Chapter Thirty-Six
"She'll burn our horizons, make no mistake" -Muse
Silence descended upon the room after the news filled Sienna's ears. Everyone had seemed to stop their activities as they listened to Mrs. Hale's words. It took Sienna a minute to process what she'd just been told. Cured? Could it really be true? Or was this another deceit from Mrs. Hale's part?
She tried to remain as calm and emotionless as possible. She'd been lied to before and she knew what disappointment felt like. She didn't want to get her hopes up if it was some kind of test, trick or mistake.
If it was true, however, this changed everything.
'I can have a normal life', a part of her brain couldn't help but imagine all the possibilities.
Society would accept her. She could join a normal school and have friends. In the future she could maybe even start a family with someone special, with Tristan maybe, and lead a normal life. But most importantly, her parents would accept her.
Sienna heard her heart beat increase on the machine as she let her imagination run wild.
"Did you hear what I said, Sienna?" Mrs. Hale interrupted her fantasies.
"I heard," she stated. It was funny how they weren't referring to her as the patient or E-62 anymore. Now that she was cured they were using her name to address her.
"Well you don't seem very excited about the good news," she said back with an arched eyebrow.
"How can I be sure that you're not lying? Or that you haven't made a mistake? It wouldn't be the first time," she said coldly.
"I can understand why you would be doubtful. It's practically a miracle. I can show you the test results and scans from our highly trained team of doctors and researchers but somehow I don't think that would convince you. You will see in time for yourself. You'll notice how your paranoid thoughts will no longer plague your mind and how the voices in your head will no longer speak to you. Surely you must have noticed something different in the last few weeks? The medication started taking effect about a month ago. It's slow at first but once your brain assimilates it and your body adopts the medication as its own, the process is very quick." Mrs. Hale informed.
Sienna couldn't believe how she'd just admitted to giving people strange medication without their knowledge or consent and she didn't even seem to feel guilty about it. All she cared about were the results.
"I want to see the tests," Sienna said, choosing not to comment on the subject of her mental state in the last few weeks. In truth she'd actually felt a lot more stable and the voices had indeed disappeared a while back. At first she'd thought it was another stage of her insanity but then she'd realized it was in fact true. She didn't want to give Mrs. Hale any more information than what she already had though.
She would avoid revealing anything until she understood completely what was going on. She couldn't risk handing out any helpful information to these people when they still held Tristan and Ana captive. Even though it was seeming a bit confusing with the new information, in her mind they were still the enemy.
On Mrs. Hale's command, the doctor who sat by the computer rushed to their side and handed her a folder. Mrs. Hale looked it over before passing it on to Sienna.
She took a deep breath and revealed its contents.
The reports were several pages long and everything was typed in very small lettering. It was a bit difficult to read but Sienna didn't care. She had to know what was in these files.
Her name and last name were at the heading of the page followed by her picture, basic information like age, physical description, date of admittance to the Institute, blood type and her condition. These were all things she knew. What really stood out to her was the word next to Current Status which read CURED in big bold letters.
She continued to read. The reports dated all the way back to day 1 of her admittance. Her sessions with Mr. Teer, the 'counselor', were in there too, comments made from names she recognized as her teachers who seemed to be more like researchers, charts showing her activity pattern, different dozes of medication administered and reactions among other things. There was too much information for Sienna to read it all but she got a better idea of what the Institute had been doing exactly these past few months with all the students.
The charts, comments, mental state chart and everything else really did seem to show her improvement all the way up until being cured with the last dose of medication they had tried on her a month ago. The evidence was right there in front of her and even though she had noticed a change in her, she still found it hard to believe.
She had so many questions.
She closed the file and handed it back to Mrs. Hale not knowing how to feel about everything. She didn't know who to trust and who to believe. Whose side was she supposed to be on?
"Do you see now how amazing this is? I don't know if you realize but with this new discovery we can cure thousands of people who suffer from mental diseases. Sienna you've been a huge part of our research and we've finally succeeded. I'm sure you have lots of questions for me but first I would like to explain everything to you. I can sense you are still doubtful about some things and I can understand that completely seeing as you were lead to believe something else thanks to the influence of Dr. Lucian Bellicose. Please come with me," Mrs. Hale stated, looking pleased for the first time ever.
Sienna got up from the reclined patient's chair and followed her out of the room. They went down a long corridor where several scientist and doctors passed them. Many of them greeted Mrs. Hale but Sienna was shocked to find that many of them also greeted Sienna by her name! How did they know her?
"You are quite famous here at the research Institute. You are one of the first patients of your kind to test positive to the medication, after all. This is what all these people along with myself have been working on for years," Mrs. Hale told her as if reading her mind.
Sienna was surprised at the news but remained quiet.
