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I was hauled to my feet and dragged off the boat, stumbling and tripping my way down a path. It led down to a decrepit looking building. An old sign near the entrance readNorth Brother Island Mental Hospital. That did not inspire confidence in my chances for survival. As soon as we stepped into the lobby, there was a smell. It was difficult to pin down exactly, but it was how you’d imagined despair and decay would smell.
I gasped, coughing, and felt immediately nauseous and like I needed to spit. The men dragged me deeper into the hospital. There was no light aside from what came through the windows. Scary didn’t begin to describe it. I’d been there barely ten minutes, and I wanted to go stark screaming mad. I could imagine that someone would do just about anything to get out of here.
We passed rooms with closed doors. I could hear quiet haunting whimpers. I was almost gibbering with fear, one sudden move in the shadows away from crying and pleading with my captors to get me out of here.
One of the men opened a door and shoved me into a room before slamming it shut behind me. I immediately turned and threw myself at it, banging on it as I shouted for them to let me out. I don’t know why I did it. I knew it was useless even before I started. But I was just so terrified.
I was afraid to turn around and face the room. For one thing, I could hear breathing, loud and labored, and I knew I wasn’t alone. I was almost afraid to see what—or who—was in the room with me.
I turned around slowly, bracing myself. There was one hospital bed near the window, with no mattress. My eyes swept the room and found the source of labored breathing that filled the room in increments, lying on a mattress on the floor. An IV line was through her arm, and I approached her slowly.
“Hello?”
She said nothing, didn’t even turn her head. For all I knew, she hadn’t heard me. She was a long, thin shape lying beneath a thin sheet—probably freezing. It wasn’t exactly warm. From the rattling I could hear even from where I was, it sounded like she might have pneumonia.
I wanted to approach her, but my limbs felt frozen, heavy, and reluctant to take another step. Maybe I didn’t want to know… but I had to. Whoever she was, she needed help, and me standing there gawking was doing neither of us any good.
Still, it felt like someone else was moving me from the outside, as I put one foot in front of the other and approached her. Everything was fuzzy as if I was seeing through opaque glass. Slowly, I went down on my knees and peered at her, pulling her dark hair away from her face.
I almost screamed when I realized who I was looking at.
“Celia…?”
She looked battered and bruised, and so painfully thin I wanted to cry. She didn’t acknowledge that she’d heard me in any way. I leaned down over her, our faces close to each other.
“Celia?” I whispered again.
She made a slight whimpering sound. I moved the blanket aside to peer at her body. Aside from her dangerous thinness, she had a lot of bruises in various stages of healing, as well as a collection of needle tracks on her arm. “What did they do to you?”
I covered her back up, not wanting her to feel any colder than she already was. Her body was shivering. I lay down beside her to give her my warmth, pulling her close. “It’s going to be alright. I’m going to get you out of here,” I whimpered.
“N-nora?”
I lifted my head so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. “Celia?” I loomed over her, looking down into her face. “It’s me. It’s Nora. I’ve come to get you.”
Her lips were chapped and dry even as she tried to smile. I looked around the room frantically, hoping to find a source of water somewhere. There was no tap in the room, no water bottle, nothing.
I licked my finger and brushed the resulting wetness against her mouth. “Shh… it’s going to be fine. Are you thirsty? What’s in your IV?” I peered closely at the bag of clear liquid reading the label. “Dextrose 5% in water.”
I sighed. That should have helped with the dehydration, at least. But she needed to be in the hospital. Not lying on the floor in an abandoned mental institution.
“Nora.” She could scarcely make any sound. Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Yes, baby. I’m right here. I’m right here, Ce. I love you. I’m going to get you out.”
She coughed weakly and smiled. I searched for her hand, taking her pulse. It was slow and weak. Her skin was so cold. I shuffled closer, trying to give her some of my body heat as I looked around the room.
Maybe we could escape through the window and make our way back to the boat. The blinds were broken. I sat up, wanting to see if I could get the window open, but Celia mewled weakly and I lay back down, gathering her close to me.
“Shh, I’ll get you out of here. Don’t you worry.” I began humming soothingly.
She turned her head slowly, resting it on my shoulder. Her breathing was still worryingly erratic.
“You… found… me,” she rasped.
“Yes I did. Yes I did,” I assured her.
She smiled, her lips cracking and bleeding. I tightened my grip on her. “Always were… so protective,” she said affectionately.
