Case 79
Chapter 5: Mercy
I remember the day Mercy was born vividly, and can recall all insignificant details from the event. It still remains the most monumental moment of my life.
Jonah seemed changed after that day, and I think we did a little too. When before he had been almost pleasant and nice to the nurses, he grew cold to them, standing up to them more than anyone else. It was refreshing, someone standing up for a change. But everyone else is still too scared. What we really needed was a leader.
And we got one.
Several days after what we call the Demon incident, all of Sector D and the rest of the asylum were gathered in the cafeteria for lunch, eating the stuff we called Sludge. I was sitting next to my nurse Jared, who was pestering me like usual. Only today it was worse. I got up to dump my tray when he cornered me, my tray clattering to the ground. He had his fowl hands on me and was trying to pull my dress off. I screamed, screamed, trying to get him off me. But one helped, they were all to scared of the Doctor to try.
BAM!
In a flash of black and white Jared was on the floor, Jonah pinning him down.
And he had a knife.
The room was dead silent, everyone holding their breath. Jonah had the homemade knife up to Jared's throat, and Jared's eyes were wide with fear.
"D-don't k-kill m-me."
Jonah's head was cocked to one side, his eyes glittering. He pressed the knife harder to Jared's throat, drawing a little blood. He began to speak.
"You know what the difference between me and you is, doctor and patient?
Jared shakes his head hard, not wanting to upset the person who has a knife to his throat.
"We show mercy," he said, pushing Jared away and standing.
And thus Mercy was born.
His new name was Mercy.
His standing up for me in the cafeteria like that brought all of us hope. Mercy had stood up to Jared, and had made the man we all hated so much shake with fear. Mercy's teachings of love and forgiveness, which before had only reached us, were being broadcasted to the entire Institute. People started standing up to the nurses, and stopped fighting against each other. He taught us about forgiveness, and how you should forgive the people who hurt you, for they don't know what they are doing. He taught us about how fighting amongst ourselves is useless, and only if we stop we can have peace. He taught us straight from his worn and tattered Bible, reading us Gods word. People throughout the asylum were gaining faith and hope.
And the Doctor didn't like it.
He upped Mercy's shock treatments for one. His hair was now spiked on top of his head, and was singed slightly. He tortured the poor boy endlessly, trying to get him to buckle.
He never did.
But the question was how far would Turner go? So far he had only been doing small things to Mercy, and had even stooped to hurting his friends. It was only a matter of time before he outright attacked Mercy. And Mercy in turn just pushed harder, teaching us Scripture while rebelling against the Doctor.
It was a fierce battle.
And one day, the dam broke.
Number 52 from level three killed his nurse. Mercy was telling us that killing was not the answer, that just resisting was enough when the head nurses came after him, grabbing him right from the box he had been preaching on. And he resisted alright.
But what were they going to do to him?