"911 Dispatch, what is your emergency?" The operator looked at the caller I.D. box documenting the address and phone number. She typed it in her service call on her computer with the nimble fingers of an expert call taker. Her voice was calm and smooth. Carla Wiggins was trained to listen to every detail of a call and this one was no different than the last or so she believed.
"He-hello, I need help. I would like to report an assault please. Send the ambulance and the police, please quickly," the rasping female voice caught Carla's attention. It was as if the lady was whispering but there was something else that she could not place.
Carla responded to the caller, "Okay Ma'am, I need for you to please speak up. I can barely hear you. If you are hurt mash the button on the phone one time please." The ominous sound of the one beep came across loud and clear. However, before Carla finished typing the call into her C.A.D. {Computer Automated Dispatch} screen, she checked to confirm the location. The address was none other than the Mercy Mental Hospital, located at 4481 Merchant Ln. It was then she heard the woman's voice scream into the other end of the receiver.
"It's too late! They found me bitch! I needed help for real, please send help here!" The phone then went silent but the actual woman's voice reverberated in Carla's head. Chills went up Carla's spine and goose bumps rose all over her arms at the desperation of the woman's voice. The voice was panicked with a far too real sense of urgency. Carla mashed her service light this signal of a flashing booth meant that she needed a break from handling calls at the moment. A supervisor would come over assess Carla's stress level, replace her call booth with a capable replacement for a fifteen to twenty minute rest from call taking.
Brenda walked over to Carla's booth and asked, "What's up?"
Carla exasperated looked up at Brenda then explained, "That's the second time I have received the Mercy Mental Hospital call this week. Why does it always seem to be me they call? This time it sounded so real. I mean look at me," Carla held her hand out in front of her level and parallel to the floor showing Brenda how bad she was shaking. Carla's hand was truly trembling everywhere. Brenda nodded then looked into her subordinates eyes seeing the welling up of tears in Carla's eyes.
Brenda said, "Oh, I understand Carla. Take a break. Go have you one or two cigarettes. I will be out in a minute to join you." Brenda then waved at her reliever of the day for her shift. Carla's place was taken quickly.
Outside Carla sat at a picnic table designated for the smokers. It was a slight cool, fall day with the wind blowing in off the ocean, making it even cooler. Brenda then walked out beside her subordinate. Brenda had an easy smile and a motherly feel. Brenda had quit smoking years ago because she found out she had a spot on her lung. The fear of cancer, being a single mother of two, and the cost of the cigarettes increasing, made up her mind quickly. Quietly Brenda stood there as if knowing to be silent, letting Carla gathers her thoughts.
Carla had a cigarette lit. Carla was sitting at the picnic table taking a drag slow and deep. She spoke out loud knowing Brenda had walked up. "I mean, I know it's a mental facility but I was wondering how real that woman sounded. It made the hairs on my arms stand up. I had goose bumps everywhere, Brenda. It was so real to me. What if she did need help? What if she did need the police and an ambulance like she requested?"
Brenda stood silent for a few more seconds waiting then said, "I know Carla. I know it seemed real but she was in a hospital baby. Patients or mental patients, I should say are not allowed to use the phones there. We are not allowed to send anyone out to those facilities unless a doctor or their security police calls, you know that. It's protocol. If that was the case the mental patients would call us every single day for silly things. They are their own little world out there baby. It's just the way it is."
At Mercy Mental Hospital, Dr. Leroy Simmons, was strapping the patient in. The patient in question was me. I am Monica Gerald. I have blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin, and I am another doctor's wife, before coming here that is. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. I am not a mental patient at all. I found out my husband was cheating on me. I located an attorney who is a local good ole boy. He happened to know my husband. Before I could pay the man a retainer, I was inside the mental ward. I supposedly tried to commit suicide. My caring, loving husband signed the committal papers to have me placed inside until he could secure his money and his lover. Dr. Henry Gerald, my husband, is a cardiologist. Henry knows just about everyone in our small town. He plays golf with the Chief of Police and the Mayor.
I was placed inside of Mercy Mental Hospital to keep me quiet. I was to experience severe pain during my stay and please other men, during the process. I was to become a whore for this shitty, little, backwoods town. Oh, I fought the bastards. It lasted all of two hours. I will endeavor to explain in detail, the first night I came in.