Terminally in Love

[Sonata]

Aggie tied her hair high. A few strands landed on her shoulder, and fluttered at the breeze. Like her hair, Aggie's emotion was fluttering at expectation and excitement. She is finally here, infront of Ysabelle General Hospital, famous for everything, but most specifically its mental institute. Aggie's grin grew larger as she felt around her neck to grab the ID lace. Following the ID lace, her hands slid downward, and came to grab a plastic. Aggie looked down at her ID with confident smile.


[Agatha Keating - Ysabelle Mental Institution]


Aggie's position was a mere intern in this world-renown hospital. She wouldn't even have gotten the position if it wasn't for her aunt, the owner of this institution. Her parents, who have constantly been opposing Aggie's career, almost fainted when they heard that their daughter was working in mental hospital. Aggie has barely stopped her mother from trying to strangle aunt Martha. However, through Aggie's persistent persuasion and aunt Martha's oath in keeping an eye on her, Aggie was able get their permission just the night before.


The eager intern rubbed her eyes. She was tired from all the arguments and pleading last night, but that couldn't deter her from achieving her dream of being a psychiatrist. She took a step toward the grey building infront of her. Ysabelle General Hospital was large, considering it had many different medical faculties. In the broad land of the hospital, Ysabelle Mental Institution was located beside a small park, in remote area of the estate.


On the way, Aggie looked around. There was nobody in the park except her, who was crossing it to reach the hospital. People on the other side of the mental institute hurried their walks, not looking at the direction of the building. Most people didn't think of mental illness fondly and preferred neither being mistaken as a patient, nor facing one. The park itself was somewhat eery too. Silence was understandable, but bare trees that rarely has any leaf didn't seem like a good choice for patients.


Aggie's legs enclosed in black formal pants hurried toward the hospital. Instead of backpack or handbag, Aggie was dragging a small luggage behind her. According to Martha, it was advisable for Aggie to wear pants instead of skirts, and bring a few clothes. Aggie wondered why. She has heard that in some busy hospitals, usually ER, the workload was heavy, and sleeping in the hospital was frequent. However, the place she was going to work wasn't an ER. Nor was she an experienced surgeon or doctor who needs to take care of various things. She was a mere intern in a mental hospital. Was there a need for such things?


"Excuse me-" Her thought vanished the instance she opened the door. Aggie stood in awe at the bustle and hustle of people running and chattering. "Patient 102 is having a seizure!" "I need a sedative! Narcotic would be wonderful." "She's trying to kill herself! Gentlemen?! Some help?" When Aggie pushed the opaque glass door, a completely different world unfolded infront of her. Opposite to the silence of the park, the mental institute was filled with noises and movements. She stood there, blinking for a few seconds before finally coming to senses. The voices were making her head swirl.


Being careful not to be hit by the tray full of scattered injection and pills (it rolled past her, and she dodged narrowly), Aggie approached the registration desk. It was a short distance from the front door to the registration desk, but she felt as if she was passing through a battlefield. A doctor rushed past her, almost tripping over her luggage. The front of his gown was stained with blood. A nurse was holding the arms of another woman in patient uniform. Aggie frowned, not in disapproval, but more in disbelief. Something was shining in the hand of the patient. Is that a fork? "Watch out!" In return of her daze, Aggie was almost hit by a group of doctors and nurses rolling the mobile bed of a patient. She thought she saw glimpse of bubbles on the mouth of the patient, but didn't bother to look back, wise enough that she will be hit by something or someone for sure if she behaved stupid.


"Um, excuse me." Aggie was able to reach the registration, hugging her luggage tight (it seemed that the doctors and nurses of this hospital didnt' care what was on the floor while running around) and out of breathe. Aggie could have swore that she did more stretching and exercise past the few seconds than in her daily morning jog.


However, the front desk was as busy too. There were only two nurses who were in duty, and one was busy talking on the phone to another person. "Yes, of course, we understand- Sir, your son is having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Letting him out is dangerous for both HIM and YOU. Well you can't just pull him out because of your election!" The other nurse was checking the computer and rummaging through files and papers. Some doctors curtly shouted something to her, and she answered in equally curt answers. "Sally! Sedative!" "Second floor!" "I mean, pill!" "Third!" Both of them looked tired, irritated, and brusque.


