Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-38942144-20190625110914

Patient File

Name: Aiden

Nationality: Caucasian

Age: 25

Height: 5’11”

Prescribed Medicine: Yes

Surname: Williams

Gender: Male

Weight: 164 lbs

Diagnosis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

“I was a little kid, just 5 years old when my parents took me along with them on one of their trips. They travelled a lot and usually left me with my grandparents, but I finally got a chance to go with them and me being a little kid was so excited,”

His voice was soft as he spoke, having repeated the same story for the last few years he didn’t even need to think about what he was going to say next.

“That all changed when we got to the village.” His expression darkened.

He remembered the voices, all the voices so loud overlapping one another and almost merging into one. He remembered the blood, the screams and he remembered the fabric of his mother’s skirt, bloodied and soft in his hand.

“This village, was it where the tragedy happened?” At the sound of the doctor’s voice Aiden jumped slightly, he had gotten so lost in thought he had completely forgotten about the doctor.

Aiden shook himself out of his thoughts and took a deep breath. “Uh, no, no we only stayed in the village for an hour, but I was already feeling scared. Something about that village just didn’t feel right and when the barge took us to the island the feeling just intensified. I was truly terrified and that changed everything for me, the way I saw and heard things. My mind was trying to make sense of this fear I had, I was scared out of my skin and I had no idea why. That scared me even more.”

The scratch of pen on paper was heard and the doctor wrote something down, eyeing Aiden over his glasses when he was done.

“Your arrival on the island, that was that like?”

Aide sighed heavily, running his hand across his face. His beard was getting on the longer side and tickled the palm of his hand.

“We got off at a town, it was pretty normal as far as island towns went. But that feeling never left me.”

The doctor nodded along, the pen tapping softly on the paper. Aiden felt like he could take that pen and chuck it out the window, or maybe he’d throw the doctor out the window.

“The first thing you see as you enter the town is the market. Wooden stalls aligned all along the walls of various buildings. The stalls displayed all kinds of antiques, from books to jewellery, all types of odds and ends. My parent browsed the stalls, I followed my mother like a shadow; gripping her skirt in my hands as tightly as possible.”

Silence overtook the room as Aiden’s whole demeanour changed. He looked small, curling into himself on the couch and he took shaky breaths.

“Then it happened.” He closed his eyes as the memories flashed through his mind. The dark figures, the voices, the screams, the blood.

The doctor watched as tears formed at the corner of Aiden’s eyes, he was slightly shaking on the couch.

“What happened?’ The doctor coaxed, already knowing the answer.

Aiden took a deep breath and shook his head, the tears threatening to fall. “They appeared out of nowhere, these people wearing dark cloaks covering their faces. The came from the centre of the town, walking in two rows as they chanted in a language I have never heard of before. everyone was silent as they watched these figures, their chanting getting louder and louder and then the town’s people joined. I was shaking in fear, gripping onto my mother for dear life. The only people who were silent were us and the others that came with us on the barge.”

“Then they, the cloaked figures pulled out knives and-” Aiden stopped abruptly, hand on his mouth as he tried to keep a sob at bay. The tears were falling slowly down his face and the doctor watched on in silence as his patient broke down.

“They attacked people, killed them.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “They, they killed my father, stabbed him to death. And then they sliced my begging mother’s thro-” his voice broke as he finally let the sob free.

Even after all these years, after telling this story a million times, he still broke down. He’s gotten better. At first, he wouldn’t even speak about the trip, let alone the cloaked people or his parents. He’s made progress.

The doctor allowed Aiden time to calm down, to recollect himself as he wrote on the paper again.

“They killed them right in front of me and then they grabbed me by the arm-” he stopped mid-sentence looking confused, closing his eyes and letting out a sad sigh.

“What happened next?”

Aiden frowned, before turning to glare at the doctor. “I don’t know, I can’ remember anything except for waking up in the hospital.” He stopped, looking down at his fingers uselessly.

“But?” the doctor asked with a raised brow and Aiden shrugged,

“I, I woke up with a mark on my arm.” Aiden stare at his right arm, the mark prominent on his inner bicep. It had been long and deep, leaving a nasty scar that still bled from time to time.

The doctor nodded and crossed his right leg over the left, his yes still on Aiden.

“So you still have no memory of what happened after they grabbed you? No memories of how you got that scar or how you ended up in the hospital?”

Aiden turned to glare at the doctor. “No, I don’t. You ask me the same question every single time and you get the same answers. No, I don’t remember what happened after they grabbed me or how I got the scar or how I ended up in the hospital. I have no idea why I’m still alive. Why they didn’t just kill me that night like my parents.”

The doctor didn’t flinch as Aiden raised his voice. He hummed wrote a few things down before slamming the book close.

“I’m afraid our time is up, we’ll have to continue this at our next session.” The doctor stood up, heading to his desk as Aiden sat up from the couch.

“Same time next week?”

“I’m gonna be out of town for a while so I’m not gonna be able t come to for a few weeks.”

The doctor stilled at this, his left eye twitching before looking up at Aiden with a smile. “Oh, how nice. Where you headed?”

“Juts a little road trip to the country side, wanna get my mind off things.”

“Well enjoy, just remember to take your medication every day.” The doctor handed him his new bottle and Aiden took it with a smile.

“Every day doc, I’ll see myself out.” Aiden was already heading for the door, a frown on his face as soon as he turned his back on the doctor.

“Enjoy your time away.” The doctor called after Aiden as the door closed. He fell back into his seat, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes with a frown. He glanced at his watch and just on time the phone rang.

He answered with a sigh, alerting the person on the other end that something was wrong.

“Why the long face?” The voice asked and the doctor spun around in his chair to look out the window.

“No particular reason. He still has no memory regarding that night other than the death of his parents, the medications’ still working.”

“That’s good, if anything changes let us know.” The voice was deep, and sent shivers down the doctor’s spine.

“There is something you need to know. He mentioned going on a road trip. I have no idea for how long or when he leaves.” The doctor’s pen tapped against the desk.

“I see, I’ll have someone keep an eye on him.”

Silence followed as the doctor tried to say his next sentence without stepping on a landmine.

“Are you sure it’s wise keeping him alive after all these years? If he remembers what happened that night it’s not just my life on the line.” He regretted it as soon as he said it.

“Is that defiance I hear?”

The doctor shook his head as he sat up straight.

“Of course not.”

“Mm, as long as he keeps taking the medicine that you gave him, good doctor, there won’t be a problem. Now you have a nice day.”

-

Aiden pulled out his driveway the next morning, a frown permanently on his face as he left town. He grabbed his pills, holding them in his right hand and staring at them a moment before he chucked them out his open window.

He turned the radio on and smiled as he listened to the news.

“Paramedics have finally arrived on the scene that appears to be a car bombing. Police have finally managed to ID the victim who was killed mere minutes ago. Doctor Daniel Crane, a psychiatrist who worked in this very building behind me. Officials are looking in-”

He shut the radio off, smile still present on his face.

“What are you going to do now that I’ve taken down your puppet huh?” Aiden said, looking serious as he gripped the steering wheel. “I know exactly who you are, and I’m coming for you. I’m coming for every single one of you fuckers.” He said.

“I’ll make you all pay.”

He glanced at his rear-view mirror and saw the black van that’s been following him since he left his house, and smirked.

“How about you next?” 