Chapter 9 - Here Comes Hannah
1088 Words
Doc Lolita Grahams was an active woman in her late 40s. Although, for a woman her age, she looked incredibly younger. Very faint wrinkle lines evaded her face. Her eyes were the shade of a bright bluish silver, that sparkled whenever she talked to her patients. She had blonde hair that stopped just below her neck. Her skin, plump and youthful. She was cheerful and smiled all the time. Women were envious of the charm and wit she held over men. She attracted men like a lamp attracts moths.
But even with all her accomplishments hung on the wall, she always felt like she lacked something for she sometimes felt unhappy with the life she lead.
"Doc Lola?" The nurse calls out her attention and she snaps back to the reality in front of her.
"Yes, Nurse Jane?"
"You have a patient coming in. She's diagnosed as Schizophrenic. The parent said you set up an appointment with them weeks ago, but it's not in your calendar schedule."
"Yeah, I forget to write them sometimes. Maybe it's a personal call. Who is it? Is it Mrs. Towski?" She asks with her hands on the pocket of her coat.
"Um, no," Nurse Jane frowns and shakes her head. "It's a Mr. Towski."
"Oh," Doc Lola frowns with her and she scrambles to return to her office."Do let them in, when they come, will you please, Nurse Jane?" She screams after having gone inside the room. Nurse Jane follows her with a puzzled look on her face.
"What's wrong, Doc?" She asks while helping the doctor clean up. The papers and pens on the table were tucked in drawers. Office plants were hidden in the corner. The table was swiped clean before the doctor answered her.
"The patient coming in is diagnosed with severe schizophrenic episodes. She's destructive and I honestly don't want to risk being stabbed in the chest with a pencil." Doc Lola turns to face Nurse Jane and smiles at her casually. "Now, you may wait on your desk and sweet talk her parents while I prepare her previous charts and papers."
Nurse Jane nods and exits the room, disbelieving the doctor. It was unusual for Doc Lola to be frightened of her patients. She was always welcoming t everyone she met, perhaps it's what made her popular around the mental health department and what attracted dozens of her scheduled patients daily.
As she thinks about the things she needed to prepare before her patient came, the door opened behind her. It was Nurse Jane.
"They're here, doc." She smiles sheepishly.
"Let them in." Doc Lola stops her fumbling around and welcomes the patient in. "Hi, Mr. Towski."
"Hi, darling." Immediately, Doc Lola senses something different. The old man she had come across a month ago was cheery and had his wife clinging to his arm regularly. He was a strong, tall man that always liked to talk about his family. But what stood before the doctor was a sunken man, forcing a smile on.
"Do you remember me from a month ago? My wife called right after we saw you by the grocery store, and we wanted our Hannah to continue her treatments with you. I'm sorry it took a while. Life's been a mess," He finishes and walks inside the office with his daughter in tow.
The doctor grabs him a chair and sits in her place in front of them.
"It's all right, Mr. Towski. I always have time for old friends. I owe you and Mrs. Towski a lot of lasagnas." Doc Lola smiles cheerily.
Back when Doc Lola was still setting up her new apartment in New York, the Towski's were her neighbors. She was still in her college years, so she was broke. But the Towski's were kind enough to help her out. Every once in a while they would give her a dish of lasagna to get her through the week. It was a small but significant gesture, especially to a broke kid.
Mr. Towski shifts in his seat, obviously uncomfortable.
"Is something bothering you, Mr. Towski? If you want, I can talk to your daughter alone. It's no big deal." She offers.
"No, thank you, darling. I'd like to keep watch of Hannah. And it's nothing. Just a little tired." Once again, the old man forces out a smile.
Doc Lola observes Mr. Towski intently. His eyes wore dark big bags underneath. His slight stubble from a month ago grew into a beard. His hair was a little balder than it was before. He looked stressed, maybe even depressed. But Doc Lola shrugs these thoughts and assumes it's fatigue and old age creeping in. Besides, she wasn't paid to talk to Mr. Towski, she was paid to talk to his daughter.
She turns her seat to the young woman who has been silent all the while.
"Hannah, are you ready to begin?" She smiles comfortingly.
"Y-Yes." She answers, with a stutter.
Hannah Towski was a woman in her early twenties. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia on her 18th birthday after she pushed three people into the pool, one of which was a kid. It was later known that her manic episode was caused by her vivid hallucinations.
She had been receiving treatments since then. Going to doctors, maintaining medicines, and attending therapies. But even so, she wasn't getting any better. She wasn't learning how to manage her sickness. In fact, she had gotten way worse.
Months after turning 20, she ran away from her home in the middle of the night, convinced that a demon was coming after her. Two days later, she was found deep in the woods behind her house, unconscious.
But between these severe episodes, Hannah was a smart and sweet girl. Before being diagnosed, her parents always felt like she was more special than kids her age, in ways other parents won't ever understand. At age 15, she had taken advanced classes and was later assured a spot at Harvard University. Her brilliance was no secret, and every university wanted her. It was an exciting moment in the Towski household. But after she was diagnosed, no university ever claimed her as theirs.
"How are you today, Hannah? Are you feeling a little anxious?" Doc Lola tries to lighten the mood in the room with small talk and charm. "I hear from your mom you've been feeling better."
"I-I'm not." She looks up at her and Doc Lola sees her sad blue eyes. "I killed m-my moth-mother."
- Writer
