It's Code For You (Parallel NurseryVerse Series)

Chapter 18- Memory Lane

 (TW: CONVERSION THERAPY. UNCOMFY SCENARIOS.)

Sometime later....

White walls. White gowns. White uniforms. White noise. Static. Siobhan sat in the static of silence ruminating the thought that she was in this hellhole alone. Vivian and her friends were gone. The exact cycle she had struggled to break had pulled her directly back under the surface of its rolling waves. How could she ever take control when every time she tried someone else took the wheel? When was her life ever going to be hers? Would she even remember herself enough to live it if it was? Her father's charm had won many battles, now adding her to the tally list of successes. Why was it that all the men in her life always had control? Reality was a fickle thing, and she had little to no grip left on it as the click of the door sounded against her ears. It was time for more "treatment" as her father called it. The way they all discussed it made Siobhan laugh. They all truly believed that one more zap to her brain would take away the thoughts of love. The thoughts of Vivian. Somehow these treatments were supposed to erase the one true feeling she had ever felt, make her another mindless drone in her father's world. She hated to admit it but no matter how hard she tried to fight it... she couldn't escape him. Not on her own, at least. She needed help from the people she had begun to truly care about. But to get that... she had to remember them. She glanced at the door, another emotionless man stood there ready to take her down an all too familiar hall, filled with all too familiar sounds of screaming and crying- begging for mercy, God- mothers... Siobhan was sure none of what these people did was legal, but she had no will to fight. She had to save what little strength she had to remember the words Vivian had said to her right before she left the room.

"I am just a thought away."

The feeling of the straps being tightened around her wrists pulled her from her thoughts, pulled her away from Vivian again. The sound of the machine whirring behind her felt all too familiar- and suddenly a fear she had all but repressed crept into her mind. She struggled against the leather on her wrists, crying out and begging for someone to get her out. The things they did to her were hellish, sure. But the sudden flood of memories she had forgotten she had felt like pure hell. With each jolt, she tried to remember Vivian- to drown out the memories that caused more fear than her surroundings. But every shock flashed a new memory across the back of her eyelids- and Vivian was gone.

Her strength was gone.

***

Vivian paced the floor of Autumn and Marjorie's living room anxiously. They had no plans. No ideas. They had nothing. Siobhan had been in the Sanitarium for two days, and Vivian could only imagine what was happening behind those walls. The thought of Siobhan being tortured made Vivian feel nauseous. In fact, it had made her physically ill quite a few times over the past 48 hours.

"Viv, you have got to sit down." Marjorie brought out a cup of coffee into the living room, joining her fiance, Vivian and Reece.

"How do you expect me to sit right now? We are no closer to finding a way to get her out of there- I mean for Christ's sake, Marjorie, I haven't slept since the day they toted her off!" Vivian threw her hands up in the air, pausing for a moment before covering her mouth. "I'm gonna be sick." Autumn rolled her eyes before pushing the bin in front of her, again.

"I for one need to get Siobhan out so that Vivian will stop vomiting in my living room." Marjorie turned to face her with a look of annoyance.

"Your compassion is astounding, you know that?" Autumn crossed her arms, pushing the bin closer to Vivian with her foot.

"All I'm saying is one can only go so long without water..." She glanced over at Vivian and back to Marjorie. "And another can only go so long without sanity."