Chapter Two- Patient G2573
"Come on." Timothy whispered.
"Ummm." Jude mumbled a muffled protest, attempting to push him away as he scooped her up in his arms and sat her up.
It was very late at night; perhaps even early in the morning when Timothy came to Jude's cell, waking her at her bedside.
"Jude we'll have to be exceedingly quiet if we're to get out, do you understand?" He asked, clasping a hand firmly over her mouth.
He knew she wasn't talking, but didn't want to risk the possibility of her making a sound anyway. Jude nodded just once, signifying that she understood.
Timothy brought a shaky Jude to her feet, quickly wrapping a coat around her shoulders; she was very surprised and comforted to find that it was her own coat…he'd gotten her things? This was for real? While she couldn't speak or respond, Jude was actually fully present. And until now, she hadn't believed for a moment that Timothy was coming for her…that night, or ever.
"Don't say a word. Don't make a sound." He warned, taking her hand in his own. Jude did not even have the strength to squeeze his hand, but managed to follow quickly; keeping pace with each of his hurried steps and it was exhausting.
They got down the hall with relative ease, which worried Timothy. This was the time of night when there were fewest guards and even Mary Eunice seemed to sleep; but that hadn't met that he wasn't expecting to encounter someone. In that moment, they heard footsteps coming toward them. Timothy swiftly grabbed Jude, pulling her around a corner and tight to his chest.
"I told you to search everywhere!" Jude flinched when she heard Mary bark.
"But Sister, it's just Sister Jude and she…" A guard protested, he was one of the guards who didn't understand why Sister Jude was a patient now and didn't feel that he was really crazy.
"Sister who?!" Mary was enraged. "Sister Jude is dead! Do you hear me?! Dead! She's patient G2573!"
Timothy could feel Jude begin to whimper in his arms when she heard this. Ordinarily, he knew a comment like this wouldn't affect Jude, but she'd been so beaten down by Mary that she was actually very afraid now. He longed to say something to comfort her, but he knew that would greatly jeopardize any means of escape they may have left. Instead, he placed a hand over her mouth once more, in an attempt to block any muffled cries she may attempt to utter.
"Judy Martin is a menace to this institution and to herself. I want every guard and every nun on their feet looking for her in the next ten minutes!"
The guard was both a bit shaken and taken aback. His silence made this obvious to Timothy.
"What are you waiting for? Go! Find her! Now!" Mary barked and stormed off in the direction that Jude and Timothy had been headed.
Timothy still held Jude tight after Mary left, thankful that she'd gone away, but doubtful about where to go, afraid to move a muscle. He could feel Jude's heart pounding beneath his grasp, serving as a gentle reminder of how responsible he felt for her now: he had to get her out…no matter what. After all, he was the one who got her here in the first place, but how was he to get her out if everyone was assembled to look for them?
'Damn it.' He wanted to utter. 'What do I do now?'
Timothy and Jude looked up, seeing a flashlight pointed directly at them.
"Monsignor?" A young nun inquired.
Jude shivered; burying her face in Timothy's shoulder. Timothy was surprised; thinking that it would be a guard, or really anyone but this particular young nun. She was only about nineteen and sweet as could be, just as Mary Eunice once was. Timothy didn't know what to do when he saw her and simply placed a finger up to his lips, asking the young nun to be quiet. She looked back and forth quickly between Jude and Timothy, he could see fear flood the young woman's eyes.
"Sister Jude is not an animal or a number." He whispered. "But they wouldn't know that, would they?" The young nun swallowed nervously.
"I know a way out." She informed, barely loud enough to hear.
"Well, what are you waiting for, please, lead us there!"
Timothy grabbed Jude's hand and began to rush the young nun toward the exit she'd promised to guide them to. She stopped when they reached a metal door, opening it quietly. Timothy was surprised to see the entrance to a long tunnel.
"I can only take you this far." She informed. "But if you want to escape, this is the place to do it from."
The young nun had been friends with Mary Eunice and understood that something had happened to her; that she was psychotic and had changed for the worse. She was afraid to be aiding Sister Jude and the Monsignor like this; but she knew it was the right thing to do.
"Thank you so much Sister; what's your name?" Timothy asked.
"Emma." She smiled. "Sister Emma Grace."
"Thank you Sister." Timothy smiled. "I don't know how we'll ever repay you."
"Thanks are enough, God Bless!" She called just loudly enough for them to hear as they began to make their way out the tunnel. She shut the door quickly and all went black around them.
Timothy grabbed Jude, covering her mouth for the fourth time that evening. Jude had spent so much time in solitary now that she was terrified of the dark and he knew she'd scream.
