Nowhere to run (chapter 1)
A light brown Pegasus with a messy dark green mane and tail began to open her eyes. The mare was slowly awakening and trying to adjust to her surroundings. Once she had woken up from her long, restless sleep, she realised that she was strapped into a straightjacket. She was secluded in a padded cell that seemed to have no way in or out. The young mare also had bloodshot eyes from a lot of overnight weeping and she had a few scars on her legs, body and face. In that very moment, she began to panic. “Wh-wha-…how…” the Pegasus quickly became confused and scared, “Why am I here? How come I’m in a padded cell?! I-I-I’m not insane!” She struggled to become free from her straightjacket in a fit of panic. “Somepony help me!!” the mare cried, “I’m not insane! I’m not insane!!” She kept screaming out of help for the next five minutes, but no one seemed to come for help. She tried to keep screaming for help, but the more she did, the more exhausted she became. The mare had soon become exhausted and worn out from all the panic. And the Pegasus knew that she had to give up and slowly laid herself down on the padded ground. Her eyes filled with tears and the mare began to cry to herself. “Why had this happened to me?…” she whispered to herself, ”…why…”
There was a knock on the cell door. The mare lifted her head up as the door slowly opened to reveal a lavender earth pony nurse with a light pink braided mane. She also had a jacket on and had a violet scarf wrapped around her. “Good morning, Scarlet!” Flitter smiled at her patient. “…Um… morning, miss…” Scarlet croaked, trying to not hurt her throat after the fit she endured. The Pegasus was lying on the ground and didn’t wish to get up. Flitter soon approached her with care and laid down on the padded floor with scarlet. “Is there something wrong, Scarlet?” Flitter asked her patient. The Pegasus slowly nodded, lifted her head up slightly and gave the assistant a look of concern. “W-w-why am I here?” Scarlet asked her assistant, “I-I’m not insane…. am I?” The earth pony thought silently about the question for a few minutes, before letting out a small sigh. Uh, no.... you are not insane… we don’t like to use that term here…” Flitter reassured Scarlet, “…but there is still something wrong with you…” Scarlet lighted her head up almost immediately “w-what!” She gasped, “But there’s been nothing wrong with me in the past! Why are you telling me that something is wrong! Just because something is wrong, doesn’t mean that I have to be strapped in a straightjacket “Scarlet…” “Trapped in a room where I have to be secluded form the world “Scarlet…” “And being told that something is wrong with me?!? I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS-“ “
SCARLET!!” Flitter yelled, “Calm the heck down! There is no need to panic!” The earth pony gave a stern look at the Pegasus. “But…But…” Flitter lifted a hoof at Scarlet. “No buts. You have no excuse or reason to panic like that. You cannot just go and rant on like some conspiracy theorist. It’s not ok.” Scarlet flattened her ears a little, “But I didn’t-“ “Did you hear what I said?” Flitter asked sternly. Scarlet went silent. “I told you that you shouldn’t panic like the way that you did back then” The Pegasus pricked her ears up and blushed a little “Oooooh! So that’s what you said?” Scarlet asked. Flitter nodded and sighed. “So, as I said earlier, something is wrong with you…” she paused, “however, it’s not that you are insane and all that, it’s just that you have a mental heath issue and it’s a problem that me and the staff will help you with”. Scarlet sighed with relief, “That’s good… but what mental issue do have?” She asked. Flitter paused and bit her lip a little. “Um, is it bad?” Scarlet asked. The earth pony looked into her eyes and put her hoof on her shoulder. “Look, kiddo…” Flitter took a deep breath, …”you have severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – or PTSD… and you’ve been admitted here to the ward after…” Flitter droned off and looked away from Scarlet. “After what!? Is it serious?” The Pegasus wanted to know more. She was keen to find out why she was here. Flitter looked back at her and tried to gather up her courage. “Um… you came here after something happened to you between you and… another pony…” Flitter gave a look of concern to her patient, “You... somehow became traumatised after an incident you had a few years ago… and since then, you had become quite violent and tended to become almost ‘racist’ towards a species of pony... but your mother knew it was just a grudge you had because you were trying to hide the trauma that you had endured all those months ago...”
