The Leverager

by C. L Masonite

  “You will each be given a profile listing your subject’s name, age, and medical records; however, you will not be privy to the information regarding what trauma your patient has suffered. In some instances it is easy to gauge and determine a patient’s trauma but in other instances, as a psychologist, sometimes you need to figure out what has happened to your patient in order to help your patient heal. At first you will work alongside a trained psychologist for a couple of weeks. Following this, you will work out a plan on how to treat your patient, and only on our approval will you be allowed to implement it—alone. Up until the semester ends the program will require you to visit your patient once a week only,” Professor Edwards explained.

  A girl in the front row put her hand up, “Professor Edwards, has each patient consented to the program?”

  “Not to worry, Miss Carson, each patient of sound mind or his or her power of attorney or guardian has each consented to this program. You must, however, sign a non-disclosure agreement acknowledging that each and every conversation that takes place between you and your patient is confidential. If you breach it then you—not the university—will be held liable. I cannot stress how important it is that you must take this program seriously. You will be helping a real person, and their failures and successes will be your own, and they will be reflected in whether you pass or fail this course,” Professor Edwards intoned with passion.

  “This is going to be easy, I already know how to deal with emotional women wanting me to take them out even after I’ve told them I’m through with them,” an arrogant, pretty boy jeered to the guy next to him. The other guy chortled. I should sic Doctor Fleur on them.

  I was half exhausted because I hadn’t been able to sleep last night. Every time I had closed my eyes all I heard was whimpering, the sound of Katia calling to me from her room, and me always being too late, never catching her in time before she went up to the roof and fell to her death. It had been a massive struggle to get out of bed this morning, but I couldn’t miss my very first lecture, and now listening to Professor Edwards I was glad I hadn’t. My placement in the program could have been jeopardized.

  “Before I dismiss you for today, as I call your name come to the front and get your patient’s profile…only then will you be able to leave. Read it and learn every fact until you know your patient’s history by heart. The psychologist who will be working with you at the beginning will send you an email within the next couple of days to tell you when your first appointment with your patient will be. Be prepared, and remember that if anyone is less than professional they will be kicked out of the program,” Professor Edward’s voice intruded into my thoughts.

  Once he’d finished, excited chatter broke out and quietly even I felt thrilled by the opportunity.

  “I don’t need to be assigned a patient, not when I have one right behind me,” the pretty boy drawled to his friend looking at me, “Where did you get those wicked scars from?”

  I looked over his shoulder; refusing to answer when really all I wanted was to punch him and use the technique that Hendrik had taught me.

  “Back off, man, that’s not cool,” his friend chided, but I could tell there wasn’t much heat to it.

  “No, she looks like she’d make a really good patient. I bet I could have you telling me all your secrets after just one night with me,” he laughed arrogantly. Okay, so maybe I couldn’t punch him but it didn’t mean I couldn’t embarrass the hell out of him.

  “Tell me, how are you supposed to be an expert and trained psychologist one day when you can’t even spot basic social cues? I’m not interested in your sadomasochistic tendencies, so leave me alone,” I delivered blisteringly.

  “Oh, she told you, man,” his friend guffawed like a hyena. Why women would ever be interested in the two of them I would never know.

  “Miss Monsoon,” Professor Edwards called from the front. Eagerly I collected my notebook and pen and slid them inside the folder I had with me, hurrying down the stairs.

  He held the file out to me, but when I went to pull it away from his grasp, he held it firm. “I was most impressed with your scholarship entry into this program, Miss Monsoon. I’ll be keeping an eye on your efforts to see if you’ll be one of the ten who makes it,” he shared for my ears alone, finally allowing me to take hold of the file.

