Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
I tuck my compact into my bag and put my cell phone on silent before storing it away in my locker. When I exit the nurses’ locker room, Alton is leaning against the wall like he’s been waiting for me.
"Hey, Mia," he says, smiling. “I’ll walk you up.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I tell him. I’m still new, but I know my way around. And I pretty much stay in the one wing of the asylum.
“I’m going up anyway.” He motions for me to lead the way, and I guess I can’t argue with him.
To open the door for the stairs, I scan my badge, and Alton follows close behind me. I swear I can feel his eyes on my ass, but I quickly head up the two flights of stairs before scanning my badge again. When we exit onto the unit ward, Olivia is waiting.
“Morning,” Olivia says, looking like she’s ready to get out of here.
“Good evening,” I say, and we both laugh. I’m here to take over for her. The day nurses are done, and now it’s time for the night shift to start.
“Anything I should be aware of?” I know it’s only been a week, but I’m starting to get the hang of things. The hardest part so far has been getting to know all the patients. Along with some of their little quirks, as I like to refer to them. Not that I’m judging. I have some of my own.
“Nope. It’s been a quiet night.” Olivia makes a note in one of the files before returning it to our board of patients. I appreciate her habit of taking numerous notes. It’s helped a lot. “Oh, except Jamison Coy is back from isolation.”
I hate that word, and this is a practice I strongly disagree with. Isolation is a punishment and does nothing to help Jamison’s mental health. I understand the need to take someone away for a period of time to help them calm down, but seven days seemed excessive. That alone has the potential to make someone dangerous.
But I have to trust that the people in charge know what they are doing. Plus, I haven’t been here long enough to voice my concerns. For the time being, it’s best to keep my head down and gain more experience. I did read up on isolation after learning that's where they'd taken Jamison. I was glad to see that the test studies aligned with my personal beliefs on the subject.
“Was he calm?” I lean up against the desk in our small office area.
“He normally is, but Jamison can have his moments.”
I want to say don’t we all but decide not to. “I’m glad he’s better.” I itch to ask more questions about him, but I don’t want to draw attention to my curiosity.
“I mean, Jamison can be a pain, but he’s never done anything like that before.”
So he’s never asked someone if he could eat them out from behind? Remembering those words is a bad idea because I can feel the warmth blooming deep in my stomach. I should have hated hearing him ask me something so vulgar, but that gruff tone did something to me.
“You mean with what he said? He’s not done that before?” I try to keep my tone professional while desperate to learn more.
“And what he did, girl.” She leans a bit closer, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. It would be wildly inappropriate. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ve gotten a few creeps in here who will try to get a quick feel or say some crude shit, but Jamison has never done that. Most of his outbursts are because he’s angry and always directed toward male staff members.” She shrugs and grabs her coat. “That said, he doesn't refrain from expressing his opinions to the female staff, though it's not sexual in nature.”
“I’m not sure what to make of that.”
“He must like the look of you. I mean, the man has spent ten years in this cage. Who knows if he’s even been with a woman before.”
“He’s been here for ten years?” I couldn’t imagine. If he was in here for committing a crime, he’d be on the other side of the asylum. There’s a unit for people sent here by court order that involves criminal acts, but our side is for emotional and mental health treatments.
“Yep, he showed up not long after I did.”
“Why exactly is he here?”
“Trust me, I’ve wondered the same thing.” She gives me a side eye. “I learned to stop asking and to do my job.”
“Okay,” I say, taking the hint. “Does he have a family?”
"His emergency contact is his father, but I’ve never seen him. Come to think of it, I don't recall Jamison ever having visitors.”
Why would someone’s family abandon them in a hospital? That’s cold. Unless there’s more to Jamison’s story. There has to be…and I’m going to figure it out.