Touched by Darkness

There was some commotion in the hall, but that wasn’t unusual considering where I was. Even though most of the time it seemed like the quietest psychiatric ward in the world, it couldn’t be that way all the time. Before long, the noise was growing louder, and I could hear someone saying, “You can’t be in here! No visitors in there.” The voice sounded male, but it could have been the big creepy nurse. Who knew? I just continued thumbing through one of my books, hoping the night would end. The note my parents had given me was inside it, and I put the book away quickly, not wanting to dwell on the memory of their visit. Suddenly, there was a hollow voice announcing, “Visiting hours are over! You must leave at once,” Dragging me back to reality and out of my misery. I reasoned that someone who wasn’t a nut who didn’t live here must have come to visit a nut who did live here. I was secretly envious of the other crazies for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it seemed their families were more supportive, and for another, at least they were actually crazy and didn’t know the difference. I stood up to investigate just as the door flew open. My boyfriend Gabe and Arc Angel Ryan swept into the room. The Arc Angels were the group of people who had come to help cleanse the dark spirit out of my house that summer. Ryan had kissed me while he was supposed to be removing the dark energy from me, and that kiss had caused a lot of tension between the two of them. Nevertheless, they showed up in tandem to rescue me. “Gather up her things,” Gabe told Ryan, who was quickly shoving my things into a black gym bag. He’s really here! I was shocked. He looked up at me. “Is that everything?” He flashed me a wicked smile that I would have found annoying at one time, but now I just wanted to hug them both. It took me a minute to find myself and believe they were really there, like knights in shining armor. I dashed into the bathroom to retrieve my toiletries. By the time I got back, they had ransacked every drawer and cupboard, looking for anything that might be mine. I did a quick check just to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, and when we were satisfied we had everything, I was hauled out of the room and past several angry, startled nurses. Surprisingly, even the big creepy nurse couldn’t stop us. I was sure hospital security would be waiting around the corner somewhere. The nurse who had been so kind and gentle with me was sitting in one of the chairs by the desk, just smiling—a rather odd reaction to someone escaping the cuckoos’ nest. One of the doctors, who had frequented my room but never spoke to me, was standing near her. The fact that neither one was doing anything to stop us was the weirdest part of all. We took the stairs at the back of the ward. You would think since I had done nothing but sleep and read over the past few weeks that this would be a breeze, but by the time we reached the second floor, I was seriously winded. My ribs were a little sore, and my hand was throbbing from not being elevated. Down the last two flights of stairs, Gabe and Ryan practically carried me. When we were at ground level, I was shoved into a wheelchair and pushed out the front doors. Even though it was late and all the gift shops and snack counters were closed, the lobby was full of people. There were at least thirty people just standing around or looking at different things. I wondered, Where did all these people come from at such a late hour? Everyone was staring at us as I was pushed through the sliding doors; we made quite the spectacle. I wondered what would happen when all of these people told the hospital what they had seen. There was a large black van waiting in the parking lot. I recognized it at once as being Stephanie’s. Gabe opened the back sliding door and helped me in while Ryan took care of the wheelchair.