Monster.

This room had none of the austerity of the rest of the hospital. There were no bars on the large window that let the afternoon sunlight pour into the room making it look cheerful and cosy. Instead of the white paint the rest of the hospital had the walls inside Dr. Reid’s office were covered in a pale pink and blue floral pattern. There were a number of framed diplomas and certificates on the walls along with a few of the doctor’s personal pictures. A large oak desk stood at one end of the room in front of two oak bookcases filled with leather-bound books that seemed well read. The English major in me longed to study the bookshelves to see what wonders they held. There were also two soft blue leather couches positioned to face each other in the middle of the room with an oak coffee table placed between them. Two steaming mugs of tea on the coffee table confirmed that the Doctor and I would be sitting on the couches for my session. Doctor Reid must have noticed my surprise at the room because she gave a soft laugh. It was a nice, musical sound.
‘You must forgive the look of the rest of the hospital’, she said as we took our places on the couches. ‘It is an old building and we don’t get nearly enough funds to make it look how we’d like. I just gave this room my own personal touch. Please, drink your tea’.
All I’d had since I’d woken up was a cup of room temperature water and the hot tea was incredible. It also soothed my nerves completely. I had a feeling Dr. Reid would be easy to talk to.
‘I heard about what happened with Magenta Roberts yesterday. What a horrible way to welcome you to our facility’ Dr. Reid said with the same warm, soothing voice.
Given that she had mentioned the attack I assumed that Magenta Roberts was Maggie’s real name and I must admit the name gave me a bit of a shock. My mother had a sister named Magenta and Roberts was her maiden name. I’d never met my aunt; my mother hadn’t even liked to talk about her. Then again, I highly doubted it was the same woman. Dr. Reid didn’t seem to notice my reaction because she kept talking.
‘I’m sure by now someone has no doubt told you Magenta’s story. Such a horrible, tragic thing to happen and of course she’s a tad unstable but we assure you, everything we can do will be done to make sure nothing like this happens again. We have had our share of problems with her since she came to us from Leftgreen last year’.
She gave me a warm, encouraging smile as if waiting for me to tell her I understood and it was okay. But it wasn’t and besides something else she’d said had caught my attention. Leftgreen was in the next county over. Where my mother had grown up and where my parents lived just before they’d had me.
‘Does Magenta have any family?’ I asked Dr. Reid. Alarm bells were ringing in my head and something was telling me this woman was my mother’s sister. Dr. Reid looked quite uncomfortable when she answered my question.
‘Well, actually, she has a sister whom no one has been able to contact. Apparently she doesn’t want anything to do with her poor sister. Why dear, do you think you’re related?’
The doctor’s question caught me completely off guard and I felt like I’d throw up. Could this woman read minds or something?
‘Eh – no, why?’ I stammered.
‘To be quite frank, Briony, you look quite a bit like her. I’m sure that’s a coincidence.’
She gave me that warm, reassuring smile again but I felt cold inside. I looked like Maggie? How? True, I hadn’t really looked at Maggie properly to be able to tell if she looked like me but surely Liara would have pointed it out. She’d been here long enough to be able to see what Maggie looked like clearly. I didn’t have to focus on these thoughts. Dr. Reid had abruptly turned the conversation towards me.
‘So Briony, why exactly did you try to kill yourself? Were you feeling depressed, lonely, or angry? You can tell me anything. I’m not here to judge.’
‘I was feeling confused, I guess.’ I told her. ‘I got sick of trying to please my parents.’
That one was a half-truth. I was sick of trying to please my parents; it just had nothing to do with my suicide attempt. The doctor scribbled a few lines on a notepad in front of her and gave me a gentle smile.
‘Good Briony, now we have a starting point and something to work from. What exactly did your parents expect of you?’

Back in the ward, I found Liara sitting crossed legged on her bed facing the door as if waiting for me. Probably to find out the gossip on what Dr. Reid had diagnosed me with. She hadn’t really said much, just kept writing notes on her yellow legal pad. I told her about my parents expectations of me, their emotional distance, what I liked to do in my spare time. I told her about my friends, college, Jonah, everything but the real reason. I wasn’t ready to let that one spill out just yet.
‘So? So? What’s the verdict?’ Liara was basically bouncing up and down on her bed in excitement. I couldn’t help but laugh at this crazy girl.
‘Dr. Reid hasn’t told me yet. I still need a few more sessions’.
Liara’s face fell at the news. ‘Oh, you’ll tell me when she tells you though. Right?’
I already knew I’d have no problem telling Liara the verdict. She’d already told me hers albeit without me asking.
‘Yes, I’ll let you know as soon as I know’ I said smiling.
She looked slightly happier now that I’d said I’d tell her my mental health problems and she lay back on her bed, a celebrity gossip magazine held up in front of her face. Up this close, I could make out some of her tattoos. Her upper left arm consisted of a giant purple octopus surrounded by a blue ocean full of little shells, sea horses, starfish, and coral. The bottom half of her arm had a giant black dragon breathing red and orange fire. The whole arm was amazingly well done and it suited her. A whole load of random and crazy thrown together. I watched as her striking green eyes scanned the pages and I couldn’t help noticing how beautiful she was. Her pale white skin seemed to glow slightly silver in the contrast to her hair. Her eyes were large and wide and she had a small slightly upturned nose and a small delicate mouth. She was exquisite. It suddenly caught my attention that Maggie was gone again.
‘Hey, where’s Maggie gone now’, I asked Liara.
‘She’s been taken on a walk outside the building. Nurse Jackson thought she needed some fresh air’ she told me, not looking up from her magazine.
I needed to ask this question but I couldn’t phrase it right in my head so I just came straight out with it.
‘Uhm, Dr. Reid said I look a bit like her’, I said hoping I sounded casual. ‘What do you think?’
Liara put down her magazine and sat on the edge of her bed to study my face. Her eyes widened in disbelief and I knew the answer already.
‘Jesus Christ!’ she exclaimed, ‘you two could be twins! You even have the same hair’.
It only dawned on me then that I’d seen last night that Maggie had long, straight black hair. Just like me. But lots of women had long black hair. It didn’t prove anything.
‘Are you two related or something?’ Liara asked.
‘No, no I don’t think so’ I replied.
At least I prayed we weren’t; if she was then it seemed like crazy ran in the family. Liara settled herself back down with her magazine and my mind was left churning with the thought that Maggie could be my aunt. If I could just get a hold of a pen and paper I could try question my mother in a letter. Surely she’d tell the truth.
‘Oh yeah definitely. She’d definitely tell the truth to the daughter she can’t even be bothered coming to see.’ Fantastic, the nasty little voice was back in my head. I hadn’t missed that the last few days. But what it said made sense. She wouldn’t even see me in the hospital so why would she answer my letter? My thoughts were distracted by the sound of the metal door creaking open. Maggie was back. I couldn’t help but look at her this time. I needed to see this resemblance for myself. I caught a good look at her as she settled herself back down in her bed. It was only when she locked her cool grey eyes with mine that I realised; it was like I was looking into a mirror.