The Madness of Annie Radford

by Amy Cross

  “Then why don't you tell me?” He glanced again at the camera's red light, then back at Annie. “That's what I'm here for.”

  “You wouldn't understand.”

  “Try me.”

  She stared at him, horrified by his refusal to take her seriously. She hadn't exactly explained what was happening, of course, but she was already certain that he'd dismiss the truth. Instead of bothering to tell him about Katia and Elly and Langheim and Nurse Winter and the entity, therefore, she was already trying to figure out a way to escape from custody.

  “You're going to be taken to the facility this afternoon, Annie,” he said finally. “I've made all the arrangements. It's a two hour drive. Once you get there, your proper treatment and evaluation can begin.”

  Then I'd better not get there, she told herself. There has to be a way out of here.

  ***

  As two guards led her along the corridor, Annie was still trying to figure out how to escape. She knew she could knock them out with the power of her mind, but she also knew that the effort would most likely leave her unconscious for a short while, which would probably just lead to her getting caught again.

  That's what the cocaine had been about.

  After leaving the motel, she'd bought a small amount of cocaine from a drug dealer. Her theory had been that, if she took the cocaine first, she'd be able to stay conscious for a while after using her power, at least for long enough to get away. It was a theory she still believed, or that she at least thought was worth testing, but now the cocaine had been seized and she wouldn't get a chance to find out whether or not she'd been right.

  “Stop,” one of the guard's said, grabbing her arm.

  The other guard stepped ahead and took a moment to open a metal door, and then Annie was led out into a loading bay where an armored truck awaited.

  Get into the truck, Annie thought to herself, and let it get on the road. Let it get away from here, then use your mind to knock everyone out. Then just hope you wake up first.

  It wasn't much of a plan, but at that moment it was all she had. So as the truck's rear door was opened, and as she was led inside, she figured she had to try. She sat on a bench on one side of the cramped space, and she waited while her ankles were chained to the floor. She watched the guard slip a key into his pocket, and she made a mental note of where to find that key. Now all she had to do was wait.

  “Roll her sleeve up,” the other guard said.

  Annie turned and saw that he was preparing an injection.

  “What's that?” she asked, feeling a sudden burst of panic.

  The first guard grabbed her arm and began to pull the sleeve up, exposing her forearm.

  “What are you doing to me?” Annie stammered, suddenly realizing that she wouldn't be able to try her plan if she ended up sedated. She pulled to get away, but the first guard simply held her down more firmly.

  “Standard procedure,” the second guard said, leaning toward her and sliding the needle into her arm, “for trouble.”

  “No!” she screamed, trying desperately to get free as the guard injected her with a clear fluid. “Stop! You can't do this!”

  She tried a final attempt to reach out with her mind, to blast them, but she was already losing consciousness. She struggled and struggled, but in doing so she just allowed herself to sink deeper and faster into the quicksand of her thoughts.

  ***

  “Wake up,” a voice said, suddenly breaking through the wall of a dream she'd been having. “Radford. Hey, sleepyhead, wake up. It's time to move.”

  Annie's eyes began to flicker open.

  “Wake up!”

  Suddenly a clenched fist hit her shoulder, jolting her awake. For a moment she couldn't quite remember where she was, but then she looked down and saw that one of the guards was unchaining her feet. Metal was clanging against metal, and she realized after a few more seconds that the truck's engine wasn't running. Glancing toward the rear door, she saw that it was already open, and she felt a chill as she noticed the dark night sky outside. The truck creaked slightly, but for a moment that was the only sound that broke the night's silence.

  “We're here,” the second guard explained, grabbing Annie's arm and forcing her to stand up. “Time to go check out your new abode.”

  “Wait,” she mumbled, taking a stumbling step forward and – in the process – almost falling. Her knees felt weak, and she could tell that the sedative was still coursing through her veins, clouding her thoughts. “What happened?”

  “You took a little nap,” the guard said, forcing her to head to the door and then pushing her down onto the tarmac. As he did so, he chuckled. “ Guess you must have been pretty tired after that crime-spree you went on. You were like a sleeping little babe. It was almost cute.”

  “Someone's gonna come out and get her,” the other guard muttered, sounding a little annoyed. “We're not allowed to take her inside.”

  “Why not?”

  “Beats me, but that's the order.”

  “Why can't we take her into the holding area?”

  “I already said, I don't know. I guess the people here don't like outside help. Probably a bunch of tight-asses.”

  “That's not normal procedure. Why's this little bitch getting special treatment?”

  The other guard shrugged.

  “Fucking idiots,” the first guard said with a sigh, before turning to a still-dazed Annie. “Did you hear that, sweetheart? We've got to wait here 'til they come and get you.”

  Blinking to clear her blurry vision, Annie finally looked straight ahead and saw that she was in the empty yard of a large, dark building. Looking up, she saw several levels of dark windows towering high above, silhouetted against a starry night sky. In an instant, the sight of the old stone walls made her think of another place, a place that was long-since destroyed. For a few seconds she feared that the impossible had happened, that somehow Lakehurst had been resurrected, but then she realized that this place was just different enough, that the layout wasn't quite right.

