Alice's Asylum

Chapter Thirteen

//AN: I think that this chapter will be the worst. These are all true treatments given in mental asylums for the named conditions and illnesses. WARNING. This chapter contains graphic description of torture and may be upsetting.

I was taken into the very first treatment room. This one was empty apart from what looked like a bed with a rail at the bottom and a matching one at the top.

"This is the room we use for surgery usually because it's only needed for one thing and that's for Seth." Doctor Frost explained. Seth was brought into the room and forced down on the bed. He looked up at us with frightened eyes as his wrists and ankles were tied to both rails. Two men that I recognized from sight but didn't know by name stood at either rails. The African-American entered the room and waited. He looked faintly disgusted but he didn't attempt to stop the men as they turned handles to stretch Seth's limbs. It was awful to hear Seth's cries. Not just because it was a grown man's cries but because it just wasn't humane to allow this type of torture for someone who clearly didn't deserve to be here. Eventually the treatment was over and the gurney man left and came back with his gurney. He put Seth on the gurney and wheeled him out.

We moved to the next room. This was a room with what looked like the electric chair. It was just a chair with straps on the arms of the chair and on the legs of the chair. The patient was strapped in and was force fed food. A tube was forced down their throat. It was sickening to watch. The food which was given was some kind of beige colored paste. I had no idea what the paste was but I prayed that it was at least something of nutritious worth.

The last room was more of a surgery room. There was a bed similar to that of a hospital one. There was a table at the side of it with some machinery on it. Doctor Frost handed me on of the machinery and I examined it closely. It was basically a wooden handle with a circular metal on the end of it and a small hole drilled in the handle with a thin tube sticking out. I finally understood what caused the marks which were on most of the patients.

The patients were brought in one by one and strapped to the cot. Their hands, ankles and head were strapped down. A switch was flicked and an adjustment was made depending on the length of how bad the patient's condition was. The circular plates were then pressed on either side of the patient's head, at their temples. They were given an electric shock. It was horrific to watch but I still had no choice.

When it got to Mary's turn, she was strapped in. The paddles were charged to just under full charge. She was shocked and her whole body jolted. She continue to shake as volts shot through her body. Eventually her body stilled and she was quiet. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and wouldn't focus. The gurney was brought, she was lifted on it and was taken away. It was horrific to have the memory in my mind. It was sickening and the nightmares haunted me for days afterwards. Mary's treatment was something I never forgot.