Money On My Mind (closed)

[Greg Mackenzie]

Greg knew he shouldn’t have waited this long to stop by the good doctor’s office. He had many opportunities last month – he was available during Dr. Neville’s rare free slots still – and from what he’s heard, no one went out of his office worse than when they came in. And really, if he had anything to ask about telepathy, the man was the best resource he could ever hope for.

But the boy was a little naïve and a lot stubborn. He innocently thought that time would just solve everything. That in time, he’d forget about what he’d ‘seen’ in his grandmother’s deathbed and everything will be back to normal. Only it didn’t. Sure he forgot about it from time to time, but when he did remember it, his day just becomes crappy.

Ugh. Secrets. How he hated them.

“Dr. Neville?” He knocked thrice, bouncing idly on the balls of his feet. On the outside he might seem pretty calm, but really at that moment he was scrambling to get his mental walls in check. He didn’t want to suddenly assault the man with a torrent of his, well, inner thoughts. Of course the man’s weakest walls were probably sturdier than his strongest, but he wanted to make a good impression. Or something along those lines anyway. “It’s Greg. Greg Mackenzie. Your 2 o’clock?”

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean’s time at Hammel was divided into appointment blocs: his weekly appointments with the usual suspects; his other appointments with those who met with him of their own volition, perhaps for the first time; conferences with other mental health professionals and medical professionals; staff meetings, detention, the clubs that he advised. In order to function, the psychiatrist kept track meticulously of his appointments and his free time. He tried to keep as much free time available to the students who might need him, so that they could meet as quickly as possible.

As such, when Greg McKenzie had made the appointment, he had done what he could to give him as early availability as possible.

“Please come in, Greg,” the psychiatrist called out to the boy. When the younger telepath had made the appointment, Sean had cleared a long bloc of time. Greg had not gone into too great detail regarding his reasons for the appointment, but the older man had his suspicions. He knew about Greg’s powers, as he kept track of all of the telepaths at Hammel, and he knew that the boy had recently experienced a death in the family, with the loss of his grandmother.

Such an event often took its toll. Sean empathized, and he would provide Greg with whatever support he needed in the aftermath of his grandmother’s passing. Or with integrating back after such a shock to the family system.

[Greg Mackenzie]

It’s probably best that Greg didn’t know that the lack of specificity regarding the reasons behind his appointment wasn’t exactly the best. He just didn’t know how to properly say it, much less write it down. ‘Teach me how to be a great telepath’ wasn’t exactly the best reason in his eyes. Though it pretty much summarized why he wanted to see the good doctor. At least part of it anyway.

Greg slowly opened the door and smiled slightly at the man. He knew there was nothing to fear, that he shouldn’t feel embarrassed or anxious ‘cause the man’s office was a safe place, and yet there it was, like a cat vigorously scratching its scratch post. He hated it.

He slowly sat down, biting his lip and fiddling with his thumbs just slightly. “Thanks for seeing me Dr. Neville,” he said, barely finding his voice. God how he hated how nervous he was right now. He took another deep breath then continued, “So how does this work? Do I just think of things and you just read them or do we actually talk or like yeah I don’t know sorry.” When nervous Greg usually just sits in a corner and keeps quiet. Nervous Greg who needed to talk, however, talks rather quickly and accompanies his speech with elaborate yet uncoordinated gestures. Guess which one he was right now.

“Have you ever picked up something that you wished you haven’t? Like it’s important, but you wish you hadn’t known ‘cause it’s terrible? Or at least terrible depending on how you look at it maybe?”

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Unfortunately, Sean was not a powers trainer.

Rather, in this situation, it was unfortunate that Sean was not a powers trainer. In terms of his life plan, the psychiatrist was quite satisfied with his decision not to pursue that career path. He maintained that he would not be good at it, and he quite enjoyed serving as a mental health professional, both because of the valuable service that he provided and because he excelled in this field.

However, they could cross that bridge when they reached it.

Once Greg entered the office, he turned his full attention to the boy. “You’re welcome, Greg. This is why I’m here.” He was here to listen to the students and to offer them advice.

The question earned a short chuckle, although the psychiatrist knew that Greg did not intend it as a joke. Because the boy was a fellow telepath, they had a different level of joint comfort than with non-psychics. However, as Sean had told countless people in his personal and professional lives over the years, his powers were natural but this did not mean that other forms of communication and interaction were unnatural. “We do whatever you like,” he offered gently. “If you feel more comfortable using telepathy, we can do that. If you’d rather talk aloud, we can do that as well.”

Then Greg appeared to make his choice, and the psychiatrist switched his focus. Without the context, he knew what the boy meant, and a cursory reading of his thoughts provided the specific course of events. His expression became more sympathetic as he responded, “Unfortunately, that’s par for the course with this power. So, yes, of course.”