Most probably the location of things the doctors were searching, Aggie thought. She cleared her throat again before speaking. "Good morning, I'm Agatha-" The nurse shook her hands and gestured to the ticket machine without even looking up. "Get your number and wait for your call." Aggie smiled as she denied. "I'm not patient-" The nurse stopped her again. "Same for visitors, dear." Aggie tapped the desk with her fingers. "Look, I'm here to work." The nurse finally looked up. Spotting the face of the youth, little sour from being ignored, she let out a faint exclamation. "Oh."


For a second, Aggie spotted pity passing by the nurse's eyes. But when she looked again, the nurse was back to her brusque expression. "Follow me. I'll lead you to your senior." The nurse led her to corridor, where a few people hurried by, but was certainly less busy compared to the hall. "I'm Sally. You will be seeing me a lot for these few months." The blonde nurse's pace was fast. Half trotting to catch up, Aggie answered. "I'm Agatha Keating. Please call me Aggie." However, Sally didn't reply to the friendly introduction. She abruptly stopped infront of a door and turned to Aggie before turning the doorknob. Aggie halted herself before bumping into the nurse.


"Ms. Keating. You'll be working in the Asylum, and I only have one advise for you." Sally's lips, painted in bright red, moved as she looked at Aggie with some warning. "Don't, trust, patients. Ever." Sally's accents stuck to Aggie's ears as she spoke out. The nurse, who was smaller than Aggie, was glaring at her with sincerity. Not understanding the nurse, Aggie retorted. "What?" But Sally wasn't kind enough to answer the question of young intern. Before Aggie could further probe into her words, Sally turned the doorknob. "Oh, and don't quit." With the casual remark of the nurse, the door opened.


"Doctor, I brought the new intern."

 

[Asterio]

Doctors from different department are done with their meeting. As the sun sets, they arrived to their major problem. They lacked of capable Doctors, Nurses and staffs in operating the mental institution. While in the midst of their panic, Professor Martha entered the meeting room and talked to Professor Gilbert Edward Rousset. She smiled while giving the folder she's holding on Gilbert. "What are these for?" Mumbling, she sits down on the table while grinning. "Here is the application form of my girl. You lack some staffs, right?" Gilbert's eye brows grows closer as he tried reading on the unopened folder. He sighed, in his disbelief. "I know I respect you professor but are you telling me to let an intern handle one of the hardest patient we had in the white room? We're not joking at our urgency in searching for more people in my department!" She glared at him, making him feel uncomfortable. "IT'S MY HOSPITAL." He gave her a neat shrug. They're arguments became indescribable as a staff interrupted their moment. Gilbert thrown some crumbled paper on Justine, one of the nurses in his department. "For freaks sake! Didn't you see I'm talking with somebody else right now?!" You can see his ears bleeding in red while the nurse, stood still, nervously saying his reasons of interruption.


"Uhh..Uhhm. Doctor Gilbert... The thing is, Sally already brought the intern in your office. Right now, Doctor Jeannie is asking of permission for her to work. Since the ward is in need of anybody to lend their hands with other Doctors. Professor Madeline also requested to time out since she says she needs some air and sleep..." Martha kept staring, grinning on the other side of Gilbert while she patted his shoulder. "What can you say about this, Eddy? Ahhh, I'm so grateful for your grace, director. Say that once." Then she kept her stare-glare on him. He sighed, stepped outside while bringing in the application form of Agatha Keating. "I'm beat to bush your highness. Let's see what she's capable of." When he went out, Martha just called Agatha's parents to assure that their daughter is in great hands.


"Chief, I'm really sorry for disturbing you and----" He put his left hands on the nurse's mouth. "The damage had been done son. Now you don't have a salary for one month." He left the nurse in puzzled, begging for his forgiveness. While they're along the way, Professor Madeline who was about to time out followed Gilbert. The corridor looks gloomy especially when the sun sets down so they opened the lights. "Gilbert! Howdy, did you allow my time out slot yet?" He grumbled. "Like the hell I will. Damn you all, giving me headaches." She kept on following him, with her medium sized leather bag. "Tranquilizers check, antipsychotics demn we're low on it. Anyways, I've checked all of the patients in the white room. Except on that bullshit on the last room." Gilbert touched her cheeks, then up to her ears. He whispered to her ears. "Can't you do your job RIGHT? We've been together since forever!" She the bites his hands. The nurse behind them is stopping himself from laughing but he can't help it. Two adorable love birds in the white room, there's nothing more crazier than that isn't it?


