She sits on the hard wooden chair, murmuring softly to herself. She has been dried and dressed in warm clothes, but she hasn’t noticed. A bruise, shockingly dark against her alabaster skin, runs along her cheekbone where one of the nurses hit her with a broom handle.
She had clung to her sanity for weeks. Mentally steeling herself against the pain and humiliation when they beat her with the broom handle and jumped on her body. Fortifying her mind against the horror of being restrained using a straight jacket and left in a dark isolated cell for up to forty eight hours. She had even manage to preserve her sanity by cushioning her mind with happy memories from the past when they had tied her hands and feet, thrown a sheet over her head, twisting it tightly around her throat to prevent her screaming, and submerged her in a bathtub filled with cold water for hours.
It was their administration of the drug, metrazol, that had done it. Her frail body had twisted and jerked with seizure-like convulsions that had fractured her vertebrae and her mind. All conscious thought had receded into deep crevices in her mind, away from the pain and the constant torment.
A nurse enters the room and sits down opposite her, a bowl of coarse bread and milk on her lap. She fills a spoon and pokes it towards the girl’s slack mouth, which opens like the beak of a baby bird.
After she is fed she sits on the hard wooden chair, murmuring softly to herself.
This piece was written for Sue Vincent’s weekly write photo prompt. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/09/19/thursday-photo-prompt-murmur-writephoto/
roberta-writes.com 
A hard-hitting indictment, Robbie, of the way mental health problems were treated…or mistreated.
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Thank you, Sue. Why this woman was institutionalised is even more interesting and awful. Hugs.
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So I gather from the other comments.
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Gives one pause
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Thank you, Annette.
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Makes one think…
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Especially if you are female. The diagnosis of madness was used as a way of getting rid of women who their husband’s no longer wanted around.
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It’s so sad to think…
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Powerful piece of writing…
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Thank you
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Too many have been subject to such “treatment”. I’m afraid it still goes on, too. (K)
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The worst thing for me, Kerfe, when I did this research, is that Victorian men used madness as a way of getting rid of their womenfolk when they no longer wanted them around. They all collaborated to do this. Horrific.
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This was done in the United States for “difficult” family members for a long time. It’s only in the last 50 years that patients have been given any rights. Scary.
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Horrible to see from her perspective such abuse.
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Mankind has a terrible history of abuse, Denise. I am a big believer in remembering the past. I may turn this into a short story which will share the reasons why she was institutionalised.
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Yes we have to remember our history so it doesn’t hapoen again. I think this would make a great story, Robbie.
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Thank you, Denise.
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How horrific, Robbie. Such cruelty is unacceptable.
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This was based on research, Norah. It is from a [now] longer piece about a Victorian heiress whose husband wanted her out of the picture. Do you remember Bedlam?
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It’s horrific, Robbie. I don’t remember Bedlam. Should I?
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Bedlam was a very famous mental institution in London. It is the reference that a lot of people use when speaking about abuse of mental health patients. There is even a saying for when you are in a disturbed and disturbing situation “I feel like I’m in Bedlam.” I am glad I can share something new with you – you teach me so much
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That makes sense, Robbie. My dad used to say our house was bedlam when all us (ten) kids were loud and messing around. Now I know where the saying comes from. Thank you. It’s great to be able to learn from each other. 🙂
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How horrible that people were once treated that way. Powerful story!
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Thank you, Joan. This may still happen in some parts of the world.
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While unrelated this piece reminds me of the book (and movie) Sybil. Sybil had multiple personalities to cope with a cruel childhood. So many in the past were institutionalized just because they weren’t wanted around the family – wife, child… it didn’t matter. I think some royalty had young princes stashed in a tower where possibly they were buried in one of the walls…
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I have read Sybil. A most disturbing book, Jules. One of those you never forget. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Vivid and very powerful Robbie.
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Thank you, Andrea
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It is always so interesting to read what writers find in a prompt. I hesitated to click ‘like’, but I had to because this story was so good.
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Sorry, I know the content is disturbing. We need other buttons for WordPress like they have for Facebook.
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Oh, don’t be sorry I enjoyed reading it very much. It was real.
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Wow, shocking piece Robbie.
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It is based on truth, Jessica. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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A true story, made even more horrible by the thought it still goes on today…
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I think this does go on in some parts of the world. There is still a lot of horror out there.
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Far too much, if you ask me…
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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no excuse for such cruelty!
tense write and guess this type of scenario did play out in bedlam … what a horrid thought
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No, there is not excuse for this sort of thing, but it did happen. It is important to remember it so that it does ever happen again.
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it was still happening here in Australia in the 80’s … men wanting out of a marriage had the wives locked up as crazy … saved them divorce and settlement!
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How awful. In South Africa, women married in community of property at that time, had no rights in their own capacity i.e. could not have a bank account in their own name.
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we are a sad sick lot sometimes!
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That was some powerful writing Robbie. Sounds like your book research is still lingering around your head. 🙂
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This is for a short story, Debby. A real Victorian woman whose husband colluded with a doctor to have her admitted. He was then free to do as he pleased.
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Wow Robbie, so powerful!
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Oh my, how sad. It’s hard to believe anyone could behave in such a manner.
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Unfortunately, this is based on true facts, Michele. Thanks for visiting.
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Even worse.
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Terrifying, doubly so given it’s far from fiction. Nicely written.
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