Name: Trần Thanh Kiều Trang
(Thanh Kieu Trang, Tran)
Age: 25
Occupation: Doctor
Degree: Doctor of Psychology (I don't really know much about degrees so maybe I'll change later)
Diagnosis: Dissociative Identity Disorder
(Patients: If we seriously desperately need more doctors
History:
In the public's eyes, Trang's mother and father were some of the most doting parents in the world. They always took great care of their baby; they shielded their "little angel" from any kind of harm. They seemed to be the perfect parents… if not for the fact that their love was dedicated to Trang's twin brother alone.
No matter what the poor girl achieved, she was a just a mere little girl unworthy of their praise. Always trying the hardest to please her parents, always placing her family on top of everything else were not considered her virtues. Those were her duties. For her parents, there was only her brother. There should only be her brother. She was just an extra that followed her brother into this world.
Contrary to the poor girl's parents, her twin older brother, being a kind and affectionate person, cared for her more than anyone else. He stood up for her every time she was beaten. He taught her everything he knew. And although there were times when Trang was punished for "getting his hands dirty helping out", his presence alone was her greatest consolation. Her brother was the light of Trang's life.
When they started secondary school, they soon acquainted a rich man living alone on the moor they passed by every day. People gossiped that his wife left him for someone else. To Trang, he was a kind man who was abandoned by society, much like herself. For some reason, Trang could not remember his name or his face now though. To her, he was just "the man". Since then, whenever Trang was beaten by her parents, she would run to the man's house and waited for her brother to come take her home.
However, the nicest thing is the most fragile one...
One day, upon coming to his house for shelter, Trang heard noises coming from the underground storage behind the kitchen. As Trang peeked into the dark narrow place, she saw the man bending over something. Trang couldn't recall what that thing was, maybe because it was too dark for her to make out. She could only remember backing away but then being grabbed by the legs and pulled down into the dark place when the man noticed her presence. Even now, when looking back at that time, Trang could not recall anything clearly... only darkness. Maybe it was because she was confined in a place where sunlight could not reach. Maybe she was not awake for long intervals to know what happened. Or maybe that memory was cloaked by the shadow of her guilt, for she had caused the death of her dearest…
Her memory restarted from being awakened in the only health station in the region by her mother's cry outside the room - "Why... Why was the one to die my dear son!? Why does it have to be him!?" When the villagers who had been looking for Trang's brother for days charged in, they had found Trang tied to a pillar. Hanging from the ceiling was the body of her brother who had been strangled to death with a whip long before that. The culprit had already been nowhere to be found…
Trang understood she should have been the only one to suffer, but it was too late. She raised her bandaged hands. A stabbing pain shot through her nerves. It seemed Trang had broken her wrists... but she welcomed the pain. It somehow eased her mind for a little bit. It partially filled the emptiness and numbness in her chest. For the first time in her life, Trang appreciated getting hurt.
Upon her release, Trang found out that her mother had left after the funeral, abandoning the house without a word. Her father had become a drunkard who constantly wandered aimlessly around the village during daytime. Only until very late into the night would he come home, and then, Trang would be beaten for no reason. After everything, it was understandable that an inconsolable grief had got the better of her father. Trang comprehended that...
One night, tired from waiting for her father, Trang fell asleep on the dining table. When she woke up at dawn, Trang found her father lying on the floor in the living room. However, no matter how she shook him and called out for him, Trang's father remained motionless, eyes widened with pain and fright. He had died of heart attack before reaching the medicine which had not been in his pocket as usual but in his bedroom. Trang didn't cry, or rather, she couldn't bring herself to cry; only the emptiness in her chest enlarged itself once again.
No one in Trang's big family wanted to adopt her, yes, because she was a girl, a small and weak girl. Knowing that, Trang voluntarily came to the health station to work in exchange for a place to stay. Fortunately, the staff there, being all good-natured people, even gathered money to support her education. Trang immersed herself in her study to be a doctor and daily work there, hoping to find her own place in this vast world… and distracting herself from the nightmares of her family's death which she had to suppress by medication.
Her childhood, Trang had to admit, had helped her acquire one skill that assisted her greater than anything else in her chosen career as a doctor: observation powers. After all, the best thing she could have done during those times was to, under all circumstances, keep quiet, read the atmosphere to react appropriately and simply watch herself being blamed for every imperfect tasks or unpleasant incidents. Living in the health station, she could recognize all kinds of worries from patients coming there. She didn't simply go with the cliché "try-to-talk-it-out" advice, for sometimes people could not do anything but sob and scream, when motivational words had turned meaningless. In her own way, Trang gradually observed and helped each person with their own problems. Even if that didn't actually solve all the troubles, being able to share the worries just a little bit was worth her efforts.