"Don't be afraid of the dark." He reassured. "I've got you."
Jude made a muffled sound as if she were trying to wail.
"I want you to start talking Jude but not now…don't make a sound until we get where we're going!" He whispered forcefully in her ear.
Being that it was so dark, Timothy was at first, not sure how he'd navigate his way through the tunnel. He wrapped his arm around Jude's middle and pressed his free hand along the wall nearest to him, allowing the wall it self to be his guide in the dark. This was very difficult given that he had two bags, his and hers on one of his shoulders, and her weight on the other.
Slowly little bits of light began to dot their path and walking became easier. Timothy and Jude were both relieved to get out of the tunnel and into the moonlight; that is until they realized it was pouring rain.
"Oh bloody hell!" Timothy surprised himself with his utterance. It was something he hadn't said since his days as a boy at boarding school.
He looked down at the mud beginning to pool around Jude's bare feet as the stood in the grass. Without hesitation; he picked her up and placed her over his shoulder, causing her to let out a little yelp this time. He quickly began to make his way to his car, knowing for a fact that Mary would have it secured as soon as she figured out he was gone too. It might already be too late.
Timothy wasted no time when he saw his car, unguarded. He tossed Jude and their bags inside haphazardly, causing her to hit her head on the frame of the door. She winced, squeezing her eyes shut and reaching up to feel the fresh scratch, which had sliced through the already bloody burn marks on her forehead.
Timothy locked the doors and put the car in reverse, zooming backwards down Briarcliff's long driveway and crashing through the unmanned main gate with force. When they finally came to the real road; Timothy put the car in gear once more and sped away, the noise of the engine could be heard for miles around, echoing through the quiet, cold forest, finally finding it's way back up the drive of the asylum to a waiting Mary Eunice's ears. She stood looking out of what was once Jude's office window, her arms folded across her chest and her lips tucked up into an oddly satisfied grin.
"T-they've gotten away Sister." One of the guards came in, he was clearly afraid to confess this. Mary did not turn to look at him.
"It's alright." She said. "We'll let them keep thinking that for a while."
….
Jude awoke a few hours later, the sun shone through the big branches that hung overhead and beat down through the windows on to her face.
"Good morning." Timothy smiled. Jude was surprised to find shoes on her feet and a silk scarf tied neatly around her head.
She opened and closed her eyes a few times, attempting to adjust to her surroundings; it seemed so strange to see sunlight; and even more bizarre to feel the warmth of it on her skin. Timothy had been fast at work while she'd been asleep, getting as far away from Briarcliff as he could, and trying to make her look somewhat presentable for where they were going.
"I don't know where we're going." He confided. "Wherever it is; I think it should be far away from here…but first; there's a matter I must attend to."
Jude wondered what it was he was referring to but understood instantly when he turned off the road suddenly, beginning to head down a long tree-lined private drive.
"Have you ever been to my home before Jude?" He inquired of the convent where he had been living. "As much as we're trying to get away; it wouldn't be right if I didn't formally leave the church, would it?" He asked, hoping that she would reply this time. He knew she would have liked to have been offered the opportunity to resign, that being forced out had been awful for her.
"Well…either way…" He said, stopping the car when they reached the house. "I must resign, and retrieve my things and…ask for my pension." He laughed. "Life is funny of all the things I thought might happen to that pension this was not one of them." Jude put her head down and he wondered if she was sad. He reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear with gentle care. She did not look up and Timothy paused for a moment wondering how to explain this next part to her.
"I'm going to leave you here Jude…in the car, but I'll be back as soon as I can, alright? There's no need to fear." Timothy leaned over and quickly kissed her cheek before getting out of the car.
Jude froze, her hand going up to where his lips had just been. She felt like every time he touched her or kissed her cheek, it woke part of her up and rendered part of her even more incapacitated than she already was.
Timothy was sort of afraid of leaving Jude in the car but didn't know what else to do. What if she wandered off, what if someone else saw her and sent her back to Briarcliff? Timothy tried to calm himself; knowing that only he had the key, for all intensive purposes she was stuck in there without his help, she wasn't getting out and no one else was getting in for sure.
"Monsignor, you're back!" Brother McKennon greeted excitedly, as he came out the front door.
Brother McKennon was the convent's very own version of Mary Eunice. He was about the same age, and was just as sweet but not nearly as gullible as Mary once was.
"Follow me." Timothy ordered almost gruffly.
Brother McKennon looked back at Timothy's car, raising an eyebrow upon seeing a woman sitting in it.
"Sir, I didn't know you had a sister." He commented, following him inside and up the stairs.
