No Escape

Shania sat hunched over, weeping hard as Lauren gently massaged her shoulder, wishing she could gather the girl in her arms and hold her tight. Better yet, she wished she could scoop her up and bust out of the place with her, then do a lot more after that. Shania finally lifted her head. It hurt Lauren to see the tears that reddened her lovely eyes. “Elizabeth once told me, ignore the little problems and they’ll usually go away, but if you ignore the big ones, they just get bigger. Well, since I’m not ignoring this very big problem of mine, why is it getting bigger and bigger by the day?” Shania asked desperately. “Just hang in there,” Lauren cooed with encouragement. Shania shook her head. “I don’t think I can make it much longer, Lauren. I’m either going to crack up completely or kill myself.” Her voice shook with emotional hysteria and turmoil. Lauren’s eyes widened in alarm. “No, Shania, you won’t. And don’t let anyone else hear you talk like that.” “But Lauren,” Shania protested, “I’m waiting for an opportunity that never comes.” “It will, sweetie, it will.” Shania studied Lauren, whose dark eyes blazed with a mixture of tenderness, empathy, and... love? Could it be? Could it really be? “I just don’t feel like I have a damn bit of reason to live.” Lauren, still hunched over as well, elbows on knees, said, “At the risk of sounding selfish, if you can’t live for yourself, then how about living as a favor to me?” Shania, who had turned to gaze blindly out the window, glanced back at Lauren. An expression of desperation seemed to take over the therapist’s features. Reluctantly, Shania nodded. Then a flood of new emotions came over her, which she sensed that Lauren could sense as well. Trying to keep her voice steady and her shyness in check, she said, “You know, I’ve never really met anyone quite like you. You’re pretty special.” A warm smile parted Lauren’s lips. “Why, thank you, ma’am. I can say the same about you.” Shania smiled too, ever so slightly. “Really?” Lauren nodded, still full of emotion, yet determined to remain professional. She was still Shania’s therapist, and any unprofessional acts, she knew, could jeopardize the future greatly. Shania met with Lauren again the next day, only this time they sat at a table in the courtyard. They had both agreed that it would be best to do this periodically, so it would not appear that Lauren was favoring Shania over the other patients. “This way,” Lauren had told Shania, “you can stay with me when you get out without casting suspicion upon me in any way that could end up drawing the authorities to my place.” “That makes sense,” Shania agreed. Again, Lauren sat gazing at Shania with the same overly concerned and affectionate expression she hoped no one else would notice. “Did you know that your hair changes colors in the sunlight?” Lauren asked. “No.” “It does. It’s light brown indoors and dark blond outdoors.” “Interesting,” Shania said, then glanced around the courtyard as if suddenly aware of their surroundings. That was when she spotted her again. “Don’t look behind you just yet,” Shania said in a hushed tone. Lauren’s brows furrowed with curiosity as she watched Shania observe someone’s movements. “See the blond coming around behind me that looks like she could star in some cheap porno flick?” Shania asked. Lauren’s ebony eyes shifted. “Quinn?” Shania nodded. “What about her?” “She’s been acting rather strange.” “How?” Shania shrugged. “It’s like she’s following me around and keeping a close eye on me. Any reason you can think of as to why she’d do that?” Lauren shook her head. “No. Why? Has she done this before?” “No. I’ve only seen her a couple of times so far. I think she’s new here.” “She’s not that new. She actually started four or five months ago. She just transferred from the adolescent ward, is all.” “How long have you been here?” “Two years.” Shania digested Lauren’s words, then anxiety began to sweep across her soft features. “What is it?” “What if they transfer you out of here? Could they do that?” “They could, but I don’t see why they would, because I’m in other areas so much of the time as it is. That’s why I’m not always here. If I’m not here, I’m usually somewhere else within the place.” “I thought each ward had its own therapist.” Lauren shrugged. “I guess it’s a matter of funding. You can cut your budget with just one therapist per shift. Besides, not every patient wants to or will at least agree to be seen in a private session. They’d rather blend into groups, so to speak, and just do group therapy. That way, they don’t have to face their problems like they would have to with the attention being focused solely on them. Know what I mean?” Shania nodded. “Yes, I get it.” Quinn continued to scrutinize the two women. Later on, at dinnertime in the cafeteria, Shania saw that the young blond was still glancing nervously at her from time to time, though she pretended not to notice. After dinner, she and Barbie settled in bed to read and write letters. The blond gazed in at her more often than the staff usually did. “What is it with her?” Shania finally asked with growing curiosity. “With whom?” asked Barbie, looking up from her book. “Quinn. You know, the young blond chick who started working over here?” “Oh. Yeah, I know who she is. What about her?” “She’s been watching me all night.” Barbie shrugged, then turned away, too engrossed in her book to care. Ten minutes later, Quinn reappeared to remind Barbie that Lauren was waiting to see her in her office for their session. Barbie reluctantly put down her book. “Aw, shucks! Now? I was just getting to the good part. The one where Harry proposes to Harriet.” Shania and Quinn chuckled as Barbie stepped into her slippers. “After you,” she