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Chapter 19 Damien
I had no intention of showing this to Eden. Not because she doesn’t deserve to see it, but because I don’t want her to feel worse about herself.
She already thinks she’s weak and that she’ll never be strong enough to conquer her demons.
And what’s inside this folder will only prove her right. Because it’s what she was made to believe.
She takes a step closer. “What is that?”
“Your entire psychiatric history, since you were twelve.”
Her eyes widen. “How dare you invade my priva—”
“You can harp about that later. There are more important things for you to be pissed about.” I slide the folder toward her. “Open it.”
I watch her face as she scans through the first few papers. “Congrats, you know I’m a nutcase. I don’t understand what the point of all this is.”
“Read the therapist’s notes from your very first session when you were twelve.”
“Consult with patient requested by the patient’s mother after the school nurse reported the patient expressed suicidal thoughts.” She clears her throat. “Patient displays symptoms of anxiety and depression. When asked about her home life, her mother maintains everything is fine and her child has a normal upbringing. When I asked the patient how her home life was, the patient apologized profusely for causing trouble and confessed that she didn’t want to harm herself, she just wanted attention from her mother.” Her lower lip trembles. “When I asked to speak to the patient alone, the mother declined. When I called for a follow-up appointment, the mother declined and said the patient was getting help elsewhere.”
“Do you remember this?”
She nods. “Yeah. The school nurse called my mom in and suggested I go to counseling. After we left, my mom got really angry. She said it was my fault for drawing negative attention to us when she was only trying to do the best she could as a single mother. I felt bad because I knew she was working all the time and I messed up. I promised I’d be better after that.”
My chest tightens. I know exactly what Eden’s feeling. I know how much it can sting when a parent treats you like a problem half the time and ignores you the other half.
Which is why I need her to keep going. “Read the next one.”
She flips the page. “Consult with patient requested by the patient’s mother after an episode with another student at school. School reports the patient physically attacked another student in the bathroom during lunch. When asked what happened, the patient refused to speak. The other student maintains she did nothing to provoke her and claims Eden assaulted her when she stepped inside the restroom. When I asked the patient about the incident, she refused to talk about it. However, the patient’s mother claims her daughter wasn’t feeling well and blames the flu for her outburst. When I called for a follow-up appointment, the mother declined and said the patient was receiving help elsewhere.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Do you remember what happened that day?”
“Lenore Mills said the reason I didn’t have a dad was because my mom was a dyke.” She shrugs. “So I punched her.”
“Did you ever tell your mom what Lenore said?”
“I did. She told me if I didn’t want to get bullied, I should start telling everyone I saw my dad on the weekends.” She looks down at her shoes. “When I told her I didn’t want to lie and asked where my father was, she got mad and said if I wasn’t willing to do the right thing for our family, then I wasn’t allowed to hang out with my friends from school anymore. She said she was trying to maintain a certain image in order to run for district attorney the following year and all of my antics were messing things up.”
“Read the next one,” I urge because it’s where things go from bad to worse.
“Consult with patient requested by the patient’s mother following an incident involving a teacher at school. Evidence of an inappropriate student-teacher relationship was discovered after a fellow student turned in a note containing graphic sexual details about the school’s English teacher, Mr. Delany, to school administration. The note was written by the patient. Shortly after the teacher was suspended, the patient was discovered at a local park in the middle of the night with Mr. Delany. Patient strongly maintains nothing inappropriate happened between them and insists they were just friends. Her mother believes otherwise and says her child was taken advantage of. When I asked to speak to the patient alone, the mother declined. Mother and patient left my office shortly after.”
She trembles. “What’s the point of all this, Damien? If you want me to stand here and claim Mr. Delany did something wrong, I won’t. He was my friend.”
Pointing out grown men shouldn’t be friends with their teenage students or texting them all hours of the night won’t help matters. Besides, I’m one to talk. Although there’s a world of difference between a seventeen-year-old guy messing around with his teacher versus a fourteen-year-old girl.
“I won’t argue with you,” I tell her. “I just want you to read the next report. The one dated a few days later.”
She huffs out a breath. “Consult with patient requested by patient’s mother. Patient displays symptoms of severe psychosis. Inpatient treatment recommended. Benzodiazepines and mood-stabilizers prescribed.”
“What happened between your last therapy session and this one?”
She looks up at the ceiling. “My mom said Mr. Delany was co
“Did the psychiatrist ever talk to you?”
She shakes her head. “A little. I think. I don’t remember much to be honest. The meds he gave me made me really tired.”
It’s all I can do not to put my fist through the wall. “That’s because you were receiving double the recommended dose.” I hand her another sheet of paper. “Only, no one ever caught on because your mother was prescribed the same medication you were but got it filled at a different pharmacy under her name.”
For over three fucking years Eden was not only given medication I’m positive she didn’t need, she was given too much of it.
She snatches the paper from me. “What? I’m sure it’s just a mistake.”
“It’s not. Notice whenever your dose would go up or he changed your medication, Karen’s would change too. That’s not a coincidence, Eden. She turned you into a zoned-out zombie on purpose.”
“I don’t understand—why would she do that?”
I don’t have to say it, because the heartbroken look on her face tells me she already knows.
Karen didn’t want children. She wanted a place filler to make her life seem normal because of her own deep-seated issues. And when Eden caused too much trouble and became a liability to her public persona and her bottom line, she paid a quack to dope her kid full of psych meds and convinced everyone she was a mental case.
She closes the file and places it back on my desk. “I don’t think I can stomach anymore.” She looks up at me. “I know you hate Cain, but if you’re wondering why I’m so pathetic, this is why. I love him and I’m loyal to him because he saved me. After my mom died and he became my guardian, he had the psychiatrist decrease all my meds and got me a therapist who actually helped me.”