Prologue

The minute I walked in through the door, a familiar feeling came upon me. It could have been the lightening but more likely the eyes of the head nurse, Stella, whom I once worked closely with glaring at me. She glanced momentarily at her watch as I walked over to the front desk table and sighed heavily.

I expected this reaction from her but I found it weary for me to explain myself.

"Doctor Harrison, how come you're here so early? You're supervised discharge with Mr. Qiaodi isn't for another three hours," she said. It wasn't usual for me to come this early but the patient whose progress I was asked to oversee wasn't a usual one either.

"And glad to see you just as obsessed with time as you always were. Can't I just pop in to say hello to my old friends?" I teased her as I always had done through our many years of practice together. It was a habit of hers that I had learned to deal with.

"Not since you moved on to that fancy university uptown and took up counseling. I had hoped that you would have stayed there," she said with a smirk and I chuckled. She always had a quick tongue when it came to our banter but I wanted to get straight to the point of my early visit.

"Well sorry to disappoint, I wanted to visit two days ago but one of the other nurses said that he had to be isolated. I want to see what frame of mine he's in before I take him anywhere later today," I said hoping she would give a brief description of how he was to have earned him isolation. She simply nodded and typed desk computer.

"He came out of isolation yesterday evening and we put him in room twenty-four with Pedro to keep a closer eye on him. Doctor Dillion thought the time out would help the patient think clearly and get ready to talk," she said as she skimmed through the file and I just shook my head seemingly in agreement at the statement.

He is a good doctor and it may have worked if the patient didn't already have a quiet personality. Some patients may be overreacting and need time alone because that's the ones people recognize need help. The few like Presely Qiaodi rarely ever see and few doctors have learned the needed flexible approach when it comes to trauma therapy.

"Ok then, let's see if it worked," I said as I walked away from the desk.

"Fingers crossed, he rarely says anything to anyone, even you, and you've been with him before they transferred him out of the medical ward. We can't force him to talk," she said as she took up a clipboard from the desk.

"Oh, I know I can't, he's more of a listener so it's time I start working with that. Later Stella," I said walking into the first room leaving her with a questioning expression. I was now in the recreational part of the hospital where the inpatients could watch television and play board games. Of course, I didn't expect to find him out here, he was too sensitive for that according to the interviews and observations from his roommate and friends.

The hospital hadn't changed much since I stopped working here seven years ago as a Psychologist, so his room should be on the left at the far back. As I walked through the halls watching some of the patients ages seven to seventeen going to the counseling rooms I remembered why I left to start counseling school. Young ones like Presley who were still teenagers were really commonly seen in and out of these rooms. Each seemed more troubled than the other and on the verge of giving up. When an opening became available at HIDCA University, I thought I could at least make contact with troubled young adults early to help them before they get here.

Presley fell through the cracks and as I've learned through my many years of experience the one you suspect the least can be the most damaged. He is a very quiet, disciplined, and brilliant student. He had to be to get into that university and his name came up in my office so frequently by other students who he had personally helped. He was and still is admired by all who came in contact with him and he did so much to help the school itself.

I'd never met him personally until the incident but he was a great positive influence from what I heard of him. Only after conducting the interviews with his friends over the three weeks he was transferred from the medical hospital to here did I understand the triggers. Getting him to open up will be no easy feat, especially since he was placed in this ward involuntarily and his father can't even be located. The rest of his family only communicated through lawyers and a visit in his state of mind was ill-advised by his lawyer.

He had friends so that is what I have to work with; I thought as I came to the doorway to the room I greeted them with only Pedro responding. I knew Predro also as I had worked with him as a child as he dealt with OCD and depression. He was now also seventeen but never had stayed long. Every now and then he needed some inpatient help but his family was always supportive which makes a psychologist's job much easier.

"Hey Doc, you're just in time to see me off. My folks are coming to pick me up by lunch," he said with a smile as he zipped a black luggage bag.

"That's good Pedro, but as you know the less I see you in here the better," I said to him with a smile that he returned.

