Chapter 10: Inappropriate

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I uncover my ears and sit up straight against the wall. Everything is quiet now. Thank God. My curtain is back up. I dont know what's worse, complete silence, or inescapable noise. They both suck. I stand up slowly and stretch. I seriously need a bath. And some food. And to get the hell out of this psych ward! But... food comes first.

The invisible door opens and I jump on my bed.

"Get yer shoes on Missy." The man barks.

I slide my shoes on and he grabs my arms, taking me out of my new room and into the hallway. I wonder where we're going today. He pushes a random door open and shoves me inside. I stumble and frown. Rude ass people shoving me everywhere! Three people that look like doctors with face masks on come towards me.

"Take off your shoes and your clothes." One person says.

I dont feel comfortable undressing in front of these people, but I imagine I have no choice. I remember what that woman said anyways...

resistance is a sin... be a hero... resist and there will be consequences...

I sure as hell dont wanna be set on fire for refusing to take off my clothes for a bunch of doctors. I undress, nervously and the male doctor grabs my arm with a gloved hand.

"You will take off your underwear after the water stage. Hold onto the bars."

He escorts me onto this pod that I will be holding onto. I guess Im taking a bath? I hold onto the bars on the side and it starts moving, closing plastic doors behind me. It stops in one unit and drips water from above all over my body. I flip my dripping hair and a light in front of me flashes.

STRIP COMPLETELY

It starts flashing and I take off my underwear and bra, shivering. I hold onto the bars and the light disappears. My section keeps moving and then it stops at the second unit. Im squirted in all directions by a liqud and large sponges comes out to scrub, what I now know as soap, all over my body. I let go of one bar and thoroughly scrub my hair, which desperately needs it.

GRAB BARS

I grab back on to the bar and another burst of water comes from above, rinsing the soap off of my body. My section moves one last time to the final unit. 

CLOSE EYES

I close my eyes and I feel my body and face getting sprayed with some mist. I open my eyes and my section moves to the end of the unit and stops. There is a dry section with an industrial dryer and my clothes. I walk over and I almost fall when the dryer starts, blasting me back. It turns off after a few seconds and I stumble over to put my underwear and clothes on. That is one insane bath. It's like a car wash for your body. I feel like they peeled six layers of skin off. My God. After Im dressed the door opens automatically and I walk through, looking around. There is only one more door to go through. I walk through and a lot of people,dressed identical to me, are sitting at tables of two, eating. I sigh, almost smiling. Food.

I scan the room, most of the tables occupied, but I see one table with one person sitting at it. I tie my hair up and go to the table. Everyone looks at me as Im walking over to the table as if Im doing something wrong. I look at them then look at the person occupying the table.

Roman. I hide my smile and scan the room once more.

Mom isnt here. Maybe she hasnt woken up yet?

"Can I sit?" I ask him, whispering.

He doesnt make a move and I just slide down into the chair. A menu pops up electronically in the table and I tap on the second option with bacon and eggs. The menu goes away and a table is sent over on a conveyor belt to my table. I pick my plate up and put it on my table. I look up at Roman and he isnt eating. His section of the table still has the menu on it.

"Roman?" I say in a worried whisper.

I hear some people whispering and I look around. Are they talking about him? Us? I take one last glance at him before I start eating. I eat slowly, Roman still just sitting there, his hair in his signature bun, his eyes no longer red, but focusing on the menu in front of him, his beard scruffy. I set my utensils down.

"Im glad to see you." I say.

Still nothing. I cant really blame him. He got scorched yesterday. I look at his hands. One of his fingers has a burn mark on it. I can only imagine what the rest of his body looks like. I put my head down, continuing to eat. They dont give you much food, but at least I can get full easily.

"I.. missed you." Roman says weakly.

I look up, surprised he has said anything. Im dumbfounded for a moment.

"I missed you too." I say, sounding surprised. He is still looking down.

INAPPROPRIATE CONVERSATION

The table says in a robotic voice, also showing us a red alert on either side of our tables. I sigh. They monitor everything we do. 

"Im sorry." He says, sounding more like himself.

I put my utensils on the table and look at him, urging him to meet my eyes. He finally does, his eyes gleaming in the artificial white light.

"Roman.. you dont have to be sorry. All of this.. this isnt your fault. Are you okay?" I ask, referencing the burning incident from yesterday.

INAPPROPRIATE CONVERSATION

He nods slowly. He looks at me, as if he wants to say something and he puts his hand over mine.

INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT

Roman almost smiles and laces his fingers with mine. A guard comes over and pokes Roman in his arm with his nightstick.

"You heard the computer! Calm that shit down!" He says, trying to make an example of us.

Roman doesnt let go of my hand immediately, but eventually does. I pout a little, yearning for his warm touch. Roman takes a deep breath, clenching his jaw.

"Im gonna kill somebody..." He says under his breath.

EXTREMELY INAPPROPRIATE CONVERSATION - LAST WARNING

Roman's eyes turn angry, like how he was yesterday.

"Im done." He says loudly, not taking his eyes off of me.

Three guards come and surround him. He stands up, still staring at me and joins them, holding his arms out. They grab him roughly and he rolls his eyes.

"Dont be so gentle." He mocks.

One guy kicks him in his stomach and he doubles over, spitting out blood from his mouth. I cover my mouth.

"Nice." Roman says, the wind knocked out of him.

They grab him and carry  him out of the cafeteria. Before I start crying I push my plate aside.

"Im done." I say quietly.

My two guards come and escort me back to my room. My curtain is still up, thank God. I sit on my bed, wishing that this could all just go away. Wishing that it was just a bad dream and I could go back home. The guards open my door quietly.

"You got meditation in ten minutes. Get ready."

He slams the door and I frown. What is meditation?

~~~.~~~

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