The Facility

Cassidy felt a hand brush hair off her forehead and thought how relieved she was that her nightmare was over.

“Mom?” she asked as her eye fluttered open.

Light blinded her as a soft voice said, “No, but if it will help you to think of me as such, you can.”

Cass blinked and the white room came into focus, along with a slightly pudgy woman with short red hair, freckles along her cheeks and nose, and small round glasses.

Cassidy started, and the lady, with one hand already on her forehead, placed the other on the girl’s chest.

“Easy. You’re okay,” she said to Cass.

“Easy for you to say, you’re not being held captive,” Cass mumbled.

The lady smiled and replied, “We’re all held here in one way or another. I,” she said taking her hand off Cassidy’s chest and gesturing at herself, “can leave and never come back. I could fear for my life or maybe be killed myself, or I can stay and try to do some good by taking care of you patients. You might consider me bad or evil for doing so, but which do you think I should choose?”

“You should help me escape this place,” Cass told her.

The woman sighed and put her hand back on Cassidy’s chest. “That won’t happen. Not here,” she said with a sigh.

“You said others. How many others?”

“That’s not something I can discuss, but you will eventually meet some of them I’m sure.”

Giving Cassidy a motherly rub, she said, “I’m Peg, a nurse here. I imagine you have some business you need to take care of and are probably hungry, so we will take care of all that. Be still a minute.”

Her hand moved under Cassidy’s top and experienced fingers plucked off the sensor with no more than a slight sting – like a band-aid would do.

Cassidy was relieved that her skin stayed on her body this time.

Nurse Peg pulled the wire from under her top and them helped her sit up.

“There are clean clothes under your bed in the drawer,” she said as she walked with Cassidy to the bed.

Cassidy saw that the privacy screen had been replaced and the remains of the old one had been removed.

She watched as Peg put a finder on a small circle and a drawer slid open, revealing several sets of tops and pants, along with socks and underclothes. Opening a second drawer revealed towels and was cloths.

Peg collected a set of clothes and towels and straightened up. Moving Cassidy over to the screen, she pushed the light screen and pointed at the floor.

“To change, if you want privacy, stay inside the triangle and make sure the screen is on the lines.”

Cassidy looked hard and saw a faint, thin black triangle on the floor.

Peg moved the screen and a hinge in the middle allowed it to become an L-shape. Moving it atop the lines, she pointed at the middle of the glass wall to her right.

“Cameras in the walls watch the room. Here,” Peg said pointing to the space between the two screen sides, “is not visible. Come.”

They walked to the sink which was reasonably normal. Peg showed her the circle to press to reveal a mirror and a small cabinet containing a brush, toothbrush and toothpaste, along with deodorant.

Moving on to the toilet, Cassidy was glad to see it was at least partially enclosed for a little privacy.

She was caught off guard when Peg asked, “I know it’s kind of personal, but have you started menstruating yet?”

Cassidy felt her cheeks flame with hear as they went red.

“You’re wearing white hon. If you have, I would rather you not be caught by surprise. Or have you embarrassed.”

Cassidy looked at her feet and meekly said, “Yes.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of. It is nature’s way of letting us know we are special. Pads or tampons?” Peg asked.

“Pads please, but there’s no rush. I’m not due for another two weeks.”

Peg nodded and moved over to the shower. She showed Cassidy another circle and a small shelf slid from the wall.

Peg put the clothes and towel down on the shelf. “There’s soap and shampoo inside. Sliding doors on both sides so you can get in on the back side and not have to squeeze around the shelf, but that end opens so you can get your towel and clothes without getting out or being…exposed.”

Cassidy looked around and said, “And what do I do with my old clothes?”

Peg smiled and pulled open the shower door and gestured for her to go inside. Cassidy stepped inside to look. Unlike the rest of the room, things inside were not hidden.

A large showerhead was up high and two simple handles seemed to adjust the water. In the corner where the two walls met, a small recess held soap and shampoo as well as some other creams.

