INSANE

【8】

I squirmed in all different directions, desperate to get out of the wheelchair. The thing I wanted most was for the nurses and doctors to come. Something I was always afraid of. But right now, I was on the verge of being attacked.

The man in front of me gave me a menacing stare as he tilted his head slowly to one side. It looked as if he were studying me, trying to memorize everything about me.

"SOMEBODY. HELP!" I screamed. I was a sitting duck, there was nothing I could do. As hard as I tried to get myself out of the restraints, the harder it became to move around. The metal door leading out to the hallway was thick, but it sure wasn't soundproof.

I tried not to face the terrifying fate that might await me. This is an insane asylum. The nurses and doctors know everybody is crazy. They're just going to think I'm screaming like everybody else does during the night. They won't know what's really happening.

Suddenly, the man in front of me broke his gaze and walked around my wheelchair. I tried to angle my head so I could see what exactly he was trying to do, but it was no use. I was sweating with desperation but there was nothing I could do to get myself out. If people can escape jail, shouldn't I be able to escape an asylum? Not to mention, I'd heard about all the stories of patients escaping and wandering out of this very asylum during the years it was operating... which somehow happens to be now.

The next thing I knew was the wheelchair suddenly lunged forward. Too much forward. I let out a scream but it came out as a muffled gargle. This man was going to kill me and nobody would know what happened. Even if they did, they would deal with it as an incident. Not a big deal.

I pushed my head back as far as I could so I wouldn't bust open my head on the floor. I hit the hard tile floor hard with my knees, busting one open. I didn't cry out. I was dealing with a lot more mental pain than physical pain and I needed to hold it together.

I suddenly felt a warm feeling of a liquid trickling down my right leg. I jumped. I knew it was my own blood, but that wasn't what startled me. Through all the wild sounds of the hallway outside, I could hear Nurse Elizabeth's footsteps. Her voice rang out. She was speaking with somebody. Slowly, second by second, her voice got louder. Closer. Which only meant one thing...

I need to do something.

It was completely quiet and dark despite the presence of the man in the room. He oddly wasn't making any sounds or doing much from behind me. I expected him to try to really hurt me after pushing me over, but he did nothing.

Being in a position towering over the floor, it was easier to push against the restraints and hope for the best. The space between the backboard and my back got bigger and bigger until I suddenly heard a snap. Something flung around and hit me hard in the chest barely taking my breath away but startling me. I glanced down hopefully to realize that the restraint holding my chest down broke.

Elizabeth's footsteps got louder and louder.

My hands were full of sweat as I pushed my upper body forward away from the wheel chair. I then slowly started to slide out my wrists from the restraints. It took time, but soon, the restraints holding my left arm onto the wheelchair arm rest came undone. With my now free hand, I reached over to the bottom of the right arm rest and undid the metal part that was tightly holding the restraint in.

"I think she needs the trephination," a deep voice suggested from the hallway, outside the metal door. His voice surely didn't sound anything like a doctor's would, but I was sure that the voice belonged to who Elizabeth called Doctor Harold.

The word trephination didn't ring any bells in my mind, though I was sure it didn't sound good. It sounded like pure torture, like everything inside this place.

My heart racing and palms sweating, I was able to pull both my arms free, my whole upper body, and my lower body; except for my left ankle.

Under my right knee was a pool of blood from where it hit the floor. It ached due to me being on my knees but I ignored it.

The heavy door was suddenly being unlocked by one of them. Now completely forgetting about the man that pushed me over, I pulled my left ankle out harshly, scratching it with my long fingernails; many of which jagged and broken from numerous failed escape attempts.

With that, I pulled myself up for the first time in days. I wasn't wearing any shoes on my feet, not even any socks. All of my muscles and limbs were stiff and as much as they ached, I still tried my hardest. It's life or death.

At the exact same time I stood up on the cold, dirty floor, the metal door was being roughly pulled open. The lights from the hallway flooded into the room, blinding me.

Before I could hide anywhere, I spotted them. And they spotted me. There they were. Doctor Harold who was wearing an old fashioned suit, and Nurse Elizabeth who was wearing the old fashioned nurse attire as always. They stopped in their tracks, staring me down.

"She's harmed herself," Doctor Harold pointed down to my knee which was still gushing blood. He then turned to Elizabeth. "How did she get out? Did you not have her tied down?"

Elizabeth shook her head, shooting me an appalled glare. "I had her strapped in as always, Doctor."

I shook my head, hoping they'd listen to me. I knew they wouldn't. No way they would. "There's a man over there!" I whirled around and pointed behind me. But as soon as I got a good look, nobody was standing there. I turned back around, lowering my arm. Scanning the empty room with my eyes, I discovered there was nobody around except for myself, Harold and Elizabeth. "H-He was just here. He came in from the window I think." I pointed over to the mangled bars which were over the cracked window. "Then he pushed me over. I hurt my knee."

No words came from Doctor Harold or Nurse Elizabeth. Both of them were wearing the same expression on their faces. Pure and straight confusion. By the way their eyes were boring into my eyes, I knew they were looking at me as if I were insane.

Where did the man go? I asked myself. Am I really crazy? The window is still cracked.

After ten seconds of silence, Doctor Harold shook his head soundlessly and exchanged a knowing look with Elizabeth. "She tried to escape. We need to escort her immediately to the trephination room."

Before I knew what was happening, Elizabeth shot forward, striding over to me. My heart started pounding faster as my adrenaline kicked in. It moved through my veins quickly.

Something inside my snapped into place. I can't let them have it. Without a second thought, I grabbed the wheelchair right before Elizabeth could grab onto it. As I lifted it up into the air, I realized that old fashioned wheelchairs were much heavier than modern wheelchairs. The wooden seat made up most of its weight.

Harold turned around before he could see what I was doing, closing the metal door behind him, probably to ensure that I couldn't get out.

From in front of me, Elizabeth remained fairly calm. She didn't speak to me, she didn't try to calm me down the way I've seen nurses do. Her and the rest of the nurses and doctors relied on their torture methods to calm the patients down. Or rather to shut them up, to make them more crazy. To make them afraid to do anything but sit still and follow orders.

Elizabeth acted quickly, reaching into her pocket and starting to pull something out. I didn't need to see it to know what it was. The tranquilizer needle.

I lifted the wheelchair higher into the air and then pulled it back down, taking steps toward the nurse and smashing it down on the top of her head.