The Doctor

Alec had settled into his new hospital with relative ease, getting to know the doctors and making friends with the nurses. He was already well liked and welcomed into the hospital, it was a good environment to work within. Even so he couldn't help but notice the plight of patients not so accustomed to the hospital, how they eyed the walls like they might fall down around them and how they poked at the food. There was always a heavy feeling of misery at this time of year and it was always the same: people lost family members, others were struggling for money, some had been unlucky enough to fall ill and others were there because they had nowhere better to be and at least in hospital people paid them attention.

He'd been assigned to a particular family where the sixteen year old girl had tried to take her life, her parents blamed television and the video games she played, but there was more to it than that. Alec could see it, the way she avoided eye contact and how she would never talk about school. He'd tried, she never wanted to say anything. He suspected she was being bullied, but he couldn't be sure, it was just a feeling he had.

"Hey," he said as he entered the room and offered the girl a smile. "How are you doing today?"

The girl whose name happened to Mariah simply lifted her shoulders into a shrug. "Okay, I guess."

Alec picked up the clipboard at the end of her bed and glanced over the notes taken by nurses doing their regular checkups. "Where are your folks?" For worried parents they were sure absent a lot, talking on their cell phones or blaming one another for their daughter being in the hospital. Alec wouldn't put it past them to blame Mariah for ruining Christmas, they seemed the type.

"Around," Mariah said vaguely.

Alec put the clipboard down and approached the bed, picking up her bandaged wrist to gently unwind the bandage so he could check on the healing cut. It was strange how his fingertips tingled at the contact but he put that down to the sudden change of temperature as he'd been out talking to the paramedics before checking in on Mariah. "They do that a lot, huh? Just disappear?"

Mariah gave an awkward laugh. "Yeah, they do."

Alec tipped his head and once satisfied that the cuts were sufficiently stitched and healing he wrapped another clean bandage around the wound. "My folks were the same. Always had somewhere they needed to be. The wonders of having parents that work, huh?" He glanced up at Mariah and smiled. "Mom always had some case to work on and dad? His pager was always on so invariably it always went off at the most important times." He checked on her other wrist. "Your folks like that?"

Mariah nodded her head. "Yeah, I don't see them a lot."

"But you'd like to," Alec muttered as he filled in the blanks, looking away after Mariah had given a nod of her head. "Yeah, I can imagine you would. Most kids do." Once he was satisfied with his observations Alec returned to the clipboard to write down his thoughts on the paper. "Do you find it easy to talk to them? About stuff at school?"

Mariah's eyes widened. "What do you mean? Nothing's happening at school."

Alec simply tipped his head and lifted an eyebrow. "Something must be going on if the only option you think you have left is to take your own life." He was silent as he let Mariah soak that up, making a few extra notes on the next page. It would be easier for the psychriatrist assigned to Mariah to understand what was going on if they had detailed notes to work off of. "You should try talking to them."

Mariah just shook her head and gave a small sad smile. "They wouldn't listen. They never listen to me."

Alec felt something in his chest twist at the sad accepting look on Mariah's face. He hated when he saw young teenagers ignored by their parents especially when being a teenager was one of the harder things there was to be. Kids were cruel, unfortunately. Mariah was clearly in need of a lot of love and attention. "Well if you can't talk to them I know somebody you can talk to. She's a lovely lady and she'll be introducing herself to you in about an hour or so. Her name's Claudia and she's a good person, I think she'll be able to help if you let her."

Mariah frowned and fiddled with the edges of her bandages as she hid behind long dark hair. "Yeah, maybe." She lifted her shoulders into another shrug and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Try it," Alec suggested. "It might make you feel a little better. Until then I'm afraid you're stuck with me, but I think I've bugged you enough for one day. I'll check in on you a bit later." Alec smiled and turned to leave the room, pausing only briefly when Mariah called her name.

"Doctor Reed?"

"Yeah?"

"You could do one thing for me."

Alec turned on his heel and waited, wondering what if anything he could do to help.

"Could you maybe tell the nurses that I hate red jello? I feel bad everytime they bring it in and I always feel like I've got to eat it." Mariah bit her lower lip and gave a sheepish smile.

Alec laughed and nodded his head. "Consider it done, Mariah. Consider it done."