It was hard, but I bided my time. It was a good thing I had patience, though, because it took much longer than I’d thought to put my plan into action. I made a few test runs to the restroom, each time being on my best behavior.
I’d long ditched the pills the nurse had given me both times but was putting on a very good act of being under the influence of the drugs. Thoughts of vengeance kept me going even when I ended up spending the whole night, and most of the day there.
As luck would have it, no one wanted to be here for obvious reasons, and there was a lot going on. It seems a lot of people get suicidal on this particular day, and I could hear the rushing feet going past the door.
There was a new guy here when I woke up this morning, surprised that I’d been even able to fall asleep. He didn’t seem much more attentive than the last one, and I’m hoping his friend had told him how easy I was to look after.
I felt the bandage on my head and tested the stiffness in my neck. Had I been taking the pills, I would be much better off, but that would defeat the purpose. The day just seemed to drag on, and there was even another shift change. I’d been here for almost twenty-four hours by now. Outside the window, darkness was falling; the holiday was almost at an end.
Outside the closed door, I could barely make out the din of voices as the staff tried to add some merriment to their day. This new guard looked a little older than the other two had been, and his thing seemed to be crossword puzzles. What was more important to me, though, was the fact that he didn’t even hear me wake up so engrossed was he.
I made a show of being in pain as I sat up in the bed and put my feet over the side. For effect, I held my head in my hand as if the pain was unbearable. Had I known I’d be here this long, I would’ve taken at least one dose of those damn pills. Too late to think about that now.
I sensed more than saw him looking up from the paper in my direction as I held my head and groaned in pain. “Bathroom, please.” I made my voice sound as pitiful as it could in the hopes that it would buy me some sympathy. After all, I’m not a hardened criminal, just a wife, and mother who’d been trying to go home for Xmas.
Speaking of which, I should find out if this state has laws about adultery and stealing other women’s husbands. The thought gave me a little warmth, the first I’d felt in weeks. The officer inclined his head to the bathroom door, which was just a few feet away from where he was sitting.
I already knew the layout, already knew that the window opened without a sound and was already halfway out of there in my head. I stopped with my hand on the door. “Is it okay if I have a shower? I’ve been here for so long, and I…”
I drooped against the door as if I had no strength left in me.
“You sure you don’t want me to get a nurse in here to help? You don’t look like you can stand.”
“I’ll be fine; I’ll just hold onto the rail in the shower. I don’t want to disturb them any more than I have to, it’s Xmas after all.”
He looked sympathetic enough at my plight, and my job was done. At his nod, he picked back up the paper and went back to his crossword while I closed and locked the door behind me. I peed as loudly as I could before washing my hands in the sink, then turned the water on full blast in the shower.
I held my breath as I lifted the window inch by inch until it was all the way up. I had a little trouble keeping it open as it didn’t seem to have a latch of any kind, but with patience and determination, I was able to put one foot out while holding the window up with my hands, and from there it was a piece of cake getting the rest of me to follow.
The cement walk that wrapped around the hospital was cold beneath my bare feet as I sprinted away from the building keeping, mostly to the shadows. I had no money, no keys, and I was wearing a hospital gown. At least I’d talked them into giving me two, one of which was worn backward so that my ass wasn’t on full display.
I hadn’t thought this thing through completely, but then again, I wasn’t given much of a choice. I knew I was a fair distance from home on foot, though, so my most pressing issue was getting there in the least amount of time before the alarm was raised.