THE MUSH ROOM, THE RADCLIFFE LUNATIC ASYLUM, OXFORD
S hock therapy feels like getting high. Each time Warden Ogier pushes the button, my body shivers so hard that my mind goes numb. It's not such a bad feeling if I think of it positively. I get to shut my mind off to the world for that brief buzz in my body. The world itself seems too noisy to me sometimes.
To top it off, I am soaked in some kind of liquid, so electricity has a more profound effect. Each time he presses the button, Ogier snickers, and grins. The shocks are short and to the point. If they send these bolts through my body for a little longer, I might make a good fried dinner for cannibals.
"How does it feel, Mushroomer?" Waltraud puffs spiral smoke in the air. She likes to call us mad people Mushroomers. This place I am being tortured in is called The Mush Room. It's all the nurses' and wardens' slang. Other than the analogy to most mushrooms being poisonous, they believe shock therapy mushes the patients' brains, and they find it amusing.
I'm sure Waltraud and Ogier don't want me to die. What would be the fun in that? Watching me suffer is pure entertainment for them. Life underground is pretty boring to nurses and wardens. I can see it in Waltraud's eyes. That's the problem with sane people. They almost always have a license to kill those they think are insane.
"Jeez." I rise against the pain and snicker back at Ogier. "I'm just a mad girl. Nothing personal." I guess I got what I deserved for trying to escape.
Two hours later, I am back in my cell. The pain and dizziness are the least of my concerns. I feel lonely here without my Tiger Lily. Warden Ogier says she's been saved in a newer pot and sent to Dr. Tom Truckle's room, for his own amusement. Poor Tiger Lily, now in the hands of that vicious man.
A few minutes later, Waltraud tells me I have visitors.