Darkness Gathers

There was a knock on the door.

Martha went to answer it. It was Dr. Bartlett.

"Thank God you are here doctor."

"I apologize for taking so long. But I was with other patients."

The doctor was a man in his late thirties. Tall, lean, with short, brown hair. He usually wore a pair of glasses.

Arthur greeted the doctor with a solid handshake. "We understand, doctor. We are just glad you came."

"Come in, doctor. Did my husband inform you of our situation?"

Dr. Bartlett took off his coat as he came inside. "Mr. Hart told me everything during our phone conversation. Has anything new happened while you waited for me?"

"Yes," answered Martha. "Officer Montgomery told us the kid our son attacked…" Martha tried to control herself but she started to sob uncontrollably.

It was Arthur who continued for her. "The kid is going to be fine. Albeit with some bruises and a fractured nose. But the parents won't press charges if our son receives the appropriate psychiatric treatment."

Dr. Bartlett stroked his chin. "I won't make any decisions about that until I talk to Dimitry. Where is the boy?"

"He is upstairs. In his room," the dad said.

"I would like to talk to him. Alone. Is that acceptable to both of you?"

"Absolutely. You can use my office." Arthur led Dr. Bartlett to his office at the end of the hallway. "I'll go and bring our son."

Arthur went back to the center of the hall, where Dimitry's room was located. He was still recalling what happened. He was angry. The sight of his son stabbing his other son was an image he would never forget. Why did it turn out like this? Was his son a psychopath? Whatever the reason, enough was enough. This time he will do what had to be done in the first place.

Arthur opened the door to the room. "Dimitry, come with me, please. Dr. Bartlett is here to talk to you."

"Yes, daddy." Dimitry still had a smile. Not a forced or fake smile, but a sincere smile. The type of smile an innocent boy makes when he is about to receive something he wants.

Seeing that smile only made his father angrier. Was this all a big joke to him? Did his son not have any remorse for what he had done? It worried and sickened him.

As both of them walked downstairs, Dimitry stopped midway and turned to face his father. "Is Sean okay?"

Arthur was taken aback. He wasn't expecting that question. "He is fine. I stopped the bleeding and covered his wound. Fortunately the knife didn't go deep enough."

"Oh…that's good." There was a tone of disappointment in Dimitry's words.

Both of them resumed walking and finally reached Arthur's office. Arthur opened the door and shoved Dimitry inside where Dr. Bartlett was already waiting. "I'll leave you two alone." Arthur closed the door behind him.

"Nice seeing you Dimitry. Please, take a seat."

Dimitry did as he was told, and sat on the chair in front of his father's desk.

Dr. Bartlett did the same by sitting on the wide, leather chair behind the desk. "How are you feeling today Dimitry?"

Here we go with those stupid questions thought Dimitry. He sat there, silently for a few minutes. Until he stood up. "Mind if I walk around?"

"Of course," answered Dr. Bartlett. "You should know Dimitry, I will not judge you. This is a safe zone."

The 12 year old couldn't help but chuckle.

"Is there something funny?" Dr. Bartlett raised his eyebrow, not finding what Dimitry thought was amusing.

Dimitry started to walk around the office in circles."Yeah, the 'safe zone' bullocks you told me. That's funny."

"I am being honest Dimitry. Anything you tell me will be a secret." The doctor raised his right hand in an oath. "Promise."

"Don't lie to me, doctor. I hate lies."

The doctor took out his notebook and pencil. "Why do you hate lies Dimitry?"

"Because they hurt me. I am being lied to all the time. Non-stop. By everyone. Daddy, mummy, my big brother. Everyone."

"Have you ever lied Dimitry?" Dr. Bartlett wrote stuff down. It was the first time Dimitry was this open about anything.

The boy started to remember yesterday's event, when he lied to Cody. He dropped his gaze to the floor in shame. "Yes, to my little brother. I had to because Sean threatened me. I was scared."

Dr. Bartlett paused for a little moment before he continued to talk. "Tell me, after today's event, how do you feel?"

Dimitry stopped walking, he took a deep breath before answering. "Well, where do I start?" He continued walking in circles, touching some books on the shelves. "I sent a kid to the hospital. Daddy is angry at me, mummy is scared of me. Cody is locked in his room. And I stabbed my brother in the arm…I feel pretty damn nice actually. Except…"

Dr. Bartlett was surprised by Dimitry's blunt answer. Now he was intrigued and worried.

"Except that I didn't do as much damage to my brother as I thought." Dimitry sighed in disappointment, but quickly started to laugh. "Haha hahaha… I can't even do that right! Hahaha…"

"Dimitry, are you feeling well?"

Dimitry stopped laughing but continued to smile. "But you know what, I don't regret it."

Dr. Bartlett placed his notebook aside. This level of blunt honesty was surprising. But not as much as the clear lack of remorse in Dimitry's words. "You don't regret it? Why? Don't you think that was a horrible thing to do?"

"Why would I? He's a bully. He bullies me all the time. Every. Day. I told dad and he did nothing." Dimitry shouted in anger and frustration. "And I finally snapped. I'm the victim, he is the one that hurts me whenever he wants to. But they want to send me to a mental hospital."

The doctor leaned closer. "And how do you feel towards your brother? I mean your true feelings-"

"I hate him! I hate him!" There was venom in Dimitry's words. "I wish I've killed him. And I hate mum and dad. They are liars, and want to send me away. So I hate them too." He started to laugh uncontrollably again. "Maybe I should try killing them too. Maybe that way they'll leave me alone."

