"I hope you had your fun, cause by this time next year, you will have forgotten what that word even means," the police officer tells me as we pull up to Briarcliff Mental Institution. "You know I don't belong here. I was a victim of circumstance!" I screamed back at the police officer.
The officer got out of the car and opened up his umbrella. It was lightly raining and bone-chillingly cold outside, typical for the bitter weathers in Massachusetts. "Look, kid. You don't have to convince me at this point. You already dug your grave, and now it's time to hop on in."
My door gets ripped open, and two giant male nurses shove me out of the car. Whenever I got outside the patrol car, I look up at my new permanent residence. The looming, decaying towers lingered high above with a crowd of residence plastered at every window to gaze at my arrival. The stone walls were stained brown by the lack of care and weather over many years to turn the once exquisite building into an architectural eyesore.
The nurses roughly pulled me up the stairs and into the main foyer of the building. The main foyer contained a spiral staircase that wound its way up three flights of stairs. I stared in awe at the sight that was unfolding in front of me. Patients were left to run amuck throughout the establishment with no supervision. One patient was viciously ramming their head against the wooden dowels supporting the handrail that slithered its way parallel to the stairs up to the top.
"I see you're enticed by our establishment, young man." I quickly turned my head to the left to see Sister Jude advancing down the stairs. "We like to call it the Stairway to Heaven. We've cleaned many souls in this establishment, and you'll be the next person we'll purify. You have to repent for the sins that you've committed."
"Why should I have to pray and repent for 'sins' that I never committed?! I was framed! I've told my story to everyone's that asked. Why should I pray to a God that already knows that I'm telling the truth about? He already knows that I'm right, and that you're going to torture me regardless."
"I'm glad you already know how things work around here. It'll make things much easier on all of us. Enjoy Briarcliff, Mr. Weston." Sister Jude's heels echoed throughout the foyer as she walked away from me. The nurses suddenly dragged me up the stairs towards the men's residence hall. I knew from that moment that no matter what happens, no matter how difficult, I was going to have to escape.