I'm editing this chapter and I'm working on the tension. Tell me if you'd keep reading and if not then tell me why. Just tell me what you think about it. Thanks!
Ronin heard the beeping of the keypad outside her locked room. The nurse would be entering and she would be ready to scream and fight if something out of the ordinary happened. She clinched her fists under her covers and waited. The real nurse had a routine, and she would see if she kept to it.
“Good morning,” said the nurse with a bright smile as she opened the door and walked over to her. Ronin said nothing as she kept her eyes firmly on the nurse. “I have breakfast for you.” The nurse raised the portable counter and put the breakfast tray on it. She whipped the tray toward the patient’s chest, still smiling her sunny smile. “Do you wanna watch TV?” The nurse picked the remote control off the floor and started flipping through the channels until she came to a PG-rated movie, and then sat the remote by the Ronin’s hand.
Relief went through Ronin’s body as her muscles relaxed. The nurse was predictable and confident she was still human.
“I’ll check on you later when it’s time for your medicine.” The nurse left, waiting for the click of the door before she walked down the hall.
Ronin took the tray and flung it across the room where it crashed against the colorful stained wall and made a rattling noise as it fell to the floor, the juice spilling everywhere. She took the remote, turned off the TV, and then tossed it on the floor beside the bed. She stared at the walls and ceiling where the TV hung high, comfortable in the silence. Silence was great because it meant no one was there to kill her for what she had done two years earlier.
“Get off me!” screamed a woman’s voice. The commotion from the halls seeped through the thin walls as if they were in the room fighting. Ronin listened as nurses struggled to get the patient under control as she shouted obscenities at them. Thumps against the wall reverberated to Ronin’s bed as she tossed and turned trying to get the sounds out of her head. What if the patient was one of them and trying to break into her room? Objects smashed into the floor as the shouting got louder and more voices were heard. Grunts flowed softly through the door, and then sudden silence followed by heavy breathing. The patient had been subdued. The hospital had seen the best and worst of people, and sometimes exacerbated the worst in them.
When someone got out of control it became a wrestling match to see who could get the upper-hand, and the heavy, bulky nurses always won – even the women. The patient was usually subdued with hand enclosures, taken to their room, and strapped to their bed. Ronin knew this all too well when it happened to her once when she tried to run for the exit. Since then she had been on her best behavior and had been a model patient.
She got up and looked out the doubled-enforced window. Her view overlooked the courtyard where patients and nurses were smoking and talking. Below her was the hospital’s Leisure Room where patients spent personal time enjoying the company of others, including hospital staff. She kept telling herself that no alien in its right mind would want to spend a day living with these people. That thought always gave her satisfaction to carry on with her day.
She watched as Jonny Rooker sat by himself on a bench by a tree rocking back and forth and talking to himself as usual. She let out a soft chuckle as she thought about Jonny’s nickname – Rockin’ Rooker.
A few feet from Jonny, Louise and Gabrielle played their daily hand of poker for snack coupons that were given to patients for good behavior. When Louise lost, she became angry and threw the cards on the ground, and Louise was losing the game. She pounded her fist on the table and shouted at Gabrielle, her eyebrows sloping downward, intensifying her already tense features. In a few moments she would end the game the only way she knew how.
Ronin heard the beeping of the keypad outside her locked room. The nurse would be entering and she would be ready to scream and fight if something out of the ordinary happened. She clinched her fists under her covers and waited. The real nurse had a routine, and she would see if she kept to it.
“Good morning,” said the nurse with a bright smile as she opened the door and walked over to her. Ronin said nothing as she kept her eyes firmly on the nurse. “I have breakfast for you.” The nurse raised the portable counter and put the breakfast tray on it. She whipped the tray toward the patient’s chest, still smiling her sunny smile. “Do you wanna watch TV?” The nurse picked the remote control off the floor and started flipping through the channels until she came to a PG-rated movie, and then sat the remote by the Ronin’s hand.
Relief went through Ronin’s body as her muscles relaxed. The nurse was predictable and confident she was still human.
“I’ll check on you later when it’s time for your medicine.” The nurse left, waiting for the click of the door before she walked down the hall.
Ronin took the tray and flung it across the room where it crashed against the colorful stained wall and made a rattling noise as it fell to the floor, the juice spilling everywhere. She took the remote, turned off the TV, and then tossed it on the floor beside the bed. She stared at the walls and ceiling where the TV hung high, comfortable in the silence. Silence was great because it meant no one was there to kill her for what she had done two years earlier.
“Get off me!” screamed a woman’s voice. The commotion from the halls seeped through the thin walls as if they were in the room fighting. Ronin listened as nurses struggled to get the patient under control as she shouted obscenities at them. Thumps against the wall reverberated to Ronin’s bed as she tossed and turned trying to get the sounds out of her head. What if the patient was one of them and trying to break into her room? Objects smashed into the floor as the shouting got louder and more voices were heard. Grunts flowed softly through the door, and then sudden silence followed by heavy breathing. The patient had been subdued. The hospital had seen the best and worst of people, and sometimes exacerbated the worst in them.
When someone got out of control it became a wrestling match to see who could get the upper-hand, and the heavy, bulky nurses always won – even the women. The patient was usually subdued with hand enclosures, taken to their room, and strapped to their bed. Ronin knew this all too well when it happened to her once when she tried to run for the exit. Since then she had been on her best behavior and had been a model patient.
She got up and looked out the doubled-enforced window. Her view overlooked the courtyard where patients and nurses were smoking and talking. Below her was the hospital’s Leisure Room where patients spent personal time enjoying the company of others, including hospital staff. She kept telling herself that no alien in its right mind would want to spend a day living with these people. That thought always gave her satisfaction to carry on with her day.
She watched as Jonny Rooker sat by himself on a bench by a tree rocking back and forth and talking to himself as usual. She let out a soft chuckle as she thought about Jonny’s nickname – Rockin’ Rooker.
A few feet from Jonny, Louise and Gabrielle played their daily hand of poker for snack coupons that were given to patients for good behavior. When Louise lost, she became angry and threw the cards on the ground, and Louise was losing the game. She pounded her fist on the table and shouted at Gabrielle, her eyebrows sloping downward, intensifying her already tense features. In a few moments she would end the game the only way she knew how.