The Girl and The War

Chapter Twenty Nine- Kayla

   Three days had gone by since the night of the Ball. My father had ordered the guards to throw me in one of the padded white rooms in the base's psych ward. I had also been forced into a straight jacket, so I was unable to use my arms and hands. My arms had grown numb in the straight jacket after being in it for so long.

   The General had yet to come visit me. The only person I saw was Dr. Swift who came in twice a day to feed me food and give me water. She never said anything to me while she did it, but she always looked at me with so much pity.

    I prayed at this point that Sam, Margo, and My parents were long gone. If not, if they had been caught, this would have all been for nothing. My prayers were disrupted however when the door to the room was opened and the General and Andrew came in. Andrew had a sling on his left arm where I had shot him. I didn't feel sorry for it.

  "Nice sling, really brings out your eyes." I mocked Andrew. He didn't say anything, just stared at me.

"How long did you know about your parents." The General said. I glanced at him. This was the man who I called dad for eleven years. The person I trusted more than everyone. And now, I could barely look at him.

"For about a week." I confessed. "Guess you two aren't as clever as you thought." I laughed. Andrew stepped forward and slapped me across the face with his good hand. The slap was so hard I feel onto my side. He reached down and grabbed my hair pulling me back up into my previous seated position. I let out a scream of pain. He let go. The whole time the General just watched.

"Listen here you little bitch-" Andrew started to say. The General grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Andrew turned around and faced him. "You're kidding me right? She deserves the same treatment her parents got, she made a bomb that killed fifty of our recruits, she shot me, and she helped four now fugitives escape!" I killed fifty people? I had no idea that bomb would have been that big of an explosion.

"I'm aware of what happened Andrew, clearly Kayla isn't in the right state of mind." The General told him.

"Right state of mind? You're kidding me right?" Andrew argued.

"Out." Was all the General said. Andrew glared at me one last time, then walked out of the room. The General bent down next to me.

"You're going to be here for awhile Kayla." He told me. He paused as if he was waiting for a response. I didn't give him one. He sighed and shook his head. "I know you're upset about you're parents, but you have to understand that this is war. Things like that happened. I didn't tell you because you were innocent to it. I wanted to keep it that way." Were. A very specific choice of words. I had in fact once been naive to all of this. I use to wear pretty dresses and skip around the halls. Now I was wearing a straight jacket, and the most hated person in this facility.

"You should just kill me." I finally said. "It would be easier that way, for the both of us."

"I'm not going to kill you Kayla, I love you." He told me.

"No you don't!" I shouted in his face. "People who love people don't torture their parents and tell them they died." I laid my head back on the padded walls and looked up at the bright fluorescent lights above me.

"I'm going to get you the help you need, Kayla, so you can feel better." Was all he said.

"Are you listening to me? There is nothing wrong with me, I made the choice that I did, and you know what? I would do it all over again, if nothing but to spite you!" I spat at him. He stood up and looked down at me sadly. Then he walked out of the room leaving me once again alone. I wanted to hate him so bad, but some people are hard to hate.

   A few hours later a couple guards walked in. They grabbed my arms and lifted me up. They dragged me out of the room and shoved me on a wheel chair. They strapped my feet, waist, and neck, leaving me completely immobile. They rolled me down the hall of the hospital. On my way down I witnessed dozens of people, who had suffered from the bomb. They were covered in burns and moaning in pain. I felt my heart shatter at all the pain I caused them. I never wanted this. I just wanted to free my parents.

   Finally the guards wheeled me into a dark room. Andrew, The General, and Dr. Swift were all seated in chairs. In the corner of the room was a familiar dark machine with wires sticking out of it. "What's going on?" I asked quietly. I had a bad feeling about this. The guards rolled me by the corner to where the dark machines are.

  "Kayla we are going to have you go through therapy to help fix you." The General told me. He nodded at Dr. Swift. She looked at him then at me. She stood up and grabbed the wires that were sticking out of the machine. She attached them to my temple and on the back of my head. I suddenly remember where I recognized the machine from. I read a book on it once. Electroshock Therapy.

"Wait, wait please don't do this!" I begged the General. "I..I'm fine, please don't please!" I felt tears rolling down my face. Andrew was laughing, looking overly pleased at my despair.

"It's for your own good Kayla." The General told me. He nodded at Dr. Swift. She glanced at me sadly then flipped the machine to life. The next two hours were filled with most excruciating pain I had ever felt in my life. Every five minutes the machine would shock me, and in between the shocks, Dr Swift would show me images. Images of bombs, guns, Sam and Margo and my Parents. Then I would be shocked again. When the session was over, my throat was raw from screaming, and my entire body burned. I couldn't think straight without a throbbing sensation taking place. I couldn't even lift up my own head.

"Was it worth it?" Andrew whispered in my ear as he and the General rolled me back to the padded room. I couldn't respond even if I wanted to. The General unstrapped me from the wheel chair and gently laid me on the ground.

"It will be alright Kayla, this will fix you." He whispered to me. He kissed me on the forehead and he and Andrew left, leaving me alone.