They entered a more private room that looked like an office, Mrs. Hale's probably.
"Take a seat, please," Mrs. Hale said as she sat on the other side of the black metal desk. This room was colder than any other, Sienna noticed as she shivered a bit.
The room was small, meticulously organized and practical. There were no pictures of family or anything that gave any indication of the person's personality like trinkets or decorations. All the furniture was black and white. A big computer was set up on the desk, a few books and papers scattered and a cup with three pens and a pencil.
"I know that you must have a very negative perception of the Institute seeing as you've probably been told bad things from Tristan and Dr. Lucian Bellicose but I think after you understand what I'm about to tell you, your point of view will change. I think I should start by telling you how this Institute came to be and then explain to you what it is that we actually do here," Mrs. Hale paused to gauge her reaction.
"Oak Wood Research Institute was created in 1984 by myself and Mr. Wood, Nathaniel's father. We started this institute with one purpose in mind and that was to eradicate mental illness form the world. We knew it would take years to accomplish and lots of tremendous work, research and patience but we knew how important the cause was. Mr. Wood and I had both seen on a personal level the severe effects a mental illness could have on a person's life and their loved ones around them. My husband also suffered from a Psychotic disorder, Schizophrenia to be exact, so I know what you've been through. It is one of the hardest mental disorders to cure, so we knew that if we succeeded in curing this, we could cure anything.
The problem was that back then technology wasn't as advanced as it is these days and medical research was more limited. We hadn't gotten to this point yet and so it was very hard to find patients and diagnose them accurately. When we finally succeeded in finding the right patients to experiment on, we were getting quite far when the government found out, didn't like it because we weren't giving them enough money to let us continue and so they shut us down.
But we didn't stop there. The cause was too important to simply give up on. Years later Mr. Wood had the magnificent idea to reopen the research Institute but this time under the pretense of a boarding school. We made the media and the government believe it was an elite school for kids with special talents when really we were simply seeking kids with severe mental illnesses. By then we'd figured out how to get sufficient funding and now the government finally left us alone after we presented a generous check at the oval office. We built this place from the ground up, we acquired a sufficient amount of patients and we found the best doctors and researchers who shared our goal with us, to cure the world of mental illnesses.
Everything was going well but we weren't making much progress. Everything was happening too slowly and we knew we would have to present some results soon if we wanted to keep our funding. Companies don't invest if they don't see the results at some point.
That was when we found Dr. Lucian Bellicose. He was a genius. With the help of our resources and team of researchers he achieved in only two years what we couldn't achieve in over twenty years. He developed a medication that cured patients in only three months' time. It was very successful. Things were going marvelous. All we needed was to finish testing it out on patients with different kinds of diseases for three months and then wait to be sure that the results would last. After all we did have mishaps in the past with patients who we thought were cured and then it turned out that it was only temporary.
So we waited until our doctors were able to conclude the tests positively. We were anxious to release the results out into the scientific and medical community and then to the world. I don't have to explain to you how our success would've changed the world. The time was almost up and the doctors and scientists were ready to conclude the experiment when something went terribly wrong with two of our 'cured' patients. Our results had showed that their bodies had adjusted very well to the medication but one night something changed. Both patients had a mental chemical imbalance and committed suicide. We found their lifeless bodies the next morning.
I was so upset. All our hard work down the drain again. We thought we'd finally achieved it only to have it smacked right in our faces. Dr. Lucian was devastated. He blamed himself for the tragic way in which the patient's lives ended and ever since then he hasn't been stable. The patients' death affected him greatly. We protected him from the law though and we continued our research but he was never the same man again. One positive thing that did result from all of this was that Dr. Lucian grew more dedicated to his work. He was obsessed. He worked day and night on a new formula for the medication. We were starting to lose hope when he finally came up with something that changed everything. He found a new way to administer the medication which the body assimilated much better. He figured out a new way to administer the medication to the patients and that was through the food. He also adjusted the medication until we started to get results. The thing was that we were running out of patients. But when the new batch of patients came in this semester we saw the perfect opportunity to test it out.
That was when you and the rest of the group arrived at O.W. You were the new test group. Everyone was excited to see the results unfold. It was a slow process at first but then the results started kicking in, some of the new patients had very mild metal diseases and so they assimilated the medication at a quicker pace, others had more severe problems and it took their minds and bodies more time to respond. But only one patient had managed to be successfully cured from Schizophrenia, and that was you, Sienna. You've changed everything. Because of your results we are now certain of the effectiveness of the medication. We can now guarantee that it works because if we can cure Schizophrenia, we can cure anything. We've finally accomplished our goal and we can now safely begin our mission to eradicate mental illness from our world. It is truly magnificent," Mrs. Hale concluded her speech.
