Page 5 of Unwell
Wellard was no place for the innocent, and despite society’s view that spreading your legs makes you a devil, locking away girls for getting pregnant was the real sin. I’d bet my year’s wage that the dad didn’t suffer the same fate.
Those big blue eyes shifted to mine, and it felt like she’d struck me. With the connection came a bolt that tore me open.
Stumbling back, I hit a person behind me with my shoulder, wincing at the contact.
‘Steady there, darlin’,’ Robert said, holding my waist.
‘Who is she?’ I asked him, directing a nod at the young woman.
‘Name’s Ginny. New admission.’ Robert took my hand and pulled me toward the exit, eager to get shot of the oppressive building for the day.
‘Why is she here?’ I pressed, feeling the urge to pull away. To go back and talk to her.
Robert shrugged. ‘No idea. Probably batshit.’
I flinched at his description. He sounded more like the other doctors by the day.
‘She’s pregnant. This is no place for a baby.’
Robert stopped and looked back at the now distant rec room before letting out a deep sigh.
‘I know.’
Biting my lip, I stared back down the yellow-stained corridor, murmuring and clanging filled the air with the asylum’s distinct, unsettling melody.
‘Take my bag,’ I said, thrusting it into Robert’s arms.
‘Nancy—’
‘I’ll be just a minute.’ I didn’t wait for him to grumble, heading back toward the rec room. Curiosity pulled me back to the bleary-eyed youth. Her soft demeanour contrasted starkly with everything else in the harsh confines of Wellard.
‘Hello. Ginny, isn’t it?’ I crouched beside her andoffered a smile. Pale blue eyes fixed on my face, saucer-wide and watery. She graced me with an almost imperceptible nod. Thin arms wrapped around her stomach. A protective pose.
‘I’m Nancy. A nurse here at Wellard. Are you settling in okay?’
‘No.’ The word came as a strained whisper. Probably hoarse from crying. Anyone stuck in Wellard had plenty of reason to wallow. Or scream. Or jump off of the roof.
Wellard was more dismal than prison.
‘It’ll be okay.’ The hollowness was audible in my words. I was fooling no one. No amount of pleasantries would convince her she was better off locked up.
‘It won’t.’ Ginny leaned toward me, her eyes darting from the door back to me, tongue wetting her dry lips. Her hair fell about her shoulders, so soft and blonde. She looked like an angel. ‘I shouldn’t be here. They’ve put me in here to steal my baby.’
She cradled her stomach with the gentlest of touches. Poor kid.
‘When is it due?’ I asked.
‘Soon. Mama said a few weeks.’
‘Did your mother leave you here?’
Ginny’s lower lip trembled, and she nodded. ‘She says I’m too old to need looking after, and she can’t afford to feed another mouth. This time is one time too many.’
My chest constricted at the way her words almostcrumpled in on one another. Each screamed of past trauma.
‘You have more children?’
‘Had.’ Ginny sighed. ‘They took them.’
