The Drifter

Carla was lying in bed facing the wall and banging her wrist repeatedly against it. She was unaware of the man sat across the bed reading a book, this continued for a while. "Are you done attempting to break your wrist or is this a whole night thing", Gabe said sarcastically, looking up at her from his book. "Who knows, if I bang hard enough I’ll break through the wall and escape", Carla replied as she looked over her shoulder. "What are you doing here?". She asked him as he smiled. "Come here", Gabe calls her over to him. She slowly moves towards him, resting her head on his arm. Feeling bored, restless and now forced to be present. Carla wished he would break her out already, that was their deal after all. Gabe looks at her with impatience, he hated her low moods and wallowing. Through the passed few months he enjoyed her company and watching her mess with the wardens. Gabe encouraged her reckless behavior, however crazy she was he still preferred it instead of this pity party. "You want to have some fun?", he asked. "Sure, we burning the place down?", Carla replied vacantly looking at him. Gabe laughed, he knew she was half serious about it. "Not tonight". Suddenly he grabs hold of the heavily bruised wrist she was banging on the wall to look at it closely, he could see the blue and purple patterns that looked like watercolor on paper . Carla tried pulling her arm away but he held a tight grip. "You need to cut this crap out now". Gabe said in a serious tone, piercing her with his brown eyes. "Why do you care?", Carla blurted out defensively then meeting his gaze for a moment she looked away. "Not like it"s my choice to wear those cuff restraints, you promised I"d be out by now", Carla said quietly, trying to mask her irritation. She frowned not wanting to look at him, for some reason he was the only guy that could read her. "Look at me", Gabe spoke with authority, as if to a child. "You want me to get you out of here, right?". Carla nodded "Of course I do, I’ve already done what you asked me to! I got you those files and the pills, that was the deal-", Carla was interrupted by Gabe holding her face softly. "Yes it was, but when I get out you need to blend in. People will take one look at your arms and get suspicious. I told you before I don"t like it", he said, wiping a tear away from her eye. "Ok, fine", Carla sighed, she felt too sad to argue any further and buried her face on his chest. It was a hard thing to agree on but she was desperate to go. The place was hell and she needed to escape somehow. Carla loved him in spite of herself, more than her previous warden. Unlike her last one they weren’t romantic, though he was like gasoline to her chaotic fire. Gabe started off as a distraction, helping her mess with the nurses and doctors but he taught her things that she never thought was possible. Magic tricks, he called himself the Trickster. Carla thought he was crazier than she was and after a month or so their games got gradually more intense and she became more attached to him. She was also scared by what he could do and how he could see her when no one else could. One thing was sure, he wasn’t human. "You"re playful side is your best side, remember" he said as Carla lied still, silently letting tears stain through his shirt. "You’ll be out of here by tomorrow I promise, kiddo", Gabe said stroking her hair. He was gonna miss this but the game was almost over. The next day... Screaming and laughter spread throughout the asylum as strong and forceful as the fire that took over parts of the ward. Patients running around, breaking everything and wrestling with the wardens. Complete anarchy took over the ward and in the middle was Carla. She thrived in the chaos and after drugging the nurses, setting fire to the curtains, Carla let the other patients out of the rooms and riled them up. It wasn"t long until the riot was in full swing. She saw Gabe starring at her from end of the hallway. He was smiling watching her wrestling with an orderly. Carla grabbed a bat off the floor and knocked him over the head, then ran over to Gabe. Her eyes were magnetic as she smiled back at him, her heart racing and her body rushed with adrenaline. "Not bad. You tied the doctors up like I said? Good, about time they learned they"re not in control", Gabe looked at her, taking her in for the last time. They both knew this was goodbye. "Take me with you", she said, impulsively. "I can’t, you know this. You don’t need me just go", Gabe replied holding her chin and stroking her lips with his thumb. "Remember what I taught you". Carla replied "Always". He kissed her as she closed her eyes, the chaos around her and smell of fire added to the euphoria of the moment. Being close to him, especially now that they were going separate ways, she wanted to hold on to that feeling. There was a loud bang coming from the entrance of the ward that made her snap back to the present. She turned towards it and saw a squad of police reinforcements and wardens swarming in and trying to take control of the riot. Carla turned back to find that he had disappeared. Panicking slightly she realized it was now time to go. Running into a room, she broke a window and climbed out. No time to think about anything, she started to sprint to the hospital gates at the same time trying to avoid being seen by the wardens, policemen and firemen. Carla managed to climb over the tall gates and continued to run through the trees, feeling a stitch on her stomach she ignored it and tried to find the main road. All of a sudden a hand grabbed her shoulder. "I found one!", the man yelled keeping a grip on Carla. She turned around and punched his nose to get rid of his hold. I came too far to be taken back now, she thought. As she carried on running there were four other footsteps closing in behind her. Carla felt two sets of hands reach her. She fought as hard as she could but it was no use with more wardens joining, they had her. One of the men took out a needle and inserted it in her arm. As the screams became distant and colors started to blur, all feeling from her muscles and body were fading and Carla blacked out. --------------------------------------------------------------- The room was bright, it took a while for