Sisters Three (Completed)

43. Morna (3/3)

Wires ran all along the bottom of the gurney, hooked into some strange, blocky machine on the storage shelf on the bottom. A pole ran up one side, and the wires followed it, dangling down across the thin mattress. On the ends, leather straps like the ones on her chair, were fastened to the coppers ends, held in place by rubber tubing. Morna had no idea what this contraption was, but just looking at it set the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

Esmond, apparently, felt the same thing. His face contorted, and he spun on his heel to face Doctor Joseph. "Why is this here?"

"I said thank you, Mr. Walker. We are no longer in need of your assistance, and I believe your help is more needed on the fields with the clean-up crew."

"You cannot hook her up to that," Esmond said, his cheeks slowly growing redder as he pointed viciously at the gurney. "You promised me I could have another week to improve her progress before we resorted to the machine."

Morna felt the overwhelming urge to run, but her legs wouldn't cooperate with her. Besides, she'd never make it past the two orderlies in the doorway. Whatever they planned to do to her, she was scared stiff of it. Her body shook so much that Esmond glanced her way, an apology in his eyes. But the others were not as sympathetic.

Doctor Joseph pressed his lips into a pale line, his eyes fixed on the blank wall above Morna instead of on Esmond's steadily angrier face. "That was before she nearly drowned herself in plain sight. We have been tasked by the Queen herself to fix her sister, and reporting that she'd killed herself in the river under our care is not how I'd like this story to end. We've reached the point where Lady Morna needs more than just the typical therapy to restore her sanity. Now move aside."

Esmond shook his head. "You can't use it on her now. She's with child, for heaven's sake!"

"Someone get him out of here," Doctor Joseph said.

The biggest of the orderlies broke into the room, heading for Esmond. Morna sat up straighter, eyes wide as the two men began to tussle. "Please, Doctor," Morna choked out, her eyes finding Doctor Joseph. "I don't know what you're going to do, but I promise that I can work harder on my own." She knew she could now. She had Afton waiting for her. She knew she could work against the water's call once again.

"Don't do this!" Esmond shouted, shoving the orderly to one side, but failing in disengaging himself. The burly man caught Esmond around the waist, fairly lifting him off the ground. "Joseph, you can't do this to her!"

Doctor Joseph ignored the protests, only signaling with his hand for the more speedy removal of the struggling Esmond.

The orderly manhandled Esmond out into the hall.

As Doctor Joseph reached forward to slam the door shut and place the key in the lock, Esmond's panicked face was visible for a few seconds more, his mouth moving in the shape of one more plea. But then the slam of the door cut him off, leaving Morna with the remaining orderly, and Doctor Joseph.

In the silence that followed, Doctor Joseph's irritation melted away as if it were an illfitting coat he'd shrugged off. He calmly pulled on a pair of gloves, making sure each finger fit perfectly over his own. "Please prepare the machine while I prep the patient."

Morna sat up and pressed against the wall, curling into herself. Her stomach roiled, her eyes unable to leave the strange gurney draped in wires. Esmond had looked so scared at the sight of it. Esmond, who always had a smile and a kind word. He'd thought of nothing to spin this machine into a brighter light. He'd only fought to get her away from it.

"What is it?" Morna asked, her voice thin and wavering. She wished she could call some of the strength that came so easily to Brenna. She wished she could order them to stop and they'd listen. But she was just a lunatic in a dirty nightgown, anxiously twisting her hands over her pregnant belly.

"It is a scientific machine that will restore the proper electrical balance to your brain," Doctor Joseph said in a bored tone. He reached forward, pressing against Morna's throat to take her pulse and then examining her eyes.

Morna swallowed, her eyes still glued to the contraption. "But what does it do?" The orderly leaned over the small box under the gurney, cranking a handle that looked much like the one on the front of a motorcar. Morna froze at the sound of whirring and then crackling coming the wires. The orderly continued to crank, his face impassive and bored.

"It sends new electrical pulses into your body to train your brain. It wipes the incorrect patterns and replaces them with the normal frequencies of the average adult. You need only a few sessions in this machine to be fully cured."

"I- I don't want it," Morna said.

"Well, fortunately for us, we don't need your consent," Doctor Joseph said.

Before she could protest further, he lunged forward and pinned her arms to her side in a bear hug. She kicked, but he spun her out of the bed and into the air like a sack of flour. Despite her screams and struggling, the doctor easily swung her around and onto the top of the gurney, pinning her with a hand to her chest while he slid the leather straps around her wrists.

"Stop, please!" She kicked as he tried to strap her legs down, catching him in the shoulder. He stumbled back, his eyes flashing, and before she knew what had happened he'd slapped her soundly across the face. Her vision swam with white bursts of light, the room wavering around her. Doctor Joseph took the stunned moment to secure her ankles, and then proceeded to strap a leather contraption around her head and under her chin.

Still struggling despite the bindings, Morna watched as the Doctor smoothed back his hair and began to fiddle with something on the box underneath her. The crackling sound grew louder, and her scalp felt like ants crawled all over it where the leather met her skin. Wires ran from the headpiece down to the box.

"Low setting for the first session, I should think," Doctor Joseph murmured.

"Right-o, boss," the orderly said.

Doctor Joseph stepped back, putting as much room between himself and the gurney as possible. Morna realized with a sinking wrench in her gut that he was afraid of what was about to happen. He didn't trust the machine as much as he let on, and yet he strapped her to it and watched as the orderly yanked down a lever.

There was a moment of nothing, where Morna screamed out for Afton in her mind, begging him to come save her. But he didn't, and then a jolt of burning hot pain splintered in her head. Her skull felt like it split open, her brains frying and popping and ripping apart. She thought she screamed but she couldn't hear herself over the explosions of agony that wracked her body. The leather straps bit into her wrist and ankles as her body tried to arc away from the pain. The orderly watched her closely, marking something down in a notebook. She barely saw him as her whole mind and body curled in on itself, forced to focus entirely on the coursing torture that filled her skull.

She didn't know how long it lasted, but when the buzzing of the leather headpiece finally stopped, and the worst of the pain receded with it, she felt the rawness of her throat. She'd screamed the entire time, though she had barely been aware of doing it. Exhaustion washed over her, joined with the burning ache in her head that the machine left behind it. Her eyes began to roll backward into her skull, her mind making a quick escape to somewhere black and empty where she might recover.

Just before the darkness claimed her, just before she slipped into the unknown, Doctor Joseph emerged from the hazy edges of her vision, his hands on his hips. His lips pursed, he turned to the orderly and examined the notes. "Those readouts are still unsatisfactory. Perhaps medium power tomorrow."

And then she escaped into sleep.

Chapter Forty-Four: Adair.