Cassidy looked at Peg with a raised eyebrow. “One is lotion. The other is a depilatory. I’d suggest you not mix them up.”

Peg saw the confused look on Cassidy’s face and explained. “Hair removal cream, young lady. No razors here. We do not want…accidents.

“Put in on, let it sit for three minutes and rub it off. The hair should come off with it. Do not leave it on too long or it will burn your skin. Keep it away from any place you’d like to keep your hair.”

Peg changed topics and pointed to two buttons on the wall and said, “The left one opens a small opening to put your used clothes in. It is not too big so do not get any ideas. The right, well…take a shower and you’ll see if you use it.”

She gave Cassidy a smile and a quick pat on the shoulder. “Oh, you might want to make sure you have your clothes before you get rid of your old ones, or you’ll have a rather embarrassing walk to your bed.

“Last thing before I go get you food,” the woman said sliding her hand down Cassidy’s arm where she gripped her forearm and them raised her arm.

With her arm extended, Cass saw the ball of cotton taped to the inside of her elbow. Cass had not noticed this before.

Peg carefully peeled the tape off and removed the cotton ball. Seeing Cassidy’s concern Peg said, “I took blood so I could make sure you were healthy. That is all. It’s my job to keep you healthy remember?”

Cass nodded numbly.

“Shower and I’ll be back with your food,” Peg said and walked away, leaving Cass alone in the shower.

She wondered if she could wait until Peg opened the door and escape, but to where? She had no idea where she was or how to escape.

Instead she closed the shower door and presses the left button. A small circle about the size of a softball slid open and a sucking sound came from the hole.

It reminded her of the air transport tubes at the bank or pharmacy drive-ups. A pneumatic system of some kind.

She stood and watched as nothing happened but the sucking sound until the circle slid closed. It was either timed or motion sensitive.

Cass pushed the right button and hopped back as a small platform slid out of the wall.

A seat, she realized. She could sit and let the water run over her.

Looking out of the glass to judge if the frosted strip would conceal her properly, she decided it would, and she stripped and pushed the left button again.

The circle slid open and she fed the used clothes one at a time into the opening, which gently sucked them into its innards. It did not close until after she had fed in all the clothes, and then not until nothing had passed through for thirty seconds.

So, it is motion sensitive, Cass thought.

Cass carefully stepped around the seat, and standing nearly up against the front wall, turned on the water.

She was small enough, just as she judged by the placement of the seat, not to be directly under the water as she adjusted it to a temperature she liked.

Slowly she backed into the water, carefully not to trip over the seat. A gently spray, like rain, cascaded over her.

Backing until the seat touched the back of her thighs, she sat and tipped her face up to the water, letting it fall over her.

She sat like this for several minutes trying not to cry, but ultimately failing.

Putting her elbows on her thighs, she bent forward and cried into her hands.

Quickly her sorrow turned to anger, and she stopped crying and sat up again. She looked at the pink circles her elbows left on her thighs while she pulled her braid over her shoulder.

Taking the elastic band off the end, she slipped it over her wrist and quickly unbraided her hair.

Standing, she looked through the recessed shelf, taking the soap and she made sure she got the shampoo, not the hair remover. Putting the hair remover on her head would be a bad thing.

The hair on her legs was light and fine enough not to worry about yet, so she moved the depilatory to the back so it would not get mistaken for anything else.

She carefully slid the front door open just enough to grab the washcloth and then closed it back.

Still standing, she put the shampoo in her hair, washing it, then grabbed the soap and washed her body before sitting back down to let it all rinse away.

That done, she just sat there under the falling water, her body feeling each droplet that made contact. She knew she couldn’t mope so she stood, pressed the button for the seat and watched it retract back into the wall, then rinsed again to make sure all the soap was off and all the shampoo was out of her hair, then shut off the water.

Carefully grabbing the towel after opening the door a bit, she realized that Peg had only taken one towel and she sighed.

She tried to wring as much water out of her hair as she could before toweling it off, but only enough so it was not dripping. Then she dried herself off before returning to her hair. If she dried it first, the towel would be wet and would not do any good to try to dry herself off with it.

