FRIGHT FIGHT: Halloween Fight at an Asylum
Based loosely on actual events
By: Supporturgoddess
(Told from the viewpoint of an eyewitness)
My name is Karen. You don’t know me, but I’ll bet you know someone like me. I’m that hot little number you remember, the girl with the angel face and the killer legs. I was that gum-smacking junior high school girl you remember who always sat on her bicycle and flirted with high school guys in their cars, and then I was that freshman who went on car dates with seniors. I was the very definition of jail bate. I knew what guys wanted, and I gave it to them. That gave me a leg up…literally…over the other girls in my tiny, dreary, Midwestern town. At a time when most girls my age would have been shocked to even see a joint, I had already tripped on LSD and shot up heroin. As I got older, I got wilder. What can I say? Rebellious girls tend to attract rebellious guys. I ran with a wild crowd…until I got caught. The first time I was arrested for possession. I turned on the innocent act. I sat in the police station, filling my big, blue eyes with tears, twirling my fingers around my long, curly, brown hair, and begging to see my mommy and daddy. I blamed my boyfriend for everything. The small-town cops just couldn’t believe such a sweet little girl could get involved with hard drugs. I got off easy. The second time it happened, I played the victim, claiming my evil boyfriend had made me into an addict. All the authorities did was force me to see a psychiatrist. Although he was almost twice my age, I could tell he had a major thing for me. He couldn’t keep his eyes off my legs. I played him, wearing short skirts and so on. Before long, I had him wrapped around my finger, eating out of my hand. The third time I got arrested was different. The police weren’t buying my innocent act any longer. The cops had enough of me. Worse for me, I had passed my twenty-first birthday. I was not a child. The prosecutor was a prim, unattractive woman who I’m sure was jealous of my good looks. I knew she was jealous of girls like me, who could get the men she never could. She couldn’t wait to send me away!
I was headed for prison, but my parents, who couldn’t bear to see their little girl in jail, worked together with the psychiatrist who wanted me and pulled a few strings. Instead of going to prison, they sent me to the Ore Creek Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital. I thought I got off easy. That opinion would soon change.
When I first arrived, I had to make the obligatory perp walk all new girls made, walking passed the other inmates and giving them the chance to taunt and threaten me. As the ordeal began, I had a choice. Part of me was ready to burst into tears and beg to be freed, but I knew that would have been pointless. If I appeared too weak, I wouldn’t last long in a place like Ore Creek. I thought about playing tough, flipping the finger at my tormentors or shouting back at them, but that wasn’t the right choice, either. If I acted too tough, they’d be out to break me. I took the middle road. I stood tall with my chin held firm, but I let tears well in my eyes, and I let my lip begin to quiver. I played it just right. I was strong but not too strong, scared, but not too scared.
Ore Creek Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital was divided into two main sections, and then those sections were divided into subsections. The main division was between two huge structures, with a courtyard in between them. The east side, where I was sent, was a reasonably modern building where minimum-security patients were treated. Across the courtyard, the west wing loomed over us like a gothic castle. The west wing was made from the original hospital, an insane asylum from another era. It still housed maximum security patients, the kind of women that give you nightmares. That was a place for raving lunatics and serial killers.
Unlike that hell hole, the east wing didn’t have cells. We were given rooms, but not private ones. I faced my first confrontation the moment I met my roommate, Kerri. I entered my room and saw a thin, short girl lying on her belly, flopped across one of the beds. She glanced up at me, rolled her eyes dismissively, and then went back to reading her magazine. I carried a small basket filled with ‘personal items’ like towels, shampoo, the issued uniform and such things, all provided by Ore Creek. I sat the basket down on the other bed, opened a small dresser, and started putting things from the basket in it.
Kerri suddenly leapt up and slammed the dresser drawer shut on my fingers. I howled!
Kerri said, “That’s MY dresser.”
Blowing on my fingers, I whined, Okay! Okay!”