  Still, it was enough like Lakehurst for her to instinctively take a step back.

  “Where am I?” she whispered, as more and more memories of Lakehurst came flooding back into her thoughts.

  “I think she's scared,” the first guard said. “Cute, ain't it?”

  “When are these fuckers coming to get her?” the other guard replied. “I'm freezing my balls off out here.”

  “Where am I?” Annie asked again. “I can't go to another hospital, not after last time. I won't. I refuse.”

  “File a complaint with someone who gives a shit,” the second guard suggested. “If you can find anyone, or maybe -”

  Before he could finish, a door opened ahead, and two women in white uniforms stepped out into the yard.

  “I don't want to be here,” Annie said, again stepping back as she realized that the nurses reminded her of Lakehurst. Panic was building in her chest, threatening to shake her apart. “You can't make me be here. This isn't right, there's no -”

  Suddenly she spotted another figure stepping out from inside the building, and she was surprised to see Doctor Schlesinger making his way toward her. Somehow he'd managed to get ahead of the truck, and now he was waiting to take her inside.

  “We'll take over from here,” Schlesinger told the guards. “She's in our care now.”

  “That's not how we usually -”

  “I told you,” Schlesinger continued calmly, as if he felt he was in total control. “We'll take over now.”

  “But -”

  “Don't question me on this,” the doctor added. “You're just the drivers. Now get out of here and drive home.”

  As the guards slammed the truck's door shut and headed around to the front, Annie turned to follow them.

  “Don't even try,” Doctor Schlesinger said. “Annie, you know how it'll go if you resist. You'll be restrained, and it'll be unpleasant for all concerned. Do you really want to waste all that energy on something that's doom
ed to failure? I'm sure your head's still a little groggy from the sedative. We have plenty more where that came from, but the one thing we don't have a lot of is time. Cooperate, please.”

  She hesitated, before turning to him again. She was shivering now in the cold nigh air.

  “Smart girl,” he continued.

  “Where am I?” she whispered.

  “You don't know?” he asked. “You don't remember?”

  “Where am I?” she asked again.

  “Remarkable. I thought you'd figure it out.”

  “Where am I?” she shouted, shaking with fear as the truck pulled away. “What is this place?”

  “You're home,” Schlesinger said, taking a step toward her and putting his hands on the sides of her arms, as if in some twisted way he was trying to offer a morsel of comfort. “Welcome to Eldion House, Annie. You're late. She's been expecting you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Several years ago

  The heavy metal door slams shut behind me, leaving me staring down a long, deserted corridor. The whole place is silent. For a moment, it's possible to believe that I'm the only one here. That'd be nice. I'd like to be alone. I deserve to be alone.

  “Move,” says a voice behind me, and I'm shoved forward. I grab onto the wall to avoid falling over, and I turn back to the guard who towers over me. “Something wrong?” he asks.

  I stare at him. I feel like I should say something - maybe a witty comment or a cutting remark - but my mind is blank. It's been blank since... I'm not sure when. Everything's foggy, and I'm having to focus on the simple things, like my name and where I am and how to breathe; the complicated things, like cause and effect, are way beyond me.

  “Keep moving,” the guard says, stepping forward. He grabs my arm and pushes me along the corridor. I trip and slam onto the hard plastic ground, but I'm immediately hauled back up onto my feet. “Keep. Moving,” the guard snarls, getting right up in my face.

  I nod, trying to get him to see that I understand, hoping he might cut me some slack. But he just pushes me again, and I fall flat on my back, the back of my head bouncing a little on the floor. A single thought pops into my mind: have I been drugged?

  “Get up,” the guard says, staring down at me. “Radford, get on your fucking feet.”

  I stare up at him. I know I have to get up, but somehow I can't get all the movements together. I manage to roll onto my stomach, but all I can do is reach ahead and hope I'll manage to achieve something. I start crawling, hoping it might be enough to satisfy him. After a couple of seconds, I'm hauled up again by the scruff of the neck, and this time the guard carries me quickly along the corridor. I reach out to try to grab hold of the wall, but I'm too weak and eventually I just let my arms fall limp.

  “Who's this one?” asks a female voice as we turn a corner.

  “Room five,” the guard says.

  “The new girl?” the female voice says, already getting further and further away. “I'll get the kit.”

  ***

  Today

  “There's no reason to be afraid,” Doctor Schlesinger said, stepping aside so that Annie could look along the long, gloomy corridor. “Please, come this way.”

  As soon as those words had left his lips, there was a brief, anguished howl of fear in the distance, echoing from somewhere deeper in the building. This caught Annie off-guard, causing her to turn and look toward the stairs. She'd been lost in thought, remembering her arrival at Lakehurst all those years ago, but now Eldion House had her full attention.

  “Perfect timing,” Schlesinger muttered. “I'm sorry, it sounded like one of the residents is having a bad night. I'm sure a nurse is already in attendance.”

  “Where am I?” Annie asked, with tears in her eyes as she stared at the darkness at the corridor's far end. “Is this a...”

