James, Philip And Me

Jane

Toilet seat... that's all I represent to this universe. Getting pooped on by the universe regularly. You might think I complain too much but look at this scenario. I'm a single lady in her late twenties with two failed marriages and a long list of unsuccessful short term relationships. I live an extremely boring life. Counting bubbles in the water dispenser is more exciting than my life right now. I am overwhelmed at work, where I resume at 7 am and close at 6 pm because the arsehole that takes the shift is virtually always late. So my most exciting time of the day is my snack break, where I expect no disturbance at all. No human interaction, no animals, if possible, not even oxygen should disturb me, but the universe always has its plans...

I was about to take a sip of my coffee and dig into my chocolate glazed doughnuts when Ashley barged into my office. I wasn't on duty, and it annoyed me the f*ck out that she would disrupt my break. I had some mouth-watering doughnuts that I had been trying to get to all day, and just when I thought I had the time, Ashley barged into my office to call me for duty.

"Go away, Ashley." I said, unwilling to listen to whatever she had to say. As far as I was concerned, I was on a break. This was the reason why it was always best to take your breaks outside the working environment. If I had strolled somewhere, the best they could do was call me, and it was at my discretion to answer the call or not.

Ignoring her, I lifted the chocolate glazed doughnut that I had been craving all day to my mouth and tried to take a bite.

"It is chaos out there, doctor. We need help." Ashley said, and I gnashed my teeth, growling.

"Of course, it would be chaotic. We work in a mental facility, Ashley. Now leave my office, please. I need to eat before I die of starvation." I said, glaring at her, but she was relentless.

"Two crazy guys, rambling nonsense. You are the only doctor around. Please you have to come and attend to them. We have strapped them to their beds, but they are rambling a lot of nonsense." she protested, and I was pissed off that Thomas, my colleague, had not resumed his shift yet.

I hated Thomas for this very reason. He had the habit of resuming late, and then I would have to pick up after him. It was becoming sickening. He always came with stupid excuses that were family-related. I really couldn't be bothered myself. After two failed marriages and a long list of horrible fruitless relationships, the last thing I wanted to hear was about someone's wife and children. Those were things I might never have, judging by my record.

I growled out of annoyance because I was obligated to attend to the matter whether I was off duty or not. I decided that I will report Dr Thomas Doyle because I couldn't do his job for him. It wasn't like he was going to give me part of his salary for helping. I wasn't in a charitable spirit at all. I had restrained myself from making an official report, but right now, I just figured it was deliberate on his part. I intended to surprise him after dealing with this issue.

The annoying part of all of this was, if I attended to the patients, they will become my patients, which would add to the long list of patients I already had. So much for burying my head at work. This approach of moving on was becoming tedious and impossible. After I report Thomas, I might just take that long-deserved leave that I had been putting on hold for a while now.

I stood up grudgingly and followed Ashley to the ward.

"What happened?" I asked her, as we walked towards the ward.

"Two brothers, mid-thirties, tried to jump off a building. Thank God the fire department was called. They landed safely on a Browder Life Safety Net." she said, and my eyes widened. Great, suicide cases. I never liked those. They were more difficult to deal with.

"File them under attempted suicide cases, in the S.I. files." I told her and turned around to head back to my office, but she stopped me in my tracks and looked at me.

"They weren't trying to kill themselves, doctor." She said, and I frowned at her, wondering if she was alright herself. Maybe working in the facility had rubbed off on her, and she might need some evaluations too. It was simple logic. People usually tried to jump off buildings in an attempt to commit suicide. What other explanation could there be for this?

"And what were they trying to do, if not kill themselves?" I asked her, with a sarcastic tone, trying to point out how stupid her words were. Honestly, the fact that I wasn't able to eat my chocolate glazed doughnut had made me grouchy, and I knew Ashley was walking on eggshells. If she wanted to blame anyone she should blame Thomas for not coming to work on time.

"They were not trying to kill themselves, doctor. They were trying to fly." She said, and my eyes widened.

"Have them tested for drugs, hallucinogens, PCP etc. You know the drill." I said, and she nodded, and we walked into the ward.

"The one on the right with blonde hair is Philip. He is the older brother, while the dark haired is James, there is a two years gap between them, but they are practically like twins," she said, and I looked at her curiously.

"And how do you have this information?" I asked her, and she smiled.

"It is a small town, Doctor. Everyone knows everybody," she said and smiled, and I frowned because I did not know these brothers. I did not push it, because I did not know many people, my bad relationships had made me very anti-social, and I wasn't planning on coming out of my bubble anytime soon.

I walked to their bedside and saw two perfectly handsome men sleeping. Some years ago, I would have been drooling over them, but right now, I was numb and indifferent to things like these. Only God knew what they ingested to make them believe they could fly. They were lucky the fire emergency got there on time. They would have been in the morgue right now. Just stupid.

I checked their body for their pulses and heart rate. Everything seemed normal. I realised I would have to wait for the toxicology report to make my prognosis.

Heading back to my office, I instructed Ashley to bring me their report once it was ready. She apologised for calling me, but I knew it was inevitable since I was the only doctor around. The only thing I hated about this was that Philip and James were now my patients, and I hoped for my sake, I could clear them of any mental issues and release them to society without having to see them on weekly basis, like the other twenty-four patients I had on my list. It was a prayer that needed answering, because as things were, I was already overwhelmed.

While I ate my doughnut, I typed my complaints to the H.R. department about Thomas on my computer. The email was long overdue. I honestly couldn't deal with his shit anymore. We all had personal issues, but he was just being selfish, insensitive and lazy. Yes, lazy, because it is only a lazy f*ck that won't resume his work on time regularly.