Chapter 3 Broken Resolve

Seven weeks.

For seven weeks, Angel's hands and legs were strapped down with brown leather to a bed that prevented another rampage.

Seven weeks of torture with voices that spoke inside her head as their agony consumed her. Every person who has touched her had a type of torture that slowly stripped the sanity away. The minute she woke up in Defectum, the local hospital, the doctors began to inject her with sedatives as she whipped wildly.

She thrashed around against the restraints, which caused bruises on her wrists and ankles. Her screams turned to moans while she destroyed her voice. She could hear the steady footsteps outside the metal door along with muffled sounds. The metal door opened with a gush of wind that swept the room, which startled the fragile girl. A woman entered the room wearing a white lab coat over a maroon dress followed by two bulky security guards. As Angel felt the guard's anticipation, the child laid on the spring bed with wild brown curls spread around her. The woman with vibrant red hair pulled back into a neat bun nodded toward the men. The fragile girl panicked when the guards unstrapped the brown belts with great care. The men released the girl from her constraints before taking cautious steps back. The girl sat up with her back against the wall while she hugged her knees as she was careful of what might happen next. The woman sat down in a wooden chair placed in the center of the room before she once again nodded toward the guards dismissing them. Before they shut the door, the men hesitantly looked between the two females, one immaculate and another shaking in her skin.

The white-walled enclosed space was filled with a single bed pushed into the corner. The sunlight crept through the small window that sat close to the ceiling of the 10ft wall.

"Angel," The woman's voice was gentle. "Do you know where you are?" Her voice steady and calm, almost as if she were preparing for the worst. The fragile girl nodded with wild eyes as she assessed the doctor's relaxed demeanor. The woman sat with her ankles crossed in front of her while her fingers interlaced on her lap.

"My name is Sara Redrew," She smiled with a serene calm that the child cowered from. Angel's frail arms wrapped around her legs, holding them close to her chest.

"I'm sure it was very hard these last couple of weeks," She said. "I know it hasn't been easy losing your brother." The girl looked down at her blemished wrists, so she didn't meet those prying green eyes. Her fingers dug into her skin as the air escaped her lungs in labored breaths.

The girl could feel the emotions before she heard the footsteps from down the hall. Curiosity burned into her skin as she listened to the light chatter grow louder. With each step they took closer, Angel cowered into the small space between her knees and chest. The clicking of heels came to a halt as the guards gave the intruders stern glares that sent them heading back from whence they came. The guilt was a sour taste in the girl's mouth while she clenched her teeth in an attempt to relieve the screeching that scraped through her thoughts.

"Your school was understanding of the situation giving you the next two semesters to get settled." Sara had a voice that gently soothed the worry inside Angel, despite the walls the child had built. "Your father pulled some strings to keep your housing intact."

With narrowed brown eyes, Angel watched the doctor skeptically while internally scoffing at the thought of her 'loving' parents. The two who birthed her didn't know she was leaving, so what was their response to the accident? Would her father have genuinely cared for her education if he knew what her major was?

"Your parents and I have had the pleasure of working together before this case." The doctor's voice echoed in the small room, causing her words to impact Angel fiercely. The girl's absent parents were government operatives who worked precarious jobs that kept them from raising their children.

"Your father is working with me in trying to help you," her words were spoken clearly, but still left the child confused. With her parents dedicated to their job, it left little room for their children, who were hidden behind the walls of their extravagant home. The girl knew it was her birth givers' job to provide safety from the unknown. Of course, her parents were sent in to clean her mess.

"I know it must be hard for you to speak," Sara spoke with a turn of her head, trying to catch sight of the child's eyes. "The doctors told me you have been screaming to the top of your lungs since they brought you to the psych ward," Angel recalled the rolling bed she laid in as the fluorescent lights beamed overhead like passing streetlights. The girl could only scream for them to let her go as the nurses continued to restrain her, their touch transferring their anxiety.

What the hell is wrong with this child?

Foreign voices invaded her skull, insulting her character and pitying the broken person that Angel was. The patient pleaded with those who touched her to back away, but her words fell on deaf ears. Those memories caused Angel to turn her face toward the wall with her bottom lip tucked in between her teeth.

"You were screaming: Stop touching me. You are making the voices worse." Sara's calming voice echoed Angel's words as the woman sat back in her wooden chair. The girl could only stare at the wall while her nails penetrated into the skin of her knees. Her breaths became shallow gasps of air as she hid behind her thick curls.

"I can help," Sara pleaded with the girl. The scoff that escaped the girl's lips burned her damaged throat. "The voices will only get worse."