Dinah gave up struggling, stopped straining against the thick straps that bound her wrists to the cot, and quietly dropped back onto the pillow. She saw her aunt's white face beside her, felt her hand clutching Dinah's, and felt the sharp prick of the needle as the paramedic injected her with a tranquilizer. Haldol, how unnecessary, Dinah thought as she quickly got woozy and slipped into a chemically induced sleep. The doors to the ambulance slammed shut, and, sirens off, they pulled out of the driveway of the manor and headed out of Bizenghast.
When Dinah came to, she was in a strange waiting room, alone, though she could see her aunt behind a glass window, filling out forms. I wish Vincent were here, Dinah thought, her blue eyes filling with tears as she remembered. Remembered why she was there, how she'd screamed until she couldn't hear the cacophony anymore, until nothing mattered. Edrear had taken her home, helped her in through the window as it was so late at night. Dinah had mindlessly gotten into bed, laid down and closed her eyes. Behind her eyelids though, she could see every second of what had happened that night; the screw that had found its way into her friend's chest, piercing his heart and killing him almost instantaneously. She opened her eyes and saw him standing there like all the others, the spectres and spirits that haunted the young schizophrenic, and she gasped. Placing a finger to his ghostly pale lips, he moved slowly towards Dinah, the large maritime screw protruding from his chest, as it had both in her nightmare and the last time she saw him. What to do? Her mind frantically spun. She was used to solving the problems of spirits, but she knew him, he was Vincent, and where were Edrear and Edaniel now? Vincent's ghost had crossed the floor and seated itself on Dinah's bed. Out of habit, she moved her feet to give him room to sit, but he pointed out by floating lightly over the bed when he sat that this was necessary. He didn't say a word, merely sat with her, looked at her, and Dinah looked back. Those eyes, those grey eyes that she had last seen so dead and cold, were again shining and full of life. The silence hung around them for a moment before Dinah broke it.
"Why are you here?" She breathed, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Vincent's ghost shook its spectral head.
"Is this some trick of Bali-Lali?" Dinah tried again, her voice stronger this time.
Vincent's head again shook.
"What? What did she do to you--make you do?!" Dinah shrieked, her voice hitting full power. Vincent reached out an arm and gently lay a finger across Dinah's lips. He willed her, be silent, be calm, and she was. Vincent waited for Dinah's heart to stop pounding, for the blood that he no longer had to stop rushing and fueling her emotions. He leaned in quietly and placed his icy lips against hers for a mere second or two, and then faded away; his earthly business was finished.
This was when Dinah had started screaming and when her aunt came running down the stairs, she found that she would not stop. An ambulance had been called, Dinah now wondered if she'd woken the paramedics who transported her in the ambulance, after all, Bizenghast had only two.
Her aunt and a nurse came back into the waiting room, where Dinah sat, along, but for a man who looked like he'd seen better days. The nurse stepped forward and said:
"Alright, Dinah. Welcome to Providence."
Dinah was numb as she listened to the nurse telling her that her aunt could not go any further and that it was time to say goodbye. She was numb while her aunt tearfully hugged her goodbye, and she was numb as she was loaded into a van that, she was told, would take her to the hospital where she'd be receiving treatment. The van arrived, Dinah got out, and looked at where she'd be staying. She held in hand the small suitcase her aunt had quickly packed for her in the time while they waited for the paramedics.
The building looked like every old convent she'd ever seen, and she knew that's exactly what it was. The walls inside were institutional green, and the floors were an unattractive tile. When they arrived on her floor, Dinah stood meekly as they shuffled through the contents of her suitcase, flipping through pages of her books, journals, and sketchbooks, and rifling through her clothes.
"You can't wear that." the woman, Deb, said with an unpleasant look of disdain on her face. Dinah's nightgown consisted of a sleeveless white shift, and she could not see the problem with it.
"Wear this." Deb said, handing her a sweater from inside the suitcase.
"You're in that room." Deb pointed to a three person room at the end of the hallway.
Dinah looked out a window coated with Plexi-Glass to see the sun beginning to rise.
What the point was in going to bed, Dinah did not know, as she curled up under the covers and tried to sleep.