Shocking Determination

They threw her like a rag doll into the padded room. The door creaking close with the sound of rust and metal. She now lay there, tired and exhausted from fighting with them. All she could do was lay there and look to the padded room that would be her home. Her mind raced though, even through the foggy hazy of fatigue.

Her minds eye could still see the backseat of the cell like car. Bars placed over the only window there. She was standing up; thrashing around, but her eyes had constantly looked out the window. She had seen a street sign, 18th street; then a left as she was tossed against the left side of the car. Then that willow tree, straight for 10 more seconds and then a right as her body lurched forward towards that end of the car.

She groaned as she tried to think, wanting it to be be fresh. Over and over she played the ride back in her mind. She counted the seconds between the turns and straights, letting the images of what she saw from the window be her markers. She never stopped playing it over in her mind until sleep finally took her. Only then did her mind finally rest and end the ongoing replay she had created.

It was early morning when the sound of the slow creaking door woke her. She had felt like she had only slept for a couple hours when they came tearing into the room for her, dragging her by her feet. As she was pulled from the padded room, her head came down with a thunk onto the concrete hallway. She thrashed as they dragged her, only stopping once she was on her back.

It took a moment for her head to clear from the thrashing on the hard floor, but as it did her eyes went to wandering the hallway. It was eerie and dark, and only a few lights littered the hallway. It gave off a sense of constant nightfall and darkness. She let her body go calm as her eyes wandered, looking to the other doors that were around. Her eyes fell upon the doctor, her gaze becoming dark as each of their eyes meet. "Oh, calm now are we? Do you expect being good now will help? Or is this the other personality coming through? No matter, your treatment begins this morning. Hope you got plenty of rest young one." His eyes looked away from her own, and her eyes began to wander around the hallway once again.

27 one thousand, 28 one thousand, 29 one thousand; she was counting in her mind. The hallway couldn't be endless, and she was about to know how far it went. 49....right turn. They quickly dragged her, her whole body turning as they entered into an already open doored room. She could hear as the door slammed shut behind them. She blinked as the lights came on; so many lights here.

She let her eyes adjust as they dropped her legs and lifted her small body from the ground. They plopped her into a chair stripping her of the straight jacket and putting her in new restraints. She tugged at them for a moment, but quickly realized it was useless to struggle against them. She instead looked around the room as her eyes finally were able to take it in.

The room was well lit, everything being able to be seen here. There were needles not far from her right, but no liquid in them. They were old and rusty, and didn't look like the ones she had seen when she got shots. Her eyes shot over to the left, seeing more restraints and gags. They were cloth and rubber looking in material and looked just as worn and old as the needles. Just before her was the doctor and the door, a wide area of space between her and them. Why so far away if she was being restrained?

She went to tilt her head, but it was quickly snapped back into place as two massive hands from the attendants began to strap a head piece over her crown. She shook her head trying to keep them from finishing their duties, but found herself having a neck restraint being put in place as soon as she had. They grabbed at one of the rubbed gags over on her left, and prying her mouth open before shoving it between her teeth and strapping it around the back of her head.

The attendants soon moved away, giving a hand signal she had not seen before as the doctor nodded to them. "Everyone please clear away from the patient and stay within the safety limit." Just as he finished his words, he made his way over to a switch. He gave a devilish smile to her before flipping it down.

Her whole body shot with pain as her ears filled with the crackling sound of electricity. Her hands tightening around the arms of the chair as her head thrashed back and her body jerked. Her teeth clenched into the rubber gag as she tried to cry out in agonizing pain. It was like daggers were being dragged upon her skin as the electricity shot through her body. Her eyes couldn't stay open as they closed so tightly they were going collapse in on themselves.

As quickly as it began, the pain had went away with the sound. She fell limp in the chair as her whole vision blurred. She waved her head around slowly as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Her heart felt like it would explode. The last thing she caught was sight of the doctor approaching her and mouthing something unheard to her; just before her mind went blank and her world went black.

She was not sure how long she had been out, but she had awoken again to the padded room. Her whole body ached and her mind was heavy and fogged over. She had been placed in the straight jacket once more, and made it difficult for her to try and rise up onto her feet. She swayed from side to side, falling into the padded wall with a soft thud. She groaned as she tried to hold herself up, trying to push through the pain. But she found herself soon back on the floor, too tired to keep standing. She let herself rest there as she lay on her side, moaning pitifully from the pain that still stung at her skin.

