The Lamb and The Cuckoo

It was a week before we heard anything, and it was the worst week of my life. Now it wasn't just me who was silent, everyone was. No one spoke to each other at all, leaving the only sounds to the splash of Sorensen's hands in the water fountain and the swinging of the ward door as the black boys came and went. Nurse Rached had returned the next day, a neck brace holding together her whiplashed neck. Her voice box had been ruptured however, leaving her voice quiet and rusty-sounding; she stood in the medication booth almost all the time now, as if she was scared of us. She held the meetings still, discussing our problems, despite no one talking, but she now only ever emerged in an emergency or when it was time to clock out and go home. I would say that I felt sorry for her, but that would be a lie.

It was the Saturday. We sat in our normal places, except me, who as usual stood by one of the concrete columns, broom in hand. We shared our glances yet said nothing. McMurphy's cards sat on the table in front of us, unshuffled. Medication time had just passed, unchallenged. The strain of the silence on everyone's face. I had held my silence for seventeen years, and I was now wondering how long it would be before they cracked, and who it would be first.

Suddenly, there was the bang of the ward door as something hard rammed into it, sending it flying backwards into the wall. We all looked up; the black boys never slammed the door. There, wheeling himself weakly along the corridor towards us in a large metal wheelchair was Billy Bibbit; a huge, ugly scar running along his throat, held together by big black stitches. His face was pale, probably from the lack of blood, and his arms were stick thin, looking like they would snap under any pressure, but there he was, alive. Everyone leapt up at the sight of him, dashing towards him, mouths hanging open in pure shock. They surrounded him, crouching down to his eye level and bombarding him with questions and gleeful congratulations. He said nothing, allowing them to answer their questions themselves. Finally, they had all worn their tongues dry, and retreated, allowing Billy to wheel himself to the table. He spotted me by the column and offered a weak smile, which I returned.

"It's g-good to see y-you again c-chief." He said. His voice was raggedy from the stitches, but his stammer was much better, anyone could see that.
"It's good to see you to Billy." I replied, quietly, so only he could hear. His eyes widened at my voice and mouth hung open.
"Y-you spoke…" He muttered. I put a finger to my lip and he nodded, shooting me another smile of confidentiality, before turning back to the others who were continuing to chatter excitedly. I could see Ruckly mutter something and turn back to his wife's picture, dusting her frame down with a shaky hand.

Nurse Rached slid her chair back from behind her desk and stood up, opening the door and stepping out, for the first proper time all week. Everyone fell silent once more as she approached Billy, her head still held in place by the neck brace. Billy turned to look at her, his happy smile fading from his face.

"Hello, Billy." She said. Billy dropped his head
"H-hello, N-nurse Rached…" He said quietly
"It's good to see you back on the ward." She told him
"Not that she cared…" I heard Cheswick mutter under his breath.
"Have you had a talk with your mother?" She asked. My heart twanged at this, she wasn't going to play that card again was she? Not now. Not after all he'd been through...
Billy nodded.
"Good, because I've been meaning to tell her what happened." Nurse Rached said. I saw Billy's hands tighten their hold on the arms of the wheelchair, his knuckles white under his skin. "Because I bet you left that out of your conversation…"
"A-actually I told her…" Billy broke in, slowly raising his head at her. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"You told her?" Nurse Rached said, barely being able to hold back the snapping tone she said it in.
"Y-yes. Yes I did…" Billy said.
"And what did she say?"
"S-she didn't c-care…"
"What?"
Billy stared at her with hard eyes.
"S-she d-didn't care…" He told her again.
"Didn't she?" Nurse Rached said plainly, trying not to show how much it had fazed her.
"S-she said sh-she didn't care… she only c-cared about t-that I was alive. B-because that's all t-that m-mattered."
"Well that's nice isn't it…"Nurse Rached spat, turning away back towards her office.
"A-and I also t-told her about w-what you said…" Billy said after her. She stopped dead. "A-and h-how you t-treat us…. she s-said that y-you aught t-to be f-f-fired…. She's h-handed in a complaint t-to your s-supervisor. S-she's also t-taking me home, tomorrow."
"Is she now?" Nurse Rached said a little more uncertain of her power in this conversation.
"Y-yes. S-she says I'm b-better off at home t-than here." He said.
Nurse Rached said nothing, stalking back to her office and slamming the door after her.

"Is she really?" A voice asked behind me. Everyone turned to see Sorensen standing there, hands dripping from their washes in the water fountain. They were red raw and wrinkly from the water.
"Y-yes." Billy nodded.
"That's good." Sorensen said, turning back to the fountain. Billy's hand shot out and grabbed his jacket. Sorensen stopped and looked at the hand in terror. Billy let go and motioned towards the pack of cards.
"D-don't go back to the f-fountain. D-Do you w-want to play cards?"
Sorensen looked from Billy, to the cards, to the fountain, then back to Billy. He looked at the scar for a moment, then down at his own hands. He nodded.
Billy smiled, looking round for a free chair. I took one from a nearby table and slid it over to him. Sorensen sat down and watched as Billy dealed the cards out into his open hand.
"So when are you going home?" Sorensen asked
"H-hopefully by t-tomorrow l-lunchtime." Billy told him "S-she s-said to b-be ready by then a-anyway…"
"You're lucky Billy." Harding told him "You leaving."
"B-but none of us are st-stuck here…" Billy said "T-that's what M-McMurphy said a-anyway…."
They fell silent again, remembering McMurphy.
"I n-never l-liked him…" Billy muttered "I p-pretended to… I t-thought he w-was cool… b-but now…"
"It's ok, Billy. It's all behind you now…" Harding said. Billy smiled at him.
"T-thanks."

Suddenly, there was the sound of yelling outside of the ward door, then a loud bang and a heavy crash. A few seconds later one of the black boys came charging through the door, stumbling as he came to a halt beside Nurse Rached's office. He tore open the door and said in a panicked voice.
"Mam! McMurphy's escaped from upstairs!"
"What!?"
"He was going in for correction but he attacked the surgeon and ran for it!"

There was a yell of triumph over by the window and everyone turned to see Scanlon gripping onto the window bars, shaking them for all their worth, crying with joy. There, outside in one of the staff cars, was McMurphy, driving out of the gates like a maniac. He paused the car for a moment to look at us peering through the window and gave a small salute. He spotted Billy next to me and nodded. Billy gave him a dark look and turned away from the window. McMurphy looked sad for a second, but then flashed us a grin and slammed his foot down on the accelerator, speeding off into the distance, never to be seen by anyone ever again.

The next day and Billy's mother came for him. She completely blanked Nurse Rached, simply handing one of the black boys a note to give to her, I hope it was strongly worded. Before he went, he turned to all of us and smiled.
"T-thank you." He smiled. "I c-could never have m-made it without you…"
As everyone smiled and turned back to the gates, he turned to me.
"I-it's nice to kn-now you c-can talk." He said "B-but why s-stay here?"
"Someone needs to see these poor souls through." I said, nodding at the retreating group. "As soon as they're gone, I will be gone to."
Billy nodded. "J-just d-don't get c-corrected… and d-don't make t-the same m-mistake as m-me…" He winced and pointed to his scar. I smiled and nodded.
"S-see you r-round?" Billy asked. I nodded.
"Maybe we'll meet outside here. Who knows? We could both be cured by then." I said. Billy grinned and gave me a hug. I returned it.
"Stay safe." I told him.
"I will." Billy said, clambering into the car.

I watched as the car drove down the driveway and out onto the main street and vanished out of sight. Now Billy was the first to leave, I wondered who would be next….