Chapter Text
Zanka stared at the large building infront of him.
“This is it.” He mumbled to himself, as he looked down at his phone for a second before glancing up at the big bold letters atop of the building.
‘GROUND WORK MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC’
The place had been nicknamed ‘the pit’ by almost everyone who had heard of it.
Rarely did the patients submitted to this unit make it out.
And those who did often fell right back into their old habits.
And here Zanka was, ready to start his first shift at the clinic.
He made his way through the front doors of the building, and looked around.
He’d been in the building before for his job interview, so this wasn’t the first time hes seen the insides of the clinic.
Or well, the lobby that is.
Zanka hadn’t been taken to the wings of the building housing the patients yet.
But even so, the lobby looked alot more cozy than you’d expect.
When Zanka first came to the building, he’d expected it to look like a hospital.
But the reality was alot more.. cozy.
Alot more comfortable.
“Hey.” A voice called out, and Zanka turned his head to the source of the noise.
“You’re the new psychologist, yeah?”
A woman spoke from behind the reception desk.
She was a black woman, with a white, slightly outgrown buzzcut.
She had circular glasses on, and brown eyes that almost looked yellow.
She had a white lipstick on, aswell as white eyeliner.
Zanka went up to the receptionist, standing at the other end of the desk.
He’d seen this woman before during his interview.
“Mhm.” The boy hummed with a nod.
The woman, whos ID card around her neck by a lanyard read Semiu Grier, reached under the desk into a drawer.
She rummaged around in it for a little bit.
Before pulling out a few papers, and Zanka’s own lanyard and clinic ID card.
She handed the papers to Zanka, aswell as the lanyard.
“Your schedule for the coming month.” She hummed.
“And your ID. It works as a key too, for access to the patient wings.”
Zanka took the schedule and card from her, and eyed over the card in specifically.
It had a photo in the corner, with some text.
‘Dr. Zanka Nijiku.
19 yrs old.
Psychologist.’
God, why’d he pick such an ugly portrait picture to be put on the card..
“For your first day you’ll be shadowing our head doctor.” Semiu continued.
“You should’ve had your interview with him.”
Zanka nodded. “Dr.. Enjin, right?”
And Semiu confirmed with a nod.
“You can find him in the break room on the first floor. Said he’d wait there for you.”
Zanka nodded, and made a slight bow to the woman as a thank you, before turning to the elevator.
Just as he reached the elevator.
A few police officers made their way through the door.
They had a young man with them, in cuffs.
“There he is..” Zanka heard Semiu speak up.
“Bring him over here!” She called out to the officers.
Zanka turned his head after he pressed the elevator button.
The man in cuffs was a patient at the clinic.
He had tanned skin, long, beautiful dark brown dreadlocks, and dark pink eyes that no longer had any light left in them. The look on his face was dead.. he looked to not entirely be present.
An effect of the sedative he was given by the officers dragging him back into the ward after his escape.
Two men came rushing around the corner, in all white uniforms.
Both had white caps on, aswell lanyards around their neck that Zanka couldn’t read from this distance.
But Zanka could tell they were nurses.
One looked to be on the younger side, black hair coming out from under the white cap.
The other was much older, blonde slicked back hair under his cap, and a scar over one of his bright blue eyes.
The blonde, older male took the patient from the officers once they had removed the cuffs.
“Alright, Jabber.” He hummed to the patient.
“Lets get you back to your room.”
The patient, who Zanka now knew was named Jabber, didn’t respond. The drug of the sedative really made mush of his brain.
Mostly.. that is.
Cause the second the elevator Zanka was waiting on made a dinging noise, announcing its arrival, the patients head shot up, and looked right in Zanka’s direction.
Zanka felt his heart skip a beat at the eyecontact he made with the tanned male.
It was intense.
The way the male immediately snapped out of the woozy state he was.. it was a little off putting.
Jabber was pulled away by the older nurse, his gaze not shifting once from Zanka.
And Zanka too found it hard to tear his gaze away from Jabber.
It felt like the hairs on his back were standing up, he felt like he was starting to sweat.