"She is not my sister." Timothy clarified, quickly taking two suitcases out of his closet and throwing them on the bed.
"Oh…." He didn't really know what to say; he watched carefully as Timothy began to go through his things, noting he seemed to quickly skip over anything that wasn't personal in nature.
"She's the woman I'm leaving with."
The Brother's heart began to beat faster and he looked up at Timothy horrified when he said this.
"S-she's what?"
By the time he looked up, Timothy had already packed. It hadn't taken him too long; he didn't have much and most of his wardrobe consisted of priest's robes anyway. He figured he should leave those behind.
"I'm resigning from the church." Timothy sighed, taking one last glance around the room and handing one of his suitcases to Brother McKennon.
"B-but why?" He asked Timothy eagerly as he followed him back down the stairs again and ultimately out to the car.
Timothy didn't answer and walked ahead of Brother McKennon, leaving the young priest to chase after him. Meanwhile, Timothy dropped his cases and rushed to open the car door when he saw that Jude was visibly shaking.
"Jude, Jude it's alright; I'm here now, you're not trapped." He soothed, understanding, immediately that she had been growing afraid that she was trapped in this car, much like she'd been imprisoned in solitary confinement at Briarcliff.
"J-Jude?" Brother McKennon choked… "As in Sister Jude, craz…" Timothy shut the car door quickly; not wanting Jude to hear this.
"Don't you ever call her that!" Timothy barked. "She is far from insane, she's smart, and capable…I'm leaving the church to save her life. That is why and it's a good reason."
"I'm sorry Monsignor, I just thought…"
"I know…they want it that way. But I promise you, she's not crazy…I think Mother Claudia knows that as well." He assumed. Timothy sighed.
Timothy and Brother McKennon looked up when the heard the breaks of another car begin to squeak and the low hum of its engine come to a gentle stop when it parked next to them.
A priest who neither of them knew got out of the car first, beginning to set up a wheelchair and in an instant; Timothy knew it was Father Malachi that had driven up. Jude also knew who it was and sunk down in her seat.
"Going on a trip Timothy?" Father Malachi asked enthusiastically. The idea of vacation reminded him that he wanted to take some time to go fishing soon.
"Of sorts, Father." Timothy explained.
"Oh…I see your sister's here." He commented, noticing Jude in the car as his attendant helped him settle into his wheelchair.
"I am leaving with her and she is not my sister."
"Oh…" Malachi understood immediately, or thought he did anyway.
"But if you take a closer look; you would realize that she in fact is a Sister."
Malachi leaned over to look back in the car.
"Jude?! But she…" He protested.
"I'm officially; right now, resigning from the church…I spent some time staying in Briarcliff…the things I saw and experienced there directly at the hand of Sister Mary Eunice were awful and ungodly…and they alone, force me to have to resign."
Timothy took a breath, wondering if he should confess his sin. He felt that his vow was already broken, that it had been broken forcibly when Mary robbed him of his virtue. But instead; he decided to make this about Jude.
"You know Sister Jude, Father…she doesn't deserve to be treated like a madwoman or a rabid dog because she's neither. They've tortured her enough, Mary Eunice and Arden, to drive her into the depths of insanity…and that I can not tolerate because….well because I love her." Jude's eyes were still downcast but she opened them wide when she heard this part. "And someone must care for her…she deserves to be cared for."
"Timothy is there any other way…you were about to be nominated Cardinal…" Timothy paused, he had no idea about this.
It had really been coming. Jude swallowed, hearing and understanding this piece of news as well; she was sure she was done and would be sent back to Briarcliff. A lump developed in the pit of her stomach quickly began to make her feel like she was going to just sink into the seat of the car.
"No." He said. "It wouldn't be right, after….after what I saw there…"
"What do you mean after what you…"
"I can't be a Priest anymore after what I saw and experienced there…it would be like living a lie." Timothy admitted. "A-and the truth is…this lovely woman has been caring for me for years….she is the reason I was ever nominated for Cardinal in the first place, because she's always put my interests ahead of her own…and now its my turn to do the same….because she needs someone to care for her…and love her…and that someone happens to be me."
Jude watched Timothy say good-bye to the two other priests and was crying when he got back into the car.
"There's my girl." He soothed.
In a way he was happy she was crying, it gave him hope because it was better than the lack of emotion she'd been exhibiting.
"I knew she was in there, locked away deep inside. But, there's no reason to cry Jude." He informed, turning on the car. "Are you ready?" He asked, watching carefully as she stared back up at him. He took her hand in his own and kissed it as he began the drive back to the road.
"I know it's a little scary… with no where to go…but with you at my side…I'll be home anywhere."