"Shit," I said. "That's awful. Poor girl!"

"Yeah, Poor girl. You're not wrong. They managed to stitch her back up, and it hasn't spoiled her voice, thankfully, but it... spoiled her. So now, the performer she always was is still in there, and has to come out, I suppose, but she fights it."

"I see," I said. "I don't know what to say. Did they catch him?"

"They caught him," Jeremy said with a slight shake of his head. "He's out now though. Decent lawyer and good behaviour. All that crap. I don't think her attitude was aimed at you. Same with that 'he sang' comment. I think it was aimed at him."

I nodded but didn't say anything else. After a moment of silence, Jeremy patted my leg and stood.

"Best get on."

I kept out of Gem's way for a few days. I didn't feel the need to stay away completely, so could still be in the recreation room at the same time, but I just didn't interact with her. I was sure I could have spoken to her without repercussions, but wanted to give her some space. I wanted to intervene when Percy approached her, moving towards them when he sat a little too close for my liking, but a glance from her stopped me. It didn't say 'don't come near me you shit,' which I was thankful for. Instead, it seemed to imply she was fine and her knight in shining armour, which I had never been anyway, could have the afternoon off.

I knew what Percy was like, particularly around the more attractive patients. I wanted to spare her that. Even though Gem had warned me off, I sat not far away from them. Why was it my business? I couldn't say. Maybe I felt responsible for her fractured mental state. If not responsible, then protective of. I was the same for all the other residents. Too many were unable to stand up for themselves, so I did it for them.

"Come on, Gemma," Percy said. He was grinning, a smile dripping with malicious intent. "Just a few notes, that's all. You've stopped singing so much and I want to hear it."

Gem shook her head emphatically. She didn't look at him and didn't need to. His eyes were coating her in an oily residue she'd feel for hours after.

"Come on, you know you want to. You're always doing it. Give me a few bars. Just a chorus, if you like."

"No," she said. "I don't want to."

Percy took hold of her wrist and leaned in closer.

"I said sing, bitch!"

If I'd been any further away, I wouldn't have heard that. I saw Gem's eyes go wide at the comment, but still, she shook her head.

Percy jumped to his feet in front of her. He wasn't very tall, but didn't need to be. He was an orderly. That automatically elevated him to a level where he had an untouchable quality. He knew this and played on it.

"If I tell you..."

"Everything alright here, Percy?"

Jeremy had entered the fray and was standing next to, and towering over, his smaller colleague. Percy winced, though I didn't know if it was from the interruption or the fact it was Jeremy, someone the former saw as his subordinate. There were no subordinates or superiors within the orderlies. There was only Connors and his staff.

"Fine," the smaller man said, not looking up. "I just want to hear her sing."

"Why? She does I all the time. She'll be doing it sooner or later."

"But I want it now!"

He reminded me of a petulant child who'd been refused a packet of sweets in the supermarket. All he needed was his bottom lip out and a stamped foot.

If only I could do that on his head...

"Why is so important for her to sing right now, Percy," Jeremy asked calmly. "Especially if she doesn't want to."

"Because I said so. I told her to. She's supposed to do what we tell them."

"Yes, you're right, they are, but not if it's unreasonable, eh? Maybe she's got a sore throat."

"It's not unreasonable to expect respect"

"Of course not, I totally agree with you there. Come on, fancy a coffee?"

Percy looked up then and smiled.

"Sure, it's about time you made me one."

I'd known Jeremy long enough to see the respect remark to make Percy see he needed to be respectful as well as us patients but, of course, Percy didn't see it. Respect was one way for him, with him on the receiving end. As they were walking away, he paused and turned.

"Well, we're having a talent night this Friday, and you'll be singing then, whether you like it or not."

"Percy!" Jeremy snapped.

"Don't talk to me like that, 'Jezzer'. More like 'Jizzer'. If I want to tell her she's singing in the contest, I will do. And she will be!"

"She might not want to! It's not compulsory that they do something."

"Maybe for everyone else, but it is for her. I'm making it so."

"Come on," Jeremy said. His voice had a low growl to it I hadn't heard before. He clearly had a sharper edge than I'd realised.

They began to walk away again when it was Gem's turn to stand. She did stamp her foot, though there was no protruding bottom lip.

