Post by seonedevinian on Aug 17, 2005 4:38:07 GMT -5
here's a necessary chapter; kind of a segway to Jane regaining her confidence, but not necessarily her sanity. i'm not too sure about it, so let me know. Crane's not in this one; currently, he's plotting his path to extremity, if you get my meaning.
ahem.
ahem.
~fate sets forth an angel~
The spiral downward quickened.
Jane’s residence was moved, with shocking speed and efficiency, to the maximum security ward. It was lucky, she supposed, that she didn’t have any personal belongings here. It ensured that they had little more to take away.
She watched it all from a distance. After her incident – a term now used not to describe the attack on her, but her attack on the doctor – her world became a hazy far-off dream. It had to stay that way, because if she let the real world affect her, she’d surely lose herself for good. Dr. Crane was curiously unafraid of her; she would have thought she’d have a new doctor by now. Anyone else would have run into the night after being bitten by a patient; not, she realized, that he was really her doctor. She looked at him with a bitterness now, having learned a great deal of his character in the space of that hour or so. He wasn’t her doctor; he was her demon.
Her new room had bars on an even smaller window set into an even heavier door. There was some kind of electronic lock to it; she didn’t catch the details, in her sedated daze. The common room became a fond memory of relative freedom. One did not make friends in the Max ward. It was hard to connect underground.
The passage of time became something Jane didn’t trust herself to judge with any accuracy; by her best guess, about another week had passed before she met Angie.
Seven – possibly seven – days of almost constant isolation; a lonely white room, meals delivered with a notable lack of cutlery. A daily fifteen-minute break from herself outside; an ironic idea, as there was rarely another person in the segregated yard at the same time as her. It was an unnecessary vacation; for the first few days, she had no memory of anything outside her room anyway. On the fifth day (or thereabout), she remembered enough of the previous excursion to look forward to staring at the sky and pretending she was somewhere else.
On the sixth day, God introduced a confidant.
It was the first time she’d seen her; shockingly enough, another young woman of similar age stood staring at her as if she were on fire. Jane thought she would have noticed this sooner. Just as she tentatively started across the narrow yard to speak to the stranger, a tap on her shoulder told her that her time was up. Oh, well. Probably just a figment of your imagination, judging by the way things are going.
As fortune would have it, the other girl was no more imaginary than Jane feared her entire life was likely to be. They were allowed to meet each other in the hall on their way back to their rooms. As their own personal orderlies distracted themselves with idle chatter, the girl swayed close to Jane, whispering into her ear.
“You’re her, huh? The biter.”
Jane looked at her in surprise. “How do you know me?” she said carefully.
The girl smiled; it seemed sincere, though they were in a mental hospital. “Oh, we’ve heard about you down here. You got Crane. Or he got you.” She shrugged. “It’s hard not to fall into his trap, once he figures you out. I’m Angie.”
Jane nodded, still wary. “Jane. How do you…hear things, down here?”
Angie smiled again; this time, it was a little darker. “I got more; you want to hear it?”
Jane agreed without any real thought; but, the time had come for them to part.
“I’m next to you”, Angie hissed, inexplicably, as her orderly walked her down the hall and around the corner. Jane considered questioning her own man about it; unlikely that it would get her anything other than more ‘therapy’. She hadn’t seen Crane in almost a week. A day without the doctor was a day without terror, she’d learned.
The man locked her in for the day, and she felt as if she were being sealed her into her tomb. Nothing to do now but wait for night to come; and wonder, as always, if Dr. Crane would reach her first.
The spiral downward quickened.
Jane’s residence was moved, with shocking speed and efficiency, to the maximum security ward. It was lucky, she supposed, that she didn’t have any personal belongings here. It ensured that they had little more to take away.
She watched it all from a distance. After her incident – a term now used not to describe the attack on her, but her attack on the doctor – her world became a hazy far-off dream. It had to stay that way, because if she let the real world affect her, she’d surely lose herself for good. Dr. Crane was curiously unafraid of her; she would have thought she’d have a new doctor by now. Anyone else would have run into the night after being bitten by a patient; not, she realized, that he was really her doctor. She looked at him with a bitterness now, having learned a great deal of his character in the space of that hour or so. He wasn’t her doctor; he was her demon.
Her new room had bars on an even smaller window set into an even heavier door. There was some kind of electronic lock to it; she didn’t catch the details, in her sedated daze. The common room became a fond memory of relative freedom. One did not make friends in the Max ward. It was hard to connect underground.
The passage of time became something Jane didn’t trust herself to judge with any accuracy; by her best guess, about another week had passed before she met Angie.
Seven – possibly seven – days of almost constant isolation; a lonely white room, meals delivered with a notable lack of cutlery. A daily fifteen-minute break from herself outside; an ironic idea, as there was rarely another person in the segregated yard at the same time as her. It was an unnecessary vacation; for the first few days, she had no memory of anything outside her room anyway. On the fifth day (or thereabout), she remembered enough of the previous excursion to look forward to staring at the sky and pretending she was somewhere else.
On the sixth day, God introduced a confidant.
It was the first time she’d seen her; shockingly enough, another young woman of similar age stood staring at her as if she were on fire. Jane thought she would have noticed this sooner. Just as she tentatively started across the narrow yard to speak to the stranger, a tap on her shoulder told her that her time was up. Oh, well. Probably just a figment of your imagination, judging by the way things are going.
As fortune would have it, the other girl was no more imaginary than Jane feared her entire life was likely to be. They were allowed to meet each other in the hall on their way back to their rooms. As their own personal orderlies distracted themselves with idle chatter, the girl swayed close to Jane, whispering into her ear.
“You’re her, huh? The biter.”
Jane looked at her in surprise. “How do you know me?” she said carefully.
The girl smiled; it seemed sincere, though they were in a mental hospital. “Oh, we’ve heard about you down here. You got Crane. Or he got you.” She shrugged. “It’s hard not to fall into his trap, once he figures you out. I’m Angie.”
Jane nodded, still wary. “Jane. How do you…hear things, down here?”
Angie smiled again; this time, it was a little darker. “I got more; you want to hear it?”
Jane agreed without any real thought; but, the time had come for them to part.
“I’m next to you”, Angie hissed, inexplicably, as her orderly walked her down the hall and around the corner. Jane considered questioning her own man about it; unlikely that it would get her anything other than more ‘therapy’. She hadn’t seen Crane in almost a week. A day without the doctor was a day without terror, she’d learned.
The man locked her in for the day, and she felt as if she were being sealed her into her tomb. Nothing to do now but wait for night to come; and wonder, as always, if Dr. Crane would reach her first.