RED

four

DR. ALIX STORM

I was expecting to walk into the hospital room and see the young female patient to be in her exact posture as earlier, or sleeping, or maybe even looking around the room and to my desire, ready to talk.

I certainly wasn't expecting to walk into the hospital room and witness her frantic body thrashing around under the bonds with her wrists and upper arms gushing bright red blood. Which was happening.

I dropped the white styrofoam takeout box of food onto the floor and rushed to the side of the bed.

"Hey!" I called out.

She was squirming as if it were to save her life, creating extreme friction to her limbs from the leather straps, causing her to bleed through brush burns. Her face had a worried expression, which was the first emotion I'd seen from her, but surprisingly no tears were ever shed. I had to act fast so I ran to the door and called for some assistance.

"Assistance!" I called out, "and bring a strait jacket!"

I left the door wide open and ran back to her side. I wrapped my large hands around both her upper arms, trying to decrease her struggling.

"Hey," I spoke, "listen to me right now."

I stared sternly into her eyes but she would not return the gaze.

I took my hand that was now stained with her blood, and grasped her chin tightly to look at me.

"Stop this," I scolded, "it is doing you absolutely no good."

She only tried ripping her chin out of my hold so then I shook her body roughly. I'm a doctor at a mental institution, it's my job to be aggressive sometimes. Gentleness will get you nowhere with insane patients. She yelped from my actions and I spoke again.

"You are only digging yourself deeper and I promise you, acting like this will not get you even close to getting out of here. Do you understand?"

I studied for an answer but there was nothing. What was it going to take to get a response from this patient!

That is when two male nurses entered the room, one carrying a strait jacket. I let go and rushed over to them

"She's hurting herself with the leather straps, we need to switch her into the strait jacket. I think the sedative wore off," I informed them as they nodded.

Before even putting her in the strait jacket, I had to clean and sanitize her fresh wounds. I unstrapped her wrists while the two male nurses held her by her elbows so she couldn't move as I cleaned and wrapped them in gauze. We sat her up and it did take a while to get the straight jacket on due to her endless struggling.

Once it was on and secured, I undid the restraints on her ankles. Even if she can walk around now, she won't be able to do any harm because of the strait jacket.

"Thanks, guys," I said, shaking their hands before they left the room.

I made sure to close the door since her legs are not in restraints anymore. I turned on my heels.

"Are you done throwing your little tantrum now, Miss?" I said, my eyebrows raising.

She didn't look at me. Not even a glance. I sighed and bent down to pick up the box of food from earlier. Walking over to her cautiously, I opened the box to show her its contents.

"I hope you are hungry, because I brought you food," I gave a slight smile.

She then looked at me from the corner of her eye, giving me a tiny sense of hope. Maybe I am getting somewhere. The tiny sense of hope  definitely didn't last long because she looked back away and turned her back to me. She was staring out the tiny barred window that gave a view to the outside world.

There was a small bench under that window frame so I walked over to the other side of the bed and sat on it, showing her the food again.

"Peanut butter and jelly," I spoke with fake excitement.

I pulled it out of its package and held it in my hand. The only way is if I feed her now due to the strait jacket.

"You're going to need to eat while you are here, so open up."

I rose the sandwich close to her face and her eyes followed it. Just as it reached her mouth, she moved her head away. This happened a few more times after. Signing, I lowered the sandwich back down.

"Maybe you are thirsty?"

Unscrewing the cap of the water, I then raised that up to her face. I saw her swallow and look back at me. I put it close to her mouth and to my surprise, I saw her lips open the slightest bit. I moved in closer as she wrapped her lips around the rim of the water bottle. I tilted it so that she could drink. The bottle was almost half gone and she was still going, so I moved it away from her lips.

"Slow down, take a breath," I smiled a small smile.

She actually obeyed and then opened her mouth, ready for more. I repeated giving her water and she almost finished the entire thing before finally backing away. I screwed the cap back on and placed the almost empty bottle onto the window ledge. Then I tried again with the sandwich but she continued to move her head away, not wanting any part of it. Sighing, I got up. At least I got her to drink. Looking at my watch, it was already 9:15 PM. I had to start getting ready to go home.

"Alright, it is time for me to leave now. Thank you for drinking water for me, but refusing to eat will lead to being force fed. And I know you don't want that," I stated.

I left the sandwich on the window ledge next to the water bottle.

"I will see you tomorrow."

She didn't turn to look at me. With that, I exited the room before locking the door.

I made my way to the first floor and started gathering my belongings together. I was ready to leave so I began walking into the lobby. I ran my calloused fingers through my hair and sighed for the hundredth time today.

"Long day today, Dr. Storm?" Veronica says.

I nodded tiredly, "you know it."

I gave a nod to the whole hospital, "have a good night!" I called out to the rest of the staff.

I got into my vehicle and made my way to my apartment, ready to get a good nights sleep. Only to be right back again tomorrow.