Shades of Grey

MURIAS— MARCH 1844

The Formorii agent clamped my hands behind my back with thick handcuffs and steered me through the lifeless, rainy streets up to the trapezoidal building that stood domineeringly over the rest of the city.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“Do not speak. All will be answered.”

I found this irritating but remained quiet nonetheless as we ascended the steps and entered the wide grand foyer. It was a nice space: clean, well-lit from the glass dome atop the thirty foot high wooden walls with smooth marble floors and several large paintings displayed around the room with high prominence. However there was no sound at all: it was unsettlingly quiet. I was suddenly aware of how wet and dirty I was, the only sound in the foyer coming from the rain dripping from my soaked person.

The Formorii agent turned me to the left to show a small window labelled ‘RECEPTION’ in large circular script. A plain looking woman with a tightly wound bun of black hair atop her head stared at me through the pane of glass separating us. Her face then turned into a sympathetic frown as she looked at me more closely.

“My God!” she cried. “Where did you find this one? In the sewage drains?”

“She was wandering the streets after curfew. She is not a citizen.”

The woman cocked her head, a knowing look forming on her face.

“That makes sense…where’ve you been, sweetie? Living in mudholes?”

I frowned at her overt sweetness. She seemed genuine but I had learned the hard way that appearances can be deceiving.

“Just had a run of bad luck,” I replied vaguely.

The woman nodded as she looked up and down my dirt-ridden visage.

“Well, we’re going to fix you up, alright? Soon you’ll be right as rain!”

She nodded to the Formorii agent who then roughly shoved me through a small door next to the reception window into a long corridor with royal blue walls. It was quite a shock to the eyes after the beige colour pallete of the rest of the city, but the calming effect of the particular shade of blue was almost instantaneous. I began to relax, almost forgetting how miserable and broken I was.

Three female nurses then emerged from a door on my right, each clad in thick rubber coats and sleek looking glass helmets, breaking my calm reverie. I stiffened as they all smiled at me and began to inspect my body with gloved hands. I took careful note of a large scar in the shape of an M branded into the left cheek of each nurse. How strange…

“Hello, there!” replied an older looking nurse with blonde hair and a lazy eye, using the same tone of sweetness the receptionist had used. “My name is Tess.”

“And I’m Meg,” said a younger nurse with a frizzy red bun at the base of her curved neck.

“And my name is Alexa,” said the third, dark-haired nurse with a large beak nose. “What’s your name?”

“Grey Echo,” I replied cautiously, not having the energy to come up with a proper alias.

“This may be the worst I’ve ever seen!” marvelled Tess quickly, turning my chin gently so they could survey my sunken face. I ignored the urge to stare at the M scar on her cheek.

“Come on, let’s go. We’ve got to act quickly,” urged Meg, opening a large door directly across from the one they had left moments before.

The door led to a large room, half of it covered in white tiles with several large hoses jutting out at disconcerting angles. The rest of the room was the same ice blue colour as the hallway and it housed a large control station in the corner near the left hand wall. I now found that I was not as calm as I had been in the hall.

“What are you going to do?” I asked, staring darkly at the hoses.

“Don’t worry,” replied Alexa. “It’s for your own good.”

Meg and Tess gently led me over to the exposed hoses and stood next to me, each armed with a frighteningly large brush.

“What do you think? Level four?” inquired Tess, surveying my dirt-caked skin.

“Oh no,” countered Alexa as she pulled off the thin robe I had been forced to wear for over a month. “I think she needs the full treatment. Look how dark she is! Let’s go all the way: level seven.”

The trio nodded to each other and Alexa pulled a lever on the wall to my right. Water began to pour out of the hoses with such intensity that I would have been knocked off my feet had Meg and Tess not been holding me up.

“It’s alright,” Meg soothed, using her brush to scrape away at my skin. “It’ll be over in no time.”

I tried to breathe evenly as the water cascaded over me, feeling more like a shower of small sharp rocks. How did Meg and Tess stand it, even with their protective coats and helmets? I felt like I was being shot. I did notice that the water came off of me much darker and browner than before, however. I was shedding my last few months of travel.

After what felt like hours under the strong water spray, Tess finally stood up and called to Alexa.

“Alright! I think she’s done!”

Meg and Tess let me drop to the tile floor just as the water finally stopped flowing. I was free to sit and examine myself.

My skin was bright red with irritation but it was no longer dirty. I smiled to myself as I flexed my fingers and arms, feeling so wonderfully fresh.

“How do you feel?” asked Meg.

I smiled up at her.

“Much better,” I exhaled.