Wrapping the towel around her hair, she got her clothes and carefully got dressed inside the shower, leaving her socks off since they would only get wet.

Not sure what to do with the towel and washcloth, she left the towel around her hair and took the washcloth with her when she left the shower.

She laid it over the edge of the sink and realized how bad she had to pee.

Socks in hand, she went to the toilet and closed the little half door behind her. It was like most any other public toilet stall, except for the walls, which were less than half of those.

While she probably did not have to, she stooped some before pulling her bottoms down and sitting. After taking care of her business, she put her socks on before raising up just enough to pull everything up before standing.

The toilet flushed itself, causing Cass to jump and spin around. A little light blinked in response to the motion, but the toilet was still mid-flush.

Going back to the sink, she washed her hands, them opened the recessed cabinet and took out the brush, setting it on the edge of the sink.

Cass took the towel off her head and began to dry her hair in earnest. She dropped the towel when she finished and began to brush out her waist length hair.

“You have such pretty hair,” Peg said, and Cass let out a yelp of surprise and jumped, nearly throwing the brush.

She had not heard Peg come in.

“Would you like me to braid it for you?” the woman asked.

“No thank you. I’ve been doing it myself long enough it’s easy for me,” Cass said taking the band off her wrist. She gathered up her hair and pulled it into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, wrapping the band around it.

Turning, she looked at the nurse who stood off towards the side with her bed, holding a tray.

“Come, let me show you something interesting,” she said to Cass.

Cassidy went over and stood near the woman.

“If you look carefully at the floor you will see some foot sized black circles, spread apart. If you step into them, they will activate certain things. For instance…” she said stepping one foot out and a square moved up and stopped waist high to Peg.

“Your table,” Peg said and set the tray she held on top of it. “You have to step into both circles to activate them and the circles are placed apart enough so it’s unlikely to be activated accidently.

“Find more around the table to get your stool. Or several of them. You can look around later to see what else you can find. When you finish eating, there is a menu on your tray. Circle what you want for each next meal. A pencil is on the tray for you to use.

“I’ll be back later to check up on you and talk more about what to expect,” Peg told her.

“But – “Cassidy started but Peg stopped her.

“I’ve been through enough to know you want company and don’t want me to go, but as I told you, you aren’t alone here and if I stay, others will be neglected. You understand that, right?”

Cass sighed and replied, “Yes.”

Peg nodded and said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. The others know there is a new person, so they will understand if I spend a little more time with you, but they want company as much as you do.

“Now eat up and explore after, now that you know what to look for,” Peg said and turned towards the glass wall.

She put her hand on it and a second later a door sized section of it slid silently up into the ceiling.

Peg walked through the opening and it immediately slid back down, enclosing her in the room once again.

Cassidy looked down on one side of the table and found two circles, two paces back. She had to stretch her short legs to step into both circles, but when she did, a round stool rose next to the table.

With a sigh, she sat on it and took the plastic cover off they tray of food Peg had brought. It held a turkey sandwich, a bowl of vegetable soup, a roll, a cup of mixed fruit and a cup of chocolate pudding.

A plastic cup of ice and a can of soda sat to the side, along with a plastic spoon, napkin and a small packet of both salt and pepper.

Cass picked up the spoon and wondered if she could fashion some sort of weapon out of it. She pushed the handle into her palm, and it flexed easily.

It was not something she had ever practiced, but she did not think she could propel the spoon with enough force to do any real damage.

Instead she opened the salt and pepper, used it on the soup and sandwich and ate.

Saving the pudding, she took the spoon and put both in the drawer with her clothes. After closing the drawer, she began to search the room to see what she could find.

When she finished searching, she had found a small table and stool near her bed, a bookcase that held several children’s books and a few young adult novels, three more stools around the table for a total of four, and a way to hide the restraint table that was in the far corner.

Leaving everything she found out, she moved the screen putting it at the head of her bad and curled up behind it.

Even though she had plenty of forced sleep since her kidnapping, she quickly fell asleep.