Dr. Nicholas Kranz
“Scarlett, do you think I’m crazy?” a muffled voice came from behind a brown-haired girls surgical mask.
“If you’re crazy then I wouldn’t be here with you Evie. You know I’ve got my boyfriend back in Rose Lake.” The scar underneath her right eye moved as her mouth opened to speak. She smiled, almost a grin and flipped her blonde hair away from her face.
The two girls were sitting on the waiting chairs in the Psychiatric Ward, they’d already been waiting there for a good half hour with their coffee from Tim Hortons. “It seems Dr. Kranz is taking longer today.” Evie nodded, and walked to the receptionist’s desk.
“Excuse me, um miss…”
“It’s miss Avery.” The receptionist looked up, “Oh, Evie it’s only you. Dr. Kranz will be with you momentarily please take a seat and – “
“Miss Avery, I’ve been waiting for a good half hour already, I will not be sitting down until you get Dr. Kranz. Besides Scarlett and I – “
“Evie, who’s Scarlett?”
“What do you mean whose Scarlett, she’s my friend who’s been waiting with me the whole time.” Evie turned around and pointed towards Scarlett was sitting, beside her jacket.
“Um, Evie there’s nobody there. If you’re trying to pull a prank on me, please stop. I have work to get back to.” Miss Avery looked down and began typing again.
“Whatever.” Evie sat back down beside Scarlett.
“Evie, do we really need to see Dr. Kranz? We could just leave you know.”
“Father is still waiting outside in the lobby though, he’ll know somethings up if we go back now.” Scarlett sighed, trying to convince Evie to skip her meeting with her psychiatrist was practically impossible.
“Ah, Evie Black I presume.” A man smiled brightly. “Oh, this must be your friend, may I ask what your name is?” Evie became stunned, this man was the first to acknowledge that Scarlett existed.
“Ah, she’s shy, but her name is Scarlett, Scarlett Hunter.” The man reached out his hand,
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Hunter. Now, Evie I’m Dr. Kranz’s medical student and will be helping out today if that’s okay with you.” A slight nod came from Evie. “Well, it’s the usual I suppose. I’ve got to take you to check your weight and ask you a few personal questions. I’m afraid Miss Hunter must stay behind while we chat, is that all right?” Scarlett looked at Evie,
“Well it’s up to you Evie.” Evie nodded and waved bye to Scarlett as they walked to the medical examination room.
“Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself.” He stopped to gather the right key. “The names Alfred Shrew, but you can just call me Dr. Al.” Evie smiled a tiny bit. “Okay, if you can just step right here. Oh, woops! I forgot to ask you to take off your shoes.” A pause. “Okay, yes, I see, Evie! What an improvement, the papers show here that last month you were 5 pounds underweight and it seems you’ve gained that weight back.” Silence. The word “What” was all that came out of Evie’s mouth, it was shaken and startled. “Oh, don’t worry Evie, it’s a blessing for you to have gained some weight, your medications can’t work properly if you don’t weigh enough.” Evie became silent as he checked her height. “Ah wonderful, did you know that you’re 5 foot 3 and a half?” Alfred became silent, he could tell that talking about her weight offset her. “For those questions now, mind having a seat?” plop. The couch sunk as Evie sat on it, the weight of her thoughts pushing her further down, drowning her mind as she inwardly screamed for Scarlett.
“Can Scarlett come back?” Alfred paused,
“Just a bit more Evie, in a little bit she can. Okay, have you ever had sex?” No, that’s all that was said. “Okay… Have you ever had alcohol or drugs?”
“Drugs, well if you count the medications for whatever you guys think I have and the medications I’m forced to take then yes I’ve had drugs.” Silence.
“Okay, um Evie is there any issues at school or home that I should know about?”
“Oh, you want to know about problems at home? Why don’t you just ask my dad why he isn’t doing anything about my mom. Why he doesn’t care about her, why he doesn’t care about me. He just makes me come here so he can get my problems dealt with so he doesn’t have to deal with me.”
“Evie, I’m sure your father cares about you and your mom. How about we go and get Scarlett now. She can come with us to Dr. Kranz’s office.”
