Get Better

• Chloe Brown, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2016

I can hear the hall clock from my room. It’s a faint tick, tick, tick as the second hand circles around. I try to ignore it.

(TICK, TICK, TICK.)

Maura will be here soon. She told me she has the morning shift today.

(MAURA DOESN’T LIKE YOU.)

I think I am Maura’s favourite patient.
I can hear Bradley begin his usual rendition of Here Comes the Sun.

(YOU HATE HIM.)

It is time to get up. We don’t have alarm clocks here. Just alarms.
My door squeals a little when I open it.

(RIP IT OFF THE HINGES.)

I curl my fingers into my palms and release a breath. Maura told me to stay calm and I won’t have to be here much longer.

(WHERE WOULD YOU GO?)

I don’t know how I feel about that. I think I’d miss Maura.

(SHE WOULDN’T EVEN NOTICE YOU ARE GONE.)

Breakfast is mostly uneventful and we line up for our medication.

(THEY ARE POISONING YOU!)

They watch you swallow and (FORCE) you to open your mouth prove it. The pills make my mind quiet, which I like.

When I enter the bathroom to wash up, I keep my eyes closed.
(I don’t like the mirrors. They remind me too much of myself.)

Maura is here. I can hear her Scottish accent coming from the nurses’ station as I leave the bathroom and blink open my eyes again. I smile.

She sits with me and we colour for a while. Reds, blues, greens lined up in a neat row. I don’t even feel like snapping the pencils.
(Except maybe a little.)

Lydia starts screaming so Maura has to go.
(I wish Lydia would shut up.)

I follow the growing crowd into the bleak courtyard to see what’s happening. One of the male nurses is calling in a Code Black and the others are trying to get Lydia restrained.

(CODE BLACK. CODE BLACK. CODE BLACK.)

I see a needle enter the space and step back, clinging to one of the rough tree trunks.
Security file in and assist with pinning her down. They are huge. Muscles as immense as mountains.

(I wish I could stab THEM.)

After they inject Lydia, I feel my heart begin to slow.
Maura is gently touching Bradley’s shoulder to comfort him.
(LET HIM GO.)

They tell us to go to our rooms for a little while.

(THEY ARE LOCKING YOU IN.)

My room feels smaller than usual.

I pace back and forth.

(KILL YOURSELF!)

What time is it?

If I concentrate I can still hear the clock outside.

(TICK, TICK, TICK.)

There’s a knock on the door.

(THEY ARE HERE TO GET YOU.)

It is Maura. She’s smiling until she sees my face.

(UGLY.)

“Vincent,” her voice is soft, “how about we get you some more meds, yeah?”

(POISON!)

She can see what they are saying.

“It will help. Do you want to get better?”

(NO.)

I nod and take them.

I don’t think I will ever get better.