Greeting Insanity

chapter ten

 A loud bang signaled to the left of the staring girl, but did not register. From the sound of wood on plastic, her mind automatically decided that the door had been abruptly opened. Without moving her eyes, she dismissed the sudden action, for it had been occurring regularly these past three days. Five doctors had entered the plastic cell, surrounding the edges of the white mattress. The two closest to either side of her head, latched their arms to her stilled wrists. The two that stood nearest to her legs, repeated a similar action, gripping onto her calves with their white gloved hands. The doctor that waited by her feet, started circling the bed, coming to a halt at her head. In the doctor's latex hand, was two white cloths. One of the two, was wrapped in a squishy foam, the other, lined in dark grey, the shape of a sleeping mask. First, the doctor removed the foam wrapped towel from their hand, and placed it over Reyna's unmoving lips, trapping her unexploited voice. Once secured, the other piece of material, was set over the blonde's eyes, blinding her sense of sight. Reyna remained still, even as the humans clad in lab coats, lifted her from the scratchy surface of slumber, moving her to an unknown destination. After several minutes, the sensation of floating, ended unexpectedly, her back roughly slammed into another uncomfortable overlay. Her mind, yet to fully return to her, began to use her other senses, to name her new surroundings. Muffled whispers were sounded from Reyna's right, only able to catch certain words in the hushed conversation.

"Days"

"Examine"

"Unresponsive"

"Symptoms"

"Mental-illness"

Suddenly, like a rushing hurricane destroying an inactive city, she reclaimer her mentality. Abruptly aware of the events around her, Reyna's covered eyes widened in realization. They were testing her again. Fear began to creep up her cloaked throat, beads of sweat forming on her pale complexion. The testing had happened before, but not recently. They said she had been getting better, being outside and around other humans, was helping. It was supposed to help. Why was she here? Her body began to shake rapidly in horror of what was to come. The assessment was never gentle nor tender, instead it was unholy, using any means necessary to get results. During her tremoring, she became aware of the shackles strapped to her quivering ankles, wrists, and neck. Very aware. The cool metal painfully jabbed into her fragile skin, a constant reminder to behave. This was so familiar. She remembered every second of her past analysis, the pain, filled with pain. They would perform various trials, testing how her tainted brain reacted to everyday occurrences. Their favorite, it seemed, was to test her response to pain. In the beginning of her stay at the HTA, her torture was limited to slight burns, small cuts, nothing rash, but she never responded, it didn't affect her. Now, it seemed they had no limits, they needed her to react. Reyna could taste the faint tang of bile in her throat, threatening to rise in anticipation. Without warning, a stinging formed over her mid-section. From her previous knowledge, she should have been clothed there, but now that she has time to react to her predicament, Reyna realized that she was in fact, bare on the plastic table. Warm liquid, leaked over her ribs, down her sides, and onto her forearms, that were strapped tightly next to her torso. A gasp left her chapped lips, only to be caught by the awaiting guard that covered her mouth. The spongy material became understandable, now that the purpose of its presence was revealed. Moments later, the lukewarm fluid formed over her lower legs, then on her bicep, only to be recognized as blood. Realization washed over Reyna, they needed her to react. They needed to become aware of her return to consciousness. So, Reyna screamed. Loud, unbearable pleas of agony ricocheted off the tile walls that surrounded the blindfolded girl, begging to be released of the torture. The provided muffler barely kept the noises from leaving her mouth, only adding to her volume, egging her to continue. Her mind couldn't comprehend the subtle pain, but it certainly felt the absence of mercy. Why weren't they releasing her? Why was she still spilling crimson liquid over the clear plastic? The answer came flooding. She was being tortured. They were attempting to cut the insanity out of her. It had happened often a couple years prior. No matter the beliefs of common folk, the government was not always kind, especially not to insanity driven delinquents. Especially not to Reyna. She resented the hours to come, she knew what awaited her. Her cries shook the walls, trembled the floor, shuddered the table she rested on, demanding the objects around her to quiver in its presence. The cutting continued, her calves, shins, thighs, abdomen, chest, arms, hands, fingers, littered with slashes of blood, varying in size. The only part of her revealed form that remained untouched, was her haunted face. Even through the absence of pain on her surface, she felt that her profile hurt the worst, shaking her head back and forth, releasing saddened echoes to the wind. Only to be ignored.