Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long took so long! Things got really stressful at school with AP exams, the school play and horse shows. Anyway, here is the chapter! R and R please!

Chapter 4

She'd been at the institution for three weeks. Or at least that's what they thought. The days began to run together… sometimes there huge gaps in the day that she couldn't remember. Her doctors would tell her that she had random crazed outbursts, then hide away crying like a small child. But Elphaba couldn't remember any of it. Eventually her out bursts became so bad that the staff had to inject her with some sort of tranquilizing drug that she was sure was illegal. The drug gave her, at first gave her a euphoric feeling, then she felt nothing… Her mind went blank and she didn't know what was going on around her. If the staff talked to her, they sounded far away. In fact that's how she felt when she had the drug in her system. Faraway.

Since she had been on the drug, she hadn't had any out bursts, or so they told her. But that wasn't enough for them. The doctors wanted her to function without the drug, so they gave her shock therapy once a week. By her fourth month she was allowed to interact with the other patients, although because of the therapy, she didn't do much interacting. In fact, most days she sat numbly gazing out the barred window of the parlor room, absently rocking back and forth. Most of the time, she was lead to and from her room. She never protested. It wasn't that she couldn't do things for herself; she could eat and drink, cloth herself. What she couldn't do was think beyond the foggy cloud that the shocks had created. It was hell. She was screaming for help, but not even she could hear her cries. It was hell. She tried to think but the same thing always blocked the thought; fear. It was hell. It was hell. It was hell it was hell it was hell. Itwashellitwashellitwashell! This cloud. This dark and painful cloud. It fogged her mind with one notion and one alone. The fear that if she began to try to function again, they would make the shock hurt more. That was the only coherent thought that had passed her mind in what seemed like years but must have only been a few months.

She had now been allowed to sit in the parlor with the others for what seemed like three weeks. No one but her doctor and the nurses had addressed her. Until the first day of the sixth month…

"Hello," she heard an unfamiliar male voice breaking through the fog of her mind. She did nothing but continue to stare out the window, as usual.

"Hello," said the voice, "are you always this quiet?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched, expecting reprimand for not answering the man. But he did not hit her or push her or harm her. His hand stayed there. That scared her as much as a blow to the head did.

"What're you doing…," her voice was raspy and slurred.

"Ah, so you can talk," said the voice; she still didn't look at his face.

"What is your name," he asked nervously. When she didn't answer he told her his, to reassure her, "I'm Fiyero"

"I don know… my… my… um… my name," she said, finding that she had to think through every word she spoke.

"I know your name," said Fiyero, "You're Elphaba."

"Is… that my… name?"

"Yes. Elphaba Thropp. My father owns this hospital. I often visit the patients and try to cheer them up."

She still didn't look at him. It seemed to him that she only registered his voice, not his body.

"Yes…"

"My father told me about you. He has read your records and finds you to be an interesting 'specimen,' as he calls you."

"… Wh… why…?"

"We've never had a multi-personality here before. He wants to do experimental treatments. But most of them are cruel and bizarre." Fiyero answered his voice soft and sad.

Elphaba continued to stare forward, refusing to look at Fiyero. She tried as hard as she could to think past the black hole that her time at the institution had created, but could not.

Fiyero sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get much more out of her today. "Good bye, till tomorrow," he said, hoping she had heard him, and moved to leave the room. However, as he left, he was stopped by a nurse.

"Sir, that is the most any of us have ever gotten out of her," said the nurse.

"Well, Sira," he said after glancing at her name tag, "that does not surprise me."

As he lay in bed that night, Fiyero thought about his encounter with Ms. Elphaba Thropp. She was certainly an interesting case. But the shock therapy and heavy drugs had not only blocked her symptoms, but also her spirit. Fiyero then decided it was his mission to help this young, trapped emerald woman.

Sorry it was so short. Hope you all enjoy it! Read and review please! (: