr Reid, I'm perfectly able to help Emma, I am the doctor here and even though I appreciate your opinion, I must disagree with you here,'' he said in an annoyed tone.

I felt angry, which I didn't feel very often. How could this man not see in six months, what I had seen in ten minutes? Dr Gregor looked angry, Emma confused, Mick uncertain and Jenny upset.

''I should get back to class,'' I said grinding my teeth. I grabbed my brown leather bag off the floor and got up from my seat. No one said anything or even thanked me when I headed out the door. I felt frustrated and angry; Dr Gregor might have good intentions but he wasn't skilled enough to help Emma the way that she should've been helped.

When I was about to exit through the hospital doors I heard someone calling out my name.

''Mr Reid please- please wait.'' I turned around and saw Jenny running towards me. I felt guilty for storming out like that.

''Mr Reid-''

''Call me Spencer.''

''Spencer- I- I feel like there was sense in what you said and- well- we haven't thanked you for helping Emma out there,'' she said with a kind but still worried look on her face. I gave her a small thankful smile in return.

''Will you- please come to dinner with us? This Sunday perhaps?'' she asked. I stared at her for a moment. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate, or if Emma even wanted me to come for dinner. I wasn't sure what to answer.

''Please? Emma hasn't been that calm around a man as when she sat in that office next to you, I think- you could help her. Somehow. Just- being around her,'' she said with a desperate look on her face. Was Jenny speaking truthfully? Was I actually able to help? The curiosity inside me grew and made me want to find out. I mean- if this doctor wasn't able to really help Emma, maybe I was?

''Well- ok. I would love to come to dinner,'' I said politely. Jenny smiled and scribbled down the address and the time that I needed to be there. I already felt nervous even though Sunday was three days away.

''Thank you so much Spencer, I'll see you on Sunday,'' she said with a relieved smile and returned to Dr Gregor's office. I stared at the small note in my hand for a while and smiled slightly. My phone beeped and I knew that it was most likely one of my classmates asking why I was late for the lecture.

Hi everyone:) Thanks for reading my story. If you like it, please leave a review.

x Cosette