MADELINE

00|| drown

~to suffocate by submersion especially in water~

[Heavily unedited]

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      The white walls felt as if they were constricting against Madeline. Her hands shook, her breathing was heavy and stiff and she could hear the fast-not loud- thumping of her fragile heart against her ribcage as she looked forward.

"You need to speak Madeline". Madeline whimpered slightly and a shiver went up to her spine. The psychiatrist in front of her gazed at her quietly- quiet enough that she could hear the 'tick-tock' of the equally white clock that hung above her head which held a tight bun. "Madeline", she spoke again.

"I've told you everything", Madeline whispered. She looked down at her pale hands. "I don't know what to say anymore. No one believes me"

The psychiatrist shook her head. Her name tag read Lillian. "Not everything Madeline, not everything. Why would you want to kill yourself?"

This time, a sob escaped Madeline and she hung her head low. Her wrists felt clammy and sore, and she itched to soothe it. But she could not. The soft tendrils of her greasy hair escaped her messy bun and with each shake of her head, her hair kept falling out. The psychiatrist waited for her to speak, for her to say something, anything, but Madeline kept silent apart from her sobs.

"I told you, I didn't try to commit suicide!" she shouted. Her pale cheeks were flushed and her eyes were brimmed with red. She violently shook and the handcuffs that were attached to the off white chair felt too tight and made her wrists sore more.

Lillian stared at her with her manicured hands firmly clasped against each other. "What happened then?" she asked with a quirk of a pencilled eyebrow.

"Someone tried to kill me"

Silence.

"What?"

Madeline glared at Lillian. "You wanted an answer. You have it now"

"But that isn't what they said in your file. You tried to slash your neck with a pair of scissors and..."

"They are all lies! She tried to kill me" Madeline said cutting her off. Then with a maniacal chuckle, she said, "But she failed, she failed to kill me. She always was a failure!" her handcuffs shook against her wrists. She turned to glare at them and gritted her teeth in pain and anger.

"She?" Lillian asked, slightly standing up from her chair. Madeline widened her eyes and they darted around the room, looking at anything that wasn't in front of her.

"Madeline, who is she?" The psychiatrist asked in a warning tone. Madeline did not respond. She bit her lip in anxiety "Madeline!" Lillian snapped.

"She will kill me if I tell anyone" Madeline cried out. "She said she would drown me if I said her name. I can't do it"

"She does not have to know Madeline. I promise that it will be between you and me. No one else, I promise" Lillian said this while interlocking her forefinger and middle finger behind her back. Of course, she was going to tell the police when she got a name. She had to.

Madeline sniffed slightly. "You promise?"

Lillian nodded.

"It's my mum. She tried to kill me"

Lillian dropped her pencil on the wooden furnished table with a clank, after she spoke. Suddenly, the buzzer went off and a tight clad man entered the room with a grimace on his face and keys in his hands. He shook it slightly and unlocked Madeline from the handcuff and led her out of the room. Madeline craned her neck backwards and mouthed to Lillian: "Don't tell anyone". With that, she left the room.

The psychiatrist stared at the closed door in horror as she fisted a handful of her knitted sweater in her hands and felt her eyes burn with unshed tears. She could not believe that her own daughter had accused her of trying to kill her. She could not believe that her own daughter- Madeline- does not recognise her as her mother anymore.

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Thanks for reading!

-Ada