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New York City's Bellevue Psychiatric Ward. It is synonymous with the horror stories that have been handed down over the decades. Like for instance lets take Nellie Bly. The year was 1887. She was a society page writer for The World newspaper and was tired of doing so. To make an impact on her career she had decided to have herself committed to Bellevue acting like she was crazy. She played the part to the hilt, had the doctors and all of the medical staff there believing she actually was crazy. It lasted 10 days and then she was sprung with the help of the papers attorney. With the facts she had gathered, they made for an exciting series of articles. Then in the years to come they had made her a best-selling author.
Then there were the horror stories that were held within the walls of the hospital. From the early 1900's up until the present day, there were many. Tales of abuse, assault, rape and yes even murder. Most of the perpetrators went unpunished and since they had closed the main wing of the psychiatric department most of the complaints that were filed against said perpetrators somehow ended up missing. The stories began to drop off. Sure, as technology advances so do the insane. There are less and fewer stories now than there were 10 years ago. But before the psychiatric ward was closed down for good there were people left over from the wing that needed to be transferred to a facility that could handle the influx of all the patients here at Bellevue.
He was a young man. His mother had noticed a slight change in him and she was a little worried. He was usually liked asking questions and was so outgoing towards people he hardly knew. Then one day things had changed. He started to withdraw and the usually happy young man was not so happy anymore. Tests were run, and then more tests were run, but there was no medical reason for his withdrawal from society. His friends at first thought it was weird that he did not want to do anything with them and when he did not even acknowledge that they were friends, his friends just forgot about him altogether. Time passes and he is now more withdrawn than when he was younger. His mother was at her wits end. She had nowhere else to turn. He would do three things during the course of the day. He would go to school, return home, eat and then stay in his room until breakfast the next morning. He had turned into a recluse. In the 4 years at high school, he just went about taking the required courses to graduate. Nothing more, nothing less. After graduation, his mother decided that enough was enough. She was going to get him out of his room, even if it killed her.
Deciding that she still respected his privacy, she knocked on the door and waited. Standing ever so quiet and still. She knocked again after waiting for a good 2 minutes. Still not hearing a response, she thought the worst. Without hesitation, she opened the door and entered his room. Her eyes cast upon his still form sitting on the edge of the bed. She walked towards him and asked him if he was okay. There was no response. She waved her hand right in front of his eyes, and even snapped her fingers too, but he never blinked. Seeing that after a half hour there was no change in him she slowly backed out of his room. She needed to do something this had gone on for long enough. The next day she contacted about 3 specialists. She escorted him to each appointment and they all had come with nothing...again. She decided that drastic measures were called for. Contacting the family doctor, the one she was reluctant to talk about her son's problem in the first place because he was old school. He liked things neat and wrapped up with a bow. She dreaded what his recommendations would be after the visit. Sure enough, it came. She was informed that her son was suffering from a bi-polar disorder bordering on psychotic. She scoffed at the diagnoses. After paying for his services, they were gone. This was not was happening with her son. He was not losing his mind. There was something else that was at the root of his problem.
On the way home in the car, he was silent. Not saying much of anything. He was staring out the window of the car. As they pulled up to a red light on Mercer St. she noticed that his facial expression had changed drastically. He had turned his head and was just looking at a little girl being led by an older woman. She herself did not recognize either person, but as the light turned green and she started to roll away he let out a small whimper and watched them as she drove away. It was the only sound she had heard from him in the last 5 years. When they returned home he was back in his room not talking or doing much of anything. She thought back to the event with the little girl, well maybe she was a little older possibly about 13 or 14. It was the first sounds she had heard out of him in years, and she wanted to hear it again. She knew that there was only one thing left to do.
