Code Violet

Chapter Four: You don't ask

I played 3 games of cards with Lisa before she grew bored of the game. She decided she just wanted to chat and I nodded. A few other women came and sat too. Most of them older but one or two teenagers joined us. I noticed one girl had been burned badly. All over her body was wrinkly skin and she was wearing a wig. It was very obvious and she had no eyebrows.

"What happened to you?" I asked her calmly but all the women in the circle gasped. The burned girl put her head down and walked away. I was confused and looked up to Lisa as if asking what I did wrong.

"Your not supposed to ask that. Don't ask anyone in here what happened to them, what's wrong with them or why they are in here. People tend to not to want to talk about it. If we tell you it's different but don't ask." I nodded and it made a lot of sense.

"Okay so what are some of your names?" I glanced around at the 6 women sitting around with us and I only knew Lisa's name.

"I'm Jill." A women with short black hair who looked slightly older than Lisa stuck out her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Kennedy White, my dad owns the bakery down town. Whites bakery? Have you heard of it?" She was about 26 looking but acted like she was about 12. Her immaturity was very evident.

"Yeah I nodded I have. I haven't been in there though but I'll have to try it sometime." I smiled and she smiled back nodding her head excitedly.

"That one there," Lisa said pointing to someone sitting on the outer edge of the group who hasn't contributed much to the conversation. "Is Meredith, she's mute." The girl gave me a small wave and I waved back at her. She diverted her eyes down and let her blonde hair cover her face.

"I'm Arabella. You kinda remind me of my brother. He is about the same age I think." She couldn't of been any older than 14 and turned slightly red under my gaze. Her hair had a weird cut as it was hacked all jagged and short on one side but long on the other. She had a genuine smile though and her eyes seemed happy.

"Polly" a women who looked to be about Lisa's age said. Her smile was non existent and her lips held a tight line. She didn't say anything or make any other movements so I just smiled.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Carter." I finally told them all.

A few moments later an announcement came over the PA at the same time Rosemary came into the common room.

"It is dinner time, all patients please head to the mess hall."

The women said goodbye and all got up to leave. I walked over to Rosemary to see what I had to do now.

"I'm glad to see your getting acquainted with some of the patients." I smiled and nodded. So far it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. No one seemed to be too crazy so far, well aside from the screaming girl. I've forgotten the numbers they call her already.

"Now is a perfect time to give you a tour of the areas you will have access to. Follow me."

There were two hallways connected to the common room and a stair case. The staircase of course is the one that goes down to the exit and main offices. It's locked at all times but I can go to the nurses station for someone to let me out if I need to.

There were doors directly to the mess hall or cafeteria whichever you call it right from the common room. Just push through a set of double doors and your there.

Now the two hallways is where it gets really confusing. Each of those hallways had multiple little hallways coming off of it. It was kinda like a giant maze.

"Each hallway is a different wing for the most part. We like to keep people with common or the same problems in similar areas." I nodded and she pointed to the hallway we were passing. "That one is the alcoholic rehab wing and across from that is the narcotics rehab." We kept walking and she said I didn't need to know every wing because I likely wouldn't need to go down there. It was only peoples bedrooms.

t the end of one hallway we walked down she pushed open a set of heavy double doors. It looked different from the other hallways. There were about 20 rooms but they all had heavy iron doors almost like a prison.

"This is solitary confinement. There are multiple reasons why a patient is confined but it is always for their benefit. There are only 3 people in here right now." We turned and walked back out the double doors we came. "You May be asked to deliver blankets or food trays to patients down here, when you do if they talk to you you cannot talk back." I nodded again and we continued down the main hallway.

At the end of this one there were two doors painted red. We stopped in front of them.

"Well this is the last stop, this is the red ward. Remember I told you about colour coded bracelets? Well all the red no interaction ones are over here. The door is locked so you will likely never ever be in there. If a nurse tells you to which they shouldn't anyways, just don't go." I nodded again and we made our way back to the common room.

It was still empty and I assume the people were still eating.

"Okay so when they come out they go to their bathing room or bedrooms and get ready for bed. So when they are done with eating you can go in and help clean the cafeteria."  Rosemary patted me on the back and began to walk away.

"Wait what will I do until then?" She turned around and pointed at the ceiling as the PA went off.

"Dinner hour is over. You can go to the bathing room or your bedroom to prepare for bed."

She smiled and walked out as I headed towards the mess hall.

There were 30 women eating there tonight. Wow what a a lot of trays to clean. The cooks and kitchen staff were nice though. We chatted while we cleaned up and wiped down all the tables. By the time I finished it was 9 and I had to head down to the main office to go home.

"Here." Rosemary said passing me a packet of papers. "Just a couple things in rules and codes about the building and stuff like that. Might wanna read it over." I thanked her and went out in the car to meet my mom.

"How was your first day?" She asked.

"Not gonna lie better than I thought. I kinda enjoyed it. Seeing them get so happy just by talking to me felt good." She smiled a soft smile.

"Well your next day is Wednesday evening so I'm glad it wasn't to bad for you." I nodded and we made our way home.