Asylum (Part Three to Imagination)
2014 © All Rights Reserved
Maria has been caught and sent to the home of the mentally ill.
There wasn't much she remembered after being taken to the hospital, only bits and pieces. She didn't get why she was taken to the hospital, she was alive and okay. As they said, it was to be sure she was really fine. Maria remembered one of the moments she woke up, staring at the tall police officer, standing guard in the doorway for her hospital room. She was roomed alone and enjoyed the peace and quiet.
"Are you going to take me away?" Maria said sluggishly through the drugs administered to her through an IV that was stabbed into her arm. The guard ignored her and her lips pursed together angrily. "Hey! I was talking to you!"
The guard turned to her, his facial expression seeming annoyed. Then his head turned away from her, staring at the attractive nurse that passed by him.
Maria didn't know why the ignoring or non responsiveness of him made her furious, but it did. I'll show you. She said inside her head. She knew he couldn't hear her, but actions speak louder than words and she was going to make sure she was noticed.
With one hand on the IV, she sucked in a huge breath. She let it out as she ripped the IV out of her arm and took off to the window on the other side of the hospital room. As she made it to the window, it caught the guards attention. He got up quickly, but by the time he hurried over, she already had the window open. She stood in the opening of the widow, edging closer to her soon fate.
"Maria, get down here. You don't have to do this. Just take my hand." He said with a soft spoken voice.
With a crooked grin, she tilted her head at him in awe, "The mute talks." She sounded amused.
"Get down here, please." He tried to inch closer to her without her noticing, but she recognized every move he made.
"Why didn't you answer me when I spoke to you?" She asked, speaking normally as if she wasn't so close to an inevitable death. Maria's room was on the sixth story and she looked down, knowing she could splatter her remains all over the road with people watching. By now, she already gained a small audience watching her bare feet standing on the ledge.
He looked appalled at her, "I'm sorry, I was having a bad day. If you come down from there, we can talk."
Patients and nurses stood outside of the room, watching through the glass wall. Maria looked at them and flashed them a smile to which they gave an uncomfortable look.
"That's all I wanted." Maria said with a sweet smile and she hopped down from the ledge and onto the hospital floor.
The officer looked confused, but relieved as she took the step closer to him. He grabbed her and took some handcuffs from the back pocket of his pants, cuffing her to the hospital bed and securing her safety for now. He dreaded the thought if she would try something again.
"Is that really necessary?" She looked down at the shiny cuff while he went and closed the window, locking it shut.
"Yes." He responded, afraid of what would happen if he ignored her again. "It's for your safety."
"It was just a game." Maria looked at him, her dark brown eyes staring at him. The look she gave him and the way she spoke made him shift uncomfortably where he was standing.
"Trying to kill yourself isn't a game."
She shook her head, "You don't get it. You remember the game you would play as kids? The doctor game where one of you would pretend you're dying while the other one tries to save you?"
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?"
Maria was a little nervous about asking, but she did. "What?" She didn't know what this girl was capable of, but she knew she didn't want to make her angry.
"The father of the girl I killed was the one questioning me. I made him cry." She smiled at the memory. Alyssa turned to Maria, "So what are you in for?"
"Uh.." She thought about lying, but what was the point? "I killed my parents."
Alyssa gasped, "You're sick. I mean, yeah, I murdered a girl, but she wasn't related to me. Why did you kill them?"
"Killing them would bring me to my new family. My real family. I was with them for a short time until the paramedics revived me." Maria grimaced. "They took me away from my family." She couldn't find it in herself to cry, it was as if there was an on and off switch and her sadness was permanently shut off.
"You can think of us as your new family." Alyssa said with a genuine tone. "There's only one other murderer other than us. The rest of them are schizophrenics, suicidal, or just plain out not all the way there in the head. Any type of crazy, you name it and we got it. But don't let the label of mental illnesses fool you, they're all really sweet people when you get to know them." Maria looked around the room, taking notice to see all of the adults. From what she could tell, her and Alyssa were the only teenagers. Then her eyes spotted someone she didn't ever expect to see in a place like this. It was a young girl, couldn't be more than twelve years old.
Alyssa noticed Maria's interest in the girl. "She's the other murderer."
"Seriously?" Maria half expected Alyssa to burst out into laughter telling her she was just lying, but she didn't.
Alyssa gave her a serious look, "Her name is Annie. When she was eight, she killed her mother because her imaginary friend, Jasmine told her to. At least that's what I heard from eavesdropping on the staff. They love to gossip and you'll soon find out there's not much to do, so you have to find ways to entertain yourself. Even if it means listening in on other's conversations."
"Why does she sit by herself?"
"She likes to be alone. She doesn't speak so it makes it difficult for anyone to communicate with her." Alyssa explained as they stared at the young girl.
Making new friends I see. The familiar, distorted voice of Lucas was brought back to her mind.
Glee filled every inch of her body and she wanted to squeal of happiness. She wasn't angry at him for leaving her behind. He probably had his reasons. Maria would tell herself. She tried not to let Alyssa know anyone was speaking to her inside of her head because of what she would think.
Maria excused herself to the bathroom and turned on the water.
"Lucas?" She whispered out for him.
I'm here, dear child.
She smiled widely to where she thought the corner of her mouth was going to tear and cheeks would burst.
"I miss you." She cried, unsure of whether it was out of sadness or happiness. It could've been a mix of both.
We miss you too, but don't worry about that now. Everything will be okay.
"Are you going to bring me back?" Maria had so many questions, she was hopeful.
Everything will be okay.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
His voice didn't return to speak to her, just left as she was beginning to think everything was going to be fine.
"Is everything okay in there?" Alyssa asked from the other side of the door.
Maria wiped away the tears, washing and drying her face before opening the door. She was greeted with Alyssa's face. "I'm okay."
Through the rest of the day, she tried to concentrate as best as she could during group therapy and the single sessions with therapists and psychiatrists in a private room. But her mind stayed in a different place, thinking about Lucas and if he was ever going to come back for her.
It was night time and she laid in bed, wishing she would be back in the place she didn't quite understand with the caves, tunnels with lava on each side and neighborhood with one house on the street that stretched on for miles.
As she closed her eyes to go to sleep, her body felt detached from the earth, as if gravity had no say in her dreamworld. She felt herself rise and float down a tunnel of extraordinary colors. She reached her hands out to touch them. As she did, the colors would change to a different shade. From a dark, jungle green to a light, lime green. Then Maria was dropped into a dark sea of water, her drenched clothes dragging her further down until her back hit the sandy bottom of the ocean. Greying hands stuck out of the sand, wrapping themselves around Maria's body, forcing her through the sand until she felt something familiar crash against her back.
She brought herself off of the ground, eyes adjusting to the darkness of the cave. She coughed up sand that remained in her mouth.
Her heart fluttered, remembering where she was. She took off down the cave, turning into the tunnel with the lava. The lava once scared her, but now it brought joy to her. The steel door still looked the same and she opened it without hesitation.
It opened up to the neighborhood. Everything was exactly as she remembered, the scent of the grass, the chirp of the birds, even the way the trees moved with the wind.
Maria ran across the street, making her way to the house. Her eyes caught peering eyes through the windows as the curious children, teenagers and adults looked at her with smiles. She recognized one of the faces as James.
The door opened, Lucas had the same smile, but now he had happy tears in his eyes as he greeted Maria. "Welcome home, child."
Author's Note: I think this is the first third part I've done to a story so I hope you guys enjoy. I know how much you liked the first two and decided to make another.
Two days since I last posted! Record, I'm sure. :)