  “I’ll make sure not to disappoint you, Professor Edwards,” I replied with shaken confidence. The scholarship application had required me to write a dissertation on a topic of my own choosing. I had chosen to write one on Ivan Pavlov’s psychological concept of classical conditioning and questioned whether it should be used as a method of treating phobias, anxiety, and panic disorders. I had been disdainful and critical about it but now I found myself wavering on my stance. Maybe Hendrik’s touch had the ability to transform the way I felt about being touched by other people.

  “Excellent, I do so hate to be disappointed,” Professor Edwards whispered before calling out the next name.

  I was supposed to meet Laurina now for lunch at a swanky café but first I couldn’t resist taking a quick peak at my patient’s profile. I opened the file making sure no one would be able to read it over my shoulder and read my patient’s name.

  Micah Huntly. When I looked over at his age my heart stuttered…he was only eight years old.

  Treatments: Isolation, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) only, currently patient is on Fluoxetine. Patient has no allergies.

  Why would a child be kept isolated? And looking over at his medication I saw that he was taking something similar to what I’d been given at Zaston Institution. I wasn’t sure if that was standard procedure for trauma patients or not. I had to check that out.

  I turned the page over burning for more information but there was nothing else. Just a single, barren page in a single sleeve while the other sleeves were empty, just begging for me to add my own findings to it.

  Micah Huntly was just as an intriguing puzzle as Hendrik was. He hadn’t contacted me since our earlier disagreement last night and I found myself thinking about when I’d see him next as I made my way to the café.

  Once I walked in I ordered a hot chocolate and churros for one, unable to resist the delectable Spanish donuts. After I’d been served I went and sat down in the booth Laurina was in with some friends and Lukas.

  “Sorry I’m late, I was detained in my lecture,” I half lied sitting in the empty space.

  Laurina moved her head off Lukas’ shoulder and her eyes widened as she saw my patient’s file. “Oh, I heard about your program, is that your patient’s file? Oh, let me read it!” she ordered, her hands already reaching to snatch it from me.

  I immediately hid it in my folder and put it on my lap away from her. “Sorry, I can’t, I’d be breaching confidentiality. This means a lot to me, and I can’t afford to be kicked out of the program,” I refused passionately

  “Alright, I’m sorry. I swear I won’t try and read it again,” Laurina apologized seeing what the program meant to me.

  I exhaled with relief, and chose to change the topic to something safer, “So, how was your first nursing class?”

  “It was a piece of cake. A medical student prodigy came and gave us a passionate discussion about medicine and how important nurses were to aiding doctors in their pursuit of healing. Like I didn’t know that already,” she huffed, snatching one of my churros and dipping it into my milk chocolate dip. I allowed it only because she’d taken my objection well, but she was only allowed one.

  “I’m sure you made him aware of that,” I laughed.

  “Yes, I did,” she confirmed after chomping down on my churro. “I said that nurses are underpaid and underappreciated despite how important he deems them to be. I soon regretted it after I realized who he was,” she said laying her head back on Lukas’ shoulder. He pulled back her hair from her face, ignoring me.

  “And who is this medical student prodigy you tried to put in place?” I queried as I took a sip of my rejuvenating hot ch
ocolate.

  “Only just the Sevastyn Serkozky, the sole heir to the Serkozky fortune. His family owns the Serkozky luxury, private hospital and has generations and generations of doctors in their blood,” the girl seated to my left spouted overenthusiastically.

  “I’d kill to work at that place,” Laurina whined, “And now I have completely ruined my chances!”

  “Why? How did he take your put down?” I asked and reluctantly handed her another one of my churros, if only to stop her from having a mental breakdown.

  “He looked at her with scorn and said that she had made a broad generalization. He conceded that yes, in the industry, nurses are underpaid, but that at the Serkozky’s Hospital nurses are paid very, very generously for their efforts. Also, he added that the Serkozky’s fully support and lobby for wage equality for nurses. Then he asked her if she had ever done the same,” the girl answered for Laurina, practically salivating over the drama.

