I'm Not Insane

Chapter 1 - Hospital

09 November 2022

Marianna's POV

"Marianna... Marianna... MARIANNA!" I heard a soft, unfamiliar voice calling out to me. I blinked before slowly focusing my vision on the person calling my name. It was a young brunette woman.

"You're back," she smiled, "you were dissociated for quite some time just then."

I tried to sit up, groaning softly as I realised that I was restrained. I was laying in a bed, and my arms and legs were tied down. There was a harsh white light shining down on me. I allowed my eyes to adjust to the brightness before taking a second to look at my surroundings. I was in what appeared to be a hospital room. A tall man who was wearing a suit was standing by the door. He made a quick note in the book he was holding before looking up at me. He had fluffy black hair and gave off a calming vibe.

"Marianna, you're safe... there's no need to cry..." the man spoke softly, gazing in my direction. It was only once he said it that i felt the tears rolling down my cheeks. "The nurse can take the restraints off you if you promise not to try anything." I sighed and nodded gently. The man redirected his gaze towards the nurse who then removed the restraints.

Dr Vencifer's POV

I observed Marianna closely as the nurse removed the restraints. I offered the nurse a polite smile before she exited the room.

"Who... who are you? Where am I? What happened?" Marianna demanded as she sat up on her bed.

"Marianna, I'm Dr Vencifer, your assigned psychiatrist here at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital" I began. "You're here because you seriously hurt yourself."

Marianna remained quiet as I slowly made my way towards her. It was clear that she was still coming to terms with the fact that she had been caught. "When can I leave?" she inquired. "I want to go home... let me go home."

I sighed softly at her before continuing. "Marianna, you will need to stay here for a little while."

"No... I don't want to..." she stuttered anxiously. "Let me go home."

"Unfortunately you don't get a say in this decision," I sighed, "you've been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and you won't be able to leave until I've decided that you are no longer a danger to yourself." Marianna looked down at her lap while wiping the tears from her face. "Now as part of your assessment here, a nurse will need to complete a prior self harm and injury check on you just as a precaution."

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" she screamed before backing away, "FUCK YOU, GET AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE!" I had already read into her past patient records and found that she had a long history of sexual abuse and rape, so I expected this sort of reaction from her.

"Marianna, I can see you're feeling quite a bit anxious at the moment so we can wait until tomorrow and revisit this then. We don't have to do it now, I'm happy to give you some time," I began calmly. "Now I've already reviewed your records and I've noticed that you haven't been prescribed any medication for your mental health before, so I'd like to trial you on 30mg of Citalopram while you're here to see how you go with it."

Marianna began fidgeting anxiously, playing with her hands. She was refusing to look at me so I sighed softly, "I'll call a nurse to show you to your room."

Marianna's POV

Dr Vencifer left without saying another word. I looked outside my room and saw that he was talking to a nurse and two security guards. He briefly looked back at me before walking off.

----- 10 minutes later -----

The nurse entered the room after a few minutes had passed and smiled gently at me. "You must be Marianna, I'll be showing you to your room. Once we get there, you can have a shower and get changed into some clean clothes."

She helped me off the bed and motioned for me to go with her. I followed closely behind and noticed that the two security guards were also escorting us. I sighed softly to myself and began making mental notes of my surroundings. I noticed that we appeared to be in a secluded section of the ward we were in. After walking for some time, we came to a main desk. I looked around and saw that there was a locked set of doors that lead outside, and another set of doors on the other side of the office that appeared to lead deeper into the ward we were in.

The nurse signed some forms before scanning a special key card against the other set of doors. I gasped softly as the doors unlocked. "I'll need to get one of those if I'm ever going to get out of here," I thought to myself defeatedly.

We walked down a long, empty corridor before arriving at a second set of doors. The nurse scanned the special key card again and we entered into the second corridor. The nurse led me to a small bedroom before handing me a pair of clean underwear, a pair of long blue pants and a plain blue t-shirt. She motioned towards a sliding door that was positioned across from the bed. "Your bathroom is through there," she began, "go have a quick shower, change into these clothes and I'll take your old clothes when you're done." I nodded gently.

I showered and did as she said with the clothing. The new clothes felt soft and comforting, which I liked. The nurse smiled up at me when I exited the bathroom. "You should get some rest now, you've had a long day and it's getting quite late," she said softly before exiting the room and locking the door behind her. I sighed and climbed into bed, where I laid for what seemed like eternity before eventually falling into a deep slumber.