grace under pressure • jerome valeska

CHAP.2: Therapy And The Common Room

  I sat in the large office like room in a red leather chair, my leg crossed over my other and my hands juggling a stress ball up and down in the air. I stopped, squeezing the blue ball in my hand. It was soft and squishy. I brought it close to my face and examined it closely. I twisted it around then went back to throwing it back up in the air. 

  "I can see you like the stress ball." I catch the ball and look in front of me at my assigned doctor. He had brownish blonde hair, very curly on top. Although, I shouldn't talk about curly with my state of hair. He had small blue eyes and was a rather large man. He wore a normal, boring doctor's uniform. I hated how everyone was put in place by clothes. It was very tacky and very dumb to say the least. I raise my brow at him. I throw the ball up again. 

  "I guess." I say. Really I was just distracting myself from leaping from my chair and strangling him to death. But I know how that would turn out for me. I knew the rumors about this place and if even half of them are true, then I'll be fucked if I try anything. I'll be fucked if I don't. So this is what I was contemplating at the moment. Not interested in this stupid fucking pathetic ball. I continue to throw it. 

  "What are you thinking about Grace?" He asks. Oh you wouldn't want to know. I stop, leaning forward and holding the ball in my hands. I stare at him for a moment before speaking. 

  "I'm thinking about how much I hate this session." I say with a nod of my head and a smile. He nods, writing something down on his paper. I roll my eyes. 

  "And why is that?" He asks. I scoff.

  "Why is that?" I repeat. "How would you feel if you were trapped in a building that you could never leave with crazy people around every corner."  

  "The people here are not crazy, they are just different people that need help. Just like you." He explains. I swear my eyes hurt from how many times I was rolling my eyes. 

  "Right." I say with the T clear in my speech. I look around the room then back at him "So how do you deal, hmm? Being stuck in this tiny office all the time must be hard." He shifts. 

  "Not really. I enjoy helping my patients and getting them back on the right track." He explains. I wasn't buying it. I decided to have a bit of fun. This was too boring. I leaned forward even more, moving my arms to press on my breasts, making sure my dress was drooping just enough to where it would show my cleavage. I glanced at his left hand. No wedding ring but I saw a rim around him ring finger. I looked at the right side of the desk and found the ring. He was married, but it looked like he took it off regularly. That told me something. 

  "But I mean, wouldn't that get old?" I say in a sweet tone. I could tell my change in demeanor startled him. I used this to my advantage. "Old as in, don't you want time alone to yourself? You are probably never alone here. To...do things by yourself." He swallowed a lump in his throat and I smiled wider. I had him. I saw him glance at my chest and I wanted to do nothing more than take those pair of scissors on the desk and cut his throat. 

  "Um, well, I-I guess yes, I suppose." He stuttered. I chuckled and leaned forward even more, my chest probably pressing against my dress at this point. 

  "Would you like to do something alone...with me?" I ask slowly. His eyes were wide and he tapped his hand on the desk nervously. As I wait for his response, the door to the office suddenly opens. I turn to see a guard in the doorway. My "doctor" that I didn't even know the name of sat up quickly and straightened his tie as the guard came in. 

  "Um, yes?" He asks. I lean back, a mischievous grin plastered on my features. 

  "It is time for the inmate to report to the common room." The guard says drone like. Doctor nods then turns to me. 

  "You may leave miss Sky. I hope to continue our conversation at your next session." He says. I smirk. 

  "I doubt we will." I tell him. Standing, I turn my back to him as the guard leads me out of the room. 

  We walk down the hall and I am surprised that there is not several cops leading me somewhere. The guard said common room. What was I supposed to do? Socialize with a bunch of wack jobs? I continued to walk until we both come to a metal door with those same cage like walls. The guard put in a code and the door opened by itself. He shoved me in then closed the door. I look around at my options. 

  A group of crazies where talking in the back, one guy twitching enough to shake that part of the table. They were also all guys. Um, no thank you. I saw everyone was talking to at least one person or another so I decided to head in the far back where one lone chair sat by the window. I picked up a magazine from a little table and flipped threw it. It basically just had beauty products, how to make desserts, and nail tricks. Nothing about breaking out of an asylum. How sad. 

  I just kept reading it out of boredom and sighed as each page got more and more stupid. God I was going to hang myself with my bed sheets if I didn't get some form of excitement. As I scanned the words of how to use a kind of makeup, I felt someone next to me. I turn to my left to see a short, large man with frizzy out of place hair and bloodshot eyes. I raise a brow. He waves at me a bit. 

  "Hi." He says, smiling wide to show me his crooked yellow teeth. 

  "Um, hi?" I say back. 

  "My names Greenwood." He said with childish excitement. I held back an eye roll. 

  "Right." I say slowly. "Well, my name is get out of my sight before I pick up this chair and bash you in the head." His smile faded and I give a wide one of my own. He looked upset and disappointed. I raised my hand and make a waving motion. 

  "Bye bye." I say. He pouts with anger before stomping off. I make a face of disgust behind his back before moving to continue my very "interesting" magazine. That is when I notice someone looking at me from the corner of my eye. I turned my head a bit to see that red head guy from when I first came here. He had his head turned to me from a table up in the front of the common room. We locked eyes. As I continued to stare he starts to grin my way. I snap out of it and look back to the magazine.

  Was is strange that I felt a shiver go down my spine when I was looking at him?