The Medea Complex Read Free Page B

benches run along both sides of the passageway at regular
intervals, and potted flowers bloom in the golden rays.  It is incredible. The
twitter of canaries co-mingles with doves cooing; the sounds emanating from
ornamental bird-cages scattered everywhere on small wooden tables.
    And people! There are other women! This fact delights me for
a moment, and I almost jump with joy until I remember that I am a hostage and
whoever my captors are, they must earn a fortune in ransom money if I am not
the only one here. I am smiling and frowning at the same time; a stifling,
rumbling pot of contradictory thoughts.
    As I am flanked on either side by my two captors, escape is
imminently futile. I have no choice but to follow wherever they lead me.
    "Thieves, robbers." I gripe quietly under my
breath, loathe to make my feelings known in case I am marched firmly back to my
cell, but unable to repress them completely. I stay inconspicuously alert for
signs of an exit whilst letting myself be manoeuvred down the corridor.
    As we make our way through the hallway, we are forced to
slow down by a woman curled up in a foetal position, moaning and crying on the
ground. We stop just in front of her, and my fat captor nudges me in my side
with a surprisingly knobbly-feeling elbow. The woman is laid at another’s feet;
those of a handsome, fair-haired woman who is leaning forward, stroking her
hair. She is dressed in the same apron as my captor, but she seems different.
    She looks kind.
    "Anne," the fat-one says to me, "Do you see
this woman?"
    "A little hard to miss, seeing as if I take one more
step I shall trip over her." I say.
    "This is your body."
    "Pardon?"
    "The body you presumed had been left after the alleged
murder last night," she replies, grinning at me, and elbowing me again in
my ribs, making me wince. "I told you nobody was killed."
    "Oh." I am momentarily lost for words.
    "This is another patient, just as you are a patient.
Her name is Grace."
    "Miss Grace, could you kindly move your body off the
floor so we may walk by?" I say, studying her. Grace stops sobbing and
looks up at me. I smile, but this is wasting time. I need to find an exit.
    "Don't be cruel," says her captor, who stops
stroking her head for a moment to assess me. "This is Grace's spot. She
stays here all day, and she's been here much longer than you have."
    "Her family hasn't paid the ransom then yet?" I
shake my head, sadly. I tut, and waggle my finger. “Shame on you. Shame on all
of you. Cretins.” I am rewarded with a curious, questioning glance.
    "She thinks she's been kidnapped." says my fat
jailor.
    "I have been kidnapped," I say with assertion,
nodding my head.
    "Oh, this is the one, who you know..." says the
nice looking jailor, her eyes flicking over me from head to toe.
    "Yes,” says the fat-one.
    "Pardon? I’m the one who what?" I'm confused.
    "Nothing of your concern at present," says
Rat-Face. "Now come on, we can walk around Grace and continue on our
way." She starts tugging at my arm now, and the fat one pulls at the other
arm in the other direction. We're not going anywhere unless they pull me one
way or the other, not two. Rat-Face gives up the fight and let’s go of me.
    "Are you taking me home?"
    "No. I'm taking you for your salt and castor oil rub.
You're leaking. "
    “Leaking where? What do you mean?”
    She sighs.
    “Forget it, Anne.”
    I do.
    "Well then...can I please have a stick?"
    "No."
    I sigh, and turn to the fair haired woman.
    "Do you speak French?" I raise my eyebrows
pleadingly as I am pulled past her.
    "Oui."
    That one word gives me the hope and courage I need to smile
and let myself be dragged onwards.
     
    ***
     
    “What is your name?”I ask, as my fat jailor leads me back
along the corridor. We had a not-so-nice walk up and down the corridor, for an
hour. Rat-Face scuttled off somewhere halfway through, possibly to find some
cheese, or a dead body to chew upon.
    “My name? Oh, Dear Lord-” and she starts laughing,