"Yeah Doc, I know. Have you met my roommate? His name's Presley, he doesn't talk much but he's cool. Taught me how to solve my Rubix cube in record time." He said showing me he got all the colors aligned and pointed to the opposite bed where Presley lay staring at the ceiling.

"Yes we've met already, how you're doing today Presley?" I asked going closer to him as I pulled a chair in the corner to sit on.

"You're early.... and Mitchum isn't with you this time," he answered evading my question as he usually does when I ask him that. I don't believe it was because he couldn't answer but more like he didn't know how to.

"Yes, it's just me today. He wanted to but he had a class he couldn't miss because of Mid-terms, so I thought I'd come visit you anyway," I said with a smile. I knew I had to be careful and let the conversation flow naturally as I have been doing whenever I have to visit him with his friends.

"You can tell me if you don't think I should leave the hospital this afternoon. I don't mind," he said in a monotone voice that showed indifference as he still did not break eye contact with the ceiling. He had already assumed a reason why I showed up this early but before I could reply Pedro cut in.

"And disappoint all you're girlfriends that called you last night that they wanted to see you," He said with disbelief. This made Presley break his ceiling stare and look straight across to Pedro with a hint of confusion written on his face. If its one thing I can count on is Pedro saying something that is somewhat factual but also wrong at the same time. I couldn't help but lightly chuckle at both of them as Pedro continued talking not noticing Presley's nonverbal response.

"You know that's been bugging me all night, how can such a quiet guy like you have four girlfriends to group call you at night and I can't even get a girl who isn't related to me to wave in my direction during the day? And it's not that I haven't tried," Pedro said flopping down on his bed as he put on his headphones and opened a book.

After that Presley seemed like he wanted to say something but bit his lip and decided to face the ceiling again. I saw my chance to try to introduce my idea to him.

"You know misunderstandings like that among people are common, that's why we have to talk to clarify what we think all the time. That's what I've been trying to do when visiting you here," I said as I looked over to him.

"I don't have anything to say," he answered as I felt him closing up already.

"You really think that's true?" I asked but not expecting a reply. So I continued, "Cause just now what Pedro said I could tell that you had something to say but you didn't know how to put it across to him."

"It wasn't worth it," He was a short reply and I took out my book where I had complied the interviews of his friends.

"You know for you to really know that something isn't important you have to compare it to other important things and see how it measures up. I know for a fact that you know how to do that when you helped out a lot of your friends during the term. You were like a detective taking note of the slightest detail. It impressed me so much that I decided to try it but I need your help to put the final pieces together." I said which got him to sit up on his bed and I saw him squint his eyes.

"You want me to solve a mystery for you?" He asked as his head tilted to the left slightly. I knew this was something that he would be at least curious about.

"In a way yes, but I want to follow a timeline as it was started when you and Mitchum became roommates. He and your other friends put in their parts as well but for it to really make sense to me I need your part. Even if you just nod your head to confirm or add in something you can because it's interactive," I said as I came closer to lay out the book on his bed. He knew where I was going with this and as he watched it saying nothing at first I knew that the fact he didn't immediately say no that I was getting through.

"What will it solve?" He asked not looking away from the book as I took it back and put on my reading glasses. I knew he was asking me what good will it be for him now to go over his first days of college. He made momentary eye contact with me and I knew that this was a turning point for him since he wouldn't be the one to have to explain everything on his own.

"Oh, I think it will at least help with all of your memory gaps that you're experiencing but more importantly I think it will help you to widen your view and solve the problem that got you here," he nodded his head in agreement and leaned upright back on his bed as if he were preparing himself for a lecture.

"Just remember this isn't a school assignment so if you get tired and need to stop, we can," I clarified but I saw him start to fiddle with one of the buttons on his long-sleeved shirt.

"I'm always tired but I still manage to take in things well enough, giving back is harder," he said looking back up at me with a neutral expression but I knew it was a code for me not to expect anything much. I came prepared for that so I just smiled in response to help ease any pent-up anxiety he might have about this activity.

"Well, no need to worry about giving anything now 'cause we're starting with Mitchum's perspective first since you two moved in at the same time. You know he even remembered the conversation you two first had," I replied as I opened to the first page.