The Birdcage

Records

Nyx pushed the door of her room open with a bang and walked out into the hallway. The busy, almost school-like hustle and bustle of the halls and the residents stirring for the day was going on around her.

Turning against the flow towards the cafeteria, she walked determinedly through the corridor.

A shout from behind her reached her ears. "Nyx! Hey, Nyx!" Ronnie jogged up. "What happened yesterday? We waited for you to come back after therapy, but you never did!" A few steps behind her, Perry followed; coming up on Nyx's other side so they both flanked her from behind.

"I don't know." Nyx spoke, voice dry, jaw set. "But I'm going to find out."

"Nyx, you're still in your night dress!" Ronnie exclaimed, catching hold of her friends white sleeve; scandalised, but mostly concerned.

Nyx said nothing; just came to the foot of the stairs leading to solitary, put her hand on the bannister and began to climb. Ronnie and Perry shared a worried look, both considering the possibility that their friend had actually flipped, and hurried up after her.

"Nyx, come on, it's breakfast." Perry said, trying to persuade her to snap out of it. Nyx had reached the door and with deft touches to the painting was tapping in the code.

"Besides, shouldn't we wait for the others?" Ronnie added. "Jayson... Katherine..."

The door opened with a click.

"I'm going to the records room." Nyx announced firmly, stepping inside. "No distractions."

With determined steps and her two friends following along behind her, Nyx strode down the room towards the red door.

The lock on the red door was almost disappointing; some kind of enchantment that Ronnie dispelled with ease, much to Perry's frustration as they were meant to be discouraging her.
"What do they expect? We're warlocks."

Inside, the room was a mess. Pokey and small, really; almost an anti-climax after all the build up. Inside this nook were hidden stacks upon stacks of grey draws, stuffed to the brim with files. A store room really, for information that no one cared about anymore.

"Whoa." Nyx breathed as she peered around, feeling the place needed some kind of reaction. Then she set to business. "Right. Search for M."

"It would help if all the labels hadn't come off." Perry scoffed as they spread out into the room, ripping the torn remains of a sticky label off the front of a nearby drawer. "Honestly, this place. They'd loose their own heads if they could."

"I'm hungry." Ronnie grumbled, rubbing her stomach as she quickly opened, glanced inside and shut drawers. "Can we please just go to breakfast?"

"Go." Nyx shrugged benignly, riffling through files. Ronnie muttered sulkily, but didn't.

Logically, the files were alphabetical and Nyx had quickly figured out where in the sequence she was. It was easy enough from then to follow it along.
...J ...K ...L ...M! She ripped open the drawer victoriously and looked through.

So. Many. Files. The M section alone took up a good portion of the cabinet.

It was in the third drawer down that a name caught her eye.

Marianne.

Wasn't that the name of the hospital? She distinctly remembered seeing it on the front of the building when she'd been brought in.

Intrigued, she flicked through the filing cabinet section. There were several files here; several people. Absent-mindedly, Nyx wondered which was their founder.

That's when something slipped out from being tucked between the papers. A small but thick black notebook.

But it was the name printed on the cover that captured her attention.

Berenice.

Like the memorial stone in the garden.

This had to be it.

Stretching into the deep drawer, she reached for the book.

"Found something!" Perry anounced loudly from behind her, pulling out a file from their own drawer. They paused for a moment, looking at it. "...Huh. Did you know Montgomery was Doctor Montgomery's first name?"