She was left alone most of the time, to wander in her thoughts, staring distantly at inanimate objects in her room or how the other patients struggled through their daily routine.
Her ward held less violent patients while the much more triggered patients were demarcated from them by a wall. Sometimes she heard their screams, the commotion with the nurses and when shifts were done by the weekend, the look of relief from the new nurses who'd been shuffled back to the less chaotic ward was all but enough to show how terrifying the center was.

But Jema slept most of the time, maybe an after-effect of the antipsychotic medication they were pumping into her body or was it a mechanism her mind was using to shut out everything? She couldn't decide which, but she knew the drugs kept her calm, and slower than normal but she didn't mind. Except for the compulsory lunch break at the cafeteria with the rest of the patients Jema all but kept to herself.

It was also nice to note that they had lots of harlequin books in their mini library, she'd suddenly found it her solace, her alone time to dwell in a fantasy world, one that wasn't hers. She'd keep away from everyone until her drugs kicked in, and she'd sleep so deeply until her nurse came for her.

This was her routine: eat, pretend to read one book for days, sleep off until hours later then mingle with the rest for a minute or two, see her shrink, and sometimes do light exercises to keep the body fit.
While she sat quietly by a corner of the break room she locked eyes with her. It would seem that anyone in her situation would leap with joy when they finally saw a familiar face in the midst of strangers but not Jema, in fact, she all but avoided her at all costs. Anything that reminded her of her situation, so she fixed her eyes back on the brown novel in hand, flipping through the pages as calmly as possible and with uttermost hope wished she'd take the cue just like she'd done in the past and left.

"Hey," a raspy voice said from above her. Jema shut her eyes and ground her teeth, locking in a frustrated grunt. "It's me, Fiona, remember?" When Jema refused to acknowledge her, she went over to the empty chair beside Jema and sat. "I thought you might truly not have recognized me seeing that we only met a handful of times and it's been so long but I know you do. You know who I am and I think it pisses you off," she admitted, causing Jema to glance maliciously at her.

Fiona grinned like a lady cat at Jema's reaction but shrugged and continued. "I know why you're here, Jema,"

A dry chuckle spurted from her throat, Jema glared at her unbelievably.

"You think I would lie to you?" Silence followed. "I also know why I got checked into this shithole... but it's better than getting nabbed for my crimes. I just don't know how long I have to stay here and listen to these deranged sounds and the drugs..." She let out an animalistic sigh. "I think they intentionally give us that to disarm us, make us obedient and willful. I don't like it, I sleep too much and have no time to reminisce on Snail, my husband,"

Jema perked up at the mention of the word 'husband' "Otis? Your fiancé, not your husband,"

"Oh, so you know us that well?" Fiona smiled, receiving an eye roll from Jema. "As long as he's proposed, he's my husband. Some damn vows ain't stopping us."

"Yeah, and you left him for another," Jema snorted and made to return to her book.

"Is that what you think? That I left Otis because of some guy?"

Jema moved to face her, a look of seriousness on her face. "Look, I don't care what it is that made you lose a good man like him, it's none of my concern, okay? And can I get back to my book?"

Fiona hissed but never moved, rather she shifted and tugged at the hem of her dress, distracting Jema. "You're just like him, you know?" She began. "Otis, I mean. He's so gentle and dedicated and loyal to fault that he doesn't know when to quit. You should've quit when you got shot, Jema. They don't deserve your loyalty or love."

There in that little corner, hearing those words from someone who didn't know her that much, Jema felt the pain and betrayal surge back into her chest and her eyes pricked.

"I told Otis the same thing, to quit, to come with me but he wouldn't listen. He was too loyal, too eager to be used and that's what the Newman family does to people. I didn't have to work so long to know that." She shrugged, a distant look on her like she was in the past, picturing it as clearly as she could. "I swore I'd never serve the affluent people for more than a year because they tend to trap you in, keep you locked on a steady income that your life becomes theirs to manage. And by the time you're old enough to realize it... you're stuck and have nothing else going for you. I think it's sad that Madame lives like that too. But she's a witch," Fiona laughed, tears pooling by the corners of her eyes.

The door snapped open and a nurse in light blue scrubs stood by the door and spoke to Jema. "You have a visitor, Jema." She smiled and waited to escort her out. Fiona gave her a known look, noting how blank Jema went from the news. She wasn't expecting anyone. Not in the past few days she'd relinquished hope of getting rescued. No one was coming to save her, she was doomed and she had to accept that. But on the very day her spirit was broken, her hope dimmed and her emotions cold, something of a miracle happened.

