Gods, Monsters and Brains
By Scott Thompson
3rd February 2010
Tanya Whitford proves that the rare condition known as 'mental hysteria' can attack even the most intellectual of beings.
She was a successful, bright Literature teacher at a prestigious school in Harlem. Her students loved and admired her. Perhaps that is why they decided to go along with her treatment.
It was a sunny day and Ms Whitford was flipping through a Reader's Digest entitled Perseus in a bookstore, when suddenly shots were fired from outside. Apparently, those shots were meant for a notorious drug dealer. However, Ms Whitford was the innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.
Abdul, the shopkeeper remembers, "The glass shattered and the next thing I know, this beautiful customer of mine is laying on the floor, a stream of blood seeping from her head. I called the paramedics but had to do something fast... by the time they came, she had lost a significant amount of blood... I was only happy she had made it..."
When the bullet was dislodged from Ms Whitford's brain the next day, the damage caused was already visible. She had to be reminded of who she was, where she lived and where she worked...
But one little detail was left undealt with... her sudden obsession with Greek mythology. 'Mental hysteria' expert Dr Zarefsky explained this as an escapist mechanism that the brain used to create a fantasy for its patient. The brain had chosen to concentrate on Greek mythology because... this was the very literature she was reading when the brain's functionality had been put to a halt on that fateful day.
Dr Zarefsky assigned one of his best doctors to the case immediately, to try to pull her back to her senses. However, the fact that this doctor is Greek-American, apparently has had some bizarre repercussions that the doctors would not like to discuss.
Tanya Whitford's students may have lied to her when going along with their Greek Mythology classes, when they knew she should have been teaching Literature. They may have been lying when they smiled in her face well knowing she was a patient at a mental facility.
However, they did all of this out of pure love for their teacher, who miraculously survived a drive by shooting, only to lose her logic and start believing in gods and monsters.
By Scott Thompson for the New York Times
Chapter Eleven
Tanya's heart was beating. She dropped the newspaper disbelievingly and picked up another one. LA Times, Time Magazine, The Daily Mail in the UK, they had all reported her story a year ago. With the exact same details.
She felt like she couldn't breathe. She fell back to steady herself and felt her eyes brim with tears. She opened her mouth to cry out but no sound came out.
She clutched her head and felt one of those painful migraines again.
Then there was a knock on her door. When she didn't answer, the knocks became more frantic. She could faintly hear him... calling out her name, asking her if she was okay, asking her to open the door.
Dr Theodosiou's voice was getting louder.
And Tanya had fallen onto her bed listening to his voice. A voice no longer soothing, but piercing and painful.
A stranger's voice. A doctor's voice.
Percy tried the door handle once again but it didn't budge. And she was not letting him in. He tried calling her cell phone for the umpteenth time but she didn't pick it up.
He was panicking now. What was going on in there? Was she okay? !
Percy frantically kicked the door open and it finally did. He rushed inside...
"Do. Not. Touch. Me" Tanya said as Percy held his hand out to her still figure. She was lying on the bed facing away from him. He gulped.
He now saw all the newspaper clippings that she had been reading. Probably articles that Eric had kept in his clothes.
He sat down gently on the edge of the bed. So she had found out...
She was sniffing, sobbing silently and holding herself. After what seemed like an hour she finally spoke up
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Percy," he replied, knowing that's not the answer she was looking for.
"You bastard, I asked you a simple question. Who are you and who do you work for? What do you want from me?"
"Tanya...I'm, I'm Dr Percy Theodosiou. I'm a psychologist... I was… up until today. I gave in my license."
Tanya chuckled, in a very sad kind of way.
She was still facing away from him. Still holding herself and scrunched up in a ball.
"What happened to me? Why do I get these headaches?"
"Tanya... you survived a drive by in a bookstore a year back. A bullet was dislodged from your brain," he wanted so badly to grab her hand. He felt uncomfortable talking to her like a doctor.
"I was shot in the head? And I can't even remember?!" she almost shouted. Percy didn't say anything. She continued,
"So you're a doctor that was sent to treat my... mental situation,"
"Yes." He replied curtly. He felt a wave of shame wash over him as he spotted his tie and t shirt lying in her laundry basket.
"Were you sent to sleep with me too? To bang me out of my misery?" she now turned around and faced him, tugging at his heart in the process. Her tear stained face was angry, confused, lost, scared... all at once.
"Tanya... I... I was supposed to help you get out of your Greek mythology phase," he said slowly, "I, I failed. I failed you."
Tanya was now seated up, looking at him, "How many of my students knew about this? Did the school know what you were doing?"
