Keep You in the Dark | Session # 1

“Are you going to talk, Vincent?”

Vince’s eyes rolled, as they were so used to doing. “Are you going to shut up?”

The therapist smiled. The best therapist here had decided that she could take on Vincent. Mistake. “I’ll stop talking if you start.”

“You’re fighting an uphill battle, Doctor.”

“So was The Battle of Bunker Hill, Vincent.”

Vincent’s head slowly peaked up, his eyes now suddenly interested. What was that battle to the Americans? A loss. “The Americans lost that battle.”

“But won the war.”

Vincent rolled his eyes, going silent again. Was this doctor really going to sit here and just prove him wrong, try to outwit him? She was smart, he would admit that, because this was only the second conversation for two hours, the previous one having been even shorter. 

Vincent’s arms spread wider against the chair, looking the therapist dead in the eye. His eyes were a force never to be reckoned with, but her calmly painted smile seemed to be one unafraid of his gaze. She wasn’t superhuman, invincible, she had reasons to be afraid. But she also had a button to press that was built into her desk. If that button was pushed, the guards would barge in and end whatever little thing he had going on with her that would make her push it.

“Now…” Vincent began, sitting up straighter and smiling, “What does the shrink think about when the wildly brilliant patient doesn’t speak?” His head tilted, as if he were genuinely interested. His whole life was faking.

Silence.

“I bet you think about the man you’re cheating on your husband with.”

Her head moved up a little, her tiny smile suddenly gone and a glint in her eye that suggested it was never there. Vincent’s smile only widened. He fed on this and he had already got the shrink wrapped around his finger. He chuckled, then let his hands relax from the position that they were in.

“How did you know?” Her voice wasn’t quiet or surprised or anything he wanted, it was shrink again. She was going to analyse how he knew and then try to “help” him by telling him that these things he picked up on, they were so good, if only he could just use them for good.

“I’ve been watching you, too, Doctor. It’s like a mutual stalking, see. You monitor my every move and I monitor yours.” He paused, taking a second to turn his neck both right and left, tilted up as well, the crackling noises enough to make any normal person flinch. Neither of them flinched. “You have a skip in your step some days, others, you don’t. And because it’s only been going on the past few days, well, he’s new. You’re a lot better therapist now, from what I hear. The doctors buzz about you, Mrs. Head shrink. You used to be such a bitch. And then some precious little, barely-legal kid came along and started boning you with really big dick, huh?”

“That’s enough, Vincent.”

“Is it? Tell me, is it like… a fetish? The younger guys I mean, or are you just like, clinging to the youth you once had?”

“That’s enough, Vincent!”

Vincent leaned back, his shirt and back hitting the large leather chair again. “Fine, fine,” he said, ceasing. He didn’t want anything to really go wrong with her, especially now. She was fun to play with, and quite the challenge.

He watched her compose herself, then pick up the pencil she had slammed down in her frustration. A second later, there was a tapping on the door, then it opened. The guard glanced around, seeing them on opposite sides of the room, everything seemingly calm. “We heard screaming.”

Vincent looked up at him from the chair and gave him a thumbs up. “Oh, we’re good.” The bulky man ignored Vincent with a snarl, then looked calmly to the doctor. She nodded once, waving him off quickly.

Vincent put two and two together. He smirked and looked at her. With his new discovery, there was no way he could be done. “Holy shit,” he said with a genuine laugh, “Now that one surprised me! You’re boning the body guard?! Oh, that’s rich.” 

She just closed her eyes, her head staring at the filled, large calendar on her desk. “Vincent, please.”

Boom. And she was already begging. He laughed, then put up his hand, shaking his head. “Yeah, no, right. That’s completely inappropriate of me, sorry.”

Several thick minutes of silence passed again and Vincent couldn’t help himself. It was something too funny to him, entertaining almost. He fed off of it, her misery, her insecurities, her pain.

“I mean, he’s a hunk and all, so-“

“I think we’re done here,” said Mrs. Shrink and Vincent rolled his eyes, grinning. The head shrink couldn’t take a bit of teasing? He couldn’t use it past this session, she would be stronger next time. She was smart.

“Bill!” she yelled, signalling that it was time for them escort Vincent out of her office. He chuckled and stood, looking at Bill as he entered the room immediately. He tilted his head, unable to hide his smirk of satisfaction.

As soon as they had exited her office and Bill escorted him back to his room (safety procedure, of course), Vincent began to plot. But there was one last thing to say to Bill before he closed his door. He watched the guard turn to go back to his post, but he stopped him. “Oh, Bill! Between me and you here,” he began as he leaned in, “does Mrs. Shrink shave?”