Silence Falls

Meanwhile, in the girls ward, Otep decided she would slink away from her newly assigned group in the cafeteria during breakfast to promptly reunite with her friends again. Rachel wasn’t anywhere in sight, and seemed to be one of the few Orderlies that didn’t keep up with her own patients. She hung back to gossip with the other nurses, or to file her nails instead of marching behind them to oversee their every move closely. She did whatever she could to maintain space between her and her own responsibilities. The most she’d do is shout an order or point in the direction she wanted you to go.

With Otep and her new roommates, Rachel simply ordered them to head to breakfast rather than chaperon them there to keep them in line. The young blonde was appreciative of this. It would make migrating the ward much easier when you weren’t being shadowed constantly. Before she could get up and make her departure from the cafeteria, Alexis, Demitria, Natasha and Onika walked in to take a seat at the table closest to one of the many exits. They hadn’t seen her yet.

Placing her palms on the tabletop, Otep was about to haul herself out of her seat to go join their table when a deafening smack reverberated in the air and compelled every patient nearby to flinch in their seats. Lowering herself back down, Otep peered over her shoulder to behold a patient cowering in their seat from their Orderly who had slapped a short whip that resembled a horse riding crop on the table. Leaning down, the man roared into his patient’s face with stringent authority. “I SAID STAY IN YOUR SEAT AND EAT YOUR BREAKFAST!”

Grumbling beneath her breath, Otep rolled her eyes and fixated on her breakfast too. Sparing a brisk gander at her friends a few tables ahead of her, she locked eyes on all four of them staring right back at her with panic over what just occurred and concern for her welfare since they last seen her. Otep sent them a reassuring nod and mouthed. “Eat your breakfast.”

The four nodded and turned their heads back down over their breakfast trays to appear to be eating.

After breakfast, Rachel showed up to holler to her groups to head to their Therapy Circle. Otep got up with her new roommates and headed right there, keeping an eye on the other four who appeared to be following them as well at a distance. Rachel never mentioned if all of her patient groups had the same schedule and so Otep didn’t know if she’d devote all of her time sneaking around to meet up with the others or if it was completely superfluous. It turned out to be the latter.

Upon entering the room where these Therapy Circles took place, the four girls simultaneously twisted around to hunt Otep down. Once she was in their sights, they scurried over to her and then wordlessly reached out to grab each other’s hand for some much needed sisterly strength. Otep didn’t need to hold anyone’s hand for support, but when she looked down to see Alexis’s hand was around hers, she banished that objection. When they finally let go, the five went about sitting down next to one another, quietly arranging some of the chairs as close to Otep as they possibly could so they wouldn’t have to speak too strongly for the other patients to tune in.

“Otep, are you okay?” Alexis began with worry. “We’ve been so worried about you!”

“I’m fine.” Otep answered frankly. “I got everything under control on my side of the pond.”

“So you’re not roomed with a bunch of psychos?” Natasha inquired with amazement.

“They haven't tried to drink your blood or wear your skin?” Demitria added with a look of terror.

“What!? No!” Otep denied with repulsion on her face. “What the hell would make you think that!?”

“Because we overheard Rachel gossiping about a patient who has been trying to drink other patient’s blood and I guess we all surmised you might be rooming with her.” Onika shrugged, feeling silly now.

“Or the one that’s majorly depressed because she can’t wear anyone else’s skin, but her own.” Demitria added with a shudder, having to physically close her eyes from the thought.

“Don’t worry about me, you guys. I can handle my new roommates.” Otep guaranteed them. “Just worry about yourselves and make sure you don’t draw ANY attention to yourselves, good or bad, got me?”

“Loud and clear.” Natasha agreed, nodding vigorously for the other three as well. “We’re laying low.”

Leaning closer to Otep with something jabbing on her mind, Onika whispered with hope in her eyes. “Otep, when can we make a plan to get out of this place? The grisly things I’ve been hearing lately have been really starting to freak me teh fuck out!”

“There’s just something about the energy in this hospital.” Demitria imparted, trying hard not to squeeze the life out of Onika and Otep’s hand. “I’ve never felt THIS terrified for my life back at the Medical Facility even on my first day. It feels like death is around every corner here and it’s just waiting to pounce on one of us if we so much as breathe out of turn!”

“If that’s how you ladies feel, we can talk about it right now. We just need to keep our voices low and unanimated so we don’t attract unwanted attention.” Otep mumbled, glaring out at the other patients in the room and making sure they weren’t eavesdropping on her and her friends. “So, does anyone have any ideas they wanna share first?”

“Well, we’ve been talking a little and...we need to find out where the boys are located first, right? That’s how this goes?” Alexis inquired, looking to the Otep and biting her lower lip to stop it from trembling.

“They’re in the male ward.” Otep answered her question as she leaned forward in her chair. She didn’t look at any of them, but at the other patients filing into the room instead. “I’m sure of it.”

“Wait, seriously? How the hell do you know that?” Natasha demanded softly.

“I figured since there’s a female ward then they must have a male ward too. And I overheard it from the nurses by the main exit. They were talking about a fight happening there just this morning.” Otep disclosed her recent findings. She could see now that none of them had a plan of escape yet.

“Okay, so...we can go find them now then, right?” Demitria implored her, her voice quivering.

“I don’t think these orderlies are going to let us just get up and leave!” Onika stated, sighing with defeat. Covering her face with hands, she prayed her nerves would one day calm back down to normal again.

Otep sighed impatiently at this group already falling apart. Pinning each of them in their seats with a glare, she conveyed firmly. “Look, you all need to try and calm down, okay? I know we’re in a new place which means new crises and shit, but we need to temper ourselves anyway! Don’t let these pills unnerve you. If you don’t try and keep it together they will HURT you for it.” When she gained several nods, she went on. “Now, don’t worry too much about a plan. Let us wait a few days, Bert will find a way to communicate with us and then we’ll be able to come up with a plan and bust out of here. So right now, just try to fight against the medication and chill, that’s all you need to focus on.”

Ending it at that, Otep sat back then and continued to review the other patients. She was also trying to brawl it out with the medication that had already kicked in a wave of heightened paranoia. To her, EVERYONE here that wasn't her friends was a menace to them, and so she needed to keep an acute mind and razor sharp focus in order to protect them.