Dr. Bartlett took a deep breath. "You don't mean that Dimitry. They are your parents. I am sure you love them."

"Screw them! The only one I love is Cody. Everybody else in this family is rotten. They can all die."

Richard was left speechless. It wasn't the first time he heard such nasty words. He was used to them. But there was something about Dimitry that worried him. "You feel betrayed, right?"

"Finally someone gets it." Feeling vindicated he sat back down. "My family is giving me their back! It sucks."

Dr. Bartlett wrote down some final notes on his notepad, once done he placed it on the desk. With a small smile he said, "Dimitry I want to thank you for everything you shared with me. For trusting me with your honesty. I promise to you I will do everything I can do to help you."

"Are we done?"

The doctor nodded. "Feel free to go back to your room, Dimitry. I'll talk to you soon."

The 12 year old walked out of his father's office. Closing the door behind him he whispered only one word "liar."

Once he was sure Dimitry had returned to his room the doctor went downstairs. He saw both Arthur and Martha sitting on the wide, leather sofa. He was about to do one of the hardest things about his job, giving the parents the bad news.

Martha stood up once she saw the doctor. "What happened Richard?"

"We had a talk. He was honest with me. Much more than I had expected," the doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"What I will say will be tough to hear," he said as he sat down on a chair. "I have been dealing with children for many years. I've seen it all, every type of case. But this, this is something different. I was disturbed by Dimitry's answers. He admitted to me that he wanted to kill his brother Sean, and was disappointed because he failed."

Both parents were beyond shocked. Martha had to cover her mouth to try and hold her cry. Arthur lowered his head and passed his hand through his hair in frustration. They had no words for this news.

Dr. Bartlett continued with his explanation. "Like I said, I've seen a lot through my years as a psychiatrist. It is rather easy to know what the child is thinking and feeling through body language. If they are lying, angry, sad, things like that. But with Dimitry…I saw nothing."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that. That I saw nothing. No expression; Dimitry's face was cold, I saw no emotions. No regrets or guilt." Bartlett took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. "When I looked at Dimitry's face I saw a complete lack of sympathy. When he told me he wanted to kill his brother, I knew he was telling the truth."

Both parents were visibly disturbed by this.

"He told me one more thing. That if he wanted to be left alone, he should kill you both."

That was all it took to break Martha. She started to cry, uncontrollably. To think her own son, the child she loved and nurtured for twelve years, would want to kill them, well, was more than any parent could handle.

Arthur was speechless. A sensation of dread crawled through his veins.

"Doctor, what can we do?" He asked.

Dr. Bartlett knew what had to be done, he just hoped the parents would agree. "I seriously believe he is a danger to you, your sons, and himself. He needs to be interned immediately. Before a tragedy happens."

Martha sobbed. She couldn't accept it. "My god… Is there no other way?"

"You heard him dear. We have to, he is dangerous." Arthur was shaken but he accepted it.

"He is a 12 year old boy. And our son, I…I don't think he is dangerous," she argued.

"Mrs. Hart, I know this is hard to accept, but we have to do it. Dimitry's psyche is in such a delicate state that I can do nothing for him. He needs more help." Dr. Bartlett stood up. "If you authorize me to institute him, I would need to call for some specialists. I don't think Dimitry will go willingly. He knows he is going to a mental hospital, and I think he will try something to avoid it. But I can't do it without your confirmation."

Martha looked at her husband. She knew what he was thinking, and although she did not want to do it, she knew there was no other choice. She simply nodded at her husband.

"Go ahead doctor. Do what needs to be done." This was hard for Arthur, but he knew it was the right decision.

Dr. Bartlett did the call, and started to give directions to the people on the other side of the call.

Arthur and Martha stood up. "What do we do now?" She asked.

"Let's go and get Dimitry. This is not going to be easy." He replied.

Once they left the living room, they noticed Dimitry standing on the stairway, with a big pair of scissors in his right hand. "D-Dimitry?"

"Hello mummy. Hello daddy." Dimitry talked with an innocent, almost child-like voice. "Are you done talking to the doctor? Are you going to take me away?"

"I just finished the call, the specialists will be here to take Dimitry–" Dr. Bartlett paused when he saw Dimitry.

"Hello doctor." Dimitry's countenance shifted to that of anger. As if he could shoot lasers from his eyes straight at the doctor's chest. "You lied to me. You told me our conversation was between us. You promised me! But you lied! LIAR!! I. HATE. YOU!!"

"It is for your own good."

But Dimitry didn't let him finish. "NO! I don't believe you anymore." He threw the pair of scissors at the doctor. Luckily the doctor covered his face with his arms, blocking the scissors. He ended with just a minor cut.

Arthur forcefully grabbed Dimitry, holding him as tightly as possible, in order to prevent him from doing anything like that again.

Dimitry struggled to get free, but to no avail. "Let me go! I don't want to go with them. I hate you!" Using his elbow he hit his father on the stomach, but he still held him.

"Big Brother."

Dimitry stopped with his struggle, and noticed his little brother Cody at the top of the stairway. Cody was crying, he didn't understand what was happening. His father only briefly explained to him that Dimitry needed help, and he was going to a hospital for some time. But still, he didn't like seeing his brother being treated that way.

Dr. Bartlett used the opportunity now that Dimitry was calm and distracted to sedate him.

Dimitry was losing consciousness, the only thing he could do was to look at his brother. He stared as he was falling asleep. "C-Co…Cody…" That's all he was able to say before losing consciousness.