Scarlet became curious, “What species was it? I don’t think I was racist or anything...” Flitter stared at her, “...I...I really don’t want to flare up another episode again... so I’m not telling you for your safety...” Scarlet became silent and nodded, “I understand...” Flitter soon went back to her story. “Just a few months ago, your mother decided to bring you here so you could get some treatment... but you saw somepony that made you give flashbacks to the incident you had... and then you had an almost psychotic episode... a-and you ran up to that pony and tried to brutally rip it’s wings off and tried to murder him in front of broad daylight and in front of everyone....” Flitter began to have tears streaking down her face. “ I tried to get you off him... but you tried to kill me too... and then I knew from that second on, that you had very serious PTSD and that it need to be treated immediately... so I noted all of the security officers and they came and took you away into a padded cell like this one... and ever since then, you’ve been getting a lot of treatment for your mental health issue... and since then, anytime we thought you were going to have another episode, we’d put you to sleep and take you to a padded cell so then you wouldn’t hurt anyone...” Flitter was about to cry, but wanted to push her tears back, “I feel so sorry for the fact that you are this way... but I know that you will get better soon and all of this PTSD stuff will go away... trust me...” The earth pony wiped a tear, smiled and then gave Scarlet a big hug. “You’re such a brave pony for going through all of this... I don’t think I would’ve been here if I was in your shoes, scarlet...”
It was breakfast time and all of the patients and staff were all sitting at their tables and eating their snacks. "brrrr! It's chilly in here!" Flitter told Scarlet, "Didn't know it would be this cold today!" Scarlet smiled and nodded her head in reply, "Me neither!" The two mares held their trays and got their breakfast, before sitting at an empty table at the far left corner of the cafeteria. "So, did you sleep well?" Flitter asked Scarlet, "No, not really..." she answered, "I think I only got 4 hours of sleep - tops" Flitter began eating her porridge and smiled, "oh well, at least you're awake..." she started, "...but why did you forget about all of the things you've been doing here for the last few months?" Scarlet looked at her assistant became confused. "...I'm honestly not sure... I thought you'd be the one to take care of my medication and all that stuff..." Flitter took another mouthful of her porridge and shook her head. "I'm not the one that takes care of the meds, Hun". Scarlet gave a confused look while she tried to dig into her porridge, "...Then who does? Surely there is somepony out there to takes care of my medication..." Flitter looked at Scarlet in the eyes and said, "I don't think I'm allowed to tell you who handles the medication. You might become paranoid and attempt to change the amount that you take if you know who it is and where it might be - which is extremely dangerous to your health. And that is why we keep it a secret" Scarlet became quiet before saying a small "ok" and she began to eat her breakfast.
A few minutes had past by and the cafeteria seemed to be getting more and more busy by the second. By the time that Scarlet and Flitter had finished their meals, the whole room had become filled with patients and staff embers, trying to feed themselves and their patients. They waited until everyone was finished, by overtime, the two became bored and they played a game of 'eye spy' before they could move on to their schedule. "Eye spy with my little eye, something beginning with... D!" Flitter announced to her patient and Scarlet soon began searching for something with the letter D.
"Doctor?" "Nope. Too easy!" "Dress?" "Not even close!" "Oh! Daisy!" "Nuh uh!"
It took a while for Scarlet to find what she was looking for, but she soon saw a white duck right outside their window. "Is it a Duck?" Scarlet asked Flitter. "Eeyup! you got it right!" she cried as she applauded her friend. "Okay! My go!" Scarlet told Flitter as she tried to think of a letter. "Eye spy with my little eye, something beginning with-" a loud and stern voice could soon be heard. "Everyone! It's time to get on with your groups! Group A left, Group B middle, and Group C to the right!" Flitter looked at her patient. "Looks like it's time to go, Scarlet," she told her as she picked up her tray, "Ok then. What are we going to do today!?" Scarlet asked. "You've got a therapy session with Mr. Bolt, then a few hour lesson in maths and then an hour break outside. After that, you have lunch, then you have a few hour lesson in English, and then you visit P.E room for thirty minutes, before you have dinner. And then after that, you go to your room for a few hours and then you go to sleep! got that?" Scarlet smiled, "Seems like today will be a big day! let's go!" Scarlet and Flitter soon headed for their groups and began their long day in the mental ward.
