Family Quarrel

I heard a little commotion in the main lobby of the institution as I returned from my lunch-break. There was a family disputing over their son with the secretary, but I had no time to snoop, so I brushed it off and returned to my office where I had a date with tons paperwork. About an hour had past when I got a call from my boss’s office. He was brief on the phone and told me to meet with him immediately.

“Yes Dr. Berman?” I asked as I closed his office door behind me.

“Ms. Vega I need you to put off all the work you are doing right now. I desperately need you to work with--” He paused and flipped through a few files, “Ah yes, here it is, I need you to work on this case. Your patient’s name is Hamlet and you will be meeting with his family today around--”

“Dr. Berman have you forgotten about the piles of paperwork you threw on my desk this morning? I don’t have time to meet with anyone today if you expect me to finish this by your deadlines.”

“I know what I said, but this needs tending to, NOW!” he emphasized.

I took the file and skimmed through it briefly then asked,” What time am I meeting with them?”

“This afternoon around 3:30.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door slammed open as a young man stormed in followed by a group of people.

“Hello!” I stammered as I watched the young man walk about the room as if he were in deep thought and fueled by rage.

“Hello Ms. Vega.” an older woman replied. She reached out her hand to me and gave me a heartwarming smile as we shook hands. “I am Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.”

“You aren’t my mother anymore! You married the man that killed my father!” yelled the young man, who I assumed to be Hamlet at this point. Gertrude looked over at him as if she could not believe he said that in front of me.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” I said trying to ignore the outburst,” I believe you all are here because you think Hamlet needs to be placed in our institution correct?”

“Most definitely.” One of the older males addressed. “This boy is claiming that he is seeing ghosts and trying to slander my good name!”

“And you are?” I asked.

“Claudius, I am his Uncle. How rude of me for not introducing myself earlier.” He pointed to the old woman. “You already know his mother Gertrude.” She smiled at me. “And this is Horatio, a friend from Hamlet’s youth.”

“Nice to meet you all. Hamlet can you please come sit down and join us?” I motioned for him to sit in the seat closest to me.

“Hamlet has been really angry lately and acts extremely irrational at times.” Gertrude explained with concern. “We think he has gone mad and we desperately need your help.”

“I have gone mad? You married your own husband’s brother! How could you disrespect him like that? How could you do that to my father even if he has left this world!?”

The room fell deathly silent after Hamlet’s remark.

“Okay,” I said breaking the silence, “I will do my best for you, is there anything else I need to know because I need you all to step out of the room while I go over some questions with Hamlet.”

“Alright.” said Claudius as the group stood simultaneously and headed for the door.

I turned to Hamlet and I noticed that he was as red as a tomato. “Are you alright Hamlet?” I asked in regard.

“It is hard to hold my tongue with that atrocious creature in the room. He killed my father and I have yet to come up with a plan to prove his guilt. I will prove it, even if it kills me.” Hamlet said in an awfully cold tone.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry for that.” I lowered my voice,” Okay I already know you don’t want to be here, and that’s fine, all I ask is for your complete cooperation so I can get results to your waiting family. Now if you could just answer a few questions and......”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour and forty-five minutes later I came out of the small room and found Hamlet’s family in one of the waiting rooms down the hall.

“Did you find the truth? That boy is mad isn’t he!?” Claudius screeched as he jumped from his seat.

“He is upset, but not mad sir.” I replied. I looked down at my clipboard and quickly skimmed through one last time. “I was unable to find any psychological problems with Hamlet. He is extremely upset over the death of the father though, so if I were you all I would try to avoid that subject.”

“But he claims to see ghosts! He thinks I killed his father. I will not allow that boy to come back to my kingdom, he will stay here.” Claudius screeched.

“Claudius can you please calm down, maybe if you guys could just sit down and discuss things with Hamlet, everything will be ok then. He is in mourning and doesn’t know how to handle the things that have taken place right now.”

“That’s absurd! I can’t believe you people. He must have deceived you, that kid is a no good--”

Claudius was becoming furious and raised his voice with each word he said, and they weren’t very nice words. I guess Hamlet heard him yelling because he stormed out of the room we were in earlier.

"You are crazy Hamlet! I should have gotten rid of you too!" Claudius yelled when he saw Hamlet.

"Gotten rid of me too? You did call my father! YOU MURDERER!" Hamlet screamed back, and he pulled something from his pocket and dashed toward Claudius. It was a pocket knife, and when I realized it I dashed for the security office down the hall. All I heard was Gertrude's voice pleading for Hamlet to stop as I reached the door......

[The rest of this story cannot shared due to the horrific content and for the sake of the families]