Caged Ivy | Prison Romance

I

ISOLATED

♕

Chapter One

The steady staccato of beeps from the heart monitor awoke Ivy. A flash of blinding light reminiscent of fire flitted across her mind before it disappeared as quick as it came.

Her eyelids felt heavy from sleep but the strong scent of disinfectant and bleach made them flit open. A square tiled ceiling, electrical lights. She was met with plain white walls, some medical equipment and the hospital bed that she lay on. Her head lifted from the pillow to get a better look.

What made her do a double-take, though, was the fact that one of her wrists were handcuffed securely to the railing on the side of the bed. 

The beeps increased in speed, her eyes flickering around the room to find all the generic things you'd find in a hospital. An empty vase was placed on the bedside table, barren of any flowers.

From outside of the square window on the door, she could see a man standing with his back to her. The muffled murmur of radio chatter seeped into her room.

She looked down to herself to see that she had been changed into a hospital gown and her arms were ladled in a coating of bandages.

It was at that moment that the tall man standing in front of the door stepped aside to allow a doctor into the room.

"Glad to see you're awake" He spoke as he spotted her wide-eyed stare, she saw that the tall man was actually a uniformed officer, who turned to see that she was indeed awake. He immediately spoke into a phone that was in his hand, addressing whoever was on the other end.

The door shut behind the doctor, blocking the site of the officer. He clicked a small button beside the door.

 He had taken her silence as an invitation to continue speaking.

"I'm Dr Johanson and I have been your doctor for the majority of your stay here. You've been treated for second and first-degree burns..." His voice became an indistinguishable high pitched ring as he continued to inform her.

He scanned across the clipboard he retrieved from the end of her bed after finishing his short introduction to her. Doing a general check-up on her after setting it back down, he flicked a light in her eyes before letting a hum of approval echo.

"You've been given the okay for a transfer of facilities, though I'd assume you'll be taken with the officers outside. I'll leave you to rest for now while I get a nurse to prepare your discharge unless you have any questions?"

Ivy stayed in silence, refusing to utter a word. What she really wanted to know was whether her family were aware of this or if they would even care enough to interfere, even if she was their disowned daughter. 

How long had she been unconscious for? 

The soft click of the door closing ricocheted across the room, leaving her alone once more.

Ivy found herself in the bathroom connected to her room, looking at herself in the mirror. Eyes feeling heavy with sleep, she looked as bad as she felt. They had let her out of bed to clean herself up, two police officers waiting in her room to take a statement and make sure she didn't do anything she wasn't allowed to.

In her hands, she held a pair of scissors she found on a tray they had left in the hospital room. Her grip turned her knuckles white. 

Seeing herself now, she saw the old her, someone vulnerable and naive who allowed others to hurt her. The fire flashed across her vision, like a light aimed straight into her eyes. With a sharp intake of breath, she brought the scissors to her neck before grabbing a handful of burnt, damaged hair and started to cut.