Her hard work and ability was recognized by a prestigious therapist who visited the village. He then offered to let Trang become his assistant in a hospital in the United States. Being encouraged by the people at the health station, the shy girl embarked on a journey to the "New World", starting her life afresh. Once settled down, Trang started her work promptly. Soon, she stood out as an excellent therapist in peer-to-peer self-help group and acquired the degree she worked for all her life, even at quite a young age.
When a friend of the therapist she worked under came to the hospital to recruit for a mental hospital called "Asylum 262", all the staff backed down as the mention of the place. Trang heard it was a special institution housed some of the most evil criminals, no, mentally disordered patients with criminal records as they described it. Trang knew full well that place was dangerous, and it might be reckless and thoughtless of her to volunteer herself to the offer, but she had set her heart on helping people. Besides, even if something does happen to her, no one will cry for her though. She was alone, that she always reminded herself.
"Asylum 262" was different than anywhere else, but she gradually adjusted herself to the pace of work there. Trang started to think that she might be able to live peacefully there, advancing her study and helping people that are deemed hopeless by society.
However, the nicest thing is the most fragile one...
One stormy night, a patient was delivered to the institution in a hurry. He was a Vietnamese. The man just kept talking and screaming in his mother tongue, so he would quite probably be assigned to Trang. Apparently, she rushed to see her compatriot. However, when she laid eyes on the man, she felt something nostalgic... and nauseous. The man... She felt the man's look all over her and her heart racing in her chest as she backed away slowly.
That night, the nightmares returned. The image of her brother dangling from the ceiling haunted her dream. Every time her brother's dead body swung higher, a pair of crazed eyes full of malice shining in the darkness would be visible. Then a whip slashed her face. Her father fell down at her feet, gasping for breath and reaching out his hands towards her, begging for something. The scenes kept coming closer and closer to Trang until she swung awakened, breathless with terror in the middle of the dark night.
The next day, Trang reluctantly headed to the man's room, accompanied by a nurse. The man turned around, tilting his head. He suddenly screamed as light hit his eyes. However, his shriek stopped as soon as he saw Trang. Suddenly, the room went dark. The nurse had just closed the door. Before Trang could say anything, the man threw himself in her direction, his crazed eyes brightened up. Those eyes… The vague images of her past nightmares invaded her head, like a film replaying itself in her mind as she instinctively dodged. Trang shuddered and shut her eyes. Fear and disgust surged up inside of her. She felt dizzy and everything darkened…
A high-pitched scream resounded throughout the First Floor then stopped as sudden as it started. When the body guard charged in, they found Trang holding the frightened nurse by one hand, the other waving a knife threatening to kill the poor girl if anyone tried to prevent her from leaving.
"Stay away from us! I WILL NOT let anyone harm my sister; I WILL NOT let anyone lock her up, ever ever again!!! Stay away! You think I don't know? Everyone in this hospital has dark pasts! Even the some of the staff reek of blood! You criminals stay away from my sister!" – Trang said in a hoarse voice, eyes glaring at the bodyguards. There was no trace of the meek and gentle Vietnamese girl any longer.
Suddenly, the nurse pulled out from her pocket a sedative syringe and injected the fluid into Trang's body. Being startled by that action, Trang slashed across the nurse neck and staggered backwards as the sedative took effect. Then she fell onto the floor, fast asleep.
The bodyguards discovered later that "the man" had died, and the brave nurse was still in a coma, so no one knew exactly what happened yet. Trang was put in a room as a patient instead of being handed over to the police.
It's the last minute of Sep 2 at my place... so yeah I really need to post it before National Day passes...
And well,
1. For Viet-chan:
CHÚC MỪNG QUỐC KHÁNH!!! CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM MUÔN NĂM!!! HỒ CHÍ MINH MUÔN NĂM!!!
ĐỘC LẬP - TỰ DO - HẠNH PHÚC
(HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!!! THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM FOREVER!!! HO CHI MINH FOREVER!!!
INDEPENDENCE - FREEDOM - HAPPINESS)
2. For Sealand-kun: I don't really know what you often say at this occasion but...
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEALAND-KUN!!!
that is all... for now ^^
------------------------------
Only until today do I post this... I really am a... AH! a Procrastinator Extraordinaire~ (credit: Yao thought of this title)
And hix... I couldn't cut it short any more so... it's damn long!!! huhu Forgive meeeee~ *runs*
Last edited by Trang/Vietnam on Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:42 pm; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Mood swings lololol)
