therapists gathered together to give me a nice send off. There were hugs and tears (mine of course) and another t-shirt, this one read “Pick yourself up, Dust yourself off, Start all over again.” Nic beamed at me from around the others. He looked sincerely proud.
After everyone had gone back to work I slipped away with Nic to finish packing. I didn’t have much, a few shirts and pants rescued from my car along with a couple of novels I had been reading. It wasn’t long before everything was completely finished. I stood looking at the room, it had been such a long time since I was out in the real world. A sudden fear washed over me. What if I couldn’t handle it? What if all my new strength wouldn’t last?
Nic’s cool hand slid over mine and I looked down at him. He grinned devilishly.
“Seriously? Could you get any taller....lets get out of here already.” he spun around and suddenly I felt him tense beside me. I turned to look. Dr. Gannushkin stood in the doorway with Father Phillip scanning the room from behind her.
“Good afternoon, Samantha.” Her smile was kind but it made my stomach flinch.
“What do you want?” I thought for a split second about body checking her and making a run for it but my leg wasn’t ready for that.
“I’m here for our last evaluation.” She tapped her clipboard to get my attention and showed me two pieces of paper. One was a dismissal form, the other was an admission form for a local mental hospital. My stomach lurched.
“You can’t do this.” I whispered, she was unaffected by my words. The both of them moved into the room.
“Yes, I can Samantha. Please understand, we are doing this for your own good. You believe that what you hear and interact with is some kind of spirit. Well, that’s just not true and after Father Phillip performs his ceremony your mind will automatically erase this harmful delusion. Your mind will be free from it.” She made it sound like such a good thing, but there was something wrong with it all.
“You said I was the only one who could hear him, but last time you were here Father Phillip reacted to Nic...I saw him. He flinched and stared right at him. If this is all in my head why can he hear him too?” I slowly backed into the room, hoping to put some distance between us. Nic retreated to the window.
“Samantha,” Father Phillip reached into the room and put a hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t realized how tall he was, straight on I was only looking at the little white square of his collar. I began to wonder how real that was...could he have just picked that up at some religious outlet store? Maybe he wasn’t even a real priest. “Dr. Gannushkin is right. This is entirely in your head, once I have performed the exorcism nothing will happen to you, in fact you will not notice anything different except the absence of the voice you think you can hear.”
He clearly hadn’t responded to my question.
“Go ahead Sam,” Nic’s voice sounded strong and confident. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“What? You can’t be serious!”
“She’s not bluffing, she won’t let you go unless they do this.” I walked over to him at the window and sat on the couch to face him.
“I don’t care if they think I’m crazy...I can’t lose you.” Tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to scrub them away.
“What good is being together if it means that you have to be in a nut house? All your new dreams will be gone, we fought so hard to give you a second chance...” Nic’s cool hands wiped away my tears. “It’s alright Sam, I came back twice for you....what makes you
After everyone had gone back to work I slipped away with Nic to finish packing. I didn’t have much, a few shirts and pants rescued from my car along with a couple of novels I had been reading. It wasn’t long before everything was completely finished. I stood looking at the room, it had been such a long time since I was out in the real world. A sudden fear washed over me. What if I couldn’t handle it? What if all my new strength wouldn’t last?
Nic’s cool hand slid over mine and I looked down at him. He grinned devilishly.
“Seriously? Could you get any taller....lets get out of here already.” he spun around and suddenly I felt him tense beside me. I turned to look. Dr. Gannushkin stood in the doorway with Father Phillip scanning the room from behind her.
“Good afternoon, Samantha.” Her smile was kind but it made my stomach flinch.
“What do you want?” I thought for a split second about body checking her and making a run for it but my leg wasn’t ready for that.
“I’m here for our last evaluation.” She tapped her clipboard to get my attention and showed me two pieces of paper. One was a dismissal form, the other was an admission form for a local mental hospital. My stomach lurched.
“You can’t do this.” I whispered, she was unaffected by my words. The both of them moved into the room.
“Yes, I can Samantha. Please understand, we are doing this for your own good. You believe that what you hear and interact with is some kind of spirit. Well, that’s just not true and after Father Phillip performs his ceremony your mind will automatically erase this harmful delusion. Your mind will be free from it.” She made it sound like such a good thing, but there was something wrong with it all.
“You said I was the only one who could hear him, but last time you were here Father Phillip reacted to Nic...I saw him. He flinched and stared right at him. If this is all in my head why can he hear him too?” I slowly backed into the room, hoping to put some distance between us. Nic retreated to the window.
“Samantha,” Father Phillip reached into the room and put a hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t realized how tall he was, straight on I was only looking at the little white square of his collar. I began to wonder how real that was...could he have just picked that up at some religious outlet store? Maybe he wasn’t even a real priest. “Dr. Gannushkin is right. This is entirely in your head, once I have performed the exorcism nothing will happen to you, in fact you will not notice anything different except the absence of the voice you think you can hear.”
He clearly hadn’t responded to my question.
“Go ahead Sam,” Nic’s voice sounded strong and confident. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“What? You can’t be serious!”
“She’s not bluffing, she won’t let you go unless they do this.” I walked over to him at the window and sat on the couch to face him.
“I don’t care if they think I’m crazy...I can’t lose you.” Tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to scrub them away.
“What good is being together if it means that you have to be in a nut house? All your new dreams will be gone, we fought so hard to give you a second chance...” Nic’s cool hands wiped away my tears. “It’s alright Sam, I came back twice for you....what makes you
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