The Institute
Southern England
2013
Helen Evans was alone and for the first time in about two hours the isolation chamber she found her self in was quite. Quite, oh so very quite. Her thoughts had started to calm and she found her self on her hands and knees sucking much needed air into her lungs. She had lost it for a time but felt sanity returning. The ring binder was in pieces all over the floor, with one of her shoes and her handbag.
The reasoning that made her a top student at the London School of Economics also now started to function again and she started to asses where she was, why she was and what was next. She had signed her self into a program to force lactation on herself and she had done so voluntarily after two heavy warnings from two serious people. She was here voluntary and the precise "where" was deep underground in some sort of cell.
"Why" was not hard, she had made a decision. The future she saw for herself was with a degree from LSE and to do that she needed a touch more money and her experience with "Laws&Tate" had given her the idea of earning the money in the lactation program. That pretty much covered"where" and "why" so she gathered her thoughts and went to the "what" of the matter.
"what" she thought as she rose from the floor could be broken down into what comes next and what had happened to cause to totally lose control and start screaming, crying and throwing things around for the last two hours. She checked watch, yes, two hours.
Shock had to be the first thing and this was followed by total lack of information.
Shock! Why was she in a state of shock? Well finding her self here for one thing, finding her self with no warning here; in an some sort of locked room. Reasoning kicked in and she was back in the directors office with the question hanging in the air. In or out? She had chosen in but had had no idea that it was to be so immediate, so whose fault is that she asked her self. Okay she was here in a voluntary capacity but it had all been so sudden, what of her life, her lectures and courses?
Information! Why wasn't she being told anything? What reason was there behind that. She would think on that while she took stock of her surroundings in a calmer manner. She was in a bare room that was about nine foot long, nine foot wide and about nine foot high. She was in a cube in other words. The light seemed to come from every where, the floor,walls and ceiling. It was a cube of white with her in it and that was all.
Well not quite all. Over in the corner but flush with the floor was something that looked suspiciously like kitty litter. She hoped it was because that is what she used it what she had used it for as there was nothing else suitable except the floor.
Then there was the ring binder but that is what had made her totally lose control. She started to pick it up and try to put it back together. She had lost it when she found two laminated pages and no answers to her questions. The nurse had clearly said that . . . . . no wait girl. Think! What had the nurse said exactly?
" . . . which will answer so many of your questions"
Yet it answered none. Think on that one as well girl, think on that one as well!
Thinking back the main thing that had caused her to totally lose it was the "few things you need to do" part of the nurses final conversation. It was really only one thing she needed to do. To get the nurse back she had to go to the door and press the green button then go to the back of the chamber and with her face to the wall, knees spread and hands clasped behind her neck and wait for the nurse. No, not quite right. She looked at the laminated pages and read the instructions again. Press the green button and when it starts flashing green, then go to the back wall and assume the required position.
Helen started to say to her self that she had done that but stopped the thought halfway because she hadn't. Yes she had pressed the button many times and after a time it had started to flash green but she had never followed through with the rest of the instructions. The instructions that make her kneel, kneel facing a wall. It was totally demeaning and she would not do it. O'oops, there you go again girl, bit premature with the never.
She had exhausted the options and herself, she moved to the green button and pressed it and about a minute latter it started to pulse. She moved to the back of the cube and knelt, spread her knees and clasped her fingers behind her neck. After about ninety seconds she heard the door open.
" Ms. Ev . . . "
She dropped her hands and turned, but before she could even rise the door had shut cutting off the nurse in mid sentence and she was alone again.
* * *
It took about an hour to get over her rage, her tantrum, the screaming and crying that had burst loose from her. She had figured it out in the end; no moving and maybe no speaking as well.
She went over and pressed the green button again and when the green started pulsing she assumed the position against the back wall and waited. This time when the nurse started to speak she neither moved or spoke.
"Ms. Evans. I have a simple question yes or no, are you alright," asked the nurse.
"Yes."
"Ms. Evans I'm afraid you have us all confounded, we assumed we had a rational, mature adult in our care while it seems as if we have some sort of out of control two year old."
" It has been over three hours and we haven't even got you through the first stage. Ms. Evans do you think we can try for the first stage now" said the nurse, but this time with a touch of sarcasm.
"A simple yes or no."
"Yes," she replied.
The voice she was hearing had no life, no inflection, it droned on in a mono tone.
" I will place a box inside the door. The door will close. You will come over and retrieve the box, press the button and assume your position on the back wall. Do you have any questions Ms. Evans?" she was asked.
"No."
She heard the door close. Breaking position she went across to the door, hit the button and took the box and herself to the back wall where she resumed her position. The door opened and the mono tone started again.
"Ms. Evans your behaviour has frightened me and other members of the staff. I have no wish to be injured by you. The reason we ask that our patients assume that position you are in is because that by the time you break it, stand, and get anywhere near me, the door is closed and I am safe. It is something usually done once, but your maturity is in doubt and that puts my safety in doubt so you will maintain that position until I tell you other wise. This is very simple but do you understand?"
Helen was nearly in tears, the person described was not her. Violent, she hated violence. She couldn't help it, she started to softly cry.
"Yes," she sniffed.
"I will make this very simple, if you have trouble understanding simple directions, ask?" came the same mono tone.
"Lower your bottom to the floor and cross your legs."
She was softly crying and thinking how wrong this was. She wasn't violent, she wasn't a silly two year old who couldn't follow instructions. Why were they treating her like this? She lowered her butt to the floor and crossed her legs although this presented difficulties with the suit she was wearing as she had to ruck it up to nearly waist level. It left her panties totally exposed.
"It is important to keep your bottom on the floor. If you break contact the door closes and we start again. Pivot your self around so that you are facing me."
She did so, hooking the box as she went and placing it in front of her exposed panties.
"We are going to get you focused on what you are here for Ms. Evans so the first thing we need to do is remove some of the extraneous items you have with you. Could you start by removing each item separately from your hand bag, identifying it for our and your record."