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Breakout!
It was early evening when psychiatric nurse Connie Morris finished her shift at the Oakhill Secure Hospital.
It was a wild October evening the wind and the rain showed no sign of easing. Connie ran to her car and once inside she just threw her handbag and umbrella on to the passenger seat.
The rain was coming down like stair rods bouncing off the hood of her car. She turned on the windscreen wipers but they were only making a token gesture of removing the rain. With her headlights on full beam, she made her way towards the security gate.
Dougie Kemp came out of his hut, with his peak cap pulled down across his face trying to shield the pelting rain away from his eyes. Connie wound down her driver window and showed him her pass. He glanced at her ID and then as a matter of protocol he was meant to inspect any vehicle leaving the hospital, checking that no patient was riding inside the vehicle and trying to escape.
However, tonight was a filthy night to be out, he wasn’t going to spend too much time getting soaked. He raised the red and white barrier and waved Connie through.
The drive home for Connie was normally quite pleasant, travelling through the forest. Sometimes in the summer she would stop and listen to the birds singing in the trees. But not tonight, tonight she just wanted home.
The wind had intensified somewhat and the lower branches of the trees seemed to be banging on the roof of her car. The noise was somewhat disconcerting and so Connie turned on her car radio.
“We interrupt our programme to bring you news that Oakhill Hospital has confirmed that this evening one of its inmates, a Miss Gina Barrett, had absconded. Gina is five foot two inches with dark hair. If seen please report her last whereabouts to the nearest police station. We can also report that there was a fatality during the breakout sometime between 18:30 and 18:45.
In other news…”
Connie hit the breaks, that was about the time she came off her shift. Should she go back? They would be needing all the help with the search.
She could turn around at the next junction and head back to the hospital.
Connie continued driving through the forest with the thumping upon her roof getting louder. Soon she was out of the forest and travelling on an open road back to the hospital. However, the thumping on the roof continued.
‘What is up there?’ she thought to herself. It was far too loud to be just rain. Connie carried on driving until she came to a layby.
She fetched the umbrella and flashlight from the passenger side before opening the driver door, and stepping out of the car.
The rain drumming on the umbrella was matched by the noise of the thumping on top of the car roof. Connie shone her flashlight up to see what was causing the noise on top of her car.
The flashlight then caught the eyes of Gina Barrett, the escaped patient. She stopped hitting the roof of the car.
“Hello nurse Morris,” said Barrett, wet through from the storm.
Now sitting crossed legged on top nurse Morris car, asked. “Are we still going for our picnic?”
Then before nurse Morris could reply, she fell back into the car now realising where the banging on the car roof came from. Gina Barrett smiled as she held up the severed head of the missing hospital guard Peter Meadows.
“I had to bring him with me. I hope you don't mind?"
© Alice White
It was a wild October evening the wind and the rain showed no sign of easing. Connie ran to her car and once inside she just threw her handbag and umbrella on to the passenger seat.
The rain was coming down like stair rods bouncing off the hood of her car. She turned on the windscreen wipers but they were only making a token gesture of removing the rain. With her headlights on full beam, she made her way towards the security gate.
Dougie Kemp came out of his hut, with his peak cap pulled down across his face trying to shield the pelting rain away from his eyes. Connie wound down her driver window and showed him her pass. He glanced at her ID and then as a matter of protocol he was meant to inspect any vehicle leaving the hospital, checking that no patient was riding inside the vehicle and trying to escape.
However, tonight was a filthy night to be out, he wasn’t going to spend too much time getting soaked. He raised the red and white barrier and waved Connie through.
The drive home for Connie was normally quite pleasant, travelling through the forest. Sometimes in the summer she would stop and listen to the birds singing in the trees. But not tonight, tonight she just wanted home.
The wind had intensified somewhat and the lower branches of the trees seemed to be banging on the roof of her car. The noise was somewhat disconcerting and so Connie turned on her car radio.
“We interrupt our programme to bring you news that Oakhill Hospital has confirmed that this evening one of its inmates, a Miss Gina Barrett, had absconded. Gina is five foot two inches with dark hair. If seen please report her last whereabouts to the nearest police station. We can also report that there was a fatality during the breakout sometime between 18:30 and 18:45.
In other news…”
Connie hit the breaks, that was about the time she came off her shift. Should she go back? They would be needing all the help with the search.
She could turn around at the next junction and head back to the hospital.
Connie continued driving through the forest with the thumping upon her roof getting louder. Soon she was out of the forest and travelling on an open road back to the hospital. However, the thumping on the roof continued.
‘What is up there?’ she thought to herself. It was far too loud to be just rain. Connie carried on driving until she came to a layby.
She fetched the umbrella and flashlight from the passenger side before opening the driver door, and stepping out of the car.
The rain drumming on the umbrella was matched by the noise of the thumping on top of the car roof. Connie shone her flashlight up to see what was causing the noise on top of her car.
The flashlight then caught the eyes of Gina Barrett, the escaped patient. She stopped hitting the roof of the car.
“Hello nurse Morris,” said Barrett, wet through from the storm.
Now sitting crossed legged on top nurse Morris car, asked. “Are we still going for our picnic?”
Then before nurse Morris could reply, she fell back into the car now realising where the banging on the car roof came from. Gina Barrett smiled as she held up the severed head of the missing hospital guard Peter Meadows.
“I had to bring him with me. I hope you don't mind?"
© Alice White
