Insanity ➳ Ashton Irwin

Chapter 3 | Help

Chapter 3 | Help

A knock at Wendy's door got me out of the focus I had with the files. I had to scramble to put them away while yelling out, "Be right there!" then quickly running to it. No one usually came during Wendy's lunch break.

When I opened it, there was Lesley Martino and her guard, Russ, with a stern look on his face standing behind her. Lesley walks right past me into the room.

"Uh, Wendy's not here." I say.

"She knows." Russ speaks for her. "She wanted to see you."

I couldn't hide the surprise on my face that I was feeling. No one wanted to see me. Usually the inmates requested I not be in the room so they didn't have to see me. Why would Lesley Martino, the girl who skinned people in the sake of fashion, want to see me?

"Oh, alright.." I mumble, looking back to Lesley sitting on the chair and looking at me expectantly.

"Cool, I'll be waiting out here in case anything happens." He then shuts the door, leaving me in the room with Lesley.

I slowly turn to her and give the best smile I could muster. "Hey, Lesley."

"It's happening again." She says. "The need for a good coat. Every time I close my eyes I hear the screams of my victims and how... how I want their skin."

I didn't know what to say, so I simply ask: "Are you sure you don't want to wait for Wendy?"

"No!" She bursts for a second, before regaining herself. "No. Lacey said to talk to you. That you'd know how to help me."

Why the hell would she say that? I don't know how to help her! What the hell do I even say to that!

"I really don't." I say softly, trying not make her anymore upset then she already is. The last thing I need is Lesley Martino skinning me alive just because I didn't know how to help her. "I'm sorry, I just don't know."

Her eyes were glassy, but no tears were falling out. "She said one day you would save us all. Is that true?"

"Lesley..."

"I need to be saved." She cries. "I don't know what is wrong with me... I used to not be aware of what I was doing and now it's crawling at my flesh..." At that moment she starts itching at her arms and I quickly reach to her hands and hold them. 

"I'll try, alright?" I say, still unsure of what I could do for her. "I have no clue how... I guess I'll... figure it out."

"Don't tell anyone else." Lesley begs. "Not anyone else who is here. You have to help me on your own. Anyone else who knows about this would hurt me."

"Wendy wouldn't hurt you-" I try to convince, but she cuts me off.

"Yes she will! Not directly, but she'll tell the bitch and then I'll be back in that fucking straight jacket or electrocuted again. Promise me you won't tell anyone."

I watch her for the next few seconds, her staring at me with such desperation it made me feel bad. The poor girl is insane, and she is looking for my help. The least I could do was say okay.

"I promise."

☤

I knew what Michael told me. He told me not to talk to Lacey anymore to not arouse suspicion. So I brought a pencil and notebook to pretend I was writing down everything she said. No one would hopefully ask anymore questions.

She was talking to someone else when I came into the common room. She smiled and waved when she saw me and I quickly looked around to make sure none of the guards were looking suspiciously, but none were. 

"You have to be more careful." I whisper as I sit down on the chair next to the couch she was sitting on. "They can't know we're affiliated with each other."

"Are you embarrassed of me, Mr Irwin?" She taunts and I just chuckle at her. "Oh, this is Zayn, in case you didn't know." She laughs at herself before looking to him. "You should go." Lacey tells him. "This is the guy I was telling you about."

"Ah." Zayn says in realization. "See you around, dude."

"Yeah, right, see you." He leaves and I just shake my head at the irony of this. The inmates all know of me- which is Lacey's doing- and they all talk to me and nod at me like I'm their friend or something. If me talking to Lacey not bring me to Madame's eyes, then the inmates calling me their friend most definitely will. I give a pointed look to Lacey. "Why are you telling everyone about me? I'm just an assistant, I don't know jack shit about helping anyone!"

"You have the ability to do a lot more then you give yourself credit for." She giggles at the little rhyme she did there.

I had to think over what I could say to that for a while. "I don't know what I'm doing for this."

"Talk to them. All most people need is hope."

"Hope?" I burst. "Hope for what? For this place to be shut down? Lacey, I don't think you realize that once Pennhurst is shut down, no one will be free. They will be sent to another asylum or jail. No one is ever going to be free again."

Lacey just shrugs. "People need hope. Even the insane. They're insane because they lost all hope."

 "As you have?"

She runs her tongue over her dry lips. "You're kind of mean."

"Whatever. I'm supposed to be mean, I'm a guard. You realize I am one of the people who are keeping you in this damned place, right? You should hate me."

"No, I should thank you."

I open my mouth to question that, but she's already stood up. "Listen, Ashton. I can't tell you what to do. All I can do is tell you is that once you start to treat this people, the ones that have been affected by me, you'll figure it out." Lacey salutes me, before walking over to her specific guard on the side of the room.

Insanity comes in all shapes and forms.

I was still unsure what form Lacey was.

☤ ☤ ☤ ☤

Lesley Martino {Kristen Hager} on sidebar