Miranda by Stewart Giles

Author:Stewart Giles [Giles, Stewart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Miranda

The television is on in the day room – it’s one of those dreadful, afternoon talk shows where a panel of so-called experts discusses something important and they invite opinions from the general public at the end. I don’t usually take much interest in TV, but today they’re debating on whether capital punishment ought to be reintroduced for the most violent and insane criminals. As I watch further, I realise how much the outside world has changed since I left it. Good old Great Britain is not so great anymore, and people have gone soft. At the end of the programme the overall consensus is that, instead of capital punishment, measures should be taken to rehabilitate and reintroduce these psychopaths back into the general population.

“Bullshit,” somebody shouts.

It’s Dawn. I’d been so engrossed in the show I hadn’t realised that the rest of the women in the room had also been showing a keen interest.

“The first thing I’d do if they let me out,” Dawn hasn’t finished yet. “Is find the nearest copper and slit his throat.”

“That’s enough,” Morgan warns. “One more word and there will be no more television for any of you.”

I keep quiet. I’m not going to get involved. Since I hatched my plan to leave the walls of Crowfield behind me for good, I realise I have to become inconspicuous – part of the background. I do not have a plan as such, but I’m in no rush. In my twenty-eight years on the planet I’ve learned that sometimes opportunities arise without you even looking for them.

I’ll wait.

The television is switched off as an indication it’s time for a group session. I stand up and get in line behind the other women. I turn around and realise Morgan and Jane are whispering to each other while looking in my direction. I take a deep breath and follow the rest of the patients out of the room. As I walk, I feel rather than see Morgan’s frumpish frame getting closer. She’s almost beside me now. And then I experience an excruciating pain in my side. It’s so agonising that I almost double over. Morgan has pinched me so hard that even when she stops, I can still feel her chubby fingers on my flesh. Morgan doesn’t even look at me as she marches off ahead of the line of woman, but the pain lingers right until we reach the room where the group session is being held.

Today it’s another Cognitive Behaviour Therapy session. Since I gazed through the fence next to the recreation area and decided I was getting out, I’ve thought hard about how I’m going to play it at the next CBT gig. Passive, ashamed and penitent.

I won’t lay it on so thick that they’ll smell a rat, but I’ll ease into it gently. I’ll need them all to be off guard when I finally make my move.

Dr French is already seated when we walk in. Today, it’s Lillian, Nellie, myself and a woman I haven’t seen before.

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.