her eyes to adjust as Carla tried to make sense of where they taken her. "Would you like some water?", a soft voice spoke from the corner of the room. It was a middle-aged doctor sat with an open file on his lap. He analyzed Carla intently. Sighing, she turned to face towards him "Where am I?". "Where do you think you are?", the Doctor asked. "Hell", Carla said feeling numb, she looked down and saw the restraints on her arms and ankles. She didn’t have to take in the surroundings to realize she was back in a hospital again. The sedative they gave her was so strong she was just coming around. "You’ve had a pretty eventful few days. Starting a riot, setting fire to the ward. Were you trying to kill everyone?", the Doctor asked her as she closed her eyes and had flash backs of what happened that night. All she wanted to remember was Gabe, Carla wondered where he was now."Thankfully no one was seriously injured and the building is still there. Though you’re banned from it", Carla burst out laughing. The idea of being banned from the place she was trying to escape was deliciously ironic. The doctor stopped talking and starred at her with a curious expression. "So I"m not in the ward anymore?", asked Carla with a husky voice from someone who hasn’t spoken in a while. "No, you are at Bensert hospital high max ward. All parties agreed it was the best decision for the safety of the patients and for your own". This was serious bad news, most people that went to this ward didn’t come back. Carla was realizing the trouble she was in. "My name is Dr. Manssuni, you’ll be in my care here. I want you to talk to me and let me help you", the doctor spoke softly and waited for her to respond. There was a long pause as Carla kept her gaze forward on her bound and achy body. "I was trying to escape. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I don’t belong here. I’m not crazy, that place was making me crazy. I just want to be free". The doctor took in what she said and turned a page on the file. "You hurt yourself more than you hurt the people around you. This freedom you speak of, I can help you get it but you will have to cooperate and realize that your actions have consequences. It took three grown men to restrain you, we had to sedate you to move you here. I’ve read your file carefully and I must warn you that behaving the way you have previously will be met with heavy force", the doctor spoke and Carla recognized the threat he was making. She smiled at him trying to mask her contempt and replied sarcastically."I’ll behave doc". "Glad to hear, for your own sake", he smiled back, getting up to let the warden in and introduced them. "Excuse me I have other patients to see, I’ll you get some rest and will check back with you tomorrow. I hope in time you can trust me and think of me as a friend", the doctor said exiting the room. The warden walked up to the head of the bed where Carla could see his face close to hers. "I hope you think of me as a friend too", he said with a grim smile and his eyes turning from blue to full black. He put his hand on her neck and gave it a tight squeeze then moved it lower on her breasts. Carla became very still, terrified. She was fixated on his black eyes. How can they be real, maybe she was really losing her mind. The man chuckled, moving his hand back to her neck. "You’re a brave little kitten, aren’t you. I’ll have fun breaking you. What’s the matter sweetheart, you like my pretty black eyes?", he asked her. Carla could see the evil and malice in him as she never seen in anybody before. Then remembered she was taught to never show fear. "Are you the devil?", she asked him without breaking eye contact. "You"ll find out soon enough...", he replied. Suddenly the door opened and a nurse came in, the warden quickly moved his hand away and his eyes flash back to normal blue. They exchanged pleasantries and he left the room. The nurse checked her pulse, "My goodness your heart rate is very high. It will be okay hon, you will settle in soon. Do you want me to give you something to help you sleep?", the nurse addressed her with kindness. Carla just nodded with tears swelling up in her eyes, too freaked out to do anything. She needed to sleep off this nightmare. Though the lump in the back of her throat told her it had just begun.. Carla woke up to see the Doctor standing over the bed, she was sweating cold and by what she could tell had been tossing and turning in her sleep. "It’s okay, you were having a bad dream", he said holding her shaking hand. "Please take these off me", she moved her wrists. The doctor thought for a second and decide to undo the wrist restraints. Carla sat up and felt the tears coming down her face. He put his arm on her back. "Do you remember what you were dreaming about?", the Doctor asked as she just shook her head not wanting to think about it. "You were screaming about black eyes and demons. Who is this Gabe?", he asked. Hearing his name Carla froze. "Nobody. I want a new warden", she replied. "You don’t get to pick and choose here Carla, can you give me a valid reason?", he asked her. She could see the evil man standing by the door. "He squeezed my neck and felt me up when you left", Carla said glaring at him, frightened. He laughed and responded "Oh come on doctor, you know I would never do that. Why are you making this up?". "I have known him for over 20 years Carla, not once has he been accused of any assault. Though he was telling me how you were suggesting he help you escape for s****l favors", the doctor said with a concerned expression. Carla could not believe what was happening. "He’s lying! Evil f*****g asshole, get him away from me!", she had to do something this couldn’t be happening. Carla grabbed a needle from the doctor’s jacket and cut deep on her arm knowing they would put her in seclusion for it. The doctor shouted for assistance and the room filled with wardens and soon Carla blacked out again. She woke up lying on her side, it felt soft, padded. Her plan worked. The restraints were gone and she could feel the marshmallow-like walls, but she couldn’t stand up. What did they give me? She wondered as she heard the door open and the doctor came in and sat opposite her. "How are you feeling?", he asked her. Carla