The young doctor felt like a deer in headlights for a moment, until Jabbers gaze was forced away from Zanka by a rough hand of the nurse on the back of Jabbers head.
“Keep it moving Wonger.” The male spoke.
“We dont have all day.”
Zanka finally found himself able to focus again, shaking his head as he looked at the open elevator behind him.
It was starting to close automatically, so quickly the young man rushed inside.
He pressed the button which read ‘1’ inside the elevator, and before long the elevator started to move up to the first floor, where Zanka was supposed to meet Enjin to start his shift.
Within a few minutes, Zanka found the break room, Enjin was waiting inside just like Semiu told Zanka.
He went inside of the room, smiling slightly upon entry.
The man with the yellowish blonde hair’s head perked up.
“Morning!” He said with a big smile.
“Ready to start your first shift here with us?”
“Mhm.” Zanka responded with a polite nod. “More than ready, sir!”
“Oh.” Enjin started, with a bit of a chuckle.
“No need for the formalities. Just Enjin’s fine, kid.”
The older male, 36 years old.. according to the ID card inside the lanyard around Enjins neck, got up and made his way towards the younger male.
“Ill show you your locker, and then we’ll start with a tour. How bout that?”
Zanka nodded, and followed Enjin out of the break room to the locker room.
“Catch.” Enjin hummed, throwing a small key with a metal ring attached to it over his shoulder.
With a bit of a clumsy catch, Zanka got the keys by the ring around his index finger.
“Thats your locker key.” Enjin hummed.
“And this,” the male started, slamming a flat palm against one of the metal lockers. “Is your personal locker. Id write the number down if I was you.”
Zanka nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket and writing his locker number down in
his notes app.
“Do I have to put my phone in the locker?” Zanka asked, to which Enjin nodded.
“Now dont get me wrong.” The blonde hummed. “I dont take you for the type to use your phone during hours. But theres some patients here with quite the sticky fingers.”
Zanka nodded along as Enjin talked.
“Its just more responsible to leave them here.”
Enjin nodded. “You got it.”
Zanka nodded again, opening his locker up with his key, and putting his phone, along with the bag he brought to work inside the locker.
Once he closed the locker again, he put the key on his pants, at the loops where a belt would go, with the ring attached to the key.
“Alright let me show you around all the wings.”
Enjin stepped out of the locker room, glancing over his shoulder as Zanka followed suit.
“We’ve got 4 wings.” Enjin continued explaining, as Zanka started walking next to him.
“One for adults, above 20 years old. One for late teens and young adults. So from 16 till 20 years old. Young kids, typically 5 or 6 till 16 years old. And lastly the isolation wing. Patients typically dont stay in there for too long.” Enjin hummed.
“Ill take you too each wing except for the isolation one today. Theres a quite disturbed patient currently settling in there, so best not to disturb in there for today.”
Zanka nodded once again. “Sounds good.”
His brain started to wonder though.
Curiosity pooling into his brain.
What patient was Enjin talking about? Was it the patient he saw being taken into the clinic when he was making his way into the elevator?
“For your first few weeks, you wont have any one on ones with patients yet.” Enjin hummed.
“You’ll be assisting in activities, doing medication rounds, all that jazz.” Enjin said, making his way to a closed door leading into a colourful and happy painted hallway, with a keycard reader outside of it.
“Once you’re settled in, and the patients settled into your presence, you’ll be booked for one on ones with patients we feel will click with you, make sense?” Enjin asked as he scanned his ID card over the reader, and the door buzzed open.
Zanka nodded with an affirmative hum before following Enjin into the hallway.
“This the kid wing?” He asked, judging by the brightly painted walls of the hallways.
“Bingo.” Enjin said, as he glanced back with a smile. “Most kids here are sweethearts, really. Just been through an awful lot. Poor little fellas..” He hummed as he walked through the hallway towards the main area.
It was a cute little livingroom space. With beanbags, toys, plushies, and a tv playing some cartoons on it. Aswell as a few comfortable cushion chairs, and a comfortable couch with some blankets.
