10 November 2022
Marianna's POV
"Marianna, it's 8:00am... it's time for breakfast and I have your medication," I heard as I was woken by a nurse gently shaking me. I let out a soft groan before opening my eyes, slowly taking in my surroundings. The nurse was holding a cup of water and a pill.
"Great, it wasn't a dream and I'm still stuck here," I thought to myself. I sighed with frustration and sat up in my bed.
The nurse extended her arms to hand me the cup of water and pill as I looked up at her catiously. "Dr Vencifer added this to your medication chart after you went to bed. It's 30mg of Citalopram," she explained calmly. I slowly reached over and took the pill from her, placing it in my mouth before downing it with the cup of water. She smiled softly, "I need you to open your mouth so I can see that you swallowed it." I looked at her weirdly but did as she said. "Lets go to the cafeteria, you need to eat."
"Can you give me a minute?" I asked. The nurse gave me an odd look. "I just need some alone time is all." She sighed and nodded before taking the emply cup and exiting the bedroom.
I slowly climbed out of my bed and walked over to check out the view from the only window in my room. I sighed in disappointment as I realised that it was an enclosed courtyard. A tall brick wall divided the courtyard from the outside world. I could see a thick treeline in the near distance on the other side of the brick wall.
----- 15 minutes later -----
After a few minutes had passed, I began aimlessly making my way down the corridor in hopes of finding the cafeteria. As I wandered down the empty corridor, I noticed a small piece of plastic that was on the floor. I looked around cautiously before approaching it, praying it was one of the key cards for the doors.
"BINGO!" I thought to myself as I realised that it was in fact a staff key card, "this must've fallen off one of the staff members uniforms or something." I quickly picked it up and tucked it into my pants before continuing my mission of searching for the cafeteria.
----- 5 minutes later -----
After arriving at the cafeteria, I quietly made my way over to a staff member who was handing out food trays to patients. The staff member smiled at me before handing me a tray of food. It had two slices of toast, one boiled egg, a bowl of dry cereal, a cup of water and some cutlery. I sighed before turning around and making my way to a table located in the far corner of the cafeteria.
After taking my seat at the small, empty table, I looked around to take in my surroundings. There were a few nurses and security guards pacing around the room, keeping watchful eyes on the other patients. I sighed softly to myself, realising that escaping from this place would be difficult due to the fact that I'd be severely outnumbered. I gently rested my head in my hand as I began dragging my spoon through the dry cereal.
Dr Vencifer's POV
I sighed softly as I finished reviewing Marianna's patient file. I knew the nurse I spoke to last night more than likely wouldn't have been able to complete the prior self harm and injury check on Marianna due to the combination of her long history of sexual abuse and rape, her severe level of anxiety surrounding the idea of this particular check, and the overall fragility of her headspace.
I noticed that the patients would all be in the cafeteria at the moment because it was time for breakfast. I climbed out of my office chair and began making my way towards the cafeteria, hoping to catch up with Marianna to check in and figure out how her current headspace was.
Marianna's POV
"I thought I'd find you here Marianna," I heard a calm, soothing voice say. I looked up and saw that it was Dr Vencifer, the psychiatrist I spoke to last night. I offered him a half-assed smile before looking back down and continuing to play with my bowl of dry cereal.
"I hope you slept well. The nurse still needs to complete your prior self harm and injury check," Dr Vencifer began cautiously, "I'd like for that to be done before lunchtime today." I gently shook my head no. He clearly already knew my history and was well aware that I wasn't comfortable with anyone seeing me in my underwear.
"I know you don't like the idea of it but it's mandatory, Marianna... I can put in a request so that only a female nurse is able to complete it," he suggested, "we can also give you some medication to help you feel more relaxed during the process if you think that might help." I sighed before slowly pushing my tray of food away from me. I folded my arms and leaned over to rest my head on the table.
Dr Vencifer's POV
I was considering telling Marianna about what would need to happen if she didn't willingly allow the staff to complete the prior self harm and injury check process when I was suddenly interrupted by one of the nurses, Amy.
"Dr Vencifer, I need to talk to you privately... it's urgent," she whispered while ushering me to follow her, "it's about my key card." I said goodbye to Marianna and quickly followed Amy out of the cafeteria.
"What's wrong with your key card?" I questioned.
"It's missing... it must've fallen off my uniform and I can't find it anywhere," she responded with a worried tone, "I'm afraid one of the patients might've picked it up."
"Okay Amy, here's what needs to happen..." I replied calmly, "if you haven't done so already, you need to alert all other staff members on this floor. I will alert head office and security. From there, we should be able to find out if a patient has taken your key card."
"Will do, thanks Dr Vencifer," she said. With that, I rushed off to alert the head office staff and security.
YOU ARE READING
I'm Not Insane
Fanfiction'I'm Not Insane' tells the story of Marianna, a 17 year old girl who is surrendered by her parents to a secure psychiatric facility following a recent suicide attempt. Will she be able to escape, or will she become attached to her new psychiatrist? ...
