By the time she awoke she couldn’t even remember if she had a dream or a nightmare. There had only been a deathlike peace.

For a while she cried silently until she tired herself out and the overwhelming feeling of sleepiness overcame her. The room around her was fairly silent, although she wasn’t the only one crying herself to sleep. It was quite common at places like this to hear cries in the dark. There were so many saddened and lonesome souls around her. It was usually at night when they were reminded of just how sad and lonely they actually were.

Amanda had way too much time to think being at the hospital without any friends. She didn’t want to dwell on her thoughts for too long lest the wrong ones might emerge. She was hoping to forget what happened to her.

Now to tell ya about our fellow inmates. Pay attention because there are a bunch of us an’ we each have a story.

Each of these patients counts on us to help them to the best of our abilities. We have an obligation to them. We shouldn’t turn our backs on them and give up. It’s not fair to them, nor is it fair to ourselves.

By dinnertime, Amanda had managed to pick off all of her red nail polish purely out of habit. She was disappointed and silently cursed at herself when she remembered not having anymore to put on. She stared at her fingernails for about twenty minutes for lack of something better to do.

There’s one last reason why none of us ever tries to escape. There are a few of us who just don’t have anywhere else to go.