Trapped #Wattys2017

Chapter 4 - First Night

After finishing dinner of lasagne and chips, which was not half bad by the way, the two girls and I were hanging out in the lounge, chatting away and laughing at old magazines. We all shared an interest in the guys with muscles and we were debating who had the hottest lips.  I was starting to get used to this place but there was still the first night to come. I am really not a fan of the dark and night time. I find it really creepy, especially when I am in a new place I have never been before.

I learned more about Heather and Lizzie, about their past and why they were in here. Lizzie was at college studying childcare. She loves children and would have liked to work in a nursery. I could have sensed that about her as she seemed quite immature. I could imagine her being more childish than the children, playing games and dancing to songs. This thought made me let out a tiny giggle.

She has been in the hospital for about 9 months and was slowly getting better but, as she said, out of the blue she could turn at any moment and she would be right back where she started. There was apparantly no sign of her getting let out any time soon, but she seemed settled and happy so that was good. She never fully disclosed the real reason she came here in the first place.

Heather was very intelligent and was at University studying forensic science. At school she loved chemistry and physics and was also very good at maths. She loved University and studying but admitted to missing solving all the problems that I could only dream of solving in a million years. She completed all the sudoku problems in the magazines within about 3 minutes. I envied her and decided she was a genius.

She has been in the hospital for 4 months and was determined to escape, she had apparantly tried twice, but had obviously been caught. The doctors had caught her and carried her back in. They gave her a high dose of sedation so she did not remember what happened after that. She is still planning her escape route to this very day! I smiled at that story, this is going to be fun, I don't think I want to risk escaping though, she seems pretty badass to me.

The girls would one day get back out there and follow their dreams but for now they were stuck in here, spending each day thinking where they would have been right at that moment if their illness had not arisen, what they would be doing, whether they would still be where they were before arriving here.

I was watching the other patients and I spotted the weird girl who had the angry fit at lunch time. She was very groggy and was avoiding eye contact with everyone. All the other girls ignored her or gave her horrible looks to warn her to stay away from them. In a strange way I felt sorry for her. I know what it's like to be isolated from others and it's not a nice feeling. But the feeling wasn't strong enough for me to risk going over to her. She could attack me like she did to the girl earlier in the cafeteria. I decided to ignore her and go back to looking at magazines with my friends.

All of a sudden I felt a chill go through my body. I started to get a slight headache and had to put down the magazine. I couldn't work out what was wrong at first until I heard that same voice that sent chills down my back everytime I heard it.

"Leah, you cannot escape from me!" and a creepy laugh followed the voice.

I was panic stricken, I looked at Heather in worry and she was looking into my eyes, seeing how my attitude had suddenly changed. She whispered;

"What's wrong?" She had a confused, yet worried expression on her face.

I looked rapidly around the room to see if anyone else heard anything strange but everyone was going around there day normally or as normal as you can be in a place like this. Nobody seemed to have noticed what happened.

I got up from the chair and ran towards my room. I didn't know where else I could escape to. That seemed like the only safe place I could think of, my own sanctuary where I could hide from anything that could harm me. 

The creepy laugh was following me, along the long white corridors, passing nurses were watching me and patients took no notice or interest as they were stuck in there own world. I felt as if I were getting chased and I was running for my life.

I finally reached my room after what seemed like I was running for miles, I slammed the door  shut, jumped into my bed and threw the covers over my head. Rocking back and forth, tears flooding down my cheeks.

Quietly and abruptly I spoke, "Leave me alone, leave me alone!" I was in a panic but I still didn't want to attract attention to myself. I didn't want some evil nurse come in and stick a mile long needle into my arm. I hate needles and avoid them as much as possible. Even if I am sick, I pretend I am not so I don't have to get blood taken.

I was still hearing the laughter of the devil inside, I was covering my ears to see if that would sort it. Humming to myself and whispering was my safety behaviour and made me feel more at ease. After a few more minutes, the voices had disappeared but I still kept myself hidden under the covers.

The manic running obviously had caught the attention of two nurses  who appeared at my door, I looked up and one had her hand behind her back. There better not be a needle there or I swear she will be sorry for even thinking about having that. The other seemed quite nice though, I recognised her because I had spoken with her earlier, she was the one that had given me directions to the cafeteria. She slowly walked over towards me, I flinched at her movement. She quietly spoke,

"What's happened to you?"

I replied, "They won't leave me alone, they are following me, I can't take it anymore!"

"How about you calm down,  we will get you something to let you have a peaceful night's sleep?". I rapidly shook my head unable to speak without sounding like an idiot about to burst into uncontrollable tears. I knew what was going to happen, that something would be a large needle jammed into my arm. She cannot give me that without my permission. I won't let her!

"I can't have a needle, I hate them, don't make me take it please!" I sobbed, sounding like a 5 year old child.  The nurse smiled.

"Don't worry, you can have it in tablet form" she said. I smiled, relaxing slightly.

The nice nurse left and the other stayed, and it so happened to be the one with the large needle hiding behind her back, about to pounce on me if I  made any sudden movement. I watched her carefully not able to trust her.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed and the other nurse appeared with a small tub. I looked in and it contained various colours and sizes of tablets. She was also carrying a cup of water.

"You take them and you will get a good sleep."

I was not sure about this but I had to trust her, if not that needle would end up in my arm and they would carry me in a straight jacket into a padded room. Ok maybe my imagination could take the better of me but I didn't want to risk it, in one gulp the tablets were gone and the nurses smiled and walked out.

"Sleep well" one of them said.  I sat and stared at them leaving. I was unsure what was going to happen, whether I would drift off or just collapse in a heap on the bed. I was looking round the room, taking in the new space when I suddenly got very sleepy and drifted off into a whole new world of dreams.