Chapter 1
Blood. Thick, red liquid. It is thicker than water and more powerful than anything else in the world. I could feel the thick liquid trailing down my face, I refused to open my eyes.
I knew this dream all too well, my worst nightmare was on the other side of my eyelids and hiding from it was the only way I could survive the nights.
“Wake up, medicine time!” a familiar rough voice broke through the darkness and light shot through my eyelids blinding me.
Kirk, the head warden, woke me up first before the other patients. He was tall and tanned. His hair was slicked back in a fifties hairstyle, like John Travolta’s hair in the film Grease. Kirks personality was like his hair, slimy, and because he was in charge no one questioned him or reported him when he started on one of his patients. I was one of his favourites, he enjoyed playing mind games with me, using physical force to give me medication and bringing up the accident that led me to being a permanent resident at Phoenix Wings Mental Hospital.
Phoenix Wings Mental Hospital was an institution where majority of the patients are put here to be forgotten about. The British government don’t care for what happens here no matter no vile and wrong the punishments and treatments are. Just goes to show how corrupt and selfish the government has become.
This morning Kirk had pinned me to my bed before I had any time to react. The overpowering stench of his cologne churned my stomach, bile rising in my throat. He brandished a needle full of clear liquid and drove it into my neck.
“See you in the day room” Kirk chuckled, spit flying from his mouth and onto my face as he climbed off of me.
As soon as the door closed behind the ogre of a man, I used the light blue blanket to wipe the saliva from my face; silently praying it was shower day. It was easy to lose track of time in a place like this. The walls were all white as was the ceiling, the floor was grey. The furniture was a lighter grey than the floor, if I ever left this place I will never have white walls again.
The day room was no different it had white walls and grey floors, the only difference was the coloured chairs and tables. There were many different people in this hospital, some who are meant to be here and some who aren’t. My father put me in here, he blamed me for the accident which killed my mother and pays Kirk to lie about my behaviour.
I wasn’t the only one put in here under false pretences, some of the patients are criminals who pleaded insanity or those who have had small emotional breakdowns that were mistaken for mental illness.
Today was my twenty first birthday, just another day in the large room drawing on my sketch pad while being monitored by the guards in case I use the pencil as a weapon.
Visiting time came around after we were giving our lunch, seeing the other patients getting called to be taken to their guests was the hardest time for me, I never had a guest come to see me in all the years I have been here.
“Alexi, you have a visitor in a private room” Nurse Amanda called out to me with a smile on her face. Excitement and anxiety bubbled up within me, it couldn’t be my father but who else could it be.
I followed Amanda through the door and down the hallway to one of the private meeting rooms. Once I was seated awaiting my guest in the quite room Amanda assured me my guest would be in shortly.
A young woman walked into the room. She looked to be around my age with golden blonde hair artfully tied on top of her head, leaving ringlets of gold cascading down the side of her face. Her grey eyes shone and her skin was a flawless white which seemed to glow against her navy blue suit.
“Hello Alexi, my name is Alyssa Hale Frost” she sat in the chair opposite me with a warm smile.
“Are you a long lost relative?” I felt myself beginning to sweat as I straightened in my seat.
“You could say that, I will explain later” she had a voice that I could only describe as light as a feather. “First we have to get you out of this dreadful place.”
“How? My father will stop you” My leg began to shake under the table.
“Haven’t the nurses told you?” Alyssa’s brows drew together and a frown pulled at her lips. I sat and watched her, waiting for her answer. “I’m sorry that I have to tell you this, but your father passed away about a week ago.”
“How did he pass away?” I know it sounds terrible but I couldn’t help feel like a weight had been lifted from my chest.
“He had a heart attack I believe” Alyssa was studying me, “you now own all of his fortune, unfortunately he left his home to his gold digging girlfriend but the money is all yours.”
“What should I do when I get out of here?” I mused to myself as I felt myself relax.
“That is the next thing I wanted to talk to you about, I wanted to ask you to move to the town I live in and it’s called Starwood” Alyssa began, folding her hands in front of her. “it has a forest on one side of the town and the seaside on the other side, though it isn’t a major tourist spot.”
“That sounds ideal” I felt myself smile for the first time in years, “I don’t do well in crowds.”
“Great, now that we have everything planned I will go fill out your discharge forms and we will start heading back to Starwood” Alyssa stood with ease and left the room.
Alyssa seemed to be a woman of very few words and she looked as if she was fascinated by everything.
