Run to You

"It’s okay, love. You’re doing the right thing,” the voice in Kiri’s head told her. Kiri smiled shakily. She didn’t like the way Tom sounded over the phone. He was scared, and she knew it.

“Remember, he hurt you. He needs to pay.” The voice said.

“I know, but I don’t know if this is the way it should be done.” Kiri said.

“It must be done this way, there is no other way. He will hurt more people. Do you want that?” the voice asked.

Kiri shook her head rapidly and began to rock back and forth. “No. No. No. No. No…” she kept repeating the word “no” over and over again.

“Good. Good, child, we understand each other.” The voice crooned as Kiri kept repeating the word “no”.

It took Kiri some time before her episode stopped. Once it was over, Kiri stood up and went to the door, and left. She didn’t know where she was going. It didn’t feel like it was her driving, at all. It was like Kiri was taking a back seat ride in her own body.

Her mind flashed pictures in her mind. One by one, the hospital came back to her. The sound of her own screams filled her mind, the voices of the hospital staff franticly running to her, flooded her ears and drowned out everything around her. Kiri pulled over and got out of the car. The rain pelted against her hot skin and the wind whipped her hair all around her face. Kiri could see a building in the distance, and a sign was in front of her. She read the sign and screamed. She screamed until her throat was sore, then she screamed some more. She picked up rock after rock and threw them at the sign. Finally, her energy failed her, and Kiri collapsed onto the ground in a sobbing heap. The battered sign now read:

The Berlin Hospital for the Mentally Unstable

The memories tore at Kiri’s mind. She felt herself going numb, she couldn’t feel the ground anymore, and the rain wasn’t pelting down on her. She opened her eyes. White light blinded her, so she had to squint. She heard a distant screaming, but couldn’t place its location. The light finally stopped being so bright and she could see.

Kiri screamed.

She was in her old room at the hospital. The blank walls mimicked the immaculate white tiles. The white sheets and blankets were twisted around her and she was sweating bullets.

“TOM! TOM! COME BACK TO ME!” She was screaming. “TOM! PLEASE!”

A nurse and some orderlies came bolting in. The orderlies held her down to the bed as the nurse injected her with medicine. Kiri kept screaming Tom’s name at the top of her lungs, hoping that he would hear her and come back to her. The medicine took effect and Kiri slipped out of herself again.

When she woke up, she was outside, in the rain. She was screaming, just like in her flashback. “TOM! TOM! PLEASE!” she was screaming.

“Get a hold on yourself.” The voice snapped. Kiri stopped screaming. “Now, get back in the car before they come out here and send me away again.” It said. Kiri obeyed, and went back to her car. She drove back to her apartment.

“Good. Now, get some rest. We have to plan.” The voice said. Kiri walked to her bedroom, and collapsed on to the bed.