4
“I'm sorry they put you in seclusion," Andy said.
“It's okay. I slept most of the time," Gavin said.
Andy reached into the pocket in his pajama top and pulled out a cookie. “I saved you a lemon cookie."
“No thanks," Gavin said. He put his fingers through the mesh netting on the window over his cot and stared out at the shadow of night creeping over the snowy landscape. Wind sent drifting snow across the glass surface of the frozen lake. The branches of the tree shook, dislodging the clumps of snow. The geese had gone.
Andy bit into the cookie. “Mr. Whispers says we're having French toast for breakfast."
Gavin glanced over at him. “Why does Mr. Whispers only talk to you?"
Andy shoved the remainder of the cookie into his mouth. “He might talk to others, but I don't know." He swallowed. “Every time I tell the staff about him they increase my medication."
“Why were you put in here to begin with?" Gavin said.
“They told me I'm schizophrenic. I don't deny it, but it doesn't mean Mr. Whispers and the other ghosts don't exist," Andy said.
“Other ghosts?" Gavin said.
“They're everywhere," Andy said.
* * *
“The doctor will see you now, Gavin," Miss Jasper said.
Gavin handed the ping pong paddle to Andy. “Here's where I get my release," he said, then followed Miss Jasper to the door of the game room accompanied by an orderly. As she unlocked the door he looked back and saw Andy watching him. There was the look of a lost puppy dog on his round face. Going through the door with the orderly by his side, they walked the length of the corridor before coming to the door leading to the stairs.
“Where are we going?" Gavin asked.
“The first floor," the orderly said.
“We can't take the elevator?" Gavin asked.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," the orderly said. “I don't feel like standing around just to have the elevator door open and there be nothing to step into other than empty space." The orderly unlocked and opened the door to the stairs. “You coming or not?"
“I'm coming," Gavin said.
It was late afternoon but the stairwell was nearly pitch black. Only small lights in recesses in the wall along one side level with the stairs provided enough light to see the way. It was nearly as cold in the stairwell as it was outside. By the time they reached the first floor, Gavin was shivering. As they came out through the door on the first floor, Gavin turned back to see a glowing specter on the stairs with black sockets for eyes grinning at him. The orderly closed the door.
In a small hallway leading off the main corridor, Gavin sat on a wood bench across from a door with a sign that read “evaluations" on it. He rubbed his arms trying to bring warmth back to his body. When the door opened a very pretty young woman with long brunette hair stood in the doorway. She was wearing a white lab coat and had a stethoscope hanging around her neck.
“I'm ready to see you now, Gavin," she said.
Gavin stood, looked at the orderly who nodded for him to go in, then followed the young woman into the room. Inside the room there was a simple metal desk with a lamp and a chair on each side of the desk. There was a manila folder on the desk. The soft glow of the light from the lamp gave the room an oddly welcoming feel.
“I'm Dr. Bryson," she said as she sat in a chair. “Please have a seat."
“I wasn't expecting a pretty female doctor," Gavin said as he sat down.
“Why?" she asked.
“I just wasn't," he said. “Are you a psychiatrist?"
“Yes I am," she said. She opened the file but didn't look at the papers inside it. She gazed at him. “The nursing staff said you were anxious to see a doctor."
“I've been here for several weeks and you're the first doctor I've seen," he said.
“You saw one when you were brought in," she said.
Gavin shifted uncomfortably on the chair. “I don't remember much about it."
“That's not surprising given the state you were in at the time," she said.
“Anyone would be in a state after crashing into a tree," he said.
She put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “What makes you think you crashed into a tree?"
“I was forced off the road by some jerk and went head on into a tree," he said. “I remember it clear as day."
“Tell me Gavin," she said. “Does it seem logical to you that you would have crashed into a tree and not have even a single scratch?"
“But I remember it," he said. Sweat began to form in his armpits. “Just ask my wife. She was in the emergency room with me after it happened."
Dr. Bryson riffled through the papers in the folder. “Your history shows you have no wife or any family at all. If you had family then you would have been placed elsewhere."
“No wife?" Gavin said, suddenly aware that he couldn't remember anything about her. “What about crashing into a tree?"
“There was no crash," she said. “You've had another episode. The records show you were diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic when you were still a teenager. The crash and having a wife is part of some hallucinatory world your mind has constructed."
“Are you saying I'm psychotic like most of the guys up on that ward?" Gavin said.
“You must have stopped taking your medications," she said. “The crash, a wife, aren't real."
* * *
