โI canโt help you if you wonโt tell me whatโs wrong.โ It was perhaps the only major downfall of psychiatry -- she could provide as much advice as possible, but if the person wasnโt open to the idea of improving, of getting better? Her words would fall on deaf ears. โI realize you were sent her, maybe against your will, but I do want to help you, Mr. Kray.โ The aroma of annoyance, bitter in nature, was almost palpable in the room -- she didnโt need Hannibal Lecterโs nose for that one, and it was beginning to make her skin crawl. There was something about the man pacing the floor in front of her that screamed dangerous, and the foul mood etched onto his features made the worry no less.
โLetโs start with something simple, then. Tell me about your day, from the time you woke up until the moment you walked into this office. Not just the bad, but the good, too, and maybe we can start to figure out why youโre upset.โ
If it was possible for a human beingโs hackles to visibly rise, Ronโs did at the cultured womanโs proposition. He turned an acidic scowl on her, not pausing his march back and forth, back and forth as he volleyed back-ย โFigure aht?โ She didnโt deserve the bite in his words, but deserving and earned meant shit all as concepts to Ron just this moment.ย โI know whaโs fucked us off. Iโs thโintrusionโa thโfuckinโ pigs in a manโs business; thโsuggestion ov a brief thaโ I might be fuckinโ SECTIONED fโcloutinโ some cunt feefย โoo fโortย โee could make off wiv thโtill aht me pub! SECTIONED! Compulsorily detained fโprotectinโ me properโyย โn me patrons from some bollockless cunt โoo fโort โee was clevah goinโ tโth pโlice!โ
Seething as a concept didnโt touch Ron in that moment.
He paced still, all snarling and gestures and tension that radiated off him.
โ--Danger tโmeself or ovvahsโ he went on, skipping tracks in his mind; speaking what came.ย โThaโs whaโ sectioninโs for. Tโput us away if mโa danger tโmeself or ovvahs on accountโa me skizafrenia- Iโll tell yโwhat Miss-โ Heโd burned so hot coming in the door that heโd not caught the lady-doctorโs name on it. Miss would do for now.ย โI know fifty men jusโ like me, menย โoo ainโt skizafrenikย โnย โooโdย โav done five times thโdamage I did tโtha fuckinโ slag cunt feef. FIVE TIMESย โn theyโd not be inย โere.โย
There was a note of conspiratorial disdain in his voice; a knowing almost; aย thoughtย to being discriminated against because of this condition heโd livedย with for over a decade now. His brother ate thieves just like Ron did. So didย their bodyguard Pat and all of their other associates. Theyโd never ended upย on the duff end of the Mental Health Act. And they never would either. Because they werenโt like him.
โMe day then-โ Ron clipped, a sneer in his voice as much as it was on his face.ย โWoke up in a cell in thโlocal nick. Got bailed inta me bruvvahโs custody pendinโ psychological assessment-โ A point towards her. She was to be his assessor; the key, in a way, with her influence and expert knowledge, to whether heโd end up spending time in a secure hospital, a regular nick or, potentially, end up with one of those community order whatsits that got handed out like skittles to folks who werenโt like him. And-ย And he was really starting to feel the end of the med cycle he was on taking hold; making him ratty and wanting of solitude and dogs.ย
Forcing himself to relax his expression - for he could tell heโd give or take bared his teeth at this poor woman; give or take scowled a hole into her brow for nothing at all - Ron puffed out a slow breath and looked away from her. There was a bookcase in his field of vision now, and he fixed on it; distracted himself from the boiling, disjointed rage that was bubbling below the surface.
โ--Soโ he mustered, his voice flat but tight at once;ย
belying massive stress.ย โYerย gonna wanna get onย
wiv thaโ.โ