3

                                    

                                          
Three 
Michael
"Hi Sydney," Luke chirped with a smile. "I'm Dr. Hemmings, but you can call me Luke. I'm a psychiatrist here," Luke sat down at the edge of the bed.
"Psychiatrist?" she looked at me.
"You're very distraught and stressed, he can help you feel better," I told her.
"How are you feeling?" Luke asked Sydney.
She shrugged, "Upset, I miss my friends,"
"Who are your best friends?" Luke asked, trying to ease the tension.
"There's Kelsey, Tucker, Brendan, Liam, Laura, and Hayden," she listed off. 
"You seem very popular," I noticed and she chuckled.
"Not really," 
"Who do you live with?"
"My dad, that's it,"
"No mom?"
"My parents got divorced three years ago. My mom left, so it's just been me and my dad,"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Luke frowned.
"It doesn't bother me anymore," she shrugged. "My mom is happier without me and my dad there, so I'm glad she's happy,"
"Is your dad happier?" Luke asked.
"Not really, he thinks about her a lot," she explained. "One hour he'll be ok, the next he won't. It takes a toll on him,"
"Does he put his emotional weight on you?" Luke asked, making Sydney's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "That means he tells you all of his emotions and makes you feel like you need to fix how he feels,"
"A lot of the time, yeah," Sydney nodded. "He wants to get better, and he tries to have me do that, but I can't make it better. I'm just a kid, I don't know how," Sydney explained as tears filled her eyes. "I get texts from him all the time about my mom. He checks her social media all the time and she has a new family, and it hurts him. Whenever that happens he texts me saying that we're moving to another state and we're going to start over, but I don't want to start over. I like it here with my friends," she took a shaky breath in to stop herself from crying.
"You've been holding that in for a long time, haven't you?" Luke questioned as he rubbed her knee. She nodded as she wiped under her eyes.
"Sorry, I shouldn't be crying," she apologized, dismissing everything with a small chuckle. 
"It's ok to cry, all of this is hard. And like you said, you are a kid. You shouldn't be feeling responsible for fixing anyone's emotions but your own, that's my job, not yours," Luke joked at the end, making Sydney lightly smile. "Have you talked to your dad about him not telling you this stuff and maybe instead seeing a therapist?"
"No," Sydney shook her head.
"I think we should talk to him, sweet girl," Luke said. "It would help you emotionally,"
"I don't want to tell him, he'll be upset," she whispered.
"I'll be right there with you to tell him. He can see me if he wants to, you don't have to be the one to break the news if you don't want to," Luke said. "I can tell him while you're not there,"
"Ok," she nodded.
"Sydney, do you feel safe at home?" Luke asked.
"Of course," Sydney quickly said. "My dad would never hurt me or put me in danger,"
"Alright, I just want to make sure," Luke said and she nodded. "Has it been ok at the hospital?"
"Yeah, I don't mind it here," Sydney smiled as she picked at her nails.
"Don't mind it?"
"I don't know, it's nice and quiet here, probably not for you guys though," she explained, which confused me. Maybe for patients it was relaxing, but not for doctors.
"That's a strange way of putting it," Luke chuckled. "Thank you for talking to me Sydney. If you need to talk again just let Michael know, he can come get me and we can always schedule appointments," Luke stood up. She thanked him and Luke left with me following at his heels. 
"See what I mean, something is happening," I said and Luke sighed.
"It was fine till that final comment," Luke said. "Right when she knew the conversation was ending she dropped a hint, something that people need help do all the time at my sessions,"
"What do you mean?"
"Victims of abuse and SA that need help drop hints like that for doctors. Most of the time they aren't caught, I try to listen to them. No one goes to a hospital for it to be peaceful, if this is a version of peace that's a problem,"
"Are you going to talk to her dad?"
"Yeah, he needs to stop treating his daughter like a therapist," Luke mumbled. We went our separate ways to head home for the day. I said my final goodbye to Sydney, instructing the nurse to only give her fluids through the IV, then went back home.