It seemed like hours before her door was opened again and food was brought to her. It was a thick liquid, greenish in color and rancid smelling. They force fed her before leaving her there and closing the door once more. The rest of her day was left in the darkness; silent and still.

This same routine went on for weeks. First was the dragging down the hall, then the electricity, followed by the endless darkness and foggy mind, then feeding and lastly silent darkness. She was getting use to how much time was in between this moment of nothingness and being dragged out; now fully awake and readying herself to be taken away. Like normal her door opened, revealing the dimmed lit hallway. However, a new face was there. A young woman, dressed in heels and a nice dress suit stood there smiling back at her. The two attendants by her side.

"They tell me your a stubborn one. I brought these guys just in case you decided not to come willingly. But I don't think you need that do you?" Makaila paused as she looked to her, not sure what to do. She finally just nodded as she pushed her back against the wall to leverage herself up and then slowly walked towards her. The woman smiled to her, moving out of the way to allow her access to the hall.

Makaila peered out at first, waiting for the trickery or dragging to begin, but when nothing happened, she simply stepped out and stood there looking around. "Good good! That's progress. Now follow me." The woman turned and began to walk, only pausing until Makaila had begun to follow. Silently they made their way, the only sound was the clicking of her annoying heels. She eyed the hall as she took it all in, counting once more as they went. Her eyes catching a familiar light in the distance as they turned down a different hall; 19 one thousand.

They finally stopped at a door, the woman opening it to her and letting her inside. It was a simple room, nothing but two chairs, a table and a pad of paper with a pencil there. The door was left open as they both sat down and the woman picked up the pencil with a smile. "Ok, so who am I speaking with today?" The woman seemed genuinely curious about this, as if she didn't know who Makaila was.

Makaila looked to her with a raised brow and frowned. She wasn't sure what to say, so she simply told the woman her name. "Makaila White....that's my name." The woman looked to her and smiled politely as she wrote down the name. "Is there any other names you prefer? I have heard some of them such as Izzy, and Mak." Makaila just looked to her blinking, her head tilted to the side with confusion. She was just Makaila, could she really be anything else. She became bored of the conversation and let her eyes wander.

"Oh, do you like the room? Kinda open is it not?" The room was in fact open, nothing but them, the table and the paper and pencil this woman held. Nothing was on the walls giving it a hollow feel as she sat there. She shrugged the best she could at the woman, before letting her gaze fall back on her with a bored expression. "Yeah, I can see how boring it can be. Do you understand why you are here?"

This question perked her interest. She shook her head no, as her eyes becoming more longing to know. She wanted to be out of here, she wanted freedom again. "Well my dear, your sick. We are trying to help you. Your family has stated that you act out and become different people. That when you do, you hurt animals and now your mother." There was a silence behind the last words that sank in, the image of her mother dead on the floor beneath her filling her mind. A cold and pleased smile slowly formed on her face as she looked to the woman, finally speaking. "My mother didn't understand. I just wanted out of the corner. All she had to do was let me out." The woman went to jotting down notes again as Makaila spoke, seeming like she was not paying any attention to what she was really saying. Makaila's mind shifted as she glared at her, slamming her body into the table. "Your not listening!!" The woman was started and sat straight up, looking to the child and the outburst. "Makaila? No this is someone else. What's your name?" Makaila growled at her, thrashing wildly in her chair and knocking the table around. "YOU STILL ARE NOT LISTENING!!!"

The woman sighed as she realized this was going to go no where and waved at the two attendants at the door. They came in, dragging Makaila from the room and down the hallway once more. She thrashed about down the hall, howling and screaming as they went. "YOU ARE ALL NOT LISTENING! LET ME GO! LET ME OUT!!! NOOOO!!!" They threw her into the padded cell once more, slamming the door with a loud bang. She banged and bounced off the walls, still screaming at the tops of her lungs. "I WILL MAKE YOU ALL LISTEN! YOU WILL HEAR ME!!"

She continued on for hours, finally dropping to the floor and huffing from exhaustion. She mumbled to herself, as voices started to fill her head. She hadn't heard them before, and yet they sounded so familiar to her. They lulled her to sleep, whispering into the darkness of her mind.