Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“I, uh… You said don’t touch him, so he’s not wearing anything.”
“I can see that,” she said. “Come over here and get something on him.” I did as she instructed, and after his modesty was protected by a pair of boxer briefs she resumed. “Michael, can you hear me? How are you feeling?”
He didn’t respond.
“I’m going to medicate him.” She pulled out a syringe and injected something into his arm.
“What are you giving him?”
“Lorazepam. It will help him snap out of this catatonic state he’s in.”
“What the fuck is wrong with him, Dr. Tanner. And be straight with me. No more lies.”
She sighed, capped the syringe, and disposed of it in the waste basket. “Alright, Jamie. I’m going to tell you what I know, but you have to promise to keep quiet. Michael has already told me that he trusts you, and that he wants you to be a part of his life. I advised him to keep certain things from you, because I wanted to protect him. He’s a prime candidate for extortion, if you hadn’t noticed. But I suppose by now you’ve proven your loyalty. If you’re willing to stand by him after he’s nearly killed you… well, that says something.”
“Tell, me,” I prompted, weary of the banter.
“I haven’t worked with him the entire time since his uncle adopted him, you understand. I’m not the first therapist he had. By the time I came along, he had buried his memories of his family so far down, I don’t even think he knows he has them. I suspect the therapy he received as a young child was geared toward helping him repress those memories. At the very least, they did nothing to help retrieve them. But there was some sort of childhood trauma. I know this, because Michael suffers from PTSD. That’s what these episodes you have witnessed are.”
“Something to do with his brother?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip, considering how much she should tell me.
“Just say it,” I told her. “At this point, what is it going to hurt?”
She sat down on the side of the bed. I glanced over at Kage, wondering why it was that every time I had to call his therapist to come over, he had to be inappropriately dressed or not at all. It made me sad for him, underscoring his helplessness. But I wasn’t about to touch him and get dragged back into a choke. I had no doubt that he could finish the job, even with Dr. Tanner in the room. He could kill either or both of us if he wanted.
“Michael’s brother Evan was older than him, though only by a year. When Michael was five and Evan was six, they discovered their mother dead of an overdose. A couple of years later, their father was in such bad shape he brought them here to get help from Mr. Santori. Evan died soon after. I was told the boys were playing, and that there was an accident— a fall or something. Michael felt responsible, since he was present and had to witness it. That must have been so horrible for him, and so soon after finding his mother’s body. Michael says he can’t remember what happened to his brother, and his uncle has ordered me in no uncertain terms to let it be. He doesn’t want Michael to remember, because it would be too traumatic for him to have to relive it.”
“Do you agree with that?” I asked, sensing that she didn’t.
“Absolutely not. I see what these repressed memories are doing to him. You see it, too. How can he ever move past it if he can’t call up the memories and deal with them? As his therapist, my hands are tied. It’s impossible to treat him for something I can’t see. I just have no idea what we’re up against, and everyone else is content to keep it that way.”
“You couldn’t just do it on your own? Hypnotize him or something?”
She snorted. “Santori said he would fire me. And worse. He practically supports me, you know. The kind of money he pays me, I couldn’t get anywhere else.” She turned and stared down at Kage’s motionless form. “But seeing him like this makes me wonder if it’s worth it.”
“He’s really a nice person. Everybody acts like he’s something… I don’t know. Hard. But he’s not really. Not to me.”
“He cares about you.” Dr. Tanner glanced away from me and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her fingertips. “Which is a miracle in itself. That boy has been so alone in his life. Even surrounded by people, he just never made the connections. He’s good at blending, though. He can do as the natives do, so to speak, but he’s not really there. Part of him is still that seven-year-old boy who was never able to move on from the trauma of losing his whole family in the span of two years. The other part of him is boarded up and hidden from the world. How you ever got inside is beyond me.”