Silence Falls

By the second week of intermission, Jack White finally took an excursion down to the Female’s ward. Since Jack was considered to be one of the few credible staff members in the entire Psychiatric Hospital he was sometimes entrusted with specialized orders that took him outside the boundaries of his own ward.

By now everyone in the building had heard word of the incident between the three visiting contractors and Nurses Leak and Beatrice. The day after it happened, the two distraught nurses had been transported home for a month on ‘paid leave’ to recuperate from the matter. In their absence, the head of the Hospital had summoned Jack to make some time to stop by the Female’s ward to remind the staff that a directive will be dispatched out by the council in petitioning two new female Orderlies to permanently replace Nurse Leah and Beatrice.

The Nurse Jack was presently scouring for was in one of her patient’s rooms threatening to discipline one of them if they didn’t cease stuttering that very second. He waited patiently to get her attention and then apprised her of the news and what to expect in the next coming weeks. As he was strolling towards the entrance of the ward, he had to swerve past a group of bumbling medicated patients and unexpectedly felt something being jammed into the palm of his hand by one of them. He whisked around to identify who it was and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

From a distance, Otep was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, monitoring Jack White closely while he scanned for her. She then regarded him glancing down at the paper ball she thrust in his hand before slipping into the nearest unoccupied room to him to take a closer investigation of the crumpled ball.

Deep within the room, Jack was predicting to unravel a crudely drawn sketch of him that he prayed this time would be composed from crayons and not from crimson bodily fluid like last time. Unfortunately, he ended up finding something that almost had him letting out an outcry that would’ve assuredly drawn in a legion of vigilant nurses to him.

BLUEPRINTS!?

That crumpled ball of white construction paper had harbored information in connection to the entire Psychiatric Hospital! Every nook and cranny was cataloged, and illustrated. It wasn’t the legitimate blueprint, rather a depiction by the council member’s hands, each of their signatures inscribed at the bottom right hand corner affirming its validity all the same. Jack couldn’t believe it. There was no way any patient or employee could have gained admittance to any of the blueprints that elaborated any of the structures stowed within the swamps. Yet and still, he knew without a doubt that a patient had handed him this, but what he didn’t know was who had…oh no.

Otep.

It had to be her! Otep was the most astute, rebellious, and sanest female they have ever been confined in their Hospital before. She was THE obvious answer as to how Jack got a hold of the contractor’s blueprints just now. Now all he had to do was locate her!

Poking his head out of the cracked doorway while simultaneously trying to remain mild, he tracked Otep leaning against the wall down the hall, watching him. The deadpan expression on her face was starting to get on his last nerve. It’s like she wasn’t alarmed that he knew she was the offender!

Cursing under his breath, he strode over to her, seized her roughly by the arm, and dragged her towards the first empty room he passed by. Otep seemed to submit to his rough conduct without a cry or physical retaliation. Still, Jack threw her in and shut the door. He pulled the blue crumpled paper out of his pocket and waved it in front of her face, fighting to keep his voice down as he spat. “This was your doing, wasn’t it? I KNOW this fucking joke was all you do don’t bother denying it!”

Otep sat herself calmy down on the nearest bed and leaned forward to rest her arms on her thigh, answering his pressing questions. “Yes, Jack, it was obviously me.” She tilted her head to the side to study him with curiosity. “What’s wrong? You look upset.”

“WHERE did you get this? Hmm? How did you get your hand on this blueprint, damnit!?” Jack exclaimed, a fragment of a frenzy spearing across his face underneath the fury. Oddly, he found himself terrified for her safety. If anyone were to find out…her trial would be death.

Otep kept her mouth shut, knowing that if she told him the truth he would probably go white and faint to the floor on her. She needed him up on his feet and cognizant for what she needed him to do next.

“I need you to get that blueprint into Bert’s hands and his hands alone.” Otep instructed Jack, noting him standing there gaping down at her for a long time afterwards. She needed him to do this! Bert had some specialty when it came to escaping and was the only one that could translate those prints and understand them. It might take some time, but he will eventually have an escape plan conspired and then hopefully will be able to play it out sooner rather than later.

Jack was in a deep state of shock. Otep had somehow got her hands on blueprints without maiming anyone to get it, and was now ordering him to give it to Bert, who had recently informed him, was the mastermind behind their escape from the former Medical Facility. These kids were completely insane! They were patients, they belonged here in this hospital for a reason, end of story! The problem was Jack felt bad for them anyway, because even though they were patients in this Hospital, they were the rational patients to cross the threshold. They were almost becoming his only friends in these walls since his fellow staff were all morbidly corrupted. Despite that, he still had a job to do and he planned to do it!

“No. No, I won’t do it.” Jack whispered with a shake of his head, then he sucked up the audacity to grasp onto each end of the blueprint and listen to the sound of it being split into pieces.

Otep stared through wide eyes as Jack shredded their only means of escape into tiny pieces. To say she was pissed off was an understatement, but somehow she managed to use every strength she had in her body to douse the storm away and appear unaltered by his actions. Jack was still too vital to eliminate now. He might still try to fight them off by restricting them from leaving, but Otep knew that something was going to change his mind. She could only pray that Jack would come across Hermanni soon. He would be able to permanently change his stubborn mind at least.

Jack let the last remains of the blueprints fall from his hands just as Onika nearly walked by. She faltered when she noticed Jack out of the corner of her eyes, recalling who he was by Otep’s description of him. So she wasn’t afraid as she opened the cracked door further to enter the room, but when she gazed down at the dispersed scraps of the blueprints on the floor she didn’t know exactly what to think anymore. Did their so-called ‘ally’ just rip to pieces the only blueprint they had to aid in their escape? Onika lifted her wide brown eyes, darting them between Otep and Jack in both concern and confusion.

Jack spared a passing glance at the short young lady that just walked in, then back at Otep again. He stated firmly for her to understand where he finally stood in all this. “Crazy people belong here.”

With that being said, Jack spun away from her and exited the room without looking back. Onika watched him go before taking a seat next to Otep on the bed she sat rigid on. She lightly settled a comforting hand on her shoulder in sympathy as she watched the fireworks of enmity detonate behind Otep’s eyes, and inquired softly. “What happened just now, Otep?”

Otep had worked so hard to get her hands on that blueprint only to have it easily eradicated by someone she was supposed to depend on. At this point, she was on the edge of giving up for good and going on a devastating rampage. That blueprint had been their only means of escape and now it was gone!