The next day she made an appointment to speak with the chief of the psychiatric medicine at Bellevue Hospital. There was not much left for her to do about him. She thought that she was doing the right thing by getting him the help he needed to break this separation between his life and the people living on the outside. She went to see the doctor with the recommendation from the family doctor and things moved quickly from that point forward. She explained the situation and the symptoms to him and he just nodded his head. She could only think of those bobble head dolls with his reactions. At the end of her summary, he suggested that she bring him in and they would perform a full battery of tests. Two days later he stood there in his room dressed and waiting. She called for him to come downstairs and bring his bag.
The ride to Bellevue was a short one. Arriving, they reported to the intake desk and she signed the required paperwork to have him admitted for his tests. The doctor assured that she was free to come and visit him whenever she wanted to. Being his mother, there were no limits as to when she could see him. She took his hand and looked him directly in the eyes and said
"Richard, this is for the best. They will find out why you are in this state of mind."
He just stared at her, his face never showed any emotion or fear. She gently kissed his cheek and then stepped back. An orderly had come over with a wheelchair and sat him down into it. Without haste, the orderly had strapped the Velcro straps to his arms at the wrists and at his ankles and a quite large one around his mid-section. His mother looked over and asked if this was totally necessary. The orderly told her that it was a hospital procedure and that it was only for his own safety. She watched as they wheeled him away, her heart breaking just a little more. But little did Martha know this was going to be the last time she would ever see her son again.
The doctor that had guaranteed Martha that the tests he needed done would be performed within two days after his admittance. He went on to explain that there will be a period where they just observed him before actually bringing him in for the tests. Those tests were never done. Instead, her son was placed in a 6X6 padded room and strapped to a bed. The only interaction he had been when the staff brought him his food and his medications. And there were many of them. Carbamazepine was the drug that started all this. Soon it was replaced by Sodium Valporate. He was also on Lamotrigine for what they thought was his worst bout of being Bi-Polar. After administering medication that he never needed, he was finally prescribed Olanzapine to prevent any type of relapse.
Years had past. There was a coldness to his soul. He wondered if she was alright. His mother had not come to see him in about 4 years. He was going to be 29 in a couple of weeks and he really wanted to see his mom. Maybe she would be free to visit him on his birthday this year. He had been palming the medications they had been giving him since that very first day in this hell hole. He had been moved all around this place without staying in any one room long enough to figure a way to get out. Now he was in his bed with the Velcro straps at his arms and legs, in still yet another room. But he had been here long enough to actually study the room and he has found a place where he could possibly make a break for it.
Then he felt it. He felt pain. Her pain, along with a force that was too powerful for him to fathom. It was a sharp pain that connected his body to hers. Well, maybe not her body in reality, but her feelings. The pain he felt was deep and he wished he could take it away from her. She had grown since he saw her last and she was 19 now much older than the 14-year-old he saw on the sidewalk years ago. Waiting to know if she had finally had sensed his connection to him he started to chant "0334" over and over again. This went on for about 9 months. He was still given his meds and he kept right on palming them. It was then that he realized that his vision was right. He had to get some kind of note or letter to her. He did have access to the internet, but only for a limited time and without the staff knowing. He had found a way to get out of the restraints they placed him in and once he figured out how to escape from those getting out of the room was easy. He would roam the halls late at night and explore. The only issue he had been that they did a bed check every two hours. He was always in his room by that time. He did not want to push his luck. Two hours was more than enough time to gather information.
He had tried to find out her email address, but he came up empty. She was only 19 so maybe she didn't have one. So he waited for the next chance he got to get out he would try something different. He would contact his mom and ask her to visit him and then he could give her a warning that something terrible was going to happen in 12 years time and he needed to stop it from happening. The next night around 2:00 in the morning he noticed the orderly look through his square window and check to see that he was secured to his bed. Seeing that he was, he moved on to the next room.
A/N: This was going to be a Halloween 2015 fanfic entry. It's just that I probably won't be finished with it by the time Halloween will arrive. This story starts off sort of slow and the timeline is off by a lot so please drop me a PM or a review to let me know if you want this to continue. If not too many readers want it to go on I will remove it by next week. Thanks!
