Unfathomable

Paige Akroyd

Paige woke up on the cold floor, her body felt like it had dropped ten degrees and was still on the decline. A fuzziness filled her mind and she couldn't quite make sense of her thoughts. A flash of the figure she saw last night flickered in her head, and filled her with rage.

What the actual fuck happened last night.

She thought to herself as she pushed on the cold ground and sat cross legged facing the brick wall of her room. She stared off for a moment at nothing as the rage subdued.

"Who was that" she said to the empty room. She couldn't help but to think back to the cane he had pointed at her, the crows head staring into her soul as she charged him.

What did I run into? She looked at the closed door and saw a red stain on the skinny window slit. She stood up, her knees popping and head throbbing as she did so. Her heartbeat quickened in her throat as she approached the stain.

Is that my blood?

She licked her finger and wiped at the stain, it came off flaky and bits of it stuck to her finger. She felt her face and found the same thing right under her nose.

"Fuck bro" she said astonished. She couldn't believe she hit the door hard enough to bleed.

Bleeding wasn't unknown to her and the scars on her legs and stomach were proof of that. She had been in and out of mental hospitals since she was about ten. Her mother had died in a car crash and Paige had blamed herself.

It was about 3:30 in the morning when Mrs. Debbie Akroyd got a call from her sweet little girl. She had been frightened by something at her friends house and begged her mom to come get her. Debbie, being a loving and understanding single mother, comforted her child and said she would leave in ten minutes.

"Just let me put my shoes on sweetie. I'll be there soon. I love you Paige." Soft sniffles came from the other side of the phone.

"Okay Mommy, please hurry. I Love you too" The receiver clicked and Debbie put on her old slippers that were nearly falling apart. She sighed and made her way to the kitchen, which was about 30 feet from her small bedroom. They didn't have a really big house, with Debbie working two jobs and no husband to help her. She couldn't afford a big place for her daughter to grow up, but that didn't matter; they were happy with it just being them together, in their cute little two bedroom house.

She made it to the kitchen and spent a good couple minutes looking for her car keys. After she found them, sitting on the coffee table in the living room, where she had put them after dropping off Paige at her friends house, she left out the front door and got into her dark red 1995 Ford Escort. She put the key in the ignition and listened to the engine start up, first try. The motorized seat belt secured itself over her shoulder but she didn't bother putting on the lap belt.

It's only a five minute drive and there's not going to be anyone on the road this late, I'll be fine.

Little did Debbie know that a teenager by the name of Robert Jenkins had just spent the Saturday evening at a house party with a few of his buddies. They insisted that he shouldn't be driving because he had been drinking all night and polishing off everyone else's empties. But he said the same thing Debbie did as he pulled out in his Chevy Suburban that his dad loaned to him until he could afford his own car.

He had been doing a finer job staying in the lines, at least he thought so. He came up to an intersection, going about 20 over the posted speed limit (which was 35 mph). Without realizing that the light had turned red he sped through it, and collided with a dark red 1995 Ford Escort.

Robert came out of the wreckage virtually unharmed besides a small case of whiplash and a few injuries to his head where he hit the steering wheel. Debbie on the other hand, with her seatbelt not being fully secured, had flown out the front of her windshield and had died on impact.

The family that Paige was staying with was informed and had decided to take in Paige for a few months while they got everything sorted out. A few months turned into a few years. None of it was easy though, Paige had completely changed, she was no longer a fun loving child but was now angry at the world, but not just at the world but herself. She blamed herself for the accident. If she wouldn't have called her mother and just stayed the night through then none of it would have happened. If she wasn't such a coward then her mother would still be alive.

She vowed that she would never show cowardice again. Which landed her in a lot of trouble. Getting into fights at school, which more than half the time she won, and making it hell for her caretakers. They finally decided that it was time to get her help, after she had stabbed a kid in the arm with a ballpoint pen after he had said something degrading about her mother.

They tried putting her into the normal mental health centers but nothing was working, they would either kick her out for fighting or give the option of a more secure hospital. Which is when they heard about Taylorsville, it had really good reviews and specializes in anger management and severely distressed patients. So after a lot of deliberation her guardians sent her there, until she could get better.

Yeah, I'm totally gonna get better here my ass. She said to herself as she walked across her narrow cell. The vent is what had caught her eye.

If this vent leads somewhere I'm gonna figure out a way to get the fuck out of here, if it's the last thing I do.

She noticed that the vent was a pretty decent size. Easy enough to get through if she had a heavy duty screwdriver to get the bolts off the corners. She leaned against the brick and slumped down next to it, she noticed there was another patient's room on the other side. Another girl, she appeared to be sleeping. Paige could see her short brown hair sticking up at all ends. Her arm was covered in thick gauze and Paige already knew why She was in here.

Without even pausing Paige opened her mouth and uttered a loud whisper, "Hey psst, you awake over there shorty?" Some rustling was the only answer she got.

She sat for a second and tried again, this time a little louder. "Hey sweetheart you awake?" This time a small groan came out of the girl, she sat up quickly and looked around, completely terrified. Paige found this cute and softened her voice, "Hey shh it's okay, I'm over here by the vent" The girl looked over and blushed so aggressively that Paige had to stifle a laugh.

The girl got out of her bed and shuffled over to the vent. Her eyes wide open and deerlike, but also full of kindness and fear.

"Hi I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Paige said softly.

Damn this girl is small, she can't be any older than 15.

"Sorry for getting scared" She spoke harshly, her words coming out almost too quiet for Paige to hear. "But it's really easy getting scared here."

Paige smiled, "Trust me Doll, I understand." The girl smiled back at her. Her eyes tired and sunk in showed Paige a kindness she hasn't seen in years.

"How old are you?" Paige asked just to get the question out of the way.

"I'm 17 I know I look a lot younger than I am." She looked down at her hands when she said this. "How old are you?"

Paige smiled at the girl," I'm 18 and I know I probably look that old." She laughed and watched as the other girl gave her a soft smile.

"And your name?" Paige asked kindly.

"My name's Riley Haven" The girl said shyly.

Poor thing probably hasn't had any decent human contact since she's been here. Maybe we can both get out of here together. She thought to herself as she moved more towards the vent.

"Hi Riley, my name is Paige Akroyd

and I am so happy to meet you," which she genuinely was