"Then you check on him!" She glared at him, while slapping her back on his back. They walked further and as they get closer, they could hear noises in the left and right side of the white room. Some are laughing, some are crying with grief and others are talking to like, NO ONE. The color of the walls, the windowless cubicle is even giving them the chill air. Madeline is working for almost 10 years in this Institution but she couldn't still get used to this section. How she'd wish that she could just be appointed at the ward instead in this white, and full of retards room.


They reached the last part of the room. Gilbert smiled at the patient on the edge of the right corner of windowless room. "Hello, Enrique! Here is your daily medicine. Mind if I come in?" Enrique heard that someone called his name. He stood-up. Without picking-up some noise, he looked at the nurse behind Madeline. Justine flinched and his eyes widened when he saw the patient in front of him, smiling. "Doctor Gilbert, right? Could he inject that useless tranquilizer on me instead?" The doctor agreed. "Go, Justine. Here's the tranquilizer, Madeline give the meds." Madeline stopped for a moment then talked back to him. "We're the one's whose suppose to give this kind of treatment not just fu**in nurse!" She heard his heavy tone. "RIGHT NOW." She couldn't do anything about it and gave the medicine to Justine.


He, who is trembling, nervous for his very first time in being inside of a caged white room walked inside. Enrique sat down on his chair. He then started to mumble. "You don't need to be scared. I know that this is the asylum that most of the nurses avoided so far. But I won't do something when I'm strapped by these belts. And look, you have your equipped specialist that could help you right away, just do your job right." He started to asked the patient who is sitting in front of him. "Li-like this?" Enrique just laughed a little. "You should remove the thin cap of that injection, right? You're rushing things." Madeline couldn't kept her cool and turned back, giggled for a little bit. The other way, a patient were staring at her while she's laughing. That patient banged the grills hard while smiling. She's oozing with her drool. The nearer Madeline is, so the creepier it gets. So she went back on watching the nurse.


"Done. You did a great job. You will get used to this job pretty soon, what's your name?" Enrique asked the nurse in white. "Ju-Justine." Gilbert gives away the sign of finishing things up. He went out while Enrique just kept staring at them. They walked away, while Enrique grinned in the surveillance camera that is above his head. He just gave his smile then went back to the corner.


Gilbert slapped the back of his nurse. "Damn man, what's with your pathetic reaction??? Is he the nurse and you're the patient yourself?!" Justine bowed down. "Bu-but he smiled like..." Madeline interrupt them. "He's cute when he smiles. What's wrong with it?" They went back on the room, meeting on Doctor Jeannie with the intern waiting for them.

 

[Sonata]

"Sit down, don't touch anything, just stare the wall." That was what Sally said before exiting the room. At first, Aggie snorted at the reprimanding tone. She wasn't a kindergarden kid being grounded by her teacher. However, several minutes after she was left alone, Aggie couldn't stop herself from peeking over the table of Doctor Gilbert. Her butts slowly rised from the chair, and her brown, old luggage she was holding so tightly dropped to the floor, with small sound of leather hitting the marble. Aggie licked her lips in nervousness, feeling like a child planning for a trouble. "It's my dream job. I mean, it can't be helped." She muttered under her breathe, as if to justify her actions to someone. Of course, there wasn't a person in the room, so she blushed in her own foolishness.


Standing on, Aggie walked around the room. It was pretty normal, just like any doctor's room. There were some certificates of medical degree and something else on the walls, and thick books with some titles Aggie was familiar with. Spotting a familiar book, Aggie fingered the title of the book. "Interpretation on Dreams." It was one of her favorite readings, written by one of her favorite psychologist or neurologist. Although some of her professors and colleagues deemed the book as some novella without any scientific ground, Aggie liked the book and its theories quite much. Primary reason was because she liked the author, Sigmund Freud, but another reason was her dream. She lifted her hand off from the book without hesitation though. Aggie has been reading the book until the edges wore out (she purchased ebook after that), and knew of every sentence in the book. She had no intention of wasting her time by reading the same book again.


