Withering Bones by Karli Rush

Author:Karli Rush [Rush, Karli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RushBoundPress
Published: 2019-12-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter fourteen

Dr. Reid places his elbows over his desk, his hands still threaded together but propped under his chin. He looks like a spectator monitoring my every move. Inside, I’m screaming no, no, no. No! The small edge of his mouth curves upward and I have no idea if it’s his usual leer or a new-found, malevolent smile. He takes in a breath and informs me, “It’s apparent, Mary, your condition has worsened.” He calmly motions for me to give the journal back. I slide it across his desk, and he captures it with the palm of his hand. Smacking it down like a piddly bug. “You’re unresponsive to the plunge baths, to the medications, and of course, this journal tells me it’s time to embark on a new treatment for you. I’m going to have you transferred to a more private establishment. When I have everything properly prepared there, I’ll send one of the orderlies to come get you. Nod your head if you understand, Mary.”

I chew on my lower lip to keep it from trembling, I nod. My heart clings to my bones, pounding and hammering out of control. He can’t make me leave here. Why would he take me somewhere else? Dr. Reid stands abruptly, and dumps my journal in the trash, he’s about to say something else to me, but Nurse Stella knocks on the door. “Come in, Stella. I need you to take Mary back to her room. Clean up any books, papers, any writing utensils of any sort.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Stella promptly replies.

He pierces his soulless eyes at me and states, “No more journal for you, Mary. It’s a shame, but don’t fret. We’ll purge the illness from you.” Nurse Stella heaves my body up and steers us toward the office door. By the time we arrive to my room, two other nurses launch into alleviating the room of anything. I’m left with a bed. If the toilet and sink wasn’t tightly bolted down they would have taken them too. I have no way of knowing now the days or months, my time here will be lost.

I curl up on my bed, tuck my knees close to me and conjure up images of Ollie in my head. He’s my only foothold in this rickety world. Every smile he offered me, every beat of his heart proved to me that he’s real, he’s not some cooked-up notion. He can’t be, or else, I’m just as batty as everyone else here.

Sometime during the night, I’m awakened by a rustling under my door. A shadow passes and then a plastic bag slips below the door. I quietly ease myself up, trying to make out what’s inside the bag. Goosebumps cover my skin as I bite my thumbnail restlessly, I sit tight, waiting for something to move inside it. A clang echoes grimly through the low-lit hall and I chalk it up to the rusty old pipes. A detached groan soon begins serenading with the pipes as the shadow walks by again.

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