Silence Falls

After their Orderly Jack wrapped up his speech, Cris and Connor’s heads both snapped to the left to gape at Bert, who stood patiently at his side. They concurrently pondered if what Jack was saying was legit or if this was some sort of sadistic ruse sprung with the design of attack.

Their leader gave them an encouraging nod, appearing to be in his right mind from what they could see.

Unsure if he could believe Jack’s words after observing how his other Orderly friends handled all their patients around here, Cris accumulated his strength from his faith in Bert to gingerly ask their Orderly. “S-So...you’re our new friend now?”

“You can see me as a friend if you want to. Publicly though, I can’t be allowed to be seen being friendly to you no matter how much you want to see me as an ally. And trust me, I’ve tried it once before. The other Orderlies will bash you guys up every time they see me respecting you as human beings instead of garbage. It's their sick way of helping me stay out of trouble with the board.” Jack expounded with a disapproving eye roll. He wouldn’t be surprised if these boys didn't believe that. He didn’t either after he’d been forewarned. It took one shot to rattle him with terror and since then he mastered cheating the unethical system within the Psychiatric Hospital. “And if I dare to try to speak to the higher authorities about the behaviors of the other Orderlies, they’ll only tell me that these guys know how to treat these patients the proper way that they need to be treated. Written complaints or verbal complaints, they will overlook them all and threaten my job. I have to appear as a contentious authority figure in order to protect you from the others. If you do happen to get in serious trouble however, I won’t be able to redeem you, it’ll be out of my power then.”

Connor merely glared at them both, he wasn’t really in the mood to see Bert or Jack at the moment after the meeting with Dr. McCarter again. Bert had kept a secret from him that the Good Doctor was his biological father and right now he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that his friend and leader was the son of the man that sealed him underground and threw away the damn key! Jack simply worked at this Psychiatric Hospital, and so that automatically made him an enemy, enough said.

On the other hand, Cris was in the complete opposite head space. He liked the idea of their Orderly being a kind man and looked forward to not getting beaten by him in the future unlike the other doomed patients.

The only thing on Bert’s mind was somehow securing Jack’s trust so he could serve in their break out from this Psychiatric Hospital. With his intelligence, they could definitely make it happen a hell of a lot more easier than they ever could alone.

“I really hope you are a friend to us, Jack. It would at least help in easing the tension in this room.” Cris sighed with comfort, a shaky but chummy smile on his face. He was gonna give this man the benefit of doubt by entrusting him wholeheartedly with not only his life but his friends as well. Speaking of friends, Bam resurfaced in his mind again. He still hadn’t returned from being seized by the other staff members. Not able to let another minute pass without knowing, Cris tactfully inquired with hope in his big blue eyes that he prayed would disintegrate Jack’s resistance pertaining to withholding any kind of information from them. “Mr. White, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask how Bam is doing since he’s been taken and when he’ll be returned back to us?”

“Actually, I was going to head on over there now. Unfortunately, they won’t start the procedure unless I’m there to…watch.” Jack grumbled the last part, having always loathed attending those gruesome tortures. It only assisted in reminding him that he couldn't ever truly save any of his patients in need even in his higher position. Hopefully if his cards played out right, these three boys could somehow stay out of trouble for both their sakes. “God, I tell you, the reasons they used to have for doing these types of operations were so ghastly back in the day. Today, it’s only meant to impair the patients, but before that it was like a form of lesson to us Orderlies that we weren’t doing our jobs correctly if they ended up there. It was supposed to make us feel like shit and motivate us to make more of an effort to keep them in line. That’s all changed now. Now it’s something to use whenever we want to, no reasoning required.”

“My god.” Cris breathed to himself with dread, needing to turn away and compose himself. His heart ached for the wellbeing of Bam, and how much anguish he’d be in.

The three patients allowed Jack’s words to hang heavily in the air. These Orderlies were once human beings that became cold-blooded bullies along the way. Could they be blamed for their actions or was it on the higher powers above them that were solely responsible for this?

Bert then recalled Bam’s current imperative condition. “What are they doing to him now then while you’re away?”

“They’ll be prepping him for the procedure. Like I said before I can’t stop it from proceeding, it’s a form of discipline for the patients and I guess you can say it is a repetitious lesson for me to do better at protecting my patients. All I can do from this moment forward is make sure he gets back here with no additional harm. I’m gonna head over there right now, and when I return shortly, it’ll be with your friend.” Jack guaranteed before nodding his farewells and aggressively slamming the door behind him with artificial temper.

Having no other options, Bert took a seat like the others on their beds and wordlessly waited for the door to reopen again, hopefully with their unruly friend in tow of their cordial Orderly.
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About a half an hour passed before the sound of the lock on their door being engaged caused them all rise to their feets. Collectively, they all hoped it would be both Jack and Bam on the other side coming in so they could assist in any way they could. They all witnessed the door swing open, and in entered Jack lugging an unconscious Bam inside. Down the hall, they picked up on what sounded like another Orderly hollering for Jack to hurry it up.

Promptly, Jack passed a drooping Bam to Connor, and Bert as he whispered to them. “Here, quickly! He’ll be fine after a few days but still keep an eye on him in case he acts out again. A second Electroshock or a third electroshock doesn’t matter, he WILL be taken right back in there for any behavior they deem improper and that could possibly kill him for good. I have to go so the rest is up to you guys. Good luck.” Jack spun back around and slammed the door behind him, locking them in before jogging down the hall after a group of Orderlies for their daily conference in the cafeteria.

By himself, Connor easily toted Bam to his bed and laid him down as gently as he could before stepping aside to allow Bert and Cris to tend to him. Bam was highly woozy and was perpetually veering back and forth between conscious to unconscious. His temple had reddish pink circles from where the electroshock had been carried out. The three boys didn’t know what to do for Bam to lessen his discomfort. There weren't any methods like this administered back at the Medical Facility.

“What should we do?” Cris asked Bert, looking to him for some instruction on how to care for Bam.

Clueless, Bert slowly shook his head. “We’ll just have to be vigilant. We have no form of medicine to give him, and no hospitable nurse we can request assistance from. We can only rely on each other to prevent this from happening to him again. In this woozy state, he’s still exposed to being tortured again if we don't step in. We have to watch him 24/7 from here on out, and keep him out of trouble as best as we possibly can. Let’s hope we can do this until he regains his senses again.”

Connor nodded in accord. “And I bet that neighborly Orderly of ours wouldn’t mind lending us a helping hand from time to time, right? Is that not what his whole stupid speech was pretty much about?”

Bert shrugged slowly, not sure if further requesting Jack’s help would be too out of the question for him. Yes, he had helped them out thus far with his insight and informing them on the history of this place that they could exploit to sustain themselves from harm, but would he compromise his job by taking part in their escape? Right now, Bert doubted he would, but perhaps over time he’d change his mind.