Aggie looked around. She still felt this was a mischief, and her spark of interest was calming down. Just when she decided to go back, and sit down like a good girl, Aggie's hand unintentionally brushed something off from the table. Small yet noticeable noises made her turn around in surprise. The file that was neatly organized on the table was now wide open on the floor, with its papers spread all over. Startled, Aggie quickly bent her knees and started to collect the mess she made. Sally would laugh at me if she finds me making trouble right after she told me to behave, in teacher's tone. Not wanting to earn the smirk of sassy nurse, and disappointment from her unknown mentor, Aggie's hand moved busily. She had gathered them up, although she knew that the order of papers would've been jumbled, Aggie decided to take comfort in the fact that the doctor won't be noticing this for today, or until the time he opens this file again. The papers were sticking out of the rectangular shape of the file from gathering them too fast. Trying to make her small mischief as much unnoticeable, Aggie straightened the file and tapped it against the desk in order to push the papers back to their places. A piece of paper fell down.


"What's wrong with me..." Grumbling at her clumsy actions, Aggie bent down to pick the paper up. It's probably because of all the nerves and mental strain- Aggie's thought trailed off. Blinking, she held the paper closer, looking at the profile picture. Wait, is this a patient? Not some celebrity? Standing up, Aggie dusted off her pant, but didn't let go of the paper.


Aggie checked the name again, and the classification. Patient Enrique Gonzada F. Monterel. He was a patient alright. Aggie scrutinized the picture. This guy looked perfectly normal, in fact, charming. With thin smile on his lips, he was looking at the camera. Even in white and boring patient uniform, Enrique's charm didn't dull out. Holding the paper, Aggie fingered her mouth. He doesn't seem like a depression patient considering such relaxed expression. Then did he experience some kind of trauma and has PTSD? He could be here for some memory problems like amnesia. Handsome guy with amnesia, what a drama. Aggie smiled in amusement. Now, she has a story to tell when she get back home. Her thought flowing to her parents, Aggie grinned a bit sourly. Since then, they were being overprotective, a little too much.


Throughout the whole course of her thought, Aggie's eyes didn't fall out from the guy in the picture. Even when she was thinking of other stuffs, Aggie felt strange, not finding the right word. It was rare for her, a psychology student, to not identify her own emotion. It was true though. She felt as if something was crawling under her skin, and slight repulsion, almost unnoticeable, from that face of the man. Was she developing an androphobia? There was no way she would feel like this with such a handsome man. Aggie joked to herself, trying to shake off this feeling. As if to help her engaging in other thoughts, sounds of footsteps and voices were heard over the door. Aggie hurriedly put the paper back into the file and turned around, only to find a murder scene.


On the door, the only entrance, and also, exit of this room, a man was sitting on. Actually, his pose was more like limply leaning on the door. The man's black suits was stained by blood, or was it? It was ruthlessly torn apart, showing what once has been inside his stomache. His intestines were crawling out, although not in sound state. The pool of blood under the man was widening by second, and Aggie felt as if she could hear the sound of blood dripping. His shirt, which was once full of immaculate color, had only remnants of its original color, dots of white spots among blood and something sticky, most probably organs and skins. The man's head was bowed down limply, but Aggie could see that something trailed long down from his opene mouth, and it was actually dripping, like mud, but only a lot more red and gruesome. One of his shoes was off, and that showed his foot, tacks pinned into it through the gray socks. The tacks were in shape of a cross.


Aggie, at first, didn't realize what was going on, and that was actually a better choice. When she regained her senses, and acknowledged what the person, no, the pile of meat infront of her was when it was breathing, the suffocating smell of blood filled her nostril. Wheezing, like sound of soft breathing rang her ears. It wasn't her own, right? Aggie opened her mouth, but instead of scream coming out, metallic odor of blood rushed in. Her lips parted, trying to say something. What was this? Did a patient escape? All thoughts were just jumbled, messing around her head. That feeling of strangling her neck slowly started to tighten around her neck. Just when she felt her throat stuffed,


"Ms. Keating?"


the door opened.


