• A N T O N I O •

* the following is a first 'walk-through' of the storyline •

it has gone through and continues to go through,

numerous changes, adjustments as we,

in our research, build the plotLines

- the following passages are examples of just

such ongoing experimentation •

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in the beginning it should have been okay

that’s what the counsellor told her, anyway

in the beginning, there were probably warning signs

problem is, she was not equipped to recognize them

and so, in the beginning, from the beginning, she was doomed

knowing that now did not help her now.

knowing that then, wouldn’t have helped her avoid the inevitable in any event.

Least that was what the team leader told her.

He was, she told her, just ‘that kind of guy’- and she shouldn’t fault herself.

There is little likelihood she could have avoided much, if any, of the serious repercussions she had been made to suffer.

‘Are you at all familiar with Svengali?’, she had asked.

‘I know some – not much – he was a very bad character, hurt many people. I believe he was Russian?’

‘One of the textbook answers is : became synonymous with an authority figure or mentor who exerted undue, usually evil influence over another person.’

The team leader, in hospital scrubs, holding a tablet, was leaning against the door – closely

adjacent to the red panic button on the wall. It was activated to be ‘On’ when triggered prior to entering the cell in which the three of them were.

If needed, once pressed, two guards would immediately enter the cell with pepper spray, ready to incapacitate as needed.

‘No – he was not Russian. You’re thinking of Rasputin, probably. Not the same type of character at all.’

‘Look at me’, she said. ‘May I call you by your nickname? Sunny”’

The girl raised her head slightly. Although her head was shorn closely, she still had magnificent eyelashes, and she used them to stunning effect.

Raising them now, to be not quite fully open, she offered a small hesitant smile.

‘Yes – yes. That’s okay. If I can call you by yours…’

The doctor was a bit startled and asked, with a slight chill in her voice, ‘What makes you think I have a nickname?’

‘Because – because you just do. Don’t you know what it is?’

‘No!’, she replied acidly. ‘No – I do not. But if you think I have one, of course – please do use it.’

‘Thank you, Frankie.’

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The doctor took a deep breath, sighed, nodded to her colleague and said.

‘Okay Sunny. Our job here is multi-fold but with two elements of it being a little more important than the others. First, we want to help you to understand what both defines and motivates a narcissist. Why do we want to do that? Because, Antonio, who controlled you and hurt you, is a narcissist. We refer to that as NPD – narcissistic personality disorder.

And no, you should not blame yourself if you didn’t see it coming. Most, don’t.’

She paused, looking directly at Sunny.

Stepping forward she motioned that the three of them should sit down at the round table.

It was a rather famous design, a Saarinen tulip table and was chosen specifically for two reasons. The first, because it was round. The circular shape went a long way towards the promotion of equality.

The second reason was, that it’s trumpet base allowed it to be bolted to the concrete floor, but without any visible signs of such attachment. The connection mechanism was hidden inside the trumpet shaped base and could only be adapted with a very special tool.

In order to establish and maintain a sense of physical harmony in the cell, the chairs around the table were also Saarinen design, on matching trumpet bases. The interior mechanism that allowed such a chair, normally, to rotate or swivel, had been removed and the chair seat was locked in an unmoveable position. The chairs however, themselves, could be moved about the table and removed form the cell as need be.

The three of them sat.

The doctor, with a nod to the third person, said, ‘This is Abby, my assistant. She is a resident here in training and will serve as an observer. She will also be your point of contact should I not be readily available.’

‘Do you have any questions before we begin?’

Sunny, who was gazing at Abby, turned to face the doctor.

‘Not at this moment, no’, she said.

‘Okay. Let's start at the beginning. Please, as comfortably as you can, take us through your first encounters with Antonio. The where, the when and any events that framed the initial interaction.’

‘Where and how did you meet him?’

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​To read more of Antonio's story click on collaborative writing