Inside one of the chairs was a boy, curled in on himself and holding something what looked to be a self made..plasic fox type of doll in his hands.
The boy had white hair, with bright red streaks peaking out from under his white hair.
There was something what seemed to be a massive burn scar around the boys eyes, in the shape of a sort of mask.
The boy was rocking himself back and forth, eyes wide as his lips quivered.
Tears were beginning to form in his eyes as he clutched the doll in his hands harder and harder.
Enjin, who was talking to Zanka, explained the basics child wing to him, stopped talking as he realised the little kid on the chair.
“Fu.” Enjin called out, and the boy looked like he got startled right out of the dissociation he was in.
He glanced up at the doctor, and quickly brought his hand to his face, wiping his eyes.
“Whats up buddy?” Enjin asked, getting closer to the chair and kneeling down besides it.
Fu immediately clutched the little doll to his chest, as if afraid it would be taken from him.
Zanka stood a little behind as he watched the interaction with interest.
A soft, nervous whine left the kids throat.
“Need to do something..”
“Yeah? And what’s that?”
Fu shrugged. “Something.. anything.. I don’t mind..”
Enjin hummed in thought for a little.
“Right.. well.. its almost meds time.” Enjin started. “Im sure nurse Stilza is very busy preparing everyones meds right now. How about you go ask if you can help him?” Enjin asked, ruffling the kids hair, which caused a slight squeal followed by a chuckle to come out of Fu’s mouth.
“Im sure he’ll let you fill up everyones cups with water, yeah?”
“Yeah!” Fu exclaimed, a smile on his face as he got up from the chair, and rushed over to the little medication station in the kid wing.
From the distance Zanka could faintly make out the nurse in the station, it was a man, with long blonde hair, tied up into a long ponytail.
He had orange, goggle like glasses on, and wore the same uniform as the nurses Zanka saw this morning in the reception.
Even from this distance, Zanka could make out exactly what the nurse was saying.
“WHAAAT?” The nurse practically shouted. “YOU WANNA HELP ME PREPARE THE MEDS, LITTLE MAN?!?!”
Fu wasn’t heard from this distance, it really was just this nurse who was talking so loudly.
“Thats August Stilza.” Enjin spoke, noticing the confused look on Zanka’s face.
“He used to be a patient here.” Enjin went on explaining. “But he mostly made a full recovery. His grandmother is our medical doctor, and his sister’s is the assistant doctor for their grandmother.”
Enjin watched the way Fu was excitedly filling up small plastic cups of water, while the Nurse, August, was hyping the kid up while he himself was preparing the actual pills.
“Usually, we wouldn’t hire someone with such a loud and intense presence.. but in this case, it worked out!”
“How come?” Zanka asked. “I mean.. wouldn’t someone like him.. scare the patients? Be too much? Or enable other patient’s unwanted behaviour?”
“Typically, yes.” Enjin hummed.
“But since August was a patient here himself, for a every long time. Alot of our patients know him already. Hes always been very social, always got along very well with doctors and other patients alike. Besides, his grandma is never far. If something were to get out of hand, she’d keep the boy in check.” Enjin explained.
“Shes a scary woman.”
“YO! DR. ENJIN!” August called out from behind the medicine desk.
Enjin glanced up from Zanka, turning his attention towards the nurse.
“CAN I TAKE FU TO PREPARE MEDS IN THE OTHER WINGS?”
“Just the young adult wing!” Enjin responded at a much lower volume than August was screaming at, but still loud enough for August to hear from across the room.
“And you’ll bring him to his room when you’re done, got it?!”
August nodded. “COOL, COOL! GOT IT!”
The nurse shouted back at Enjin.
“After that, take your lunch break!” Enjin responded. “Ill have Dr. Caines take care of medication in the adult wing!”
“YOU GOT IT BOSS!” August shouted, giving a thumbs up, before picking Fu up and setting the kid down on his shoulders and rushing off towards the young adult wing.
Fu was giggling, having long forgotten the little fox doll he was so attached to earlier.
Enjin went to retrieve the doll from the medicine desk, and went to bring it back to Fu’s room.