Meg and Tess extended their hands to me and led me across the hall to a new room. This time, however, the walls were jet black and a single gaslight hung over a large pedestal in the centre of it. This room made me very nervous, much moreso than the disturbingly crooked hoses.

Tess placed me on the pedestal in the centre of the room and proceeded to measure everything. She measured how long my limbs were, how long my hair was and how much muscle I had.

“When was your last meal?” asked Alexa, jotting down the information Tess had continued to feed her.

“Two days ago,” I replied, thinking of my last dinner in the Underground.

They all exchanged sympathetic looks. Alexa then closed her notebook and pulled out a white tunic, a wide brown belt and black trousers. She handed them to me and I quickly pulled them on, revelling mildly in the feel of new clothes.

“We’ll get you some food before you go off to your new room, alright?” Tess said softly as she pulled my long hair up into a bun on top of my head while Meg fastened two solid cuffs with thick buckles onto my wrists. “I just need to put your hair into the uniform bun and then we’ll go.”

“What are these?” I asked, gesturing to my wrists, noting for the first time that I was actually sick with hunger. I blinked twice and worked to quell my nausea.

Meg fastened the thick belt around my midsection. I then noticed the buckles on the belt and understood: if I were to misbehave, they would cross my wrists over my body and buckle them in, much like a straightjacket without the jacket itself.

“On the off chance that you misbehave,” Meg said simply, echoing my conclusion. “But you won’t right? Now, let’s go get you some food! I haven’t seen a patient need their belt at the first notch since the ten year old came through and that was at least sixteen years ago!”

“Don’t forget this,” Alexa remarked, slipping a long chain with a plastic card hanging on it around my neck. I picked it up to look at it.

“What’s this?” I asked, not having the energy to actually read the card.

“These tags tell the kitchen staff exactly how much food and vitamins to give you. It’s a faster and easier way of giving our patients exactly what they need!”

I nodded, when Tess suddenly took my hand and looked at me strongly.

“It is better for your safety, Miss Echo, if you try to keep a low profile.”

I frowned.

“Why? What’s going on?”

Meg shook her head.

“We can’t talk about it anymore. There are too many unfriendly ears who could be listening in.”

The sisters all nodded.

“Now, how about we get you settled into your room?” Alexa said with an overzealous smile as she held her hand out towards me.

I inhaled deeply to steady my unsettled stomach, took one step off the pedestal and watched the world fade as the blood rushed away from my head and I collapsed.

I awoke alone, prostrate on the floor of a bright white room lit with a single gaslight in the far right corner. A plate of food sat inches away from me with a tall glass of water standing next to it. I eagerly pulled the plate forward and was about to eat when I noticed a piece of paper folded just under the plate.

Open carefully. They are watching.

I coolly looked up around all corners of the room while casually sliding my plate forward, managing to slip the paper out from under the plate. With the tray carefully positioned on my lap, I opened the paper underneath and took a calm bite of the food.

Find Isabella. She will tell you everything.

“Hello, Miss Echo.”

I jumped in surprise, managing to kick my tray several inches into the air and spill half the contents of the plate. I crumpled the paper in my hands and stuffed it inside of my shoe, resolving to look at it again later.

“Who are you?” I asked, cleaning my mess.

“We cannot give specifics, it would ruin the illusion. Just know that you are safe and well on your way to complete sanity.”

“Sanity? What the devil are you talking about?”

“Well, you broke the curfew law thereby identifying yourself as a criminal. Therefore, there is a dormant mental problem that we will attend to as soon as possible. You are in the Murias Medical Asylum: the only place properly equipped to handle the disease of criminalism.”

I took a drink of water, analysing the words.

“An asylum for criminals?” I inquired. “Are there no prisons?”

The voice laughed at my nescient statement.

“There is no need for prisons. People only commit crimes if there is something wrong with their minds. So, they come to us — the Board — for a diagnosis and then we treat the person here in the Asylum.”

My mouth hung agape at this statement. Criminal behaviour was considered a mental disease?

“Does your treatment work? Are the criminals released as reformed citizens?”

“Nearly every time.”

“What happens if it does not work?” I wondered.

“They remain in the Asylum until they are better.”

“Who is the Board exactly?” I asked cautiously.

“We are the ruling order in Murias. We keep the people safe.”

“How? How do you keep the people safe?”

“We cannot give specifics, just know that we make them well and all we want to do is to make the people well.”

I eyed my food, suddenly suspicious of its particular ingredients. I pushed it away solidly and sat on my legs.

“What is to happen now?” I asked, adjusting my too-loose belt.

“You shall receive a sedative and will be placed in your room. Your treatments shall begin within…”

I never heard the end of his sentence, for the pinprick of the unseen sedative worked instantly and I blacked out.