Notable Occasions on the Calendar of Dread

Lunch passed quickly, I spent the majority of the time avoiding eye contact with anyone especially Genevieve.

"The group for outside leaves in two minutes," I heard Ernie call out as I left the doorway of the bathroom and walked over to wait by the tables that sat idle in the room. Genevieve whispered to me how nice I looked for such a big occasions and I ignored her words.

Sadie, the manic one, was sitting at the table across from me, chatting to herself and bouncing her leg, making both me and the table bounce along with it. I kicked her under the table and sneered for her to stop.

"Kick me again," she said. "I like it," she added.

I rolled my eyes and got up, walking to the main doors waiting patiently for the two minutes to pass, even though it felt like a lifetime.

I smiled at Adrian as he left his room adjacent to the doors, and waved at him, knowing he wasn't coming outside with us after being caught dragging his patient ID across his wrist last week. He was now restricted to this floor only for the remainder of the week, if he could last that long without another incident.

Anna came out of her room then, and I didn't have anything to her,, she looked at me, and I stared back at her, sending a look that could kill. She simply turned away and walked the other direction, and I fought every urge in my body to tackle her, rip her face off, and stomp on it.

Genevieve lined up next to me as Ernie counted heads and did roll call, we were in the elevator and walking through the doors to the field faster than I thought, giving me not time to mentally prepare.

The outside air was fresh, crisp, and welcoming. It felt nice to be back outside, and I watched the other patients take up running around the filed and sitting in the sun. I walked over to the bench and Genevieve sat down next to me, the wind picking up her hair and blowing it into mine, a sensation I had almost forgotten. I could feel in her demeanor she was anxious too, with such a big task at hand. I watch the grass on the field twitch, its pale exterior coming back to life as the turn of the season.

Genevieve was bouncing her leg too, ad I placed my hand on it to stop, allowing her to place her manicured fingers on top of mine.

"Together," she said calmly, and I nodded.

I felt a slight sprinkle of water on my hand, figuring it was the water system used to irrigate the fields, but when I looked up, the sun had disappeared from the sky and was covered with dark, mean clouds. Rain always calmed me, now all it brought was fear.

Ernie called for everyone to line up, apolgizing that we couldnt be outside any longer and said we could take up some recreational time in the gaming room on the other side of he ward.

Trailing behind patients, Geneveive and I kept our hands tied and ducked back from the door. When she said run, we bagn to run fastre than I ever thought I could in my life, feeling though I was back in high school on the track team.

I was used to pushing my body to the limits, espically if it meant sucess; we began turning corners, follwoing the trails that lead to the back of the facility, my body trailing behind Genevieve because it seemed as if she had some in site to where she was going. I knew, like a hunted animal knew, that it wouldnt be soon before long that they relazied we werent at roll call, and the number on the sheet didn't match the number of patient bodies. That caused us to only run faster.

Notes

Potential trigger warning.