Zanka followed suit.
After setting the doll down on the bed, Enjin took Zanka through the young adult wing, and adult wing for the rest of the tour.
“Alright!” Enjin exclaimed, having circled back to the breakroom with Zanka. “That concludes your tour for now.. Theres some areas we haven’t been too yet. But you’ll mostly be working the patient wings anyways. The rest will come with time surely.”
Zanka nodded. “What can I do for the rest of the day?” Zanka asked, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only 11 AM. He was scheduled to work till 15 PM today.
“Well, you can take your first break now, 15 minutes.” He hummed. “Around 13 PM you can have your half hour lunch break. Usually you get another 15 minutes around 15 PM, but since you get off at that time, you dont today.”
“Ive got some sessions with my patients this afternoon.” Enjin said. “So I recommend you just look at the activities schedule for today and help out with whichever one you want.”
“In the future, You’ll be scheduled at a specific activity. But for now, you can just choose wherever you’d like to help out.”
Zanka nodded. “Alright.. sounds good.” Zanka said.
“Thank you, for the tour.” He said with a slight bow.
Enjin left the break room after that, and Zanka stayed behind for his break.
He retrieved his phone from his locker and spend his 15 minutes break just scrolling through his phone.
Well, not really..
In reality, Zanka spend his 15 minutes on the internet.
Googling for information on this patient he saw being dragged in by the officers this morning.
What was his name again? Jabber Wonger?
Zanka typed the name into the search engine, but didn’t find much by just the name, he kept digging and digging.
And eventually ended up on a news article regarding the patient.
Apparently, he was quite the troublesome patient.
He had record after record of breaking out of the clinic, police were well aware of this man by now.
He was a definite flight risk, and a danger to himself and others.
The article read off rumours that the patient had a tendency to attack staff and other patients, aswell as harm himself if he didn’t get what he wanted..
Not much personal information was about the male online.. but ofcourse that made sense.
The clinic would never just put information on a patient out there for everyone to read.
Zanka found himself incredibly intrigued by this patient however.
He loved a challenge.
And working on a patient like Jabber seemed like the ultimate challenge.
Surely he’d be a top doctor, the best of the best, if he was able to get someone as troublesome as this male back into society..
By the time Zanka’s break was over, he returned his phone to his locker.
And went to take a look at the activity schedule.
There were multiple activities scheduled for today.
Art, music, gardening, dancing.. even a theatre type of class.
For the kids there was a sensory room activity, or going out to the playground in the gardens of the clinic, or colouring.
Zanka decided to help out with an activity in the adult wings, the only one scheduled for now was gardening, so he’d help out there.
He made his way to the garden of the clinic, where he found a bunch of patients already gathered to start the activity.
Three patients, and one doctor.
The doctor had blonde long hair, half tied up into a bun, the rest of his hair, which was a beautiful deep blue colour, was braided and hanging loose down his body.
He was with an older patient, his hair short and black, some white streaks at the side.
The two of them seemed very close, the doctor having a smile on his face as he spoke to his patient.
Zanka couldn’t hear what they were saying though.
There were too other patients, two girls. One with immense long blonde hair, which the girl was coming with a small comb she had.
She looked to be around 20 years old.
And another girl, a little younger looking. If Zanka had to guess he’d say she was 17 or 18 years old.
Her hair was a little on the shorter side, and a type of mid tone blue colour.
Zanka made his way to the doctor to introduce himself, the doctor noticed the male approach, and excused himself from his patient before making his way over to Zanka.
“You’re the new doctor, right?” The male spoke in a very majestic, angel like voice.
Zanka nodded. “Yes, Dr. Zanka Nijiku.” Zanka said, extending his hand for the other male to formally introduce himself.
The male took his hand, shaking it firmly. “Dr. Tamsy Caines. Its a pleasure.” He hummed.
“I thought you were supposed to be shadowing Enjin today?”
“Yeah, but Enjin said he had some sessions.. so he told me to pick an activity to help out with.” Zanka explained. “This was the only activity available.. besides activities with the kids. And if Im being brutally honest.. I dont really feel like being around kids..”
