Staged

Staged Part 1

 "No, stop, please...no, get away from me...please, don't do this, I beg you!" screamed Amanda, tears rolling down her cheeks, fists pounding on the chest of her attacker in frustration. The man, gripping Amanda by the arms, slowly starts to make his move. He pushes Amanda to the ground, leaving her grimacing with pain in her left hip. On his way down, Amanda, unwilling to surrender, starts kicking her enemy. Surprised by the aggressiveness of his prey, he tightened his grip and moved closer. Amanda feels the man breathing down her neck making the beads of sweat look like rolling glass beads.

The man used his right hand, cupped the jaw of his prey tightly and forced her to look at him. She tries to fight him off. She continues kicking her attacker until she could feel her energy escaping her bit by bit like sand in an hourglass. She finally turns her head to face her attacker. Beads of sweat on her forehead, she struggles to make out the face of the man. The only features that she can see are the hair and the eyes. He has hair as dark as night, and piercing black eyes that can send chills down the spine of anyone who looks into them. He notices Amanda surveying him and he looks down on his prey. Sensing her powerlessness, he jerks, flexes his muscles, preparing to pounce on her. He yanks her hair, bares his teeth, breaking into a smile as cunning as a fox and forces his way in...

"NO!" Amanda woke up in a jolt, screaming, panting. Breaking into a cold sweat, she slowly sat on her bed. Once comfortable, she started surveying her surroundings. Everything was white, from the floor, to the bed, and all the way up to the wall. She let out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm still where I'm supposed to be," she thought, as someone came knocking at the door.

"It's time for your medication, Amanda. Please open the door." Amanda got up from her bed, composed herself and opened the door. A man clad in white greeted her with a tray full of medicine. 

"So, how are you feeling today?" the man asked.

"Never been better, handsome" Amanda replied coyly.

"Good, because you've got a meeting with the Head later, she is going to discuss something with you," the man informed her as he winked.

"Okay."

The man left and locked the door after making sure she drank the pills.

"Man, it sure is tough to act like a holy maiden here where the nurses are as handsome as that guy," whispered Amanda.

This was the least of her worries though. She had that dream. It has been a long time since she had that dream, since it happened to her. She could not think of any reason why she would be dreaming about it now that the doctors told her that she's getting better. And then, there is the Head. "Why does she want to talk to me? It's not like I did anything wrong. Unless, she found out that I'm just..." She trailed. "No, it can't be, it's impossible," Amanda assured herself. It was almost time to meet the Head. She dressed as normal as possible, waited for the nurse to come pick her up and walked to the office of the head, her heart pounded, pulse raced, hands sweated.

They reached the office of Ms. Reynolds. She knocked.

"Come in, please," the person on the other side of the door replied. She stood there, unblinking. 

"Please sit." 

"Okay, here it comes," Amanda thought to herself as she sat, crossing her fingers and hoping that things would not happen the way she imagined just a while ago.

"As you know, Amanda, our institution is tying up with a university for a special activity. Now, we have agreed that this activity would be a play. To cut things short, I chose you to be the leading lady. Is that okay with you?"

Amanda relaxed. "Sure ma'am. I'll try my best to represent our institution," she replied, smiling at Ms. Reynolds.

"Good, I know I could always count on you. You will be meeting your partners on Saturday and the play is scheduled 16 weeks from now. Good luck!"

"Thanks," Amanda mumbled as she got up and headed to the door, escorted by the nurse.

She was escorted to the area where patients like her get to spend their days while being evaluated by resident doctors. Amanda sat as far away from the other patients as possible, thinking about what Ms. Reynolds told her when suddenly someone tugged her pants, drooling. It was Maria, a patient.

Maria had been in the institution for years now and her condition still hadn't improved. Amanda helped Maria to her feet. She was trying to say something but Amanda could not understand her. In Maria's exasperation, she gritted her teeth and stepped closer to Amanda. "She's actually beautiful; too bad she's locked up in this institution," Amanda thought as she saw Maria hurling herself towards her. The strength of Maria surprised Amanda as she was knocked off of her feet. Sprawled on the ground, Amanda grimaced in pain, with Maria on top of her, fists curled. Maria, with a wide grin on her face, poised to attack her prey.

Maria went ballistic, she started hitting and scratching Amanda furiously. Amanda curled into a fetal position, her arms forming parallel lines above her face, shielding it. The attack seemed to continue for an eternity, Amanda became more and more uncomfortable, memories of that fateful night emerged. She closed her eyes, not wanting to relive the experience. It wasn't until the doctors stepped in and pulled Maria away that Amanda realized it was a different scenario. They then brought the victim to the clinic to be treated.

At the clinic, Amanda was treated for the cuts and bruises that she got, all the while wondering why she did not retaliate. Until it dawned on her; it wasn't fair for her to fight Maria. Outside, she could hear the doctor's whispering.

"I wonder what triggered Maria to attack Amanda just like that. Maria is really so unpredictable, one moment she acts normal and then all of a sudden she causes trouble," commented one doctor.

"I was really surprised that Amanda did not retaliate. I remember the first time when a patient attacked her and she did not back down," said the other.

"Come to think of it, she did look normal, but there are still some aspects to work on. She gets agitated quickly. Did you guys see her face when she saw Maria moving closer?"

"Yeah. She had that worried, panicky look; the one that we saw when she first came here, when she was haunted by the memory of what happened to her. If we didn't get there in time, I think she would have screamed and panicked. "

Amanda, listening intently to the conversation happening just outside the clinic, had a worried look on her face.

"What are they saying? I'm normal now. I really am. I don't see why they still think I'm not." 

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