A Much Needed Break (open)

[Dr. Lailie Drew]

Less than two days. She had been at Lucid Manor for less than two days, and already she had a buttload of work to do. She stared at the stack of papers she had been given to fill out with a look of intense rage. It was the kind of rage she always bottled up and used whenever someone said something to insult the people she cared about, such as her family and her patients. If they didn’t treat her people with respect, oh they were in for the famous Look. The Look was delivered with her lips together, teeth apart; with her eyelids dropped down halfway, projecting a look of languid confidence. It showed people that Lailie Drew was not afraid to show them who was boss if she needed to.

She could not, however, give that Look to her boss. And, considering she couldn’t, she just had to take all the paperwork that came her way, holding every ounce of dignity that she possibly could. She hadn’t met any of her patients yet, or even any patients. She wondered why that was, but chalked it up to something she supposed she wasn’t supposed to know. Lailie sighed and ran her hands through her soft, brown locks. She wasn’t really in the mood for tying it back today. In fact, she wasn’t even in the mood for dressing up too much. She was wearing her favorite scrubs-because, really, scrubs were incredibly comfortable and handy: they were light blue. She wore a long-sleeved pink shirt underneath those, hoping she didn’t look too bubbly.

Lailie was odd. She was pessimistic, in a bubbly way. When it came to other people, she was encouraging. She hoped they would get better; under her care, she made it a priority for them to get better. She, herself, however was a hopeless case. Whenever she was frightened, or overly stressed, she had a panic attack. Whenever she reached a certain weight, she would diet until she was back down again. It was a complication she didn’t enjoy, but she let herself deal with it in the privacy what was her own apartment. She was rather open with her illnesses; she simply wasn’t going to let the patients witness them firsthand. That would be embarrassing, mortifying, awkward, uncomfortable, humiliating, distressing, and upsetting. She tried her very hardest to make sure that didn’t happen.

So, with that thought in mind, she set her pen down and stood up, stretching. She was in her office within the walls of Lucid Manor. Deciding that a quick break would do wonders for her stress and sanity, she pushed made her way through the doors, heading in what direction she thought was the yard. She would sit out there for a little while, letting calmness return to her for at least an hour before she went back inside to continue her paperwork. Then, and only then, would she be able to get some sleep before returning the next day to start her first day…officially at work.

[Darren T. Gadious]

Tap.. tap.. tap... tap...

Darren felt so lost. Not that that was unusual, he never knew where he was, but this was so different. Everything was so new, unfamiliar, and worst of all, he didn't know where his computer was. It was scary enough when he moved from his old home to a new house with two more people, now this new place had so many people that it made him feel sick. Hunger also lingered on him, as he hadn't eaten since he'd arrived the day before.

Continuous wanderings through the hallways had gotten him even more disoriented, and though he didn't even know it, he was far from his own room. Somehow the boy had ended up near the yard, at the entrance, and thought he may have hissed in shock as the sun hit his skin. Normally he didn't mind sunlight, he just hadn't been in it very much, and rarely ever saw it, so it was a shock to see every time. After figuring he could ignore the sunlight, Darren focused his attention on the new area, feeling like there was a stone in his stomach when he had to absorb yet another new area in this huge building.

The surroundings in the yard didn't stick to his mind at all, in fact he barely noticed how everything looked, the only thing that Darren had registered was that there was no computer in this room, and there was yet another human. It seemed like he'd never truly be alone again, and that thought combined with the lack of his computer made him feel sick. Stumbling away from the doorway, he managed to lean himself against a wall, sliding down it and clutching his stomach, either unaware of or ignoring Dr. Drew.

Why couldn't he feel his fingers? Lifting a hand slowly of off his stomach, feeling as if he had to peel them off from something sticky, the boy examined each of his fingers, slowly bringing his index finger to gently bite on it. There was feeling in it... just barely, or was he just feeling his finger through his teeth? Bringing it back away from his mouth to examine it, he saw no marks on it yet again, feeling slightly disappointed with that.

[Dr. Lailie Drew]

Lailie blinked as a sudden noise caught her attention. She was enjoying a couple of minutes of break, even though she hadn’t paused in her thinking and worrying the entire time. She was lame; even she knew it. She had been worrying about what her patients, whom she had yet to meet and was sure that she was bound to run into them at some point, would think of her. She had also been worrying about what her fellow Doctors, who were all more experienced when it came do being in the Asylum than her, would think about her when she introduced herself. Lailie was extremely self-conscious.

It came with being a recovering, and she used that word lightly because she often fell right back into her old habits, anorexic. She always worried about what other people thought of her, and she always hoped they were only good things. But, she couldn’t stop people from thinking how they thought, although she always tried to when it came down to her patients. Lailie had a habit of getting attached to her kids, too. She always thought of them like they were own, and that probably didn’t help her social life…not like she minded. She never had time for a social life, but she kinda wouldn’t mind having one. The guy would just have to respect her choice in what she wanted to do, and he would have to be someone who was approved by her patients.

Going back to the noise that had startled her out of her thoughts in the first place, she stood up from her spot and looked around the yard, somewhat cautiously. Her eyes landed on a boy-a patient-and she wondered what he was doing there; by himself, looking as freaked as she thought he did. Getting up, she debated walking over to him and seeing what was wrong. She was in her scrubs, so he would immediately know she was a doctor. Her concern winning over her reluctance, she made her way to him. Lailie stood in front of him, close enough to be able to hear if he answered any of her questions, but far enough so that he didn’t feel as if she was intruding on his space.

“Hi, there,” she greeted. She said it softly, that way he wouldn’t be too startled if he hadn’t noticed her before. Luckily, they weren’t too far away from the door. So, if he decided to attack her or something, she would be able to try to calm him down, and, if that didn’t work, run inside to see if she couldn’t find someone to help. “I’m Dr. Lailie, is it okay for me to ask who you are?”

[Darren T. Gadious]

Darren was rarely one to be self conscious. In fact, he never truly thought of himself. The only thing that could be considered thinking about himself would be when he wanted his computers, which could be something he thinks of all the time, but usually his thoughts focus on the people that are either surrounding him or he knew would surround him. In this case, he was thinking of Dr. Drew, especially when she had stood up and walked over to him.

Most thoughts of gratefulness never really existed in the boy. Usually he was never really glad or thankful, and this could make him seem ungrateful, though clearly it didn't result in an over-inflated self esteem... but instead his ungratefulness led to thinking of other humans as useless, unneeded, and harmful, rather than necessary to him.

If she had come any closer Darren may have felt like running away, or even attempting to strike her, which he doubted would even work very well. Swallowing some, he said nothing as he watched her speak to him, bringing his knee's up against his chest, both hands resting on the ground, as if prepared to flee at any time.