Aggie exhaled, rather out of breathe. Fortunately, she wasn't panicked enough to suffocate herself. "Doctor, you just-" stepped on a corpse. That was what Aggie wanted to say. But different from her expectation of the dead man spilling rest of his organs as falling forward and the hospital personnels' scream filling the room, the reality was rather calm and normal. There was no blood, no corpse, no murder scene. The doctors and nurses were stepping on marble floors, not so glossy, but clean except a few dust particles. Aggie shut her mouth and pushed her words inside. She didn't understand what exactly happened, but at least guessed that if she spoke of this, she would be wearing not the doctor's gown, but a patient's uniform. "-got a new intern!" Smiling awkwardly, Aggie ended her word with sponataneous wits. She regretted saying this after a second though.


"Agatha Keating. Nice to meet you, Doctor." Trying to hide her embarassment, Aggie worked fast and shook his hands. As she spoke to the doctor, Aggie glanced the doorway, but there was no trace of hallucination. It disappeared like smoke when the door was opened. She felt heavily troubled, but tried to forget the grotesque image. She was facing the man who would mentor her for three months, and she didn't want to make her most awaited period of life miserable just because she gabbled some rubbish man who would most likely appear in B-rated horror movies. Whatever her mental problem was, she can get it diagnosed at home. Maybe it's just her escapism made from all the nerves and excitement turned into stress. Smiling politely, Aggie turned her attention to the doctor. Her stomache was churning from the butterflies and stress, but she managed to make a polite yet friendly smile. "Call me Aggie, please."

 

[Asterio]

Professor Gilbert stared at the new intern from her head to toes, scratching his uncombed hair in confusion. "Jeannie, is this the new intern that Director was talking about?" Jeannie who went out for a while when the intern was brought in the little cozy room of Professor Gilbert, nodded and bowed in an instant. The room is now filled with the familiar feeling of the seniors during having a new member in their insane department. Justine, who is behind Madeline's back slowly stepped out of the room. He felt the urgency of going away in that plump of not so good or even bad encounters of Doctors and an Intern. "This new intern will be wearing some robes of the patients soon like I will soon to be once she stayed even just a week in this jungled piece of shit." As he whispered while going away. Finally, it's his rest day after that awkward encounter with the patient he attended back a while ago.


Sitting down on a rusty chair, Gilbert noticed that his files we're kind clustered. He have his "good memories of memorizing things" so then he knew that someone might had a glimpsed on his files. But stepping that aside, he let out a chuckle that made everyone pay attention to him. The aircon gave a more eerie feeling to all of them as they noticed that the night had begun. Madeline and Jeannie went out when they saw Gilbert tossing his coin up and down, suspended in the mid air to his hands. That was his favorite way of saying, "Get the hell out."


"Aggie, isn't that right? I'm Professor Gilbert Edward Rousset. Director seemed to be familiar with you since she is boost with her "confidence" in recommending you into my department. Now that you're here, I think I can start explaining things in a way that would not startled you. I'm hoping that you can lend a very big of your time in taking care of patients in this Institution. We had three interns that didn't last for a month. I'm expecting big on you." He showed his "poker smile", accompanied by his dark circles in his eyes.

 

[Sonata]

Aunt Martha. Aggie grumbled silently. Aunt Martha was her mother's younger sister, actually the youngest girl in the family. Due to such position, aunt Martha was sometimes...childish. She tended to decide on her own and force her decision on other people, just like when she put her niece in the mental hospital without her sister and brother-in-law's approval. Aggie loved aunt Martha, even her peculiar personality, and she firmly believed that she was her favorite girl. However, there were times when Aggie felt like, borrowing her mother's words, 'being kicked in the ass by a murderous spoiled girl'. It was clear that her new mentor sitting in front of her did not view Martha as most respectible hospital director in the world.


Aggie's fingers squirmed underneath the table. She was sitting in front of Gilbert, on the exact chair where his patients sat. Feeling nervous, she nodded in response as he talked. The horrendous scene a while ago was long since forgotten. Aggie couldn't miss a chance to see observe the real patients with real examples of real illnesses. The words will come alive here. Although those words usually described minds of abnormal people who, in other words, were called crazy. Her fellow colleagues saw this quality of Aggie quite strangely and uneasily, since they hated facing people whose eyes were smeared with madness not even a day, but every day in their psychiatrist life. Aggie also felt repulsion when she saw them, but her initial feeling of rejection was soon forgotten by her mesmerization in the intricacy of the minds of her patients. She has actually enjoyed the few times they went out for field study. Her friends, later, shook their head, deeming it as a queer side of the girl that just anybody would have.


