Dr. Ignatius glanced at the notes on his clipboard before looking up at the nude female patient before him. Leather restraints were all that she wore as she slumped in the chair. He made a "tsk" noise with his tongue and said softly "Whatever shall I do with you darling? This is the third day in a row that you've refused to take your medication. If you miss another dose..."<br/><br/>His voice trailed off as he noticed that wasn't listening; indeed, she gave no indication that she was aware of his presence at all. Her head lolled forward on her chest, and a trail of thin saliva leaked down the crest of her chin, between her cleavage, finally coming to rest in a pool within her belly button.<br/><br/>Disgust and irritation twisted the doctor's already frowning face into a scowl. Dull wood drove into the patient's right temple as he swung his clipboard at her with one hand. Bright red drops splattered across the crisp white paper and slowly seeped into it's fibers, staining the top few pages. A line of blood made it's way down her face before eventually dripping down to join the saliva gathering on her abdomen. The two mixed and intermingled, swirling sickeningly around one another.<br/><br/><em>"I asked you a question, you insubordinate brat!"</em>he roared into her nonresponsive face.<br/><br/>Breathing hard, Ignatius made a visible effort to control himself. Usually, he was quite calm, like a blissful song of serenity in the midst of a symphony of discordant lunacy; however, he occasionally fell prey to the same episodes of insanity that plagued the majority of his patients.<br/><br/>He chuckled bitterly as a thought struck him- He was both doctor and patient in this place. Of course, he had long ago placed himself under his own medical supervision so that no one would realize that one of the staff was on the wrong side of the padded cells.<br/><br/>Dr. Ignatius looked at the female for a moment before calmly writing "Patient presents no visible improvement" on his blood-spattered notepad. He mumbled an apology to her, one so soft that she wouldn't have heard it even had she been conscious.<br/><br/>With that, he turned and exited the exam room. On the way out, he told a young Latina nurse who had been waiting a few feet away from the door outside that the patient had hit her head while she was thrashing about trying to break her bonds. He indicated that minor cleanup and first aid would be required.<br/><br/>The nurse nodded wordlessly and went about her business. She knew well enough by now not to ask the doctor how his patient could have hit her head when the only large objects in the room were at least five feet away from the chair in which she had been restrained. Such questions were not welcome, and those nurses who insisted on asking them often found themselves out of a job. This nurse- Julia, by name- had long ago stopped caring why the patients she cleaned up after were often undressed, abused, and even worse off than they had been before the "treatment" sessions.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Later, in his room overlooking the lake's dark waters, Ignatius sighed as he felt the darkness reflected within him. Cackling voices echoed from somewhere far down  the hall, and the already dim lights flickered out for a moment. Gathering his bag of supplies and putting on a freshly-pressed white overcoat, he left his room and made his way down the winding halls to find the source of the maniacal laughter. "Another day, another nutter" he mumbled to himself<br/><br/>