Echo(62)

“Hi there. I’m Dr. Allaway. Can you tell me your name?”

I look on, waiting for some sort of movement, but there’s no shift when I hear her weak voice answer, “Elizabeth.”

“Last name?”

“Archer.”

Kyla sets her medical bag on the nightstand and begins asking Elizabeth a series of questions about the evening’s events. Kyla helps adjust Elizabeth in bed and sits her up with a stack of pillows behind her back. They begin talking, and Elizabeth’s voice sounds hollow as she explains about her mother, and I can tell by what she’s saying that she doesn’t know the extent of the facts like I do. She probably just read a few words and got herself so worked up, she exploded.

“Was there anyone else in the room with you and Declan?” she questions, knowing I had mentioned witnessing her talking to someone that wasn’t there.

I lean against the wall, silent, with my arms crossed over my chest when I catch her eyes glossing over with tears.

She nods, and Kyla asks, “Who else was there?”

“My brother,” she answers weakly.

“Can you tell me where your brother is now?”

“I’m not crazy,” Elizabeth immediately defends.

“No one said you were. But I need you to be honest with me so that I can help you.”

“You can’t help me.”

“Will you let me try?” she offers. “We don’t have to talk about your brother right now if you don’t want to, but would you let me take a look at your head?”

Kyla begins to treat the wounds on her forehead and also the one on the back of her head. She then moves to examine the bruises on her body along with taking her vitals. While she does all this, she continues to talk to Elizabeth, and soon she reveals, “Sometimes when I’m really upset or stressed, I see my brother. He talks to me and calms me down.”

Once she is finished, she writes a prescription for a mood stabilizer and as I walk her out, she tells me, “I’d like to see her again, but I’d like her to also visit with a psychiatrist. Like I said, I don’t know much about this case or the patient’s family history, but my first thought is that she’s most likely dealing with an untreated depressive episode with some congruent psychosis.”

“What does that mean?”

“There’s no doubt she is terribly depressed right now, but that coupled with seeing and hearing things that don’t exist along with her erratic behaviors raise quite a few red flags. It’s actually a good sign though that her hallucinations seem to be related to her distress.”

“I’ve never known her to be this unstable though,” I tell her, thinking back to the time we shared in Chicago. She was always so pulled together and witty. Sure she would have these moments of sadness, but nothing like this.

“It’s not an entirely uncommon reaction and most often it surfaces under times of extreme stress,” she informs. “She also has a slight concussion from her head trauma. Nothing serious, but I would strongly suggest that you make sure you are waking her up every two to three hours, okay?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll email you a list of doctors I would recommend for her to visit when I get to the office tomorrow.”

When she puts her coat on, I hand her back her bag, saying, “I cannot thank you enough for this.”

She smiles and gives a nod. “If you need anything else or notice any changes in her, please call me.” I watch as she walks to her car, and before she gets in, she reminds, “And get that script filled.”

“Drive safely.”

Walking back inside, I immediately pull out my cell and call Lachlan.

He picks up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“What the f*ck were you thinking calling me after you gave her the information on her mother?” I snap.

“Is everything okay?”

“I told you I wanted to know as soon as you knew, not after you met with her. If you’re finding it difficult to follow my very simple instructions, maybe you’d be better suited to work for someone who doesn’t give a shit about attention to detail.”

“It was a complete oversight on my part; I apologize.”

“You knew what the f*ck was in those court documents, and your oversight was in complete negligence.”

“Agreed.”

“How the hell did you get your hands on those documents with the case involving a minor anyway?” I ask.