Chapter 19 - Ginny
NINETEEN
GINNY
The orderly’s hand clamped hard on my chin, forcing my jaw open. He held a small paper cup with two white pills sitting at the bottom. They rattled against one another as I shook my head violently.
‘Take it,’ he grunted, his fingers bruising me in their tight grip.
‘I don’t want to. It might hurt my baby. I don’t need any medicine.’ I lashed out at his arms, scratching at the hairy skin.
His lip curled into a menacing smile. ‘No one gives a fuck about you or your baby. The doctors will probably chop him up and feed him back to you for fun.’
Something inside me snapped.
I twisted viciously, bucking against his hold.
He jammed his knee between mine, pinning me to the wall.
The hold had me panicking; the tightness making my chest ache.
I fought him, scratching and kicking with my teeth bared.
He forced his hand against my mouth, and I sank my teeth deep into the flesh like a rabid dog.
‘Help!’ he cried, his scream filling the ward. Blood, warm and metallic, flooded over my tongue and made my stomach churn. Still, I clamped down harder, the weeks of building anger peaking. I bit until I felt the hardness of bone scraping my teeth.
‘Let go, you little bitch!’ He backhanded me, sending pain bursting through my head. Everything ached, but I didn’t let go. With tears in his eyes, he tore his hand free of my mouth. Blood sprayed down my nightgown and dripped from my bruised chin.
Other staff members swarmed like ants, their hands pulling at me. Their faces blurred as tears filled my eyes. Their features twisted in disgust and anger. Two of them pinned me beneath the arms while the bitten one swore and sandwiched his bleeding hand under his arm.
‘She’s a fucking animal,’ he spat. ‘Put her in the Chamber.’
No.
My stomach dropped. I’d seen people come out of the Chamber, wild-eyed and mumbling about the voices. Sheer torment stuck on their pained faces.
I raised hell as they dragged me down the corridor. My bare heels scraped against the floor. They hauled me past doors that shut behind us with loud clashes of finality. Down the stairwell, and down, down, into the bowels of Wellard where the scent of decay grew stronger.
Flashes of familiarity attacked me. Like I’d been in the belly of the beast before.
The walls narrowed as the light dimmed. My screams bounced back at me from the concrete walls, surrounding me like taunting demons. Except the voices surrounding me sounded utterly feral.
The Echo Chamber waited with its door standing open like a gaping maw, nothing but darkness beyond.
The door stood black, rust eating at the hinges. A single vent was high above the door, where there didn’t stand a chance of me reaching it. The men shoved me inside and slammed the door behind me. With a terrifying scrape, they locked me inside.
In the darkness.
The sound was wrong. Too loud and final.
I pounded on the door with my fists, but the thuds came back at me from every angle. Amplified and multiplied, a thousand bangs raining down from the inky nothing.
‘Let me out!’ My voice hit the walls before peeling back to attack me. Starting loud and desperate until they shrank to menacing whispers.
I clawed at the concrete until my hands stung, nails peeling back, broken. But no one came for me. Just my twisted voice to keep me company.
I cried for my mama. Yelled for my Pops. Screamed for Nurse Nancy.
I slid to the floor, wrapping myself around my belly and rocking as the sound swelled until I couldn’t tell if it was me or the room screaming.
The Echo Chamber had me losing my mind.
It would swallow me up.