Sienna was shocked but things finally started to make sense. She'd been confused for so long as to what was really happening at the school. it was a strange feeling to finally understand after so many doubts and questions, like being under water where all sounds were drowned out and then finally coming up for air and hearing everything clearly.
"I know this is a lot to process but I hope I have cleared up most of your doubts and suspicions. We are not the bad ones here, as you can now see. Do you have any questions?" Mrs. Hale asked her.
It was crazy how after everything the lady had said, Sienna was only concerned about one thing, really.
"Yes and I would appreciate your honesty. I know it is not professional to discuss patients with other patients," Sienna used the term 'patients' uncomfortably "but I need to know about Tristan. You once told me to stay away from him because he was diagnosed with a mental illness but I want to know if it's true. Is he really sick or did you just tell me that so I would stay away from him? Because I have spent so much time with him and I haven't noticed it. He seems quite normal to me. How did he end up here?" Sienna finally asks the question that has been itching at her since the day Tristan gave her the school record file of herself.
Mrs. Hale sighed and looked away for a moment, seeming to be contemplating something.
"Sometimes the truth hurts us more than it helps us, Sienna," Mrs. Hale warned her in a sad tone.
"Please. I really need to know," she pleaded sounding desperate this time.
"Fine. If it is really that important to you, so be it. I guess it is only fair I tell you the truth after all you've done for us. I told you about Tristan because I was worried he would affect your mental stability. I know he brings up lots of emotions in you, both good and bad ones, and when patients are being treated for mental diseases it is important that they are constantly surrounded by a stable, relaxed and controlled environment. I didn't want anything to interfere with your healing process and that is why I said what I said to you. However, Tristan Bellicose does indeed suffer from mental illnesses. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder," Mrs. Hale stated as a matter of fact.
"Bipolar disorder," Sienna repeated to herself. "But you said illnesses, as if there was more than one," she noted with dread.
"Yes, that is because Tristan also suffers from mild intermittent explosive disorder. The condition is characterized by failure to resist aggressive impulses, resulting in serious assaults, property destruction, or frequent verbal aggression in the form of temper tantrums. That was also why I was concerned with you spending so much time with him. He may care about you but he can't help the things he does when he suffers from one of his episodes or 'attacks' of IED.
Tristan had a severe attack of IED one night and destroyed a convenience store. The police arrested him and they sent him to juvie but when they realized his mental disorder was to blame, they decided to transfer him to a mental institution. His father then managed to transfer him here. That also explains what happened on his first days here when he lost his temper and had the fight with Nathaniel in the school hall. I was afraid he would hurt you if you accidentally provoked him in some way. He would feel terrible afterwards and regret it but the damage would have been done. I was trying to protect you from the physical as well as the emotional pain that might have emerged. We care about all our patients here at the OW Research Institute," Mrs. Hale said.
Intermittent explosive disorder? Sienna never would've guessed that. Thinking back though she found that she could recall a few times when Tristan had acted strangely as if he'd experienced mood swings every now and then and now things were starting to click into place. She was surprised nonetheless. She always thought he was the normal one in their relationship and that she was the severely flawed one. Now it turned out they were both flawed.
Unless Sienna really had been cured. But then if she had been cured could that mean that Tristan would be cured too?
She voiced her questions.
"Well Sienna, that is not the end of the story. There is one more important thing I must tell you about Tristan. The medication only cures patients who were born with the mental condition. Tristan is a different case. See, after his father, Dr. Lucian Bellicose, failed the first time with his attempt to develop a new medication, he became unstable and obsessed when the patients killed themselves. He blamed himself. Shortly after that, and now I don't know if this was purely the result of him feeling like he deserved to be punished for his involvement with the patient's deaths or if it was simply a product of his instability, he decided he needed to know the effects of the medication he had developed on sane minds.
You can imagine it was not easy to legally find willing sane patients to test on, it was hard enough to find insane minds to experiment with, and so one day he grew very desperate and tested the medication on his son, Tristan. Tristan had been a normal boy up until that time. He'd never showed any signs of insanity. I had met him several times before. Tristan was a child back then and he didn't know what his father was doing. So after Tristan unknowingly endured the treatment for diseased patients, we started to see the change in him. It was slow at first but then it progressed until we realized the medication had done the exact opposite, it had driven a sane mind crazy. That was how we learned about the effects on the medication on sane minds and that was how Tristan eventually ended up here."
A/N: The secrets are finally coming out. What do you think of Mrs. Hale's revelation? Is Sienna really cured? Are you surprised about Tristan? What do you think will happen next?
By the way the song for the chapter is Sunburn by the band Muse. This is the piano cover for the song but the lyrics of the original one remind me of Mrs. Hale a lot.
Only a few more chapters to go!
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