Evelyn's Pendant

14.

My mind just focuses now on running through the hallway and trying to avoid bumping into other patients. Various nurses yell out to me as I run by and they call for security. Maybe if I run fast enough, I can get out of their sight and... And... I didn't think I'd get this far. I have no idea where the hell I'm going. I'm in a mental facility; it's going to be highly secured. Where to go, where to go? I look around while I run and all of a sudden I fall onto the floor. This is the problem with not thinking plans out thoroughly.

    "Shit!" I yell as the pain hits me all at once. The person I ran into falls to the ground as well and starts rubbing the back of her frizzy, red head. It's Tess.

    She quickly stands up and I slowly push myself to a seated position, groaning from pain radiating through my entire body.

    "Well, well, well..." she says as she waves my file in front of my face. My eyes widen. "What are we running away from, Lillian Jade Shaw?" she says while reading the label on the file.

    "Please..." I say, breathless. "Give it back."

    "Nah, sorry hon," she opens the file. "Nobody's secrets are kept from me."

    I quickly get up. "Give it back!" I shout as I snatch the file out of her hands.

    She crosses her arms and gives me an evil smirk. "You attempted suicide."

    "Please," my vision blurs from a mixture of exhaustion and excruciating pain. "Forget you ever saw that. Don't say a word."

Behind her, far down the hallway, I see orderlies and security jogging, looking for me.

    "Shit!" I say hoarsely and take a deep breath, then turn the other way down the hallway and start to run again.

    I eventually find a bathroom and slam the door open, then lock it behind me. I run to the toilet and tear every paper out of the file, crumple each one in between my sweaty right palm, then shove the papers into the toilet and push them down as far as they will go, not caring that I'm sticking my hand in toilet water. I push down the lever and, as expected, the toilet clogs and starts to overflow as I attempt to shove the papers even farther down the toilet.

    "Come on, come on!" I panic.

    The door suddenly opens and about five people storm into the bathroom and come over to me.

    "Come on, Lillian, take a walk with us," one of them says.

    "No! Get away from me!"

    All of them grab onto me and pull me onto my feet. I try to thrash away their grasps, but they're all much stronger than I am.

    They drag me by my arms down the long corridor outside of the bathroom. I try to plant my feet against the hard tile floor as much as possible in an attempt of restraint, but these people are too strong, and I'm too weak from my incident. My socks skid across the floor and I try to drop my body weight towards the ground. I continue to scream and yell at the orderlies to let me go. They found out where I was and where I hid my file. I have to go back and get it. But, no matter how hard I try, the orderlies keep their grips firmly on my forearms and underarms and force me on my feet. Other patients stare at me as I make a scene. I don't care - I'm sure they've seen worse.

    Have I really gone mad?

    I once thought that I didn't belong here, but, do I?

    I'm sure if I was standing in another patient's point of view and saw me like this, I would cringe and thank the heavens that this girl is locked up in a mental institution rather than on the streets.