A chuckle erupted from Tamsy’s throat. “Well, isn’t that relatable!” He said, covering his hand as he chuckled.
“Very well then, these are the patients joining us today for gardening.”
Tamsy spoke, taking Zanka over to the patients.
“This here is Cthoni.” Tamsy started.
The girl didn’t reply, just looking up for a moment at the mention of her name, before returning her attention to the dirt under her, poking into it with her finger.
“This over here,” Tamsy started, moving towards the blonde woman. “Is Noerde.”
The woman looked up from what she was doing, and smiled politely. She gave Zanka a bit of a wave, before continuing to brush her hair.
“Amd lastly, my key patient.” Tamsy hummed, moving towards the man who was sitting on the ground. He was staring into nothing.. was he medicated? Sedated? Was he always this stoic?
“This is Zodyl.” He said, putting a gentle hand on the mans shoulder.
“His medication is starting to wear off..” Tamsy explained. “Im sure he’ll be glad to introduce himself once Stilza comes by with the rounds of meds.”
Zanka nodded. “You said he was your key patient?”
Tamsy nodded.
“What does that mean?”
“A key patient is a patient that is in your specific care.” Tamsy started explaining. “Now, ofcourse I still care for all the patients around me. Like for this activity. Noerde and Cthoni are both still my responsibility of course, along with Zodyl. But all of Zodyl’s therapy sessions are with me. I pick him up from his room, bring him back to his room. Im basically just the doctor he spends the most time with.”
Zanka nodded. “Interesting.. how do you get a key patient?” The younger male asked.
“Well, for starters. The patient has to feel comfortable around you ofcourse, has to trust you.” Tamsy explained. “And ofcourse, you have to be able to provide the proper care for the patient. If you cant get through to them, cant get them to move forward, you’re not a right fit for them.”
“That is pretty much all the criteria there is to it..” Tamsy hummed.
“Does Jabber have a key doctor?”
The question came so unexpectedly quick, that Tamsy had to blink for a few seconds before answering.
“Jabber Wonger? What do you know about him?”
Tamsy asked, with a raise of his eyebrow.
“Well.. not much really- just.. I dont know. Im curious.” Zanka huffed out, a bit embarrassed by how desperate he must’ve come off.
Not very professional.
“You haven’t seen him, right? He should be in isolation at the moment.”
“No, no! I havent seen him, just.. well I did, but only this morning when he got taken back in by some police officers.”
Tamsy hummed with a nod.
“I see. Well to answer your question. No. Jabber does not have a key doctor.” He sighed out. “No one has been able to get through to Jabber thus far. Most have given up on attempting to help him all together.”
“Seems he has settled into life at the ward.” Tamsy hummed. “Theres just no helping someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”
“All we can do is make sure he stays on his medication, and doesn’t cause too much of a disturbance to his fellow patients. And even that is proving immensely difficult.”
Tamsy let out a deep sigh, before turning to the garden infront of them. “Oh well. Enough about Jabber.” He said.
“What you’re going to do, is supervise, and help out where needed. Got it?”
Zanka nodded, and got to the task at hand.
The activity went by rather quickly.
Despite August Stilza coming by to give everyone their medication, nothing much eventful happened.
Zanka found himself having a conversation with Noerde while he was helping her with planting some flower seeds. She rambled on and on about her hair, urging Zanka to feel how silk and soft it was.
After the activity, it was time for Zanka’s lunch.
It was quite an uneventful lunch. He didn’t spend it searching for information on a patient this time.
After Zanka’s lunch, he went back to work. This time deciding to help out with an activity regarding the children.
He went to join the kids outside on the playground.
Instead of a doctor, two nurses were helping with supervision.
August, and the blonde male Zanka saw this morning while he was waiting on the elevator.
‘Perfect.’ Zanka thought.
He didn’t know why.. but something about that patient he saw this morning intrigued him like none other did..
Every little bit of information there was to know about this guy, Zanka wanted to know.
It was a weird, and unprofessional way to approach this job.. Zanka knew that.
