Redwood Pyschiatric Institute - Part 5
MASTERLIST - PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4
CWs: mention of ECT, mental hospital whump, mental health gaslighting, force used against patient (electric shock baton), forced psychiatric care
Mathew Cooper pulled up in front of a small house on the end of the street, pulling out his phone to send a quick text that read 'I'm here.'
On the screen were a series of previous, unanswered and unread messages he had sent to his friend Rowan.
'Hey Rowan. Just checking in.'
'Rowan, it's me. What's up bud?'
'Where are you?'
'PICK UP ROWAN'
'Fine. If you won't talk to me, I'm not going to try anymore'
Then, from today. 'Rowan, I'm coming over.'
Matt sighed as he dropped his phone into his pocket and clambered out of the car. He walked up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. He waited a moment, and when there was no answer, he rapped on the door with his knuckles. Still, nothing. The whole house seemed to be silent and still. He pressed his face to the one of the windows, attempting to peer through.
"Rowan!" He called.
No answer.
"Crap." Matt murmured. "Where the hell are you.."
He strode around the back of the house, searching for any signs of life from his friend. Finally, he spotted a back door, slightly ajar. It struck Mathew as strange. Rowan was not a careless person - in fact, quite the opposite, he could be rather paranoid, in Mathew's opinion. So it was completly out of the ordinary for his friend to leave a door unlocked, and Mathew also had no idea how long it had been open or if Rowan was even in the house still.
Cautiously, Mathew entered through the door, calling Rowan's name as he went. There were no traces of recent life - everything was put away neatly as Mathew would expect of Rowan, until he reached his friend's bedroom. This room was a mess - papers were scattered everywhere, on the bed, on the floor, on the desk.. Rowan's laptop was also still there, but Mathew wasn't keen to go trying to break into that. He picked up a paper sitting on the desk, and scanned through it. It was a newspaper article.
'Redwood Asylum patients claim gross mistreatment'. The headline read. The article was dated 1964. The next article, from 1970, announced the closing-down of the Institute. The outdated facility had claimed around 1000 lives by the time of its closure, almost a hundred years since it opened.
All the other papers and articles were about the institute, why puzzled Mathew further. Why was Rowan so obssessed with this place? And more importantly, where was Rowan?
Mathew did a quick google of the place, finding that it had since been reopened and claimed to now be running as a more modern psychiatric hospital. Mathew was all out of options - his only remaining option was right in front of him. He hit the phone number listed on the web page, drew a deep breath, and hit the call button.
"Hello, you've reached Redwood Psychiatric Institute. You're speaking to Carol, how can I help you?"
"Uh, hi Carol, my name's Mathew Cooper. I was wondering if you recently had a visitor by the name of Rowan Murdock?"
"I'm sorry but we can't disclose information on our visitors. We have, however, got a patient by that name. There's a note on his file saying he can't have visitors, are you family?"
"Oh, uh.. no, I'm a long-time friend of his though. I was just wondering if I could get some more information on what happened." Mathew stammered, shocked at the news. Rowan was a patient?
"I can arrange for you to meet his doctor, in that case. Doctor Wilson. I'm sure he'd be willing to discuss Rowan's - well, yes. Rowan's recent weeks with us."
Mathew arranged a time for the meeting and then hung up the phone. He began to head out the room, when he turned back, picked up one of the articles on the psychiatric institute, and then continued on his way out of the house.
------
"Mathew Cooper, I'm here to talk to Doctor Wilson." Matthew announced to the woman at the front desk.
"Sign here, and then take this visitor pass, and it'll be the third door on your left." She smiled, a friendly but tired, 'I've been here all day and I'm just trying to be friendly to you but I could care less' kind of smile.
"Thanks." Mathew smiled back as he followed her instructions and then headed down the hall.
Inside the office, the doctor sat behind the desk, looking comfortable but composed.
"Hello Mathew, take a seat. My name is Doctor Wilson." The doctor smiled from behind his glasses.
Mathew sat in the chair across from the doctor, and extended his hand to the doctor, who took it and shook it firmly.
"Thank you for coming, Mathew." Doctor Wilson greeted. "I understand these circumstances must be.. rather confusing, and I appreciate your willingness to discuss this in person."
"Thank you for meeting with me, Doctor Wilson. I understand you must be very busy." Mathew acknowledged.
"Indeed. Now, allow us to get right into it. Now, when did you last see your friend?" The doctor asked.
"Well, I must have seen him last a few weeks ago." Mathew answered.
"I see. Well, he came here as a voluntary self-admission on September 13th. He was incredibly unstable, and we immediately began his treatment. When we admitted him, we looked into his medical records and his personal records. Now, while I'm afraid I have some hard news to digest, there is no other way to say this - his name isn't Rowan Murdock. His real name is James Lawton."
"What- you mean, he's been lying to me this whole time about who he is?"