  “I was mortified and when I said no he said that words are meaningless and that if I truly believed that nurses were underappreciated then I should join in on their fight for equality. I have never been so humiliated in my life,” Laurina wailed. “And the worst thing is that he was right to an extent, and he basically thought I was attacking his family name. I didn’t even know who he was at the time,” Laurina denied, decimating my churro furiously.

  “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as it seemed,” Lukas objected. “You were a student among many students he probably forgot about you the moment he walked out of the lecture hall.”

  “Do you really think so?” Laurina asked hopefully.

  I took a bite of my churro and sighed, “Yep, you’re definitely overthinking it. Besides, there’s no way he would go and flag your name with HR to make sure that any future application you make to Serkozky Hospital would be rejected without consideration. Especially when he doesn’t even know your name.”

  “You’re right, I’m just being silly, overreacting. It’s just that studying to become a nurse means the world to me, and I don’t want my big mouth to get in the way of that,” Laurina divulged ardently.

  “I love your mouth just the way it is,” Lukas defended as he placed a quick kiss on her lips.

  My mind went out of focus as I imagined what it would feel like to have Hendrik kiss me on my lips and I felt myself grow red and my heart beat accelerate without my consent. It wasn’t fair! I didn’t seem to have that effect on him making it even more embarrassing. He was impassive and unmoving while I was a molten mess, at best.

  “You’re blushing. Do public displays of affection disturb you?” the girl next to me asked, turning from annoying to cruel within seconds.

  “Lay off her, Scar,” Laurina admonished. “Being virtuous isn’t something to mock especially when you don’t have a single virtuous body part left.”

  Instead of taking it as an attack, Scar giggled, “Yeah, that might be more than a little true. What can I say? I like men,” she sang unabashedly.

  Jealous of how unafraid she was to be herself—free of inhibitions—I took an extra-long gulp of my hot chocolate wishing I was as free and passionate without my fear of being touched holding me back. But then maybe you’d never have met Hendrik my libido taunted, and though she was a bitch, she was right.

  Then I looked away as I remembered…I mean, how could I forget? Technically speaking, I wasn’t virtuous anymore, I mean, I was, but I wasn’t . . . at least not in all the ways it really counted.

  SOLEMNLY, I STARED down into the city filled with towering skyscrapers and busy passengers hurrying along on their way home. Relentlessly rain poured down from the heavens, and I wished that I were outside allowing it to wash away my responsibilities. I had too many to count. But if I shunned even one of them there could be terrible consequences.

  During the day I operated as a silent business partner at Grigoriy Chambers, a prestigious, criminal law firm. My business partner Alexei Grigoriy had come to me a couple years after we had both graduated from college seeking financial backing to start up his own law firm. For three years as he transitioned from an intern to a full-fledged attorney he had worked tirelessly at the Department of Justice locking criminals away, defending the innocent against monsters. I had liked his tenacity and I had supported his tireless endeavor to bring about justice so I’d given him the financial backing he’d needed.

  He did all the hard work, the defending, and the representation of clients in court while I did some legwork here and there. Behind the scenes, I was the one who made the determination on whether the client was being honest or not. I tracked down leads and tested their evidence all without them knowing. I dug up the ammunition that Alexei would harness to build his case. All in all, we were an unstoppable team, seekers of justice and while he worked in the public eye gaining public accreditation I liked to reap the rewards in private. My men on retainer also helped here and there and I gladly shared the profits with them, too.

  “Hendrik, sorry to disturb you, but are you free?” Alexei inquired at my door. “I’m about to have a meeting with a new client, and I’d like your take on him. He’s not one of my usual clients,” he shared as he straightened his tie.

  “Of course, what’s his name?” I asked, moving away from the glass wall of my office to face him.

  “His name is Ethan Vasco, the reason why I haven’t asked you to take a look into him before our preliminary meeting is because he called me ten minutes ago desperately needing to talk to me face to face,” Alexei explained.