But something about Jabber’s intense eyecontact just.. caught Zanka like a fly in a web.
He made his way over to the two nurses to introduce himself once again.
“Hey,” Zanka started, extending his hand. “Im Zanka Nijiku, started here today, as a new psychologist!”
August had his attention on the children by now, not really listening to Zanka’s introduction as he went to supervise the kids.
The older male however turned towards Zanka, and smiled.
“Hey!” The male responded, taking the kids hand with a firm shake. “The names, Gris Rubion!”
“I think I saw you this morning no? In the lobby? You took over that patient from the officers?” Zanka asked.
“Ah, ah you saw that? My apologies.” The nurse, Gris, chuckled apologetically. “That probably wasn’t the best thing to see first thing when coming in for your first shift..”
“Its probably something Im gonna have to get have to get used to, so its fine.” Zanka responded.
“More or less, I guess so. Its not too often something extreme like that happens, but I guess you’re right! You do need to be prepared for stuff like this.”
Zanka nodded. “What’d the patient do? The one you took from the officers?”
“The patients a massive flight risk. He ran away during yesterday’s outing. Hes only been found just this morning.”
“Hes in isolation now right?”
Gris nodded.
“Will he stay there?”
Zanka asked, and Gris heavily shook his head.
“No! No god no!” He chuckled slightly.
“No, he’ll be back in his own room, and able to join activities once hes back on his medication!”
Zanka nodded. “So he’ll be walking among the other patients?”
“With heavy supervision, yes.”
Zanka nodded, before turning his attention to his actual job instead of chatting about a patient.
August was very busy with all of the kids, helping them all down the slide one by one.
Zanka decided to join the young nurse, 6 children was a little overkill for one scrawny nurse.
And Zanka arrived just in time, a young girl, looking to be maybe 7 or 8, with black hair and orange ends was pushed down the slide by a boy who looked roughly the same age, with white hair and dirty ends.
“Hurry UP Amo! Theres more people in line!” The little boy whined out.
Zanka caught the girl just in time before she toppled over the side of the slide.
“Rudo!” August called out, turning towards the boy. “Hey bud thats not how we do things here!” He scolded the kid. “No pushing people down the stairs!”
“But shes so slooowwwuhhh!!” Rudo whined, stomping his foot hard onto the top of the slide.
“Ah ah, Rudo get off the slide, by the stairs.” August said. “Go sit with Gris and go think about what you’ve done.”
Rudo groaned, before turning around, pushing back the remaining two kids standing behind him and angrily stomping his way towards Gris.
With a pout, he sat down besides Gris on a bench.
While August was scolding Rudo, Zanka turned his attention to the little girl in his arms.
He gently sat her down on the floor and knelt infront of her.
“Hey.. hey, you okay? You hurt?”
The little girl was snivelling, wiping the tears in her eyes.
She showed Zanka her elbow with a pout.
There was a little friction burn from the plastic of the slide on her elbow.
“Aah..” Zanka exclaimed. “You poor thing.” He said, lifting the girl up into his arms again. “How about we go cool it with some nice cold water?”
Amo nodded. “Mhmmm..” she whined.
“Alright.” Zanka said, carrying her towards a bench and picking up a bottle of water they’d brought outside with them.
“Lift your arm up for me?” Zanka asked, and as Amo did as she was asked, Zanka poured the water over the slight burn.
Amo hissed slightly, but after the pain immediately started lessening.
“There we go.. better?” Zanka asked, and the little girl nodded excitedly.
“Mhm! Thank you doctorrr!” She said with a smile, jumping off the bench and excitedly moving her arm around.
“Alright, go and play.” He said, nudging the girls shoulders slightly before she ran off to go back to playing.
Not long after, Zanka’s shift was over.
The boy found himself exhausted when he finally got back to his home.
Such an eventful day, of course he was exhausted afterwards.
He almost immediately went to bed, spending a little time making something to eat.
Zanka was out cold the second he hit the bed. He had to be at the clinic at 8 AM again the next morning, so he had to get all the rest he could.