The Eleventh Ward

Chapter 10

I ignored Lacey as I went into my room, and she ignored me. Her lanky blonde hair curtained her face from me, but I felt her cold blue eyes stare at me as I pulled the blanket over my head. I drifted into a restless sleep, waking up every few minutes with memories of Lea. The first day I met her was as clear in my memory as if it was yesterday, the way we got placed next to each other on the first day of school back when we were 4. Her red-brown hair tucked behind her ears and my blonde fringe always fell into my eyes. That day when we were 7 and ran away together for the first time. We didn't get further than the bus stop, but we still got too scared and ran home. When we were 15 and went to our first proper party together and we got so drunk I found her throwing up at midnight and she found me passed out in a bath tub at 12:30. And suddenly the 'she's' were turning into 'you's' in my head because the dreams seemed so real that I couldn't take it and instead got up early to take a shower and despite it being 5am...the water was still cold.

I put on a clean pair of shorts for breakfast, but threw on an old t-shirt over them. After the sleepless night I'd had, my shower had made me tired and I'd drifted off until I heard the door slam as Lacey went to breakfast. I remembered when I had arrived a couple weeks ago and Lacey had shown me everything, taken me in as if I was a new girl at high school. I missed the feeling of security and friendship that I hadn't experienced in prison.

As always, the breakfast food was bland and cold so I grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down on my normal table. I kept my eyes down, avoiding looking at anyone, especially Calum and Luke. The entire table fell into silence the second I placed my bowl on the table, the tension could have been cut with a knife. I knew Calum would have told Michael about yesterday, and Michael was probably just as disgusted with me as Luke looked when he walked in. The girls though, I didn't know if they had found out. Erin coughed awkwardly on her cornflakes and I felt everyone look at her. I had almost finished my cereal and was taking the last few mouthfuls when Grace suddenly broke the silence

"Brandi, are you okay?" Her voice was soft and innocent, as if she was just a child that had found her mother crying in the kitchen. I looked up at her, along with everyone else. My mind went blank and I stared at her, wondering if she was the one that was okay. When the table's attention started to shift to me because I hadn't replied yet, I quickly nodded a yes and returned to finishing my breakfast.

"It's just that Lea says you have that look on your face..." she was going to continue talking but a loud bang echoed around the cafeteria. The spoon had left my hand and bounced off the table, silencing the room. I was on my feet, my mouth screaming the word "Stop!". Anger was flooding my veins, and that's when I realised it... I was feeling something again. Lacey looked up at me from the table, a mix of shock and disgust arranged on her face.

"What the fuck is your problem?" The nurses around us had started moving closer. Shit, I thought, this isn't going to look good on my report. I took a deep breath, looked around the cafeteria and then focused on Grace.

"Grace, I know you can't help it, but please stop talking about Lea"

"You do know her!" Erin shouted, jumping to her feet and pointing at me from across the table. She was closely followed by Lacey who stood up right next to me and stared me in the eye.

"You fucking liar" she spat. I climbed over the bench and went to walk out the cafeteria but Lacey came after me, followed by everyone else because who doesn't like a bitch fight in a mental ward.

"Who is she?" she shouted at me. I kept walking away but she kept following me. "Hey I'm talking to you, who the fuck is she?!" Her voice got closer and it was beginning to get angrier as well. By now I was out in the foyer, but nurses had begun to gather and I could see armed security guards about to be let in by Ashton who was staring at me from the entrance window. "You lying bitch who the fuck is Lea?" She screamed the last words as she grabbed my hair and pulled me backwards.  I turned around and my fist colliding with her jaw. She scratched my face and I felt her nails break the skin. My hands began to fly at her, hitting her in everyway at any point on her body. People began screaming our names, trying to tell us to stop but before either of us had a chance to get a proper hit in, the huge security guards grabbed me and a couple of nurses grabbed Lacey. She stood there panting as two people dressed in white kept a loose grip on her and four armed men began getting me out of the room. When we were halfway across the foyer, the head nurse that had introduced herself the first day appeared in front of me. Her face was red and her breathing was heavy.

"You think they can't handle this shit in prison?!" she shouted, "Is this some kind of stunt to keep you out of there because it won't work!" She flicked her hand towards the door "Take her away" Panic took over me. I couldn't be done, they couldn't end my trial early. They couldn't send me back to that place just like this.

"No" I said quietly, not taking in what she was saying properly, but suddenly the guards were pushing me towards the door and away from the ward. "No!" I screamed. "No you can't do this please! I can't go back please don't do this!" I started fighting against the strength of the guards, trying to get past them and towards the others. I kept screaming at the head nurse, begging her not to send me away, when Ashton appeared in front of me. "Ashton please, don't let them do this!" I felt tears run down my cheeks as I realised he was my last hope.

"I'm sorry" he whispered. I felt a prick in my arm and I realised that he was holding a needle and injecting some kind of blue liquid into me. Tranquiliser. I looked up at him, I couldn't believe he would betray me like that. And suddenly he disappeared from my sight and I was left staring at the crowd of people. I still hadn't stopped fighting, my arms and legs were flying everywhere even though all the guards were holding me. I felt my nails scrape against skin and looked over to see I had scratched one of the guards' face. His grip didn't even loosen. A feeling of heaviness began to take over my body, as if my blood was turning to lead. The tranquiliser was starting to work. A couple of the guards let go and I was moving towards the exit. I rolled my head towards the crowd that had gathered and caught Grace's eye.

"Tell Lea I'm sorry" I said, just loud enough for her to hear, and then it went black.