Dolly's face blurred into view in front of my eyes in the blazing daylight of dawn. My brain was scrambled and my throat parched as a crisp winter. I attempted to sit up, and Dolly brought me a paper cup with water.

I could not even say thank you, it seemed like I had lost my voice from screaming my heart out. Water welled in my eyes, and I whispered hoarsely, "Pills?"

She shook her head. 

"Please?" My voice cracked desperately. 

"I don't have any," she whispered.

I furrowed my brows at her. "Yes, you do," I said. "I know you do, because—" My voice broke out and I coughed before drinking more water. "Because you don't eat yours and keep them hidden in your room."

Dolly looked away. "I shouldn't give them to you."

"Why not?" 

"You're getting addicted to them," she replied. "I told you not to eat them."

"I'm not addicted, Dolly," I said. "Just give them to me."

She shook her head.

"Hand them over now," I ordered. 

Dolly stepped away from the bed. 

"Dolly," I said, trying to get out of bed, but one of my ankles was chained to the bed. I glared up at her. "Did you do this to me?"

"Of course not!" I could see fear in her big blue eyes. 

"Unchain me," I demanded. 

"I don't know how—"

"I don't care!" I yelled furiously. "Get me out."

"Daisy, I seriously do not know how!"

"Do you really think I believe that?" I spat.

She backed away even further. 

"I swear to god, Dolly, if you do not get me out of this I will murder you."

"I'm sorry," she said, "I don't have a key."

"Liar!"

"I'm serious!"

"You are lying!" I yelled, my voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard.

"No, I'm not. I am not lying!" she yelled.

"What makes you think I would believe a pathological liar like you?" 

We stared at each other for a moment in silence, and then I took the lamp from beside the bed and started slamming it into the chain.

"Daisy, stop it."

"Shut up!" My limbs shook uncontrollably and sweat poured through my skin. 

"You are going to hurt yourself," Dolly warned, and right as she said that a bone in my foot fractured and I cursed out in pain. 

Giving up, I ran out of my bed shakily, so much adrenaline running through my system, I pulled the bed with me as I headed for the door where Dolly is running away. I dragged the bed with me as I trudged over to the room next door — Dolly's room. She is crouched in the corner, hands in her hair. 

"Where are they, Dolly? Where?" I scream, breaking everything in my way.

I trashed through her items and found the pills she's been hiding in between the mattress and the bed. I grabbed a handful and stuffed them into my mouth. I swallowed as many as I could all at once, and by the time I've consumed the entire pile, I stare into the emptiness as sweat dripped from my face, my arms jittery, and my legs rattled beneath me, threatening to let me collapse. 

"Daisy?" said Dolly quietly from the corner, a few tears strained from her doe eyes.
My stomach was cautioned to regurgitate. 

"Daisy, you're going to get in such big trouble," whispered the teenager. 

When I am in bed again that night, the pills have taken a toll on me. I schemed for sleepless hours on a method of escaping this hell. My plan was to sneak out during dinner and if I do get caught, I could suggest that I was merely searching for the restroom.

In the middle of my plotting, there was a rummaging sound from the dark corner opposite of my bed. It startled me and as I squinted my eyes in the dark to see clearer, a pair of grotesque arms came reaching towards me from the blackness. I screamed and catapulted backwards. The hands grabbed onto the blanket and tugged it to the floor. I curl into a ball, arms around my knees. The creature, or phantom, or whatever it was, seized my ankle and pulled me. All of a sudden the hand wrapped around my throat and I could not breathe. I screamed as loud as I could but my throat would not produce anything. I clawed for something — anything — desperately. And just as I thought I was going to die, the grip is released and the air floods back into my lungs achingly. 

It was the first time encountering a ghost since I had arrived at Letchworth Asylum. I needed to leave.

The next morning Dolly did not greet me warmly like she did; in fact, I could not find her in her room or at breakfast. So, I asked some of the other patients if they had seen her but none had any information. By noon, I asked one of the nuns.

"Dolly is no longer here," she answered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How come she gets to leave but I cannot?"

"She did not leave," the nun said. "She passed away last night." I was speechless for a moment. The nun continued, "She was put under the shocks."

Dolly was tortured to death.

"Why would you do that?" I raised my voice frantically.

"We heard from another patient that she gave you extra pills," the nun responded. "A lot of pills."
I blinked, realizing her death was my fault. Yes, I really needed to leave as soon as possible.
When I finally got the chance, I took it. I snuck out of the cafetaria and instead of going to the front door which must have been locked, I found a door that led down to a cellar. In the cellar, it was pitch black, so I felt my way around the walls for any light switch, and when I found one and the light flickered on, I was met face to face with a certain sinful visage. I tripped backwards, my back found purchase with the floor, but it had vanished. It must have been the same one as the night prior, and it terrified me down to the bone. 

I found a small door locked with a chain. I used a large, sharp rock and was able to break it open. Through the door was a long, dark tunnel. A bleak chill wafted through my hair and my gown like a sinister phantom. 

I reached the end of the tunnel, and I was outside. 

I was free. 

A small chuckle escaped my lips and I felt better than when I swallowed all those blue pills combined.