Chapter Text
She is late. Greta is running towards the doors of the tube. Barely making it through. Huffing as she looks for a spot in the full (carriage).
First day in the new assignment and I'm late?
Today she will be starting to work in ward nine. The new assignment surprised her for she only worked there for a year. Ward nine employees are supposed to have not less than two year tenure in the institution. Greta's co-workers told her that work in ward nine is more taxing and difficult since the patients there are of either from money or severe.
The money she can see in the ward. Ward nine is the biggest and the most elaborate, almost like the patients are in a hotel, as she can see outside. When she first started, her tour only consisted of the ward she is going to work for and the gardens. The gardens is for each ward to share. The gardens are where some of the patients with their doctor's permit are allowed to stroll and spend their time to. Garden Time is a special privilege for patients who can conduct themselves well without constant supervision. From the garden you can see a small compound hundred meters away from the main building of the institution and that is the ward nine. From afar, she can see twice the number of orderlies and nurses in the garden. There are tables set up in their gardens, like in a five star restaurant that you have to reserve six months in advance to get a table. Professional waiters are there, serving patients who wish to eat outside.
That what worries Greta, the patients. Its hard to imagine how her co-workers describe the patients there. They're dangerous, horrid and unstable. She saw once a ward nine patient who is allowed to go out for a day not only in their private gardens but out of the institution. The patient looks is no more than 40 years old, with graying hair and chiseled face. His body is in good condition as she can see when he was brought outside wearing a three piece suit. Just looking at him, he can be easily mistaken for a psychiatrist in the institution but with the cuffs and the entourage of orderlies around him, he's still a patient. Sandy, one of her coworkers said that certain patient is a cannibal. It shocked her and shivers went down her spine. It's an example of what kind of patients inside that ward, and she's scared.
Shaking her head out of it, Greta noticed that the carriage is near her stop. Breathing in and out, she stepped out when the door opens. Mindful of the other passengers who are in a hurry. Walking in the streets of countryside England, its never fails to make her feel eerie. Like her movements are constantly watched. The cold wind didn't help with her paranoid thinking.
Walking a few more streets, she reached her destination.
The Saint Anne's Institution for the Mentally Insane.