As she walked through the hallway right behind the nurse, Jema prayed that this would be her true hope, the miracle she'd prayed for in the beginning. And it was until her eyes landed on the man standing in the middle of the room.

Theodore!

A gasp left her lips at the sight before her and a hand went straight to her pounding chest, reeling from the disappointment that stood before her. A false hope, the sheer opposite of a miracle. They were both picture-perfect examples of a face-to-face encounter in movie scenes as they stood there, unmoved.

"There's a seat, you know?" Came his bold voice, breaking the long silence. Her eyes fell on the set of chairs facing each other and demarcated by a large table. She shuffled into one, not needing to waste energy standing.

"Why are you here?" She began. It was a struggle but she was bent on getting past it. "What do you want?"

He moved over, flapping his black jacket behind him as he sat, with his hands folded before him. "I came because I needed answers. The real truth." He said.

"And what would that be?" Her words came off calmly and clearly. She was glad it did.

"The truth about everything, Jema," her muscles twitched as he said her name, a reminder of how good it used to feel. "What was your agenda when you came to my home? To cover up a murder act? Or a good way to keep a low profile?"

Unbelievable! Maddening even. "It's crazy you'd ask that, to me of all people, Theo."

"You don't know how many battles I fight in my life, and they all come from my friends. So I do not rule out anyone when it comes to my safety."

"Count yourself lucky then, at least you win battles. People like me get sucked into other people's games and get killed for it. It's a cruel world we live in." Her face told him everything he needed to know about how she felt about his presence. "Your safety?" She chuckled dryly, the corners of her eyes squeezed, concealing the whiter parts of her eyes.

"You've sold me lies all along, about your husband. About who he was and his affiliation with money laundering and the USSS. Lies about your true intentions—not that you truly cared for my son but you were aiding your husband to launder money—to ruin men like me. Just like he did some others, I read it all Jema. I do not care about your motives for killing your husband Jema, but I'm more concerned with knowing why you killed your child because for goodness sake how could I have let you near my son with such an ugly deed hanging over your neck? You kept it from me," he threw at her. Eyes blazing hot with anger.

"I didn't kill Jacob!"

"Oh yeah? What about your baby?"

"It was a mistake,"

"That's not what your confession says! That's not what you said to your therapist."

"Who pulled that file out? An abridgment of my privacy rights! Huh?!"

"That's beside the point, when cases as delicate as this come up, such private information is not withheld for the sake of evidence. And you admitted to consciously ending the life of your unborn child because your husband wouldn't come home and had filed for a divorce,"

"Jacob never filed for anything, Theo. I'm being set up!"

"Really, by who?"

"Your cousin! Madame Evana!"

"Puta! You truly are deserving of this place."

Her nails dug deeper into her flesh. A rage so intense and blinding enveloped her. "You're a cold bastard! You're worse than her, you know? I used to think she didn't let you become the best version of yourself and that with her at a distance the dark clouds hanging over you would finally dissipate, and you'd find peace more than you ever could," Jema rapidly shook her head, an ugly smile on her face. "But I know now that's a lie, you're the one who needs to be kept away from the world, you're the Hitler to the Jews, Obama to the Libyans, a malicious bastard, that's what you are, Theodore Newman. Whatever happened to you Theo?... what did they do to you?" She whispered the last words with a broken voice. It was too much to handle, too much to come to terms with, and for a man to be this insidious?... There had to be a backstory, it didn't make sense.

But he said nothing, he tried with his poker face but Jema knew him better now. He'd cracked, she saw it, the sliver of pain in his eyes but it left as soon as it came. There was indeed a backstory to his ugly personality.

"Do you remember back at the motel, when we had to manage in that tiny cranky room all through the night?" She thought back to then and how learning a new side to Theo had melted her hesitations towards him. "You looked me in the eye and told me that you could see it in my eyes, you could tell I had it," Jema breathed in. Her eyes were moist with unshed tears. "Sincerity, you said you could tell I was not like the others and I'd been thrown back by that revelation, to learn that you had to live your whole life on edge, afraid and counting till your enemies finally found you. And how relieved I was that you could tell I wasn't one of them. What changed Theo? Where has that sincerity you saw in me gone?"

"You tell me?" He retorted. "You tell me, Jema." Those words broke her heart into many pieces.
.
.
.
.
Another chapter that took me days to get through.😤
I hope it was as intense as I wanted it to be.