The Maid at Dartmoor Breach Ch. 01

It's been raining for hours. I've been listening to it bouncing off the nearby tin roof all night. Not that I could have slept anyway.

Today, I'm twenty-three. Today, I leave.

By stomach bottoms out and my heart begins to pound. I haven't been thinking about it on purpose because I knew this was how I'd feel. But I can't pretend it's not happening anymore.

Maybe this won't be as hard as I think it's going to be.

I scoff aloud. 'Yeah, right.'

The clock says five and I sigh. I have nothing to do until my taxi comes at eight. Everything is packed and by my door. 'Everything' being some clothes and toiletries in a backpack, a few photos of people who aren't here anymore. Mom, Dad, Aunt Sara.

I get dressed. I can hear the night orderlies at the desk down the hall starting to move around. Shift change is at six, so they'll start carrying out their obs and checks soon and as I look around my small room, I wonder if I'll miss it.

I've lived at the hospital for nine years. Has it really been that long since Mom, Dad and Sara died, since I killed them?

Pushing those thoughts away, I give myself a reprimanding look in the small mirror by the door. I haven't had an episode (technical term) in years and the consensus of the medical pros is that they were brought on by chemical imbalances from puberty hormones. I went psycho as I was becoming a woman, basically.

They say I'm normal now and I'm not a threat. I was a minor when it happened, so my records have been sealed and, when I leave today, I get to start afresh. No one will know anything about my past. I even have a job lined up at some supe academy for rich shifters thanks to Doctor Shelby. It's just cleaning and stuff like that, but I'll be standing on my own two feet. That's what I've been working towards since I became a lawful adult.

So what am I afraid of?

I leave my room and head out towards the orderly station, making sure Wilkins isn't there. We have a little history, me and him, -- in that I'm a lowly patient and he's an asshole who takes his duties to the extreme. I've found myself on the wrong end of him 'doing his job' more than once since he started working here and I have some purple bruises to prove it. But he's well-versed in the rules, knows what he can get away with, and he had the leverage to keep me quiet these days too. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's got friends in high places because I'm not the only one who's complained about him, yet he always comes out on top somehow.

'You ok there, Red?'

I give the older man sitting behind the desk in his white uniform a genuine smile. Tom has been here longer than I have, and he's always tried to look out for me. I don't want to say he was a father figure when I needed one, but the shoe fits. I think he's like seventy, maybe? His hair is short and white and he's not much taller than my 5'5".

'You go out into the big world today, right? Nervous?'

I shrug. 'Nah.'

He chuckles. 'It'll be ok, girl. Just need to find your feet out there is all. Heard you have a job to go to.'

'Yeah,' I say, shuffling my feet. 'Doc Shelby set it up for me. It's at Dartmoor Breach.'

'The supe academy?'

I nod, and then step closer to the desk as the sixth sense I've cultivated during my time here tells me that Wilkins is close.

He shoulders past like I knew he would, knocking into my arm painfully despite the wide, empty corridor, but I don't react. That's what he wants. Fuck him. He's not my problem after today. I frown. He will be someone else's though.

Tom gives his back a nasty look. 'Look towards your future,' he advises me. 'You don't want to end up back here. But be careful of those supes, girl. Can't trust 'em.'

I give him a salute. 'Sure thing. Thanks, Tom. You're one of the good ones.'

He waves a hand. 'Get outta here, kid.'

I smile, taking in his visage for what might well be the last time and a feel a pang in my chest. I never hated it here. There are bad things like Wilkins, but there are things -- people like Tom and the Doc who I will miss. I mean, it's not like a school where you can go back after you graduate and visit a teacher you loved. This is a prison for crazy people. If I end up back behind these walls, it'll be because I've done something bad.

I don't want that.

So, I take that feeling and I bury it. Tom isn't dead, he's just in the past for me now.

I walk the opposite way from Wilkins and head up to what we call the Solarium because it has some huge windows that overlook the mountains, and it always catches the sun. How many times have I sketched this landscape, painted it? There are easels set up for today's sessions. Art is a big deal in here. Therapeutic and healing. The Doc is big into calm and mindfulness. There's weekly yoga class and a local place brings in rescue animals a couple times a month as well, like dogs and cats. Sometimes, there's a rehabilitated owl called Crookshanks, but to be honest the name has always bothered me. If anything, it should be Hedwig. The lady who brings them got shirty when I brought it up though.

I sit in front of the window and stare out for some time before I hear someone come in. The Doc sits next to me. She pats my hand and I look her way, taking in the greying brown hair she keeps in short curls, the burgundy suit and kitten heels, the lanyard she wears around her neck with the awful picture on it that she hates but hasn't bothered to have retaken.

'Ready?'

'Yeah.'

'It's ok to be nervous, but we've been working towards this for eighteen months, Ripley. The online courses, the group work, the home economics classes. You're ready. You got this.'

I nod, twisting my hands in my lap.

'Here.' She hands me a business card with her name and number on it. 'You need anything, you call me. Okay?'

I nod again. This is getting too real.

'Promise me, Ripley.'

'I promise.'

'Good.' She pats me again, her hand lingering on mine and she gives it a squeeze. 'It might be a little scary being out there at first, but you're smart and capable. Remember that. ... And, Ripley?'

'Yeah, Doc?'

'Happy Birthday.'

I try for a reassuring smile, but I'm pretty sure all I manage is a grimace.

'The car will be here at eight and it'll take about an hour to get to Dartmoor Breach. Your supervisor is a guy called Joe Tennyson. I don't know him personally, but I heard he's fair. You're all packed up?'

'Yep, the backpack's ready to go.'

'Ok. I have some work to take care of, but I'll be there to see you off, okay?'

'Sure, Doc.'

Doctor Shelby leaves, her heels thudding down the thin carpet runner that follows the hall. I check my watch. Seven- thirty. That was quick. I could grab some breakfast from the cafeteria now, but I know I won't be able to stomach anything with how I'm feeling, so I make my way back down to my room, saying goodbye to the staff and other orderlies that I do like.

I grab my bag from my room and I'm walking to the entrance with ten minutes to spare when a hand pulls me into one of the teaching rooms.

'You weren't going to say goodbye?' comes a half-accusing whisper.