Dr. Patterson's notes 22/11/09

.....click


Now, Talitha, may I ask your full name?


Why? Is there any point to this?


pause


Will you let me do my job?


It's Talitha Eleanor Genvieve Arabella Gillespie-Lighton. I still don't see the point in this.


And your age?


19. I'm female, too. In case you hadn't noticed.


Indeed. You do realise that this is being recorded for our records?


Joy. Wonder. Can I get out of here? I need a cigarette...


I'm sitting opposite Talitha Gillespie-Lighton, who is wearing a regal expression that seems fixed, Her dark, fairly plucked, eyebrows arch up in a high curve from the bridge of her perfectly symmetrical nose, which gives her eyes a somewhat cat like appearence and the pupils of her grey-green eyes seem to survey everything around her....


...Do I pretend that I'm not here?


That's the general idea, yes. Will you let me finish?


...Fine.


Her skin is flawless and pale, it's translucence seeming to mask a faint blue glow. Defining her face are her cheekbones, brow bones and chin, making her face somewhat angular, although not bird like. Her hair, dyed a very dark shade of blue, is parted severely to the right and the fringe is tucked behind her ear, but she lets the rest of it flow loosely. It is Straight and falls to shoulder length, feathering slightly at the ends so that it is shaped to her face. Her lips are pale, plump and fairly rounded and are permanently formed into a smirk. Her 5"2 frame is petite, and very slim... Unhealthy.


...slim enough to fit into the clothes and hats from my Grandmother's trunks, I'll have you know. Do you not think that you're damaging my development by summarising me in front of my eyes? IS this not what shorthand was invented for?


What are you drinking from that thermos??


Straight Gin.


Occasionally Tonic.


Papers shuffle. Sound of a lighter.


A cigarette holder?


Why not?


It says here that you were brought up in a stately home with sharp manners, a sense of self sufficiency, a penchant for hording things and a complete disregard for other peoples origins, and often feelings.


Can I just say that I'm an independent recluse? It sounds less neurotic.


But Talitha, we do have to look at your neuroses. That's what I'm here for. Why would you call yourself a recluse? Are you scared of people and confrontation?


No, I would say its rather been nurtured by my disdain of the closed minded idiocy prevalent around me.


And this has nothing to do with your Brother?


The only thing that affected was the fact that I passed my driving test in a month. Father won't touch a steering wheel and Mother locked herself in the morning room, there wasn't much to do except drive, shoot game and become self destructive.


Its been suggested here by your previous doctors that you enjoys manipulating and tormenting people who try to sympathise with you.... Do you want to tell me why?


Pride.


Its written here that you've become sadistic, pessimistic and Short-tempered since his death.


I always was. I just took it out on Fred.


So do you perceive yourself as having good self-insight?


Oh it doesn't take a degree in psychoanalysis my lovely. Privileged....throws money around... but more becuase she doesn't really care about money at all, only her own definitions of class... this shows a superiority complex because she's choosing to confound normal conventions and puzzle those around her... Can't show her loyaty to her family due to conflicting emotions... still bitter towards her mother and hurt that her father can't look at her.

So, tell me about your parents relationshio after your twin's death.


Brief. Father has thrown himself into his work and now spends all of his time working in america. He can't look at me or my mother in the eye anymore, and effectively leaves the room when either one enters. My socialite of a mother has become completely introverted and spends her live locked in the Morning room, filled with red flowers that I secretly replace every week, and she's constantlymurmering and pouring endless cups of tea.


And how has this effected you?


What, that my mother has become a vegetable? Really, she should have been institutionalised. Instead, I was. Oh quality boarding school education... how you fail to tame me.


So you've grown more and more restless and only turn up to lessons sporadically, only to start arguing with your History teacher over Erasmus and generally disrupting the learning of everyone else? How is this a resolution to your problems?


Its not. It's a power play. Other girls view the flying tempest that they see with a sort of wild respect and you have to treat them all rottenly, save for the foreign students who you can occasionally converse with in languages picked up from the old library at the manor.


And why do you push away your peers??


I'm sufficiently accompanied. I have a canary called Giovanni who lives an antique white cage and a swearing parrot called Pablo that follows me to school and into shops- his wings aren't clipped. Annoying but belonged to Fred, who dilegently taught him all the cusses he knew. There's a worrying fact that as a macaw he has the potential to be with me for 50 to 100 years.....


This doesn't explain your self-destructive behaviour. Drag racing? Being arrested in a scottish airport because you forgot that you'd left an antique pistol in your barbour jacket?


Hey, what can I say, I like big guns, fast cars, sharp objects, music, culture, clothes and intelligent people.


What about the mugger that you put into counselling?


Nobody holds a knife near my face.


And your transfer script; Sent to Telos for leading riots and manipulting the governers. Talitha, do you really think this is condusive to a healthy lifestyle?



Chair rustles. Door slams.