Asylum » 5SOS [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Michael wanted to throw a party that morning.

He and his roommate had been the last people to enter the gathering room. He sat beside Nurse Rhonda again, because that was his spot. No one had changed seats since the first day. Looking around, Michael felt like something was... off. He recognized the people sitting around him, but someone was missing. He counted heads and noted that one chair was gone. The person who had happened to sit in that chair was Ashton.

Wait, Ashton was gone? Where did he go? Michael almost didn't care, he was celebrating too much. The devil himself had finally vanished! The patients in the gathering no long had to suffer with his presence! But the logical part of Michael's brain couldn't hold back some questions. Had Ashton gotten into trouble and was forced to endure the Punishment? Were the doctors experimenting on him more? Was he dead? Had he been released? Michael wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he was definitely intrigued.

"Let's get started," Nurse Rhonda said authoritatively. Her eyes had a steely glint in them, making her appear stronger than she really was. "Does anyone have any questions before we begin?"

"Yes," Michael spoke up. All eyes turned to him, but he wasn't deterred. "Where did Ash--er, patient 71 go?"

Nurse Rhonda chewed on her bottom lip before answering. She clearly seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "Patient 71 has been relocated to a separate part of the mental health institution, where he is receiving special care for his condition."

"Why?" Michael prompted. "What's wrong with him?"

The head nurse gave him a scolding look. "There's nothing wrong with him, patient 56. It just appears that his condition is far more complex than we previously thought."

"Wait, does that mean we're the dumb patients?" patient 67 exclaimed. "Why does patient 71 get to go somewhere special and not us?"

Nurse Rhonda looked slightly exasperated. "You're not dumb. Your conditions just don't require the exceptional attention that patient 71 needs."

Michael used her poor wording to his advantage. "What she means to say is that we're neglected and don't matter as much as the other patients. I assume that there's more than one special case, right, miss?"

The head nurse glared at him as the gathering erupted into chaos. Patients were shouting questions over each other, demanding to know why they weren't as special as the other patients and why they didn't receive different treatments. The special patients were clearly more important than them. The special patients were going to be released sooner because of their advanced experiments. Why were the "normal" patients so deprived?

"Silence!" Nurse Rhonda practically roared. "If you don't settle down right now, you'll all be Punished!"

It still took a while for everyone to calm down. Michael couldn't stop smirking at his success. He had backed the nurse into a corner, and now she had to spill the beans. She had to confess everything she knew about this asylum, or else the patients would overpower her. He was finally going to get some information about this place.

Once all of the patients had sat back down broodingly, Nurse Rhonda spoke loudly and firmly. "I've said too much already. It is none of your concern as to what has happened to patient 71 and where he has gone. Yes, there are some patients here that are especially different, but we treat you all equally. Patient 71 is just receiving treatment unique to his condition, while you are all doing the same. No more questions."

That wasn't exactly the information Michael was looking for. But he did learn something. There were indeed certain patients that needed special care, different from the others. But their location, reasons, and treatments were unknown. Michael couldn't help but think of Luke. Was he a special case? Killing someone while unconscious was definitely unique. That would explain why he suddenly disappeared.