looked at him with a surly expression, she wasn’t in the mood to talk. "Sedated, my legs feel like jelly", she replied. "Yes, that will go away in a while. I was asking about you. This isn’t the first time you hurt yourself", the doctor stated. He was starting to piss her off, but Carla realized she had to give him some story to play along with. "I want you to help me, doc. I don’t want to feel like this anymore", she looked at him with sad eyes. "That warden scares me, his eyes were black when he grabbed me. I wasn’t lying about it, he’s evil. There’s something twisted about him". The doctor shook his head slowly and replied. "Carla, you hallucinated. Though I can’t imagine you scared of anyone". She placed her hand on the bandage where the deep cut was bleeding through a little. There was truth to what she was saying, though unlikely that anyone would believe her. "I’m going to alter your medication", the doctor started talking but she stopped listening and focused on her thoughts that went to Gabe. Thinking of him made her feel safe, she remembered all the things he taught her and knew she’d get out some way. --------------------------------------------------------------- He grabbed her hair and pinned her to the wall while she cried out in pain, this wasn’t unusual to see. Carla watched wishing she could stop it, wishing she could do something to help the poor girl being the monster’s victim. She couldn’t move without revealing her hiding place. Up in the vents of the building, Carla found a refuge from the cruel treatment that went on at the high max ward. She learned how to move fast and how to disappear from the wardens. To trick the nurses into thinking she took the pills when she stashed them safely away. After the first week of fighting back with them and feeling physically broken, Carla put everything she knew to good use. At night time she explored the vents of where it could lead to, though some nights she was in wrestling matches with the monster. "You’re too much fun, darling", he’d say with a nasty smile and she drew blood from his arm. He lunged her across the room and she hit her head on the wall. Dizzy and without thinking she touched her head where she was bleeding out and started drawing on the wall. Carla drew until she fell unconscious. That night she had an unusual dream. She was walking down the ward corridor wearing a blanket over head, following a beam of light. There was no one around, Carla knew it was a dream but went along with it out of curiosity. The light led up to the vents, she followed as it took her a route she never been before in real life. It went passed the nurse’s station to Dr Manssuni’s office and stopped by his window. Carla saw the light leading through the window and out of the building. She followed and saw there was a blind spot where the cameras couldn’t capture. The light became brighter and brighter till there was nothing else but light. Carla woke up on the floor with the nurse kneeling next to her gently dabbing her forehead where the blood had dripped over. "Stay still please, I’ll have you cleaned up in a jiffy. You want to tell me what you remember happening?", the nurse asked her while tending to the cut. "He threw me against the wall. Black eyes...but now there’s light", Carla replied still feeling very dizzy but a strange calm had washed over her. "Sweetie you have a concussion from hitting your head so hard. Tom told me you were having a seizure and attacked him. Then you ran into the wall and started drawing with your blood", the nurse spoke in a worried tone. She was a caring, soft woman but my god she was stupid, thought Carla. Turning her gaze at the wall she saw her drawings. Without any memory of doing them or of what they meant, she thought they looked like symbols. They interested her for many reasons but the most important one was because when she turned to look at the door, the monster was standing just behind the entrance with his eyes back to blue but his expression contorted with rage. "She’s getting worse! Maybe a lobotomy isn’t a bad idea after all", he spat. The nurse shook her head and replied,"Shush, she didn’t mean to hurt you. All done, now I have to clean the wall-", Carla sat up and fixed her gaze on the nurse. "Please let me keep it, I’ll help you clean it tomorrow". The nurse gave a kind look and nodded "Okay, but try to stay calm and I’ll have to report to the Doctor about it", she replied giving her some pills and left the room. Carla pretended to swallow and watched as the warden glared at her from the small window then walked away leaving her with a chill down her spine. Carla lied down in front of the drawings and studied them intently, thinking about what the dream meant. To her it felt like a sign, a lifeline. Smiling to herself she went back to sleep. Two days later... Carla became obsessed with the idea that someone was sending her a message, someone from a different dimension maybe. The details were blurry but for sure a fire had lit inside her. She had a purpose again and a plan. Spending the most time of two days drawing those symbols in hidden places of every room she could sneak into and avoiding the warden as much as possible. Another gruesome death happened, it was the girl he pinned to the wall a couple a days ago. Carla felt sad about it, she liked her and remembered their brief conversations. The girl was a religious fanatic and told her how she saw God and the devil. Carla never really believed in stuff like that but recently she was doubting what was real. The warden became more vicious since the incident and Carla knew she had to leave or he would kill her next. It was just after lunch and Carla sneaked up to the vents and followed the path she had seen in her dream. When reaching the doctor’s office Carla saw him walking towards the door. She waited until the office door closed and moved stealthily out of the vent and opened the window. Excitement rushed through her body as she climbed out and closed the window behind her. Carla found this escape surprisingly easy, she ran and made it over the gates without anyone seeing her. Smiling to herself, she continued to run fast. Only stopping occasionally to look back and see the asylum look like a tiny dot on the horizon.