Room 22: Excerpt

Prologue

"NO!" she screamed as the two men gripped her arms tight. "I don't want to be admitted! I'm fine. Really. I'm fine. Really. I'm fine. Really. No! Don't touch me!"

"Ma'am," one of the officers said. "No one is touching you. Would you please come out of the corner? We just want to talk."

She looked down at her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She looked back up at the three men standing before her. No, one was sitting. No, they were all three standing. No, one was crouching down. The one that spoke, he was squatting, staring into her eyes. She didn't like how he looked at her.

"What's your name sweetie?" one of the officers said. No, they weren't officers. They were in scrubs. They were doctors. No, that wasn't right. She blinked hard. They were officers.

"I got something right," she whispered to herself.

"What was that?" the same officer asked. He stepped forward and she scooted farther back into the corner. "What did you get right?"

She stared at him dead in the eye and smiled. Somewhere, she saw a flicker of movement. She jerked her head to the left to see that one of the officers now had his hand on the hilt of his gun. There were four guys... No, three men and one boy.

She slowly turned her head to look at the first man, who was still squatting in front of her. "I'm not crazy," she said, shaking her head slightly, her voice quivering.

"I know," the man said. Never taking his eyes off her, he slowly reached his hand out as if to strike her. She screamed. The three men jolted back, as if in pain. She cocked her head to the side. The boy with brown hair was gone. Or was it blond? No, definitely brown.

"Two," she whispered.

"What did you say?" the squatting man asked. No, he was no longer squatting. He was standing with his hand on his ear. Blood trickled out from between his fingers.

"I said two. Two things right."

"What is she talking about?" one of the officers asked the other. They both had blood coming out of their ears. All three. They all three had blood slowly pouring out of their ears. It stained their tan uniforms a deep red, making them appear weaker than they let on to be. She smiled again.

"That blood, it's from me, isn't it?" she asked, slowly standing up. Her knees were shaking, but she wasn't scared. She raised her hand, and the white sheet on her bed fell to the floor. It crawled across the room, wrapping around the ankles of the nearest cop.

"What are you?" the farthest officer, mumbled, his eyes wide with fear.

She stared at him as the white sheet rose up around the closest officer, covering his mouth. She shut her eyes and whispered, "Three".

The girl opened her eyes and screamed.