"Tanya," he hesitated, "all your closest students knew about me. The school gave me permission to... to pose as a teacher... everyone knew you had been shot and had survived, but not all the teachers knew about me. "
Tanya's mind thought of Aisha when he said this. She continued to ask,
"Why did you sleep with me? Why did you romance me? Was that part of the treatment too?" she asked angrily. Percy looked down shamefully. It certainly was not.
"Tanya... I was weak. And thus I was not there for you. Not in the way I should have been..."
"I want to see Eric..." she finally said.
Percy felt his heart sink.
Tanya got up from the bed and rushed to the phone, looking for Eric's number.
Eric's heart beat faster as he listened to Tanya's voice on the other end.
"Eric... I... I need you to come down to Harlem. I need you right now...I'm so scared and confused."
She was sobbing, he could hear it.
He bit his lip and tried to comfort his girlfriend over the phone. This would be the perfect opportunity to see how far her treatment had gone.
She had probably found out about the shooting and he hoped this would at least trigger her memory.
And perhaps this would be the perfect way to tell her how loyal he was, how good he was to her... just that she couldn't remember.
He would tell her how all his 'past infidelities' were just a figment of her faulty mind.
Lies, perhaps... but necessary lies. He wasn't going to let go of her that easily.
He got up from his office desk and winked at the cute blonde receptionist on his way out. She blushed at the Dominican hunk and got back to filing her nails.
Tanya practically ran towards Eric at the bus station. She fell into his embrace and he frantically kissed her forehead and cheek.
She sobbed, "Eric... what happened to me? Why didn't you tell me?!"
All this as the two held each other in front of curious passer-bys. Eric feigned some tears and replied slowly,
"I was told to give you some space for your treatment. Plus, I wasn't supposed to talk about it to you. Sweetheart, I'm here and that's all that matters. I'm gonna tell you everything,"
Tanya nodded and looked earnestly into Eric's eyes. He stroked her cheek and whispered in her ear, "c'mon, let me take you to dinner."
Tanya sighed and let him lead the way.
Percy removed his glasses and stared at himself in the mirror. Percy the Greek god.
He replaced his glasses. Percy the doctor.
He couldn't dare to look at his reflection for another second. He flung his glasses across the room. They seemed to be a symbol of his deceit. He had never once worn them in Tanya's presence.
He looked up at his bookshelf filled with medical philosophies, textbooks from med school and all sorts of literature on mental hysteria.
Tanya's condition. That's what he had labeled that section of his library when he was still doing research on his patient.
He then looked up at his wall adorned with accolades and medical awards. One of these was for a paper he had written entitled
Why the moral dilemma of our 'mental hysteria treatment' does not count.
By Dr Percy Theodosiou, of The Zarefsky Institute.
He had written this before he had met Tanya.
He looked away from the wall guiltily and placed his knuckles on his desk, where his stethoscope lay.
He flexed his muscles in anger. Anger at himself. How could he defend such a practice? Such an institute?
He hung his head in shame. He then took his hand and violently swept it across his desk, clearing it of all its contents.
Chapter Twelve
Eric kissed Tanya's cheek for what seemed to be the hundredth time before they both settled down to eat an Italian dinner.
He stared at her intently and held her hand as he told her how she had gotten shot by some drive-by shooter, how she had lost her memory and how her recovery treatment required him to be away.
All of which was true.
Then the lies began.
Tanya leaned forward and asked, "So all my thoughts about you... they were messed up. You never really used to cheat and all that?"
Eric took a sip of his wine and sighed. He held her hand,
"Tanya. I need you to remember just how great I am to you."
Tanya smiled slightly. She tried to get her mind to think of Eric as this great guy, but it couldn't for some reason.
Eric squeezed her hand, "Baby... tomorrow we visit your doctor, Mr. Theodosiou. He has to give the final word on your mental state. I'm sure he has helped you in many ways,"
Tanya looked up at her boyfriend. She didn't really know how to respond to that.
She had slept with Percy.
With Dr Theodosiou. The liar.
She squeezed Eric's hand back and brought it to her lips, kissing it. How could she have done that to Eric?
When their expensive dinner was done, Eric clutched Tanya's hand tightly as they walked back to her..no... their apartment.
Eric had told Tanya over dinner that he would move back as soon as his business out of state was done.
Tanya didn't know how she felt about this. How she felt about him.
Once inside the apartment, the old landlady opened her door enthusiastically hoping to see Percy. Her face changed when she saw Tanya holding hands with Eric.