  “Eldion House is a psychiatric hospital,” Schlesinger explained. “Maximum security, as it happens. We get the people who can't be housed anywhere else, but don't worry, they're securely restrained. In all our years of operation, we've had no reported incidents of residents harming other residents. Our treatment methods simply don't permit that to happen.”

  “Eldion House,” Annie whispered, slowly furrowing her brow. “The retirement home was called Eldion House as well.”

  “What a coincidence.”

  She turned to him.

  “Coincidences do happen,” he pointed out, before nudging her elbow. A faint smile on his lips suggested that he didn't necessarily believe everything he was saying. “Please. She really is waiting.”

  “Who is?”

  “Shall we go?”

  “Why would you have a psychiatric hospital and a retirement home with the same name, so close together?” Annie asked, as she began to shuffle along the corridor.

  “They're not that close,” Schlesinger replied. “You were unconscious for the ride here, remember? There's about two hundred miles between the two facilities.”

  “That still seems unlikely,” Annie said, before stopping suddenly. “Who's waiting for me?”

  “Please, let's just -”

  “Who's waiting?” she asked again. “You said she's waiting for me. Is it...”

  “Is it who, Annie?”

  “Is it her?”

  “I'm not entirely sure who you're referring to.”

  “It can't be her,” Annie whispered, looking along the corridor again. In the distance, footsteps could be heard running somewhere. “Why would Nurse Winter be here, of all places? How would she even be able to run a place like this?”

  “Nurse Winter?” Doctor Schelsinger shook his head. “All will become clear when we reach the office, Annie. This moment has been prepared for, for quite some time. Everything's in hand, and you'll see the truth once you get to the office. At this juncture, it's all about getting you back to the office.”

  “What office?”

  “The main office here at Eldion House.”

  “Who's in charge here? Is it you?”

  “I'm in charge of resident treatment programs,” he explained, “but I'm not in overall control here at Eldion House. Frankly, I wouldn't want the responsibility. And to be honest, I don't even think I'd be qualified, not when it comes to the other work that takes place here. I know my role. I know who's really in control.”

  “I don't understand,” Annie replied. “Nurse Winter shouldn't even have a body. Her body was destroyed when she went down to meet the entity. And anyway, it wasn't even her body, not by then. She was in Nurse Perry's body and she shouldn't be able to come back, not now.”

  “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

  “She was scared when I heard her voice. She didn't sound as if she was in charge of anything. But if it's not her, then who is it?”

  “Don't let yourself become agitated,” Schelsinger said. “Annie, I know this is probably terrifying, but I promise you that everything you need to know is waiting for you in the office. This moment has been prepared for.” She squeezed her arm. “Have a little faith, Annie, in the special treatment that's waiting for you.”

  “Who told you to say that to me?” she asked. “Where did you hear that phrase?”

  “Special treatment?” He paused. “I'm not going to give you any answers here in this corridor, Annie. The only way to get answers is to go to the office and see her.”

  Annie opened her mouth to ask who he meant by her, but then she realized he was never going to just blurt out the name. Instead, then, she looked along the corridor and felt her fear grow, and then somehow she pushed that fear aside and took a step forward, then another, and then several more until finally she spotted a large door at the far end.

  “Come on,” Schlesinger said, stepping past her and heading to the door, where he stopped and keyed a code into the pad on the wall. A moment later, the door unlocked and he turned the handle. “We're going into the most highly restricted part of the hospital,” he continued. “I was specifically instructed to bring you this way, even if
it's a slightly longer route. There's something through here that you'll probably remember from your old days at Lakehurst.”

  “What is it?” Annie asked, trying not to panic.

  “Come and see. Don't worry, they're all completely harmless, but they might help you remember.”

  With that, he stepped into the next room, disappearing into the darkness.

  Standing alone in the corridor, Annie suddenly realized that there were no guards holding her back, that no restraints had been put on her arms or her legs. Looking around, she realized she was free, although she supposed she wouldn't be allowed to simply turn around and walk out of the place. She hesitated, trying to work out what to do next, but then she figured she might as well at least see what was on the other side of that door. At the same time, she couldn't shake a sense of familiarity. Eldion House was similar to Lakehurst, but not that similar. She didn't understand why she felt as if she'd been there before.

  Despite the tightening sense of fear in her chest, she made her way along the corridor, and then she gently pushed the door all the way open.

  “We keep them in darkness most of the time,” Doctor Schlesinger said, barely visible as he stood a short distance away. His hand was resting on a light switch that was fixed to the stone wall. “They can't see, of course, but there are some concerns about light exposure. That's one of the many things we learned about them here, once we were able to study them more closely. Better to be safe than sorry.”

  “What are you talking about?” Annie asked, looking ahead but seeing nothing other than darkness.

  “We'll only have the lights on for a few minutes,” he continued. “Some of them seem to get agitated if they're in the light for too long. We don't know why but, well... You wouldn't want to upset your old friends, would you?”

  “My -”

  Before Annie could finish, she heard Schlesinger flick the switch. She instinctively held her breath, and then a small bulb flickered to life high above her head.