said to Quinn. “It’s okay,” Quinn told her. “You can head on down yourself.” “You sure?” Quinn nodded, and Barbie was gone. Shania wasted no time in settling her curiosity. “So why the close eye, Quinn?” she asked. When Quinn turned back to face her, chills ran up and down her spine at what she saw. The young woman’s expression had changed so dramatically in just a few short seconds that she wasn’t even sure it was the same person. Quinn, now brimming with red-hot hatred, slowly came towards Shania. “What’s going on?” Shania asked shakily. “Shut up,” Quinn hissed through bared teeth. “Just shut up!” “What? Why in the world are you…” Quinn’s hand abruptly cut her off as it snaked out with lightning speed to slap her across the face. At first, Shania was too stunned to react, then she said, “What the fuck did you do that for?” “You’re making his life hell,” Quinn growled, glancing warily towards the door. It was obvious that she didn’t want to be seen assaulting her. “And hers, too.” Again, she lashed out, slapping her other cheek. Now past the initial shock, Shania was ready to fight back. She lunged at the wild-eyed Quinn with as much force as she could muster, nearly toppling the busty blond backward. The two began to shriek madly at each other. “How dare you put your hands on me!” Shania screamed as Quinn began to scream for help. She fisted Quinn in the face as hard as she could, though oddly enough, Quinn did nothing to defend herself despite the fact that she was considerably bigger. She was around Lauren’s height of five-seven, though not as slender. Perhaps size didn’t always matter when one was as angry and determined as she was. Seconds later, a handful of staff members appeared. Two of them dove at Shania and pulled the screaming girl away from Quinn, whose face was now swelling with puffy red and bluish bruises. “How dare you hit me!” Shania continued to shriek over and over as they led her down to an isolation room. Once they got the struggling girl into the room, they slammed and locked the door just as Lauren and Barbie came down the hall, hurrying towards the commotion. “Yes, you did,” Lauren saw Larisa insist further up the corridor by Shania’s room. “I’m tired of looking the other way and pretending all is fine here. You did smack her, Quinn. I saw you do it!” “Okay, let’s settle down now,” a male staff member told her. “Settle down, my ass! I’m sick of all the shit that goes on around here, and I’m not going to be afraid to say so anymore. Quinn really did hit Shania!” “Oh, my God,” Lauren said in a barely audible moan. “How odd,” said Barbie. “What do you mean?” Lauren asked, snapping her head towards her. “Shania said that Quinn was watching her like a hawk and following her around the place.” Larisa continued her verbal attack on Quinn, despite the growing number of staff members surrounding her. “I heard you tell her she was making someone’s life hell. Then you said, ‘and hers, too.’ That’s when you slapped her. You did it twice. I saw it all! Shania was only defending herself by hitting you back, and now she’s going down for it, while it’s all your fault. They should fire your sorry ass!” “Enough!” said the same staff member in a more commanding tone of voice before he threatened her with an isolation room of her own. “Go ahead,” Larisa challenged. “I’m isolated no matter where I go in this hellhole anyway, so what difference would it make!” Knowing it was pointless to argue the matter any further, the small girl spun on her heel and stormed down the corridor. Lauren approached the group of staff members as Quinn turned and fled towards the staff’s break room. She hated to draw attention that connected her and Shania, but she was tired of simply standing by in silence herself. It was time to speak up, no matter how much she was considered an outcast for doing so, since it was a common rule that staff members protected and stood up for their own, just as members of a police force tended to do with one another. If anyone needed someone on her side at the moment, it was Shania. “Hey, listen, guys,” she said as several heads turned her way. “I hate to break it to you, but Shania did inform me earlier that Quinn was indeed behaving rather strangely.” “How?” asked Cathy. “By following her around and watching her intently.” The staff members gazed curiously at one another. Then, true to her defensive nature and despite how much of a rookie Quinn was, a mousy-looking staff member spoke up with certainty in her voice. “I’m sure she must’ve had a reason to do so.” “But what could that be?” Cathy chimed in. “Shania hasn’t been a problem lately, and if she was suspicious or concerned about her, why didn’t she tell the other staff?” “I don’t know, but it makes you wonder what her relationship is to the good Doctor Hoffritz, doesn’t it?” Lauren questioned aloud. “It also makes you wonder if perhaps Shania and Larisa really might be telling the truth.” With that, she left the group to stand in silent contemplation as she turned and headed back to her office. Once she entered the office, she sat down in her chair and pondered the situation. Should she confront Hoffritz and Quinn? Or would that only jeopardize Shania’s chance of escape as well as her job? She wasn’t sure about her job, though Hoffritz certainly had enough power over her. He could fire her at will if he chose to and make future employment nearly impossible. As for Shania, if her suspicions were correct, Hoffritz had somehow gotten to the young and impressionable Quinn and convinced her to provoke the attack so that he would have a legit excuse to confine Shania for a longer period of time. This meant that Shania just might not get the chance to escape after all, just as she had been fearing.