"No, not at all. James is a very mentally ill young man, not a pathological liar. We discovered symptoms of schizophrenia throughout the last few years of his life, but it was not yet diagnosed or treated. It has just since accumulated and worsened. He has been in dire need of treatment for years, but when he came to us, he was at the height of a schizophrenic breakdown, believing he was Rowan Murdock, a profilic journalist investigating the asylum before deciding to admit himself. We've been treating him with medications and ECT. He has been doing better the last few weeks, however, we are worried that a visit with you, an old friend of 'Rowan's may cause another setback." The doctor sighed.
"Oh..." Mathew's heart sank at the explanation. He couldn't comprehend the whole story, it was not anything he could have imagined. Of course, he had accepted there was some horrible series of events that had led to Rowan- or, James - being here, but not like this. "I.. I'll do anything you need, I'll say anything, I just- I need to see him, I need to talk to him."
"Alright, I'll arrange a visit." Doctor Wilson conceded. "But you mustn't encourage any of his delusions relating to 'Rowan Murdock'."
"Understood, Doctor. Thank you very much."
------
"James, I have a visitor for you." Doctor Wilson stood in the doorway, ushering Matt ahead of him.
Matt entered the room hesitantly, his eyes scanning around until they landed on a small figure, hunched up in white in the corner of the small room.
"James?"
The figure Matt had once known as Rowan did not acknowledge the presence of anyone in the room. He simply muttered something under his breath.
"James. I've brought you a visitor." Doctor Wilson repeated, mild annoyance already in his voice as he approached James and bent down, waving at his patient to try and gain his attention.
James blinked, several times, slow and sluggish, as if drawing himself out of a trance. He glanced around the room, eyes landing eventually on Mathew.
"Who.. whoareyouu-" James slurred softly, as Doctor Wilson grasped him by the arm and helped him onto his feet, bringing him over to the small bed in the centre of the room.
"He's on a lot of medication right now. He may be suffering some short-term memory loss right now, so remember that this will pass. Just remind him who you are." Doctor Wilson said to Mathew.
Mathew nodded and approached the bed, kneeling in front of his old friend. Rowa- James, he reminded himself, looked pale, and his usually-thin frame looked even thinner than usual, or maybe that was the ill-fitting hospital gown. The circles under his eyes were dark, and his face was pinched and gaunt.
"Hey, James. It's me, your old friend Mathew." He said softly, reaching out a hand.
James didn't take the hand, instead, he sat there, staring blankly at it as Matt continued talking.
"We've known each other since university. You used to come and 'study' at my house. I'd steal your notes, and then we'd play video games together until 3am, even if we had class the next morning at 9." Mathew chuckled slightly at the memory, his heart aching a little to see his friend of five years in this situation. They'd been very close through university, but in the last two years they'd drifted apart slightly as both adjusted to their adult lives. Still, he cared for his friend.
Matt drew himself out of his own thoughts and looked up to see James staring at him with an.. odd expression.
"James, are you alright?" Matthew asked gently.
"That's.. not my name." James said flatly.
Shit.. He'd triggered James. His friend began to cry - no, more like tears were slipping down from expressionless eyes.
James suddenly stood and lunged at Mathew, knocking him to the ground as he began to scream at Matt.
"HELP!"James screamed as he shook his friend. "THEY'RE TORTURING ME, LET ME OUT YOU HAVE TO LET ME OUTYOUHAVETOYOUHAVETOYOUHAVETO-"
Mathew was so shocked, he couldn't react. James screamed himself hoarse until suddenly, he gave a suprised shout, and collapsed onto his back, convulsing in agony at the hands of orderlies who had appeared in the room.
"Are you alright?" Doctor Wilson asked as he extended a hand and helped Mathew to his feet, pulling him away as the orderlies descended upon James' form, brandishing a syringe. Quickly, Doctor Wilson escorted Mathew out of the room, away from James' dreaful shrieking protests.
They returned to the doctor's office, where Wilson handed Mathew a glass of water. Matt graciously accepted it, ignoring the odd drop spilling out from how badly his hands shook. He downed the glass, wiped his face, and finally spoke. "What- what will happen now?"
"We will have to change his medication, and I'm going to perscribe another course of ECT." The doctor replied, calm but with a hint of frustration.
Mathew realised that clearly, James' treatment had been quite a difficult process that was now far from over.
"Shock therapy?" he asked.
"While that is the outdated term for it.. yes. It is now quite safe, and often used in quite severe cases of mental illness. Clearly, his schizophrenic hallucinations and paranoia are not yet treated. We will have to increase our efforts to stop these delusions that he is being trapped here."
"Will I be able to return and visit him again, Doctor?"
"Maybe after the next round of ECT. Thank you for coming, Mathew."
As Mathew drove away from the Redwood hospital, he wondered what fate he was leaving his friend to.
---
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