Songs of the Maniacs
by Mickey J Corrigan
From her office at a mental health institute on the outskirts of modern day Miami, a troubled young woman counsels deeply disturbed clients while coping with her own heightening concerns. These include frightening consciousness lapses, violent memories of a high school sexual relationship, a menacing stalker, and an annoyingly arousing visitor who may or may not be insane. All this on a single stormy day as SIPD, today's flavor of mental health disorder, threatens to distort memory and identity, unmooring the validity of reality itself. After a morning spent with clients suffering from illusions, nightmares, and lack of self-definition, the protagonist finds herself trapped in a tropical storm. She is rescued by the mysterious and attractive older man from her office building who has been offering her a chance for a romantic interlude. If he doesn't turn out to be an inpatient, that is. An evening spent with the inarticulate and troubled Malaise Group takes an unusual turn when...