Sinister Tales

Asylum

He nodded his head, unsure of where this was heading. "Yeah?"

"Since you're already dressed for the part of the hero," She motioned to his police uniform then called attention to her hospital gown, "and I'm in costume for the patient."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I thought I would make your time with me more exciting. So I made up a game where I'd put myself in a dangerous situation and you'd have to save me. I didn't jump so you win. But if that was a real situation with an actual jumper, they probably would've taken the plunge because you seem like you'd be a bad negotiator." She giggled.

"Something is wrong with you." He mumbled then called for a nurse into the room to fix the IV since she ripped out the last one.

Maria didn't remember much after that, only the slight conversation she had with a detective as he entered the room to question her.

"Why is she cuffed?" The detective asked the officer posted at the door.

"She tried to jump out of the window." He said sheepishly.

"And why would you do that?" The detective turned to Maria.

Maria looked at the officer, "Ask him."

The detective's attention was now on the officer again. "Why?"

"Because I didn't talk to her and she wanted to play a game." The detective shot him a questioning look and he shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what to say next.

She remembered at one point, another uniformed official coming into her room, telling her she could leave the hospital, but she'd be put in an asylum, the home of the mentally ill.

Maria kicked and screamed on the way out, shouting the same words, "I want to go home to my new family!" Her disobedience caused her to be escorted by a police officer, the same one who watched her in her hospital room.

Now here she was. Sent to Parchwood Institution, where she was roomed with a redhead who snored throughout the whole night or constantly talked in her sleep, making it impossible for Maria to fall asleep. A part of her thought she could take a pillow and smother her with it, but she'd rather not get in more trouble than she already is.

You'll be spending the rest of your days in Parchwood. She remembered someone telling her that before they forced her out of the hospital.

Maria couldn't find sleep the first night there and woke up, dragging herself out of the bed to brush her hair and teeth in the bathroom with an unbreakable brush and toothbrush.

After the staff was done taking the blood pressure of everyone in the wing of the floor she was on and given their medication, they were brought out into the cafeteria for breakfast. She stayed to herself, eating her food in peace while others did the same. There was one girl who refused her food and threw it away as soon as she got it. After breakfast, they were taken to what the called The Common Room.

Maria sat on a chair, staring off at nothing, thinking of wanting to go back home. With Lucas, James, and all the others.

"I'm Alyssa." The girl she roomed with sat next to her, speaking to her.

"Maria." She introduced herself.

"I'm in here because I murdered a girl." The abruptness shocked Maria and she didn't know what to think about it. She knew she was no better, she had murdered her own parents, but she would never go around and say it to just anyone. "Her name was Janie. She got me busted for drugs and I had to get her back. You want to know the best part?"