I ran my hand through my tired hair. I fell asleep on the attic floor last night, after my outburst. I was tired, and ached everywhere. What a night it had been.
    I took my weight of the gurney I had been leaning on. I was at the hospital today, to help calm this schizophrenic man. I arrived here at seven this morning, and had to leave before noon. I couldn’t miss Lucy’s appointment at Social Services.
    It was eight-thirty now, and I was getting ready to meet my patient. He was in the emergency room, with the doctor. He’d had a nervous breakdown, and broken his arm.
    I usually didn’t work in hospitals, but the psychiatrist here was on vacation. They called me as a back up.
    The doctor poked his out the door, and motioned for me to come in. As I walked in, I saw the man was young. He could not have been over twenty-five. He sat on the white hospital bed. His head was in his hands, and he was shaking. He was blonde hair.
    The doctor sat in a side chair, I stood. It made me somewhat uncomfortable to have the doctor in here while I was speaking to the patient.
    “Hello,” I said to the man. He looked up, sweating. His eyes darted to the door, then back to me.
    “Hello,” he said shakily.
    “What’s your name?” I asked him. The doctor had left out many details.
    “Jared,” he replied.
    “Nice to meet you, Jared. I’m Dr. Demidov,” I said. His head jerked to the side, and he rocked slightly.
    “The-the voices…They say you are a bad, bad man,” Jared said shaking his head.
    “Do you believe them?” I asked.
    “They’re right, aren’t they?” Jared said, looking torn.
    “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” To make the proper treatment, I needed his insight in the hallucinations.
    “I-I can’t! They will kill me if I don’t listen to them!” Jared had tears going down his face.
    “Where are they? Maybe I could hide you,” I kept working with him.
    “Right there,” he pointed toward the door.
    “Describe them for me,” I said. Was this man having visual hallucinations, too?
    “Tall, cloaked, with knives, and no face, nor soul,” Jared said starring at the door.
    “They don’t sound so bad. Maybe you could tell me if they’re right if you do it in secret code,” I offered.
    “Um, okay…” Jared thought for a moment. The he moved his hands. He was using sign language. Jared signed that he did not believe them, but he didn’t want to get hurt.
    “I’ll be right back,” I walked out of the room. The doctor trailed behind. I went over to a large, gray desk. The nurses and doctors all buzzed around. I looked at a list of numbers taped on the edge of the desk. I reached the psychiatrist’s number.
    I typed the number into my cell phone, and hit the ‘call’ key. It rung a few moments, then the voice mail picked up.
    “Hello, this is Dr. Laveney. Please leave your name, and number, I’ll get back in touch with you,” Dr. Laveney was the psychiatrist here? Alexander never told me he would be working at the hospital. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I left the message.
    “This is Dr. Demidov, and there is a patient at Skyline Hospital having a schizophrenic outbreak. If you would call him in some medication, it would be great. Thank you. Good-bye,” I hit the ‘end’ button.
    I was walking back to Jared’s room when I heard a cry. I ran into the room, and found Jared hanging from a black belt. The belt had been tied around the curtain rod. How had he gotten up there so fast?
    “I need help in here!” I yelled from the room. I ran over to Jared trying to remove the belt from his neck. It was so tight.
    Two nurses and a doctor rushed in. They all crowded around him, trying to get the belt from around his neck.
    Finally, the doctor yanked on Jared’s feet, and the belt snapped. He fell to the floor, a nurse checked his pulse. The black-haired woman looked up, and shook her head.
    “Time of death, eleven-seventeen a.m.,” said the doctor. “Your work here is done, Dr. Demidov.”
    I nodded, and walked out of the hospital.