Page 17

CHAPTER 17

LIZZIE

I couldn’t move my arms or legs.

That was my very first thought as I clawed my way back to lucidity.

Opening my eyes the barest of slits, I could see thick leather straps wrapped around each wrist. I inhaled, trying to take a calming breath as panic rose in my breast, but I could feel a hard band preventing my lungs from fully expanding. I was definitely strapped down into a wooden chair. I could feel leather belts around my ankles as I shifted my bare feet over the cold icy tile. Goosebumps rose on my naked flesh as a damp draft circled around.

The air was a fetid mixture of stringent bleach, urine, and mold. As my eyes adjusted to the candlelight, I realized in horror that I was once more in that strange chamber at the asylum. The terror of that moment seized my lungs as I scanned the mostly bare room with pale, tile-covered walls and long tables filled with sinister-looking surgical implements and glass bottles of all shapes and sizes with their gummed labels covered in black ink scrawl.

On the other side of the door, out in the hallway, I could hear slightly muffled voices. Was Richard on the other side of that door? He couldn’t be so cruel as to just leave me here in this hell? I strained to hear what they were saying. Right before the door opened, I could have sworn I heard someone call out, “Everyone ready? And action!”

The moment they did, the entire place seemed to erupt into a chaos of sounds and clatter. Maniacal laughter, screams, the clang of metal chains, footfalls racing to and fro just outside the door, the harsh sound of someone getting slapped, then the sound of a scuffle.

As the double doors opened, I could see nothing but frenetic activity outside in the hallway. A female inmate dressed in a filthy nightgown with shorn hair rocking back and forth on the floor. Another inmate banging her head against the wall. What looked to be nurses but they were dressed in full gowns with aprons and small caps on their heads ignoring all the pain and suffering as they kicked one person out of the way and slapped another for getting a dirty handprint on their white pinafore.

I was so struck by the deplorable display of inhumanity, I didn’t even notice the two people who entered the room until the door was once more shut tightly closed.

Dr. Swede and Mrs. Higgs entered.

The two individuals who had so cruelly tortured me not two days ago.

“I am disappointed to see you return to our sanitarium so soon after your departure, Lady Larkin,” sighed Dr. Swede as he furrowed his brow and adjusted his glasses.

Mrs. Higgs’ mouth puckered as she narrowed her eyes, every gesture an illustration of judgmental bitterness. “I’m not the least bit surprised, Doctor. Once a harlot, always one. Such hysteria brought on by the idle hands and minds of the aristocracy does not deserve our Christian pity,” she spat out.

“Careful, Mrs. Higgs. You don’t want the Duke of Winterbourne hearing you talk like that about his ward or he’s liable to have you and your family shipped off to the colonies before next Michaelmas,” scolded the doctor.

“Where is Richard? I want to see Richard!” I cried out as I strained against my binds.

“The Duke of Winterbourne is awaiting your return in the salon. But first we have to do a full evaluation and examination. He says you continue to exhibit strange flights of fantasy and extremely unsuitable bursts of temper.”

“Fuck you! Help! Help! I’m being held captive! Someone help me!” I could feel my skin pinch and pull as I violently fought the restraints and began to rock back and forth in the chair, setting it teetering side to side on its spindly legs.

Shouting over my screams, Dr. Swede said, “Mrs. Higgs, we will need to start with cold therapy before proceeding to the enema.”

What?

Mrs. Higgs opened a side door and called out to someone. Two large women entered. Each of their stocky faces had that rosy-cheeked appearance of windburn, the slight blush color the only vestige of femininity on either of them given their burly, staunch bodies and the harsh, masculine slope of their brows.

Unlike before where they dumped a bucket of cold water over my head, this time the whole chair was picked up and I was bodily carried through the same side door into a much smaller room. Perfectly square, it was empty except for three large tubs. Suspended at the end of each tub was some sort of metal bracket. They carried me over to the tub in the center and secured the chair into the bracket fittings. I could hear the clack of metal hinges being snapped into place as the wood groaned and squeaked from the compression. Looking down between my legs, I saw the tub was filled to the brim with water.

“You can’t do this! You can’t! Richard! Richard!”

“Calm yourself, Lady Larkin. I assure you this is for your own good.” Dr. Swede gave a nod.

Looking down, I watched as one of the hulking women pulled a lever.

“No!”

With a sickening rush, the chair flipped backward straight into the frigid water. I was completely submerged. Water surged up my nose and into my mouth as I thrashed and screamed. Then I felt tremendous pressure against my chest as the chair was once more heaved upright.

Water surged over the edge of the tub in a whoosh as it sluiced over my body. Gagging and spurting, I started to cry as icy shards of pain pierced every muscle.

“Once more,” said the doctor with a calm demeanor that belied what was happening to me. This may have been a common treatment for the mentally insane a hundred years ago but now we called it torture.

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Still giving into those flights of fantasy, I see.”

I hadn’t realized I vented all that out loud. Before I could respond, the chair jerked backward again. Being more prepared for what was about to occur did not make it any less horrifyingly painful or traumatic. Once more the water rushed up my nose and over my body, which now spasmed and shook violently from cold and shock.

This time when I was pulled from the water, I remained quiet and subdued. Too shaken and beaten down to react anymore.

“There now. Isn’t that much better, Lady Larkin? I see the cold water has cooled your heated and agitated mind, as it should,” said the doctor, exchanging a pleased and knowing look with Mrs. Higgs.

“I believe you will find her a much more agreeable patient for this next part, Mrs. Higgs.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

My head lolled to the side as I tried to clench my jaw to stop the clattering of my teeth. I was so numb from the cold, I barely felt the harsh tugs and pulls on the buckles of my restraints, freeing me from my temporary prison.

Strong hands supported me under my arms, as my legs collapsed out from under me as I tried to take a step. I half walked and was half carried back into the other room. There they marched me over to one of the empty wooden tables. With no effort from me, I was lifted and placed facedown onto the table. Some sort of bolster was put under my hips, forcing my ass into the air. I could only manage a whimper when my arms were stretched over my head and I once more felt the familiar scrape of leather against my chilled skin as the wrist restraints were buckled tight. I felt the same tugging on my ankles.

I was now facedown on the table, half lying, half kneeling with my wrists and ankles securely bound. My body still trembled but for the first time I noticed a small wrought iron potbelly stove in the corner closest to me. The walls surrounding it were black from coal dust. Still, comforting warmth radiated from it, bringing my body back to life.

As I tried to focus on the warmth, I felt intruding hands pry open my ass cheeks.

I tried to ask what they were doing but my teeth were clattering too badly for speech.

“His Grace has been remiss in his duties to your care. Every young lady, especially one with your hysterical harlot tendencies, should receive a daily enema each and every morning. It is not healthy to keep all that filth and sin in your body.”

I felt her fat finger probe and prod at my anus.

Warm tears trickled down my cold cheeks at the humiliation of it all. I knew protest was pointless. I could only cry harder as I felt something hard and long being pushed deep inside of me.

“Wait for the click.”

At first it was strangely comforting as warm water rushed into my body, thawing me from the inside out.

Then the piercing cramping pain began… My cries echoed off the chamber walls, falling on deaf, uncaring ears.