The Game (Open)

[Dr. M.Hellburn]

The birds above Marcus Hellburn chirped merrily as the older man flipped through a dark leather bound notebook. His grey hair was brushed neatly on his head. He let his blue grey eyes to skip over the words he had written that morning. He had made a list of things he needed to remember about the patients that he would be working with. Many of them were on strict drug regiments, and even more had problems with authority. That would be a whole can of worms he didn’t want to get into this early on in his new life.

In his time at John Hopkins he had open up his share of cans. From the scars on his chest from inmates who had broken glass and openly attacked him, to the burn marks on his left leg from a patient who tried to torch him. Even with all those incidents he knew he could help those who were locked away from the rest of the world.

He shifted in his pressed grey suit as he made some notes in his book. He jotted down some things he needed to get for his apartment. New towels, dish soap, and eye drops, just the bare essentials for the apartment. It was strange to think his life had been packed up in less then a month so he could come here. Now that life was being kept in two large storage units up in Maryland.
The birds kept twittering above him as he paused in his note making. Something verged on the end of his mind. A pair of eyes watching him from somewhere in the courtyard. He let his eyes flicked up to look above the rim of his glasses. Gazing into the courtyard he searched for the person who was looking at him with conserved movement.

Swiping over the courtyard he let his eyes lock onto the one looking at him. It took a second for him to pull on the expression of curiosity. This was the start of the game, a game he played with each person he ever knew. Slipping a genuine smile on his face he closed his book. Tilting his head to the side to continue the look of curiosity, he waited. Let the game begin.

[Reece. R. Turner]

Reece would literally kill for a joint. Just a single puff and he'd be in seventh heaven. He just needed something to help him relax cause he was going crazy. He just wanted something to take the edge off and relax a little. he'd been without drugs for at least two weeks now and he was really suffering. His doctor was an ass and he hated the man already. They just didn't see eye to eye because Yates' eyes were somewhat familiar in the way they looked. Those tiny veins...

Reece knew when someone was a user, it took one to know one and he was one. So was Yates. If Reece was into talking and wasn't scared that everyone would use it against him if he started talking, he'd have exposed the pretentious doctor and confessed to everyone that the man who was treating a drug rehab patient was a druggie himself. Then again, maybe if he got on Yates's good side he'd be able to score himself a joint or something. He'd really do anything for it.

Reece felt like the walls were closing in on him again as he sat in the lounge glancing around at all the other people with him. It was too crowded. Too packed. He had to... Get out! And with that, Reece darted for the door and out into the hallway. He didn't stop until he found the open glass door leading out into the courtyard. He'd never dared come here. There were too many places to hide and too many crazy people that could be hiding there but today...?

He needed the openness, the freedom, the fresh air. Reece was trembling from withdrawel. It came on every now and then and it made him feel like he was about to colapse. His bright blue eyes dropped to watch his hands shake and twitch by his side. Taking a deep breath, he prayed for the shaking to stop. When he willed it to slow and cease, it finally did and he ws able to take a much needed breath and start moving along the cobble stone path. Reece stopped short upon seeing someone else there.

The man was dressed in a pristine suit so he didn't really seem like a patient but Reece couldn't be too sure and he didn't want a crazy old man attacking him. His eyes met those of the doctor and noticed the almost welcome curiosity he was being given in a simple look. Reece had no intention of moving closer to make interaction or a potential attack capable. He shifted uncomfortably then felt the trembling again and slowly held up his hands to watch them shake.

If this was a staff member, maybe they didn't know Reece well, Maybe he'd get something to help his trembling. Maybe he'd get cut a break for once! Reece returned his eyes to the elder man and frowned, like he was panicking or worried, keeping his hands up so the man could see.

[Dr. M.Hellburn]

Words and flashes of files entered Hellburn’s mind. Reece Turner. Also know in his notes as the druggie. He could tell that the boy was going through withdrawals. He couldn’t imagine what that would be like. Even living through the seventies he had somehow made it through without trying drugs. Then again his mother would find out. She always knew when he was thinking about something. There was a reason why he admired her.

Now looking at Reece he wondered what physical regiment they had him on. By the shakes he was going through he could tell it wasn’t much. When he was back at his old asylum he would have a physical therapist meet the patent. From there that therapist would give them something to do.

Bouncing back from a drug problem was never easy. Hellburn had seen more then his fair share of bad drug trips. He also watched as friends he knew tried to quiet cocaine. Those were some long hard nights, but in the end it was worth it. As he even looked at Reece Hellburn thought me might give one of his friends a call. Sometimes when one is going through something you need someone who has also gone through it.

He let a comforting smile play on his face. Maybe the boy wouldn’t run away and the two of them could have a nice chat. He slowly, so not to startle him opened his book. He quickly jotted ‘Call Jim about drug counseling’ then closed the book back up.

He studied the boy for a moment longer. He could see the worry on the boys face. Something in the back of Hellburn’s mind spoke. ‘Someone to teach.’ In the notes he read he was told that Reece was able to manipulate staff into getting him drugs, and doing it without speaking. That was a feat if he ever knew one. If the boy was able to do that now, then he could only think what would happen if the boy was educated. There could be a wolf in the lost lamb.

Quietly he put his notebook in his jacket pocket. “Would you like to sit Reece? There’s a birds nest right above this bench and I think the chicks have just hatched.”

[Reece. R. Turner]

Comforting smiles was the last thing he needed. He needed drugs badly. He needed the release drugs would offer and the comfort of drugs. He needed them so badly that he was actually shaking. Couldn't the doctor tell. He watched the doctor jot something down and doing it deliberately slowly and Reece gave a sigh. What? He wasn't going to flutter away like some frightened bird, despite seeming it right then. Once the docter had written down what he hoped said 'get some meds to help with withdrawals', he closed his book.

Reece had given him a cold glare while he'd been writing which instantly softened when the doctor started to study him again and the lost puppy look returned. He was told to come sit under the hatched birds and he abstained from rolling his eyes at the amount of fluff coming from the doctor's mouth but he went there, sat down beside the doctor then pretended to curiously look up into the trees as he attempted to lay his shaky hands on his lap. He looked to the doctor and then the note book and he lifted a shaky hand, writing in midair so he could see if the doctor would allow him to write in his notebook. Reece didn't speak. Not to anyone... Not ever.

[Dr. M.Hellburn]

Marcus watched the boy sit down next to him. The shakes were getting worse. That wasn’t going to be good. He had to be killing for some form of release. More drugs would cause another addiction, and that wasn’t going to help the kid kick his habit.

What the boy needed was a physical distraction. Something he could focus on and get his mind out of what was happening inside his body.

Hellburn didn’t think gardening would be the trick to sort the boy out. Neither would helping the cooking staff. It would be a bad idea to have the boy around so many people. The less people around the less likely he would manipulate them through misunderstanding.

Hellburn knew this was going to be interesting. The boy was on the edge, and needed a fix. As the head of Medical he had a duty not to fall into the boys trap. Though sadly for Reece he was in for a surprise. And Hellburn was curious to see how the boy was going to play his next move.

Reaching into his jacket he pulled out the notebook. He wasn’t scared if the boy saw what he wrote. He was too good for that. Anything that would be dangerous for anyone to know would never see the outside of his mind. The only things inside that notebook that would be telling would be his last notes, which he didn’t care if Reece saw.

Flipping open a blank page he handed the notebook out. With his other hand he pulled out his pen and clicked it. Also handing it over to the boy.