I crossed the room to the dresser on the opposite side and pulled open the top drawer. Again, Kerri slammed it shut.
“That one’s mine, too.”
I looked back and forth between the two cabinets. “Oh, they’re BOTH yours?
“Yep.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed. After a while, I felt a chill. I got up to close the barred window.
Kerri shook her head. “Uh-uh.”
I spun to face her. “I’m cold!”
“Too bad! I’m not!”
I approached Kerri, my hands on the sides of my hips. She rose to confront me. We stood toe-to-toe. I looked her over. How can I describe Kerri? Barely five feet tall, she was almost four inches shorter than me. Her hair, more blond than strawberry blond, was long, tangled, and frizzy. She was always barefoot, even on cold days, and her feet, a bit too large for such a small girl, were always very dirty. Her clothes were always disheveled. She was a runaway. She had lived on the streets for years, and it showed. She was like a little wild animal, a couple of years older than me. I wasn’t sure if I could beat her in a fight, but I liked my chances. Still, I preferred to keep my skin in one piece.
In a cool, low tone, I said, “Look, I know you’ve been here a lot longer than me. You must be pretty tough and pretty smart to have lasted so long. I respect that. I’m okay with you being…sort of the boss here. You can be the boss, but I have to live here too. I’ll let you have things your way…as long as you don’t push me too far. If you do, well…we’ll have to do things the hard way.”
A sly grin spread across Kerri’s thin lips. “Very good, newbie. You threaten me and show me respect, all in the same statement. You give into my demands but also draw a line in the sand…all in one breath. That’s very, very clever. You might do all right here, new girl.”
I offered my hand. “I’m Karen.”
Kerri didn’t shake my hand, but she smiled. “I’m Kerri.”
That evening, we set the rules. Kerri turned out to be a fairly good roommate. We divided the room, equally. Kerri was very friendly, but she made clear that she would never be my best friend.
“Close friendships don’t work here,” Kerri said. “You have to watch out for yourself. If you get into a fight, don’t look to me to help you. If they come for us, I’ll happily clock you in the jaw and throw you to the wolves, so I can get away. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is at Ore Creek. It’s every girl for herself.”
The next day, I had to leave the relative safety of my room and meet the other patients. I stuck close to Kerri, who showed me the ropes.
“Don’t worry,” Kerri said. “The real nut jobs are over in the maximum security wing. Stay on OUR side of the courtyard.”
I swallowed. “How dangerous are they?”
They’re the worst,” Kerri explained. “I’m sure you’ve heard of Alexandra Dubois, the infamous serial killer. She started out as a cat burglar, and then went on to become an infamous black widow. She targeted rich men, killed their wives, seduced the men, married them, got them to sign over all their wealth in their wills, and then killed the men. She murdered twelve men and nine women, some with her bare hands. Then there’s “Head Case” Helena Lundgren. Helena was always crazy about men…and I mean CRAZY! If she saw a man she liked so much as looking at another woman, she’d tear both of them apart! She only killed five people, but…she ate parts of three of them! “Lunatic Lundgren” isn’t just a killer, she’s a cannibal!”
I asked, “Why would any guy go near either of them?”
“Well, Alexandra is a true beauty, dripping with sophistication. She can seduce almost any guy…and most women, too. Helena’s almost ten years younger, with a fantastic body. She’s also a nymphomaniac. Besides, no one knew Alexandra was a schemer or that Helena was crazy until they were caught. Does that clear things up?”
It did.
Kerri began introducing me to the girls on our end of the floor. There was a beautiful, fiery tempered Mexican girl named Jackie. There was a cute little girl with jet-black hair and raccoon-eyes, the product of too much eye liner. Her name was Lacey. The kid was a riot. She could make you laugh until you couldn’t breathe! She had contacts on the outside, and could smuggle some things in. She was willing to smuggle things in for the rest of us…for a price, of course. Of course, not every girl in Ore Creek was cute and small. Big Kathy stood over six feet tall and weighed one-hundred-ninety pounds! Nobody messed with her…nobody!