  “It must be something serious then. I’ll watch through the security feed and let you know my take on him,” I responded, taking a seat at my desk, turning on the massive screen that took up the entire wall opposite me.

  “Yes, he sounded really desperate. He’ll be here any second now,” he said checking his watch.

  “Go on then, I’ll run a search on him in the meantime,” I urged while opening up my Mac laptop.

  “Thanks, I’ll come here after the meeting concludes. Oh, and Hendrik, if he looks like he’s going to jump over the table and try to throttle me to death feel free to prevent that from happening,” Alexei sent me a withering look before striding out of my office.

  “That was a one-time-only occurrence, plus, I wanted to see how you’d handle it and you were just fine,” I called out after him, laughing to myself.

  It hadn’t been my fault that Alexei had aggravated the husband of a client who was getting a divorce. The husband had posed as a potential new client and being out of his mind, high on drugs, he had blamed Alexei for his marital breakdown. Alexei had been quick to incapacitate him with a single punch after his attempt to choke the life out of him. Contrary to Alexei’s whining, he’d had the situation under control, and his secretary had called the police on my instruction, which had brought the police to the scene mere minutes after the attack on Alexei’s life had occurred.

  I clicked on the reception feed and tracked a man exiting the elevator. He was tall, well built, and definitely unsettled. He looked like a man whose life was about to be taken away from him, scared out of his mind, shaking and bleak.

  “Mr. Grigoriy, I can’t express how happy I am that you’re seeing me on such short notice and almost before closing time,” Ethan spoke gratefully as he shook Alexei’s outstretched hand.

  I typed Ethan Vasco’s name into my database search finding ten people with that name, but the photos allowed me to quickly whittle it down to the one who stood in the foyer. He looked to be in his late thirties, and as my software began to collate a file on him I saw that he was aged thirty-six confirming my assumption.

  “Of course, I always make time for potential new clients, Mr. Vasco,” Alexei responded with a smile then turned to the receptionist, “Victoria, please hold all calls while I meet with my last client of the day.”

  “Of course, Mr. Grigoriy,” she responded with practiced charm.

  “Please follow me so we can get down to business, I know your situation is urgent,” Alexei
surmised getting to the heart of the matter at hand.

  “Yes, thank you,” Ethan replied, a wealth of relief on his face.

  I changed the screen feed to the client meeting room to track their conversation as they entered, Alexei gesturing him to take a seat before taking one opposite him.

  “So, Mr. Vasco, please tell me what you require my services for,” Alexei inquired after offering him a drink which he declined.

  “Before I say why I’m here I think it would be best if I gave you a little background on me. I’d like it if you could hear me out before coming to a decision on whether you have the time to represent me,” Ethan begged.

  “Please do, I’m here to listen to everything you have to say,” Alexei replied, his game face officially on.

  Ethan exhaled but the worried creases between his brows didn’t disappear. “When I was sixteen years old I was convicted of raping and assaulting two girls who were over the legal age of consent. The case never went to trial because I made a deal with the Department of Public Prosecutions, where in return for admitting my guilt, my sentence was culled down from twenty-five years to twenty years. The truth is, I couldn’t get out of it because I did do it and the evidence had been stacked against me. But I swear I regret what I did. I was a monster…I hurt two innocent girls and I deserved every one of those years I spent in jail,” Ethan proclaimed in self-disgust.

  My hands tightened on my desk and it took everything in me not to get out of my chair. This was why I stayed in the dark, why Alexei took all of the consultations. Some things can be forgiven and forgotten . . . a white lie, terrible, unintended words spoken in the heat of anger could be forgiven but violence . . . what he had done could never be forgiven or forgotten. No matter how hard he tried he’d be carrying what he’d done with him for the rest of his life, and I hoped that he would never feel a true moment of peace.

  Alexei, unlike me, was calm and collected, his face completely impassive, but I knew deep down he was fighting to stay calm, too. He gave a nod, urging Ethan to go on.