Anyway, back to her situation now, Aggie didn't want to be thrown out. If she loses her place as intern here, she will have to go to some boring schools or counseling center where she'll have to face the turbulent teens who were rebellious, but didn't really have those serious mental illnesses she wanted to observe. So Aggie nodded eagerly at Gilbert's words. Didn't last for a month? If she could, Aggie wanted to stay here for her entire life. It did look pretty rough, but she was the girl who pulled overnights in her high school, because she had to secretly prepare for psychiatric courses unknown to her parents.


"Don't worry, Professor Rousset. I'm prepared for anything." Wearing her best social smile, Aggie responded. It really seemed tough for everyone in this building. The doctor had dark circles that looked quite natural on him. "I can assure you one thing. I'm very, VERY tenacious." She sounded most confident when she spoke of this. It was true, after all. The overnighter example shown earlier was just an instance. She could narrate all the troubles she pulled, from customizing her own camera after her parents threw hers to applying to a jail for her internship as prisoners' counselor (and actually determined to be one) when her parents opposed this job. "So can we proceed to the basic tutorial?"

 

[Asterio]

He saw the determination of this young lady who is front of him. Indeed, this person might have her potential. Maybe, waiting for the right person who could take some risk at their dangerous job wasn't half bad. Knowing Martha for almost five years, she wouldn't put an innocent egg in the field of burning oil. He opened his projector together with clicking his good ol' laptop. Seeing the set-up of the two of them, you can say that they are enclosed by a medium size cart, surrounded by messy set-up. You can step on some papers, books and other things you can imagine in an unorganized room if you're not careful. "First of all Agatha, I want you to know that you'll be assigned at a dangerous job. Usually this case were handled by skilled doctors and nurses but as you can see, we lacked of potential people who could fit in the job. At the west wing of this institute, you will see a narrow corridor with dim lights. There are some red buttons if you're observant enough. Just in case that you are stuck in a bad situation. Insane patient at the "white room" are not comfortable with too bright lights." He dropped his fountain pen, but then he ignored it and proceeded on what he is saying on the intern. "In this next part, there are these two types of room in the white room. The white room is code for asylum. This first one with a single door, fused with a strong type of glass then the grills around it and it does have a window on the inside. These patients who are assigned in here are those who are in the high priority of their psychological state. Or insanity we can say." He chuckled. While deeply breathing for explaining the second type of the room.


"Second, you noticed this one?" He points out at the room that seemed to be unique from the first one. Of all room, this one is the only one with a different structure. The light inside is so dim that you have to be focused enough to feel if you're stepping on something or if else, you can fall and never get-up again.


"The best room we have in this asylum, and guess what? This one is on the last row on the right side. And this room is exclusive for only one patient. We designed this room so this patient can't escape again. If you'll enter the room, you can notice that this is the only room with a different blueprint. On the first door, it's thick grills that separates you from the outside. 10 Steps away is the door that had the same structure as the others, then the last door is a door with window but no grills on it. To be exact there is three door before reaching the patient. Usually I assigned two person in the white room for two reasons." One is to be the assistant and next is to guard. The first one will be on standby outside to be the look out. The other one will tend the patient. IF something happens, that look out will press the red button, we who stays forever on this cage knows what to do next." He held his palm towards his face with the hopelessly tired look.


"So far, this patient is always least picked by doctors. But I have to tend many insane shits both in here and in the ward. I'll set you in pair just to be safe. Because from now on you will be assigned with Enrique." He got-up from his plump chair, tightened his necktie and brushed his hands against his pocket. He wasn't bothered how small and suffocating his room was. All he is focused on is searching for the files of the patient that Agatha will be taking over.


"It's getting pretty late too. You have to go for now. It seems that I have to prepare this one and update this person's file. His history is not written yet. So the earliest that you can fetch his files is on tomorrow night." Irony isn't it? Together with the sun set, he turned off his projector that illustrates a lonely narrow road of the mental institution's asylum. The dim lights as if it was an interrogation room makes the place look like a small maze. As if it's inviting you to walk upon without returning.


But this middle aged man just smiled at Agatha as if he was trying to assure her that she'll like the job she's assigned. Hoping for something like miracle. Thatthis intern would not run away.