She sat on the floor rocking.

Back, forth. Forth, back.

The voices won’t stop, humming and screaming in her head. But its the humming and screaming that lets her know that she lives. The low repeats of the same song being sung by the birds and the wind outside the small window.

She can’t be seen, heaven forbids it, if she was seen it would condemn her to pain, anguish and sorrow.

If she was seen, the life she would have would hold her in chains-connected to the hellbent minds of doctors, nurses, and alienists. She doesn’t think she could make it if she was caught.

She covered her ears for the voices were getting louder. Too loud to bear.

She smacked her head, hard, on the wall. Anything to get the voices to stop.

She kept doing it, alternating between covering her ears and hitting her head violently against the wall, until warm liquid trickled down connecting with her lips.

The sound of running and soft words came towards her.

‘Come on, Grace, stop it now.”

The hardness of the wall was replaced by the softness of a pillow.

‘Shhh, it’s alright now. Grace, you need to stop’

Grace was sobbing, still hitting her head against the pillow.

Her vision blurred, white spots of a kind but deceiving face stared back at her.

‘Rest now’