Then there was Lea, a dimpled darling all the guards flirted with. She was almost exactly my size, but she had long, straight, dark-red hair. She also had a much darker tan than mine. She looked like the sweetest girl ever, but she was really the bitchiest girl in the building. She had the morals of an alley cat, ready to do it with any guard, doctor, or member of the staff who could do her any favor. Lea was also very jealous. She had threatened to beat up Kerri once, simply because Kerri’s red hair color was deemed prettier than hers.
Other than Lea, though, most of the girls at Ore Creek were friendly. I was relieved by that.
It’s not that difficult to imagine why some guys would want to work at a facility where hundreds of women were confined. Abuses happened. Ore Creek had been under investigation several times. The staff practically owned us. We were totally at their mercy, and they knew it. The guards saw us as their playthings, and they enjoyed playing with their toys. I found out the hard way. I resisted a staff member’s advances. The next day, I learned the anti-allergy medication I relied on had suddenly been taken from me. Then the guards changed my work assignment so I had to work in the garden! I swelled up so much I almost suffocated! Instead of ringing a bell or something, male guards would just walk into our showers to tell us our time was up!
Little Lacey took some of the cruelest abuse. She was really just a kid. The guards heard she was afraid of the dark. When Lacey was younger, her father would sneak into her room in the middle of the night, turn down the lights, and do…very bad things. Lacey was afraid of what some guy might do to her in the darkness. There were windows in our doors, to let the guards keep an eye on us. The halls outside our rooms were so well lit that most of us could barely sleep. The guards deliberately left the hallway outside Lacey’s room unlit, so her room would be pitch dark. Through thin walls, we sometimes heard her sobbing at night. The staff knew our weaknesses and how to tighten the screws.
I quickly learned how Ore Creek worked. All the girls were wildly territorial…and not just about physical territory. Each woman tried to carve out a specific place in the tiny, closed community. There couldn’t be two athletes or two artists. If there were two big, tough women in the same area, there would be trouble. Fortunately, there wasn’t any question about who was the boss of our section. Big Kathy towered over the other girls in my area. There were a few women who might have challenged her, but they were on other floors, so they rarely met. There was little opportunity for trouble. Lacey became our little pack rat, even taking on the nickname, “Mouse”. She could smuggle lots of stuff in for us, for the right price. She even outsmarted her captors by smuggling in glow sticks. Their soft, green glow kept the darkness away each night. I grew to love that clever, funny little girl.
Everyone staked out their own territory. When two girls were too similar, someone had to come out on top. The guards were quick to encourage fights. Girls like Kathy, Jackie, and a few others were natural fighters, but the guards were particularly interested in girls like Kerri, Lacey, Lea…and me. There’s something especially attractive to guys about the prospect of girls who they could never imagine fighting having a fight. Bad girls were expected to fight. Watching two little sweethearts rolling around, screaming and pulling hair was a rare event…one they hoped to promote. My baby-doll looks were rapidly making me into the guards’ favorite…a fact that made former favorite Lea green with envy. I knew I was stepping on Lea’s toes, but I didn’t care. Ore Creek was going to be my world for a long time. I had to find my place in it. I had twisted my psychiatrist around my little finger. I hoped that if I flirted with the guards, I might get some special privileges. I’d deal with Lea when I had to.
That didn’t take long. She passed me as I sat eating in the cafeteria. She pretended to trip, deliberately spilling her tray of food and her drink over my head! An entire cafeteria full of patients roared with laughter! I leapt up and shoved her to the floor. She looked up, and I saw the surprise in her eyes! She didn’t expect me to be so strong! I yelled, “Come on! Get up!” The crowd chanted, “Fight! Fight!”
Big Kathy stopped us. Even so, a fight was inevitable.
Kerri came up to me that night, even filthier than usual. She explained she’d been in a scuffle with one of the girls from the next floor. The guards had punished her by making her work all afternoon out in the garden. She said they worked her until she dropped.
