“You’re no match for me, neither of you, wait till you’re alone one day and you’ll be doing more useful things than just running that pretty little mouth.”
He took an intimidating step towards us, intent on making us back down. Brandon doesn't scare me. He repulses me and makes me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t fathom why people like him, people who hurt and killed children, were permitted to live in the first place. No, slimy men didn’t scare me; they just made me wish I were physically stronger so I could do something about their perverse behavior. Brandon picked on little girls because they couldn’t stand up for themselves. Kendi and I may have been small in stature, but we weren’t going to back down as easily as he wanted us to.
Thomas shot a hand out and grabbed Brandon's bicep, warning him to keep it in line or he was going to be going back into solitary confinement during the remainder of his stay. Brandon's soulless eyes bore through us, not once looking at Thomas as he begrudgingly let the orderly turn him around and start walking back to the hospital's campus.
“Let's hang back for a minute, ladies,” Cindy said, watching Thomas and Brandon with a wary eye.
“You’re the boss,” replied Kendi, and I didn’t argue. The more distance between us and Brandon, the better. “Why do they let him stay on our ward and not with the criminals?”
Cindy chewed her bottom lip a moment before responding, probably wondering how to properly answer us without revealing any confidential patient information that could put her job in jeopardy.
“Brandon Everett's lawyers are adamant in his innocence due to his mental state. His case is public, but he hasn’t been convicted of anything. Legally, there’s no reason to put him in the criminal ward, yet. Thomas can keep him in line though, so don’t you two worry about his threats.”
“I’m not worried,” Kendi admitted, “I’ve been around men who think due to my size I can’t stick up for myself. He’s a sick son of a bitch. I don’t think he will like going through life without his sack if he keeps trying to provoke me.”
“Miss Morgan, we don’t allow patients to have access to weapons,” Cindy replied as we started walking back.
“I don’t need a weapon when I have teeth,” Kendi said sweetly. The image of her biting Brandon's balls off was one I wouldn’t be getting out of my head any time soon.
Standing up against Brandon was different than when I tried to stand up to Craig. Brandon was a generic pervertwho didn’t know my deepest secrets to use them against me. Craig didn’t just know what haunted my thoughts, but how to use them to get under my skin and let them feast on my flesh until there was nothing left but the bones picked clean of all their meat.
Learning how not to let him get me so deep was something I would have to work harder at mastering. It wouldn’t happen overnight, it probably wouldn’t even happen over the next few weeks. Over time though, it was bound to get easier if I could just stick with it and push myself outside of the shells of a comfort zone I had created.
“Please, if you decide to chew his balls off, I would love a front row seat. That creep being in pain would be the highlight of my year.” I breathed a little easier as we made our way back down the hill, Thomas and Brandon nowhere in sight.
“Do either of you think this is a good topic of conversation, considering where you both are?” Cindy asked, wrapping her coat tighter around her body. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair from the exertion of our walk.
“I think it’s the perfect place for a conversation like this, I mean, we’re already in the loony bin, what more could they do to us? We haven’t even threatened anyone.” I started.
“We haven’t committed a crime.” Kendi continued.
“We haven’t laid hands on another patient or staff member,”I added.
“And we haven’t even come up with a body disposal method.” Kendi finished, and I barked out a laugh, almost doubling over from the humor I found in her statement. “Though come to think of it, we probably should before any ball chewing takes place.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Miss Morgan. Let's try to keep it appropriate on the way back so I won't feel a need to speak with either of your therapists today.” Cindy was less than amused with our witticism, but Kendi had me cracking up with the thought of Brandon's balls becoming victims of cannibal like tendencies.
“I’m sorry, Cindy, we promise we’re only joking,” I said while Kendi continued to laugh, “he’s just a creep, we’re not going to touch him.”
“Exactly, that’s for Thomas to do,” Kendi added through her own fit of laughter.
“I’ve seen them put patients in solitary confinement for a lot less than ideal threats, ladies. I’m not warning you because I want to be a dictator; I’m warning you because I like you, but nurses don’t have a lot of say in what goes on here. Please, do yourselves a favor and watch how you deal with him when you’re in the clinic. I’d hate to see either of you kept here any longer than you need.”
“Dark humor is not acceptable in a lunatic asylum, got it,” I muttered, another apology, it hadn’t been my intention to not take her seriously. In a location where the walls had ears, it wouldn’t surprise me if the trees did as well.
Kendi apologized as well, keeping the conversation a little lighter as we walked back through the woods. By the time we arrived back with the other patients and Shemar, the temperature had begun to rise enough for my hands not to freeze when I pulled them from my pockets again.
“Thirty more minutes in the courtyard and then we need to head back in for lunch,” Shemar announced from his seat on the bench next to Andrew.
Kendi and I made our way to where Thelma was sitting on a cast-iron bench near a statue of an angel bowing over her folded hands in prayer. The moisture from the residual morning fog gave her the appearance of tears along her stone face.
“Did you enjoy your walk?” Thelma asked as we took a seat on either side of her. “I would have gone, but the arthritis in my knees has been giving me hell since the weather has changed.”
“We did. Up until Brandon started his creepy shit again. Where did he and Thomas wander off to anyway?” I had just noticed that since we arrived, neither of them were anywhere to be seen in the courtyard.
“Shemar told Thomas to take him back inside. He has individual therapy before lunch today with Mr. Bradshaw,” She replied, leaning back against the bench and taking a deep breath of the fresh air.
“That’s right, I forgot, since he came in to see me yesterday, he said my session was probably going to be swapped with someone else's today. I hate that Daxton is stuck with him.”
