cont...
At night, in her cell, she heard voices 'Maggie don't let them do it to you' 'Maggie, it'll be too late soon' 'Maggie, you're diminishing'
Holding her thin pillow over her head did nothing to drown them out 'That's no barrier Maggie' 'Listen to us Maggie'.
Maggie came to recognise the young woman on the table as easily as she'd used to recognise herself. There were no mirrors available to her now and,
actually, it would be doubtful if she would recognise herself any more.
More and more urgently the young woman implored 'Don't let them do it to you Maggie'
Maggie started to answer her – 'I can't stop them' she'd say miserably 'I've got no say in this'.
The doctors noted this and recorded that Maggie was not responding to the treatment and was, in fact, becoming worse. So perhaps they'd better ramp
it up a bit.
They started to give her heavier drugs too and Maggie deteriorated exactly as her siblings had hoped she would.
The drugs had odd affects on Maggie, divorcing her from the world and making her pliable. Sometimes they made her harder to reach but at others the
voices found they could make themselves heard even more clearly.
They took their chance and started to materialise. One by one by one.
Maggie first became aware of a presence in her room one night when she was so far gone even Misery and Guilt couldn't reach her. She looked over at
the far corner and saw a woman, older than the one she was used to seeing on the table. 'Come to us Maggie' the woman said with a smile on her face.
The smile was a strange mixture of kindliness and stark, staring madness.
'Nooooooooo' screamed Maggie and was lucky that the orderlies on duty were too lazy to attend to her when they heard the cry. 'Don't tell them you've
seen me Maggie' admonished the woman as she faded into the wall.
Something clicked in Maggie's brain. 'Stop telling them you can see things' 'Don't make it worse by telling them that now there's another one'.
But Maggie so wanted help to stop seeing these women. They frightened her, she didn't want to see ghosts and they kept calling to her. They wanted
her to join them. Maggie wanted to get better and go home. Keep that thought 'go home'. 'I'll get better' she promised herself and stopped
resisting the treatment.
The doctors were pleased, Maggie was co-operative, she didn't protest any more. The treatment must be working, that's a good thing. Ramp it up
again.
How delighted her siblings were when they got the good news that Maggie was responding. 'Oh yes, of course give her some more, if it's helping'.
How cynical they were, they knew full well that what was happening to Maggie would never be for her own good, they were relying on it.
But the doctors, what were they thinking? Really so naïve as to think that their drugs and electric shock treatment were, indeed, helping a woman who
had only been suffering from mild depression and severe grief? Who knew, who cared? They raked in the money and employed the local populace, what
benefactors they were to everyone, and themselves, albeit at the expense of the very people they were supposed to benefact.
Maggie stayed away from the other patients, they were mad and she didn't want to associate with them. She was afraid that they'd contaminate her with
their illnesses. In her mind, she was not and never would be, like them.
She would have realised that this isolation made her more vulnerable to the apparitions if she had but thought about it, but Maggie wasn't in much of
a state to think about anything.
Some nights she still cried for her baby but she found that her crying attracted the apparitions even more. Once they sent a little girl.
The child stood in the corner, obviously distressed from something that had happened to her 'Help me Maggie' 'Maggie come to us and look after me'
That night Maggie's screams did fetch the orderlies and she spent a month under even heavier sedation.
The doctors had no choice but to tell her siblings that she'd taken a turn for the worst. 'Oh, but we trust you doctors. Give her more treatment,
whatever you think best'.
The apparitions ceased for a while, but Maggie had no idea that they were planning a heavier assault than usual and was just grateful for the
respite.
After her month of heavier sedation she was allowed a lighter medication albeit something new and untried, and did her best to behave herself.
At night when the apparitions came she muffled her screams with the pillow. She pleaded with them in a whisper to leave her alone.
'But we want to help you Maggie' 'We're you're friends Maggie' 'Come to us Maggie'
'No, you're all mad people' she responded 'Leave me alone'
'We weren't always mad Maggie' 'They did this to us Maggie' 'We had treatment like yours Maggie'
Maggie peeped over the pillow, which was now pressed tightly to her mouth. She looked at the three of them who had presented themselves to her. The
kindly older woman and two men who she wouldn't have wanted to face up a dark alley.
One for them had a mouth which hung open above his vacant eyes as the other held on to him, propping him up. The other was burly and had scars on his
temples.
'Look at them Maggie. We couldn't help them in time. They left it too late to join us.' 'Come to us now Maggie before it's too late for you'.
Maggie writhed in terror on her uncomfortable bed. She'd resisted their pleas for months. She'd never been suicidal before and it horrified her to
think that these creatures wanted her to do away with herself.
“No' she said 'I'm going to get better and go home'
'You're not going home Maggie' 'You'll never leave this place Maggie' 'Unless it's in a wooden box Maggie'
Maggie started to think, for once. If she screamed now she'd be forced to have a heavier sedation and she wouldn't be able to see or hear them. Maybe
a stronger dose of medicine would be good for her and would help her to get better after all. She screamed with all her might 'They're here' 'They're
coming to get me' 'Oh help. Help'
After another month of strong medication Maggie was given another experimental medication. This one left her more open to the overtures of those from
the other side.
'Look what they're doing to you Maggie' 'Is that what you really want, Maggie'
'I want to go home'
'You're not going home Maggie' 'There's nothing at home for you Maggie'
'I want my baby'
'We've tried to get her for you Maggie' 'It's not easy Maggie' 'She's in a place that's hard for us to reach Maggie'
Maggie looked at them, two women this time, Both smiling beatifically. And mad as all Hell.
'We're your friends Maggie' 'We'll find your baby for you'
With a startling clarity Maggie woke up into the real world. She sat bolt upright in the bed and shocked herself with the revelation.
These mad spooks were trying to get her to kill herself, for her own good. Before she became too deranged and died completely mentally incapacitated.
They were concerned for her soul.
But now they were offering to find her baby for her. A baby that they couldn't get. Because it was in a place beyond their reach.
Maggie thought hard, she wasn't religious but... her little girl was safely in a Heaven. A place where the innocent went after their death.
But these mad apparitions were trying to get her out so that Maggie could be with her. The baby was the bait with which they were trying to lure her
into their Heaven - a place for those who had died insane.
edit on 17-4-2015 by berenike because: (no reason given)