"I said no!" she shouted.

Percy spun around, fury reddening his face.

"I don't care what you said. It's what I say that matters. And I say yes!"

Gem screamed, a glass shattering shriek that would have burst eardrums if the room we were in was any smaller. From her position standing near the wall, she launched herself at the vile orderly and, though I would have been certain the distance was too great, landed on him, knocking him down.

Jeremy stumbled back, knocking into Esree, a grandmother who'd never had the grandchildren – or children – she mourned the loss of. He caught her before she fell and settled her into a nearby seat before turning to Gem and Percy. What he saw, what we were all seeing, made him forget his duty for a moment.

With tears streaming, Gem was singing at the top of her lungs. At the same time, she was punching Percy in the face. Percy's protests and flailing arms were ineffectual against her onslaught. Usually, something like this would have sent the other patients into a frenzy, causing crying, shouting, self harm. They were all as transfixed as Jeremy. I was too.

Jeremy's focus returned and he dragged Gem off, holding her in place as two other orderlies, running in to investigate the commotion, injected her neck. Their needles slipped into the skin simultaneously and casually, as if inserting drugs into her blood stream was as simple a thing as putting change into a vending machine.

"Shit!" exclaimed one. "I was meant to do it, not you."

"I thought you'd used your last one. We didn't have time to discuss it!"

"Well, she'll just have a good sleep and wake up with a serious hangover."

"Good," spat Percy, pushing himself up.

The orderlies dragged Gem off unceremoniously. Her feet dragged on the floor, leaving slight skid marks. All that remained of her struggle were something compared to stains left in boxers from not wiping your arse properly. It wasn't right. Ignoring the response I elicited from her, I felt her pain. She didn't deserve to be carted off to Room 101 just for standing her ground.

Granted she'd attacked Percy, but it wasn't something the rest of us hadn't thought of before. She could have received accolades, not aggression.

"Come on, Percy," said Jeremy. "Let's have that drink."

I knew he was just trying to get the man away from us before he could take his anger out on someone else. Someone who wouldn't be so quick to resort to violence and whom Percy could control. There was no way Jeremy would want to associate with him otherwise.

Friday was approaching and there was still no sign of Gem. She would have awoken from the effects of the drugs, but that didn't mean she'd be back in with the general populace. Percy's actions were forgotten and forgiven by Connors. He allowed his staff to do as they wished, more or less, without repercussions. He believed that made for a happy staff. If that were really the case, some of them would be ecstatic. But Gem was another matter. He'd keep her locked away for as long as he felt like it. Doing so would serve as an example to her and to us.

We didn't need an example. We knew how things worked.

The 'talent' show was the third time this particular event had been put on. Often, we'd have bingo nights, with prizes ranging from the amazing (extra dessert at lunch time) to the truly awe inspiring (softer toilet roll for our number twos). For a talent show, we needed people with actual talent, or its closest cousin, perhaps. In an asylum, where most people were under the influence of drugs and delusions, talent was in short supply. Bender Benny thought he could do magic tricks. He couldn't. We could see the tissue was stuffed up his nose. Wey read out some of his own poetry, which was decent, but it didn't really grab anyone. They weren't the most poetic bunch.

Plus, not only did you need talent, you also needed volunteers. What's a show where no one wants to perform? And no one wanted to perform. Benny and Wey, along with a couple of others, did it for the first two, but neither enjoyed their moment in the spotlight. Though my fellow residents and I congratulated them, they were the source of much ridicule from the staff. They didn't' want to repeat the ordeal a third time.

But Percy was insisting this time. The show was entirely his idea, it seemed. I had an idea it was suggested for one reason only. If Gem wouldn't sing for him, then he'd make her sing for everyone. How exactly he'd manage that remained to be seen. His last attempt wasn't completely successful.

Friday arrived. The big day of the big night. The orderlies mentioned it a few times, but no one asked for any participants. If they had, they'd have been disappointed to see an empty stage. By 'stage', I meant a cleared area by the window. On a bright day, anyone standing there would be in silhouette, but at night, the bright light recessed into the ceiling caused a spotlight effect. It wasn't one of the usual strip bulbs they'd installed everywhere else. For some reason, this one was circular and a touch brighter than those around it.

Perfect for showtime.