Tanya gave her a blank look and the landlady smiled and told both of them goodnight, trying to hide her disappointment at this sudden change in things. Where was Percy? She wondered. Had he and Tanya broken up? Once the lady was out of sight, Eric chuckled, "I always did find that old chick weird." He expected Tanya to laugh, but she didn't.
This just didn't feel right. Him in the corridor with her. Where she had often made love with Percy.
This was Eric's apartment as well, sure.... but... but...
He sensed her quiet and he imagined it to be sexual tension. He leaned in for a kiss, but Tanya didn't. When he tried to bring his lips to hers, she turned and he caught her cheek instead.
He chuckled. So she was now playing 'hard to get' huh?
He cupped her face and roughly turned her face towards him. Tanya let out a faint 'ow' as Eric crushed her lips with his. More out of lust than any tender feeling.
His hands started to roam all over her curvy body and she could feel he was greatly aroused. She tried to keep her lips shut but his tongue forced them open and he was now practically mauling her.
Tanya didn't know why but she felt like puking. She pushed him off and wiped her mouth.
Eric had an angry look on his face, "Tanya what the hell's your problem?"
What was her problem? She asked herself the same question. This was her boyfriend after all. Her real boyfriend.
She smoothed his shirt as she said tenderly, "Look Eric. I can't do this right now, with you. It's been so long..."
Eric started to kiss her neck, "All the more reason for us to make up for lost time,"
Tanya sighed and pushed him away again, this time more gently.
"Eric..."
He ran his hands over his fade cut and looked to the side, his ego crushed. He then walked away from her up to their room.
When Tanya didn't follow him up the stairs he stopped in his tracks and turned towards her, "Oh... are we not gonna sleep in the same bed either?"
Tanya shook her head slowly, wanting to avoid his eyes. Eric chuckled, this time out of amusement.
Angry amusement. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and didn't go up. Instead he made a left turn to the living room.
"Pass me a blanket from upstairs then. I'm going to bed," he said curtly. He kicked off his shoes and landed on the couch.
Tanya sighed at herself. She needed to act better towards Eric or else he would suspect something happened between her and another man.
She ran upstairs and got her boyfriend a warm blanket. While she was covering him with it, he pulled it roughly and covered himself.
Her goodnight to him was met with silence. Women never snubbed him, especially not his girlfriend. He fell asleep wondering why she was acting this way. She fell asleep wondering how she was going to face Percy the doctor tomorrow, hand in hand with Eric.
In the middle of the night, Tanya woke up for some reason. She turned on the lamp and opened the book Perseus. The Reader's Digest. That's all it really was, A Reader's Digest. Not some mythical book. And she was only finding that out now.
She turned to the last pages, and all the text was there, it had never disappeared. Also, in the story Zeus never told Perseus to go down to Earth to look for Andromeda.
She had imagined everything. It was just a stupid little magazine with Greek mythology.
And everything about Doctor Percy that had seemed mystical before, had just been coincidences. He is a human being not a god, like the rest of us.
I really am mentally deranged... she thought.
She then grabbed her pillow and imagined it to be Percy, not Eric. She imagined his kisses all over her body, his gentle touch... and the things they did on their passionate nights. The memories burned through her mind and went straight to her heart.
But it was over between them, he had lied to her, claiming to be a teacher, when in fact he was her doctor. He knew she was crazy and never told her. He had taken advantage of her. Of her attraction to him.
An attraction that still burned strong.
She ran her hand over the familiar, animated cover of the Reader's Digest. Perseus and Andromeda's love story meant nothing to her now.
It meant nothing.
Perseus, the Greek god was not real. Never had been.
Chapter Thirteen
"Dr Theodosiou? A couple is here to see you," the secretary said in the intercom. Percy's heart felt like it wanted to stop. He replied slowly, "Yes. Yes. Yet let them in."
Eric and Tanya walked into the room, hand in hand. The moment Tanya saw Percy sitting at his office desk, she dropped Eric's hand, much to her boyfriend's confusion.
Percy stood up, and shook each of their hands professionally. He and Tanya's eyes bore into each other, neither one looking away.
Neither of them was ready for this encounter, but it had to happen sometime. Tanya's diagnosis.
Percy gestured for them to sit and they did. Tanya's eyes immediately traversed his office, which he had never showed her and which he had never mentioned. Right there in New York.
; It was full of medical posters, awards and there was a model of the human brain on his desk. He really was a mental health doctor. It showed completely. And he was wearing glasses.
Tanya felt like punching him in the face as he sat back down in his seat behind the desk. She had been taken for a fool by this bastard. She felt embarrassed and ashamed at their past intimacy. She felt betrayed, she felt horrible.
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