Insanity ➳ Ashton Irwin

Chapter 4 | Assistant

Chapter 4 | Assistant

Wendy Chazen 

"Come on." I  beg. "I'm sorry. Seriously sorry, but you need to cooperate if we're going to get you out of here."

Kimberly Cherry slowly pulls her head out of her hands and looks at me in distress. "Wendy, you know that won't happen. I will never get out of here!"

"No." I shake my head, not allowing myself to think as such. I have put up this act of perfect worker for too long for it to be for nothing. "No, we're going to get out of here, alright? We'll run away into a town so far away that Strauss hasn't even heard of it. We're getting out of here, Kim. I promised you this so long ago, and I'm keeping it."

"There's no way out!" She cries, holding her brown frizzy hair away from her face. "Listen, Wendy. We came here to work together all of those years ago. We did this for fun, but look where it got us! We're insane. Not just in the metaphorical sense, but in the mental sense as well."

I couldn't help but think of us before we worked here. So full of life, we were a journalist team.

Pennhurst was something that interested the press for years long. It interested Kim and I a lot.

Getting a job was a lot easier than it should have been. I remembered our excitement for the story we would get.

Us together were therapists for the insane. I should have noticed something was going on when we got that good of a job right off. But we were young and stupid.

I remember as the weeks went on. Every day I would look into her eyes and see how gradually, the light would decrease. She became a corpse of what she used to be.

And I knew that's what became of me too. I refused to look in mirrors, afraid I would see exactly what I saw in my best friends.

When Kim got put into the ward, I was ready to go to the police about this damned place.

Until Madame Struass came up to me.

"Now, it would be a shame if Kimberly was relocated. California, perhaps? So far away that you will never see her again."

But I wasn't completely convinced. Though away from me, she would be safer than here.

"But then again, I think I like her here. The treatments we could give her are so much better."

My eyes involuntarily widen. There is so much I wish I would have said, but I said none of it.

"Think about that, Ms. Wendy. If you plan on going to the police."

I'm a coward. Always have been, always will be.

"Ashton." I say without thinking. "Ashton Irwin. He will help us."

"Are you insane, Wendy?" Kimberly paused at her choice of words then went on again. "With the rate of how much the insanitys are speaking of him, I'd be surprised if he could last through the week before Strauss went after him."

As if on cue, someone knocks on the closed door.

"Ashton, the door is open!"

But when the door opens, it wasn't Ashton.

"Madame Strauss." I gasp, unable to say anything else.

"Ms Wendy." She acknowledges. "I have a question about your assistant."

My heart skips a beat. Ashton. Kim was right, he'll be in the ward anyday now. But he's still a hope. "Ashton?" I waver. "What about him?"

"Is he a good worker?" She starts out with.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Excellent. He really connects with the patients."

"Perhaps too much." Is all she says while looking through the medicine cabinet.

"He's really good. Uh, why do you ask?" I've noticed that I start to play with the loose strand of hair that never seems to stay up in the pony tail with the rest of my hair.

"No particular reason. He just seems... connected with the inmates. He talks to them a lot, doesn't he?"

"Just doing his job." I say quietly.

"Yes, yes, of course." Madame Strauss slams closed the drawer, making me jump. "It's just that I've heard the inmates talk."

"You're not very subtle." Kimberly points out.

I ignore her and go on. "They're bored, Madame. And Ashton is still fairly new. They're bound to talk."

Struass looks distastefully at me. She didn't like me, I knew that, but she can't let me go because of what I know.

"Just remind Mr Irwin the difference between friends and mental patients." And after that, she slams the door on her way out, leaving Kim and I in silence.

But, of course, it's not completely silent. If you listen closely, you can still hear the screams and weeps of the patients in here. 

She knows that every single worker is her pet. Madame can tell them to jump and they jump. But once they don't jump, they are not obedient as she wants them to be.

And that's how they become to be a mental patient.

Just like Kimberly.

Just like me.

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