MINE by Casey Kelleher

Author:Casey Kelleher [Kelleher, Casey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Light floods the room.

The sudden brightness makes Rebecca squint as she lies there for a few seconds, before finally opening her eyes and staring up at the ceiling.

It takes her a few seconds to gather her bearings. To remember that she’s not at home.

She’s not alone. There’s an unfamiliar noise in the room.

Footsteps.

Then the gravelly sound of someone clearing their throat before they speak.

‘Good morning, Rebecca. Did you sleep okay?’

Rebecca turns her head, eyeing the nurse stood at the end of her bed, smiling down at her.

She winces as she recalls the chaos of last night, as fragmented images flash inside her head.

It comes back to her all at once. She’s in a psychiatric unit. Jamie left her here.

Part of her still can’t believe that he’d do that to her.

That he’d simply just walk away.

‘I’m Nurse Rabe, but you can call me Marlene. How are you feeling this morning?’

Rebecca stares at the nurse. She’s younger than her, and there’s a warmth to her eyes that seems genuine.

But then this is what staff at this sort of place does, isn’t it? Rebecca reminds herself. They lull you into a false sense of security. They make you believe they want to help you when really all they want to do is keep you here. Away from your own child.

Just like the nurse from last night, who admitted her. Davina. With her sharp features and her equally sharp, condescending tone.

‘Rebecca?’

‘I feel a bit better this morning. I think,’ Rebecca lies, her head still fuzzy as she sits up in the bed, realising that the nurse is staring at her. That’s she’s waiting for an answer. ‘I slept, so I guess that’s something.’

Rebecca glanced at the clock on the wall, shocked to see that it was almost 9 a.m. She must have slept right through. Her first restful bit of sleep since Ella. The irony being that as much as she needed her sleep, she didn’t want it to be like this.

A combination of complete physical and mental exhaustion, along with whatever was in that syringe.

She watches as Marlene crosses the room, fussing with the breakfast tray that she lays out on the coffee table, before she swings her legs around to get out of the bed, wincing at the pain in her side. She remembers how she was pressed to the ground when the nurses restrained her.

Another memory then, of Jamie walking away.

Ella.

She needs to get home. Soon.

‘Rebecca?’

The nurse is still talking, she realises and she tries to concentrate on her words, trying to pretend that the room isn’t spinning slightly off its axis, that her skin isn’t prickled with fear underneath the layer of newly formed perspiration, that her hands aren’t shaking.

‘I said that’s good to hear! That you slept. I always feel better after a few hours sleep.’

Marlene is chatting away as she arranges the food on the tray for her. ‘I’ve got you some breakfast here. Most important meal of the day, they say. Funny old saying, because if

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.