Bent But Not Broken Read Free Page A

draw her out.
    'As if you care!' she spat back.
    'Actually, I do care, Abigail,' I responded calmly.
    'Why? So you can keep your job?' was her sarcastic reply.
    'Absolutely!' I laughed.
    This surprised her. She looked at me like I was off the planet.
    'I'm never going to tell you anything!' she said angrily. 'So you might as well let me out of here!' she shouted.
    With this passionate statement she slumped back into the corner of the couch and stared at me defiantly.
    She now readily makes eye contact with me – but this is in the form of a glower. It is a very good thing that I have my chainmail suit under my clothes, or I would be impaled by the venom of her glare.
    I believe that Abigail has experienced a deep trauma, and is significantly depressed. She seems content to sit and do nothing at all in the lounge.
    Abigail is obviously keeping a secret – one that she believes is so big that if she tells it, her world will collapse. She is deeply afraid.
    Dr. Harry Nightingale
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    Dear Crystal,
    They watch me like hawks when I'm writing to you. I am given the pen and one page at a time to write on. What on earth do they think I'm going to do? Stab them with it? They take it back straight away as soon as I am finished. Maybe they think I'll eat the paper? I reckon they've spent too much time with seriously crazy girls and have learnt not to trust anyone. Sickos.
    I know they read what I write but I can't be bothered with that any more. They have total control and I have to put up with it. So the hell with them all. You too, Doctor Hobbit! Do you want to know what I think of you? I think you're damaged. You keep on and on at me to talk to you in our counselling sessions. Why? Do you get off on what the crazy girls tell you? I am not going to tell you anything, ever. You repulse me. You say kind words but I know they are tricks of your trade. You pretend to care about me but I know you really just want to screw me. You are taking your time about it because you can't work out how to avoid the cameras. And I know you record every session. So you can get off later? Well, not with me! My experiences are my own. Not yours. Not for you to write up a chapter in some book about how you care for crazy girls. Not happening. You can keep me locked up, but I can keep my head locked up. So we're even.
    Sorry, Crystal. Got into a bit of a rave there. At least you know how it is for me in here. I am not going to let them make me crazy. So you might as well get me out.
    Abigail
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    CASE FILE #2794 ABIGAIL LEE MANUS D.O.B. 02/04/1998
    ENTRY 9: 21/04/2014
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    Staff reported that over the weekend Abigail wrote to her sister but otherwise kept her silence. She did not interact with the other patients. She continued to repel their overtures to include her in their activities. Her attitude is still extremely hostile and untrusting.
    However she did attend to her personal hygiene without fuss.
    Staff have supervised her medications closely, and are confident that she is taking the doses as prescribed.
    She continues to glare at me in individual sessions – clearly viewing me as an enemy who is trying to "get into her head."
    Abigail's moods swing from extreme anger and hostility to deep depression.
    Abigail is clearly deeply traumatised. She is afraid of discussing anything, in case her secret somehow is exposed.
    I suspect she has been sexually abused, possibly over an extended period of time. The cuts to her inner thighs and pubic area support this supposition.
    Again I think a change of venue for our individual sessions will have a positive effect. However this idea must come from Abigail. Otherwise, she will view it as just another attempt to manipulate her.
    Dr. Harry Nightingale.
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    Dear Crystal,
    You want to know the very worst thing about being in here? It's not being in a prison with a bunch of crazy girls. It's not knowing that I am being watched every minute of every day. It's not being