I asked, “Why are they being so mean to you?”
She shrugged. “Maybe they lost a bet.”
I didn’t understand what she meant. Kerri begged me to switch shower time with her, so she could go ahead and clean up. I agreed.
I finally went to the showers hours later than normal. There was no one in the hallway, not even a guard. The locker room was empty. I undressed, wrapped a towel around my body, and headed for the cavernous shower room. I thought I had the shower to myself, but then I heard one shower head come on. I came around the corner and froze, facing off with my rival, Lea. For a second, Lea looked scared. Then her face twisted into a sneer. There we stood, facing off like gunfighters in an Old West showdown.
Lea moved forward. I held my ground. My heart pounded, but I refused to back down. At least I knew there wouldn’t be any concealed weapons involved! I doubt there was a single pound or a half an inch difference between us. I was sure I could take her. I had to! My place in Ore Creek would be decided during the next couple of minutes. I had to be the girl on her feet at the end!
We traded nasty insults. Suddenly she reached out and slapped my face, hard! I fell back against the shower wall. She slapped me again. Then I slapped her face! We leapt together, digging our fingers into each other’s hair. A vicious fight began. I heard distant cheers! The staff must have been watching us using the closed circuit television cameras! No one would break us apart. This was a fight to the finish, and only one of us would be left standing!
Lea slammed me down to my knees. I cried out, “Oh God!”, as my bare knees hit the wet, unyielding cement floor.
Lea tried to choke me from behind. I leapt up under her, lifting her off her feet onto my back. For an instant she rode piggyback, but I slammed her backward. Her lower back crashed back into a metal knob. Lea cried out in pain. I slammed my bare foot into her bare stomach. Stunned, Lea slid down against the wall. I heard another distant cheer. I reached up, grabbed the knob over Lea’s head, and twisted it, sending scalding water shooting down from the shower onto Lea’s flesh. The golden tanned redhead screamed! She leapt up out of the steam. I seized her dark, red hair and slung her against the far wall. She fell. I ran to her. It was time I finished the bitch off! I sat on her and pulled her head far back by the hair, to slam her face into the hard floor. Her arms went stiff, keeping her head from reaching the floor. She spun on her knees, facing me. We grabbed each other. A wild, desperate, body-on-body wrestling match began, as we fought down on the shower floor. Soap, towels, shampoo, and everything else went flying. We rolled madly, one on top and then the other. We were all over each other. I pitted every inch of my body, head to toe, against every inch of her body. There would be no doubt who was the better woman. One of us had to prove superior.
We fought down and dirty. She bit my back, scratched my eyes, and dug her fingernails into my flesh. I did as much or more to her. Flesh on flesh and body to body with arms and legs wrapped together, there would be no excuses. The better woman would emerge.
We ended up on our knees, hands clasped in a test of strength, staring eye to eye as we tried desperately to overpower the other. Our bodies shook and jiggled from the strain. Her tan flesh slid up and down against my pale, wet flesh. The shaking grew worse. The better woman emerged. Lea forced my hands back over my wrists and slowly powered me down. She pinned me and fired fists into my stomach. I couldn’t breathe! Then she rolled me over and raked my face back and forth across the razor sharp shower drain! My feet sent water splashing as they kicked and stomped in puddles. All the while, Lea kept on rubbing my face over the sharp shower drain, cutting me! I screamed and cried. Then she did to me what I had failed to do to her, banging my forehead against the unforgiving floor. The cheers grew louder, as I broke down, crying my eyes out and begging for mercy. Lea gloated over me, rubbing her foot over my lips and spitting on me. Then, as a final humiliation, Lea lowered slowly down over me and sat on my face. She sat there in a victory pose, until guards finally arrived to lead her away. They dragged me out.
I spent that night in the infirmary. That night, I had nightmares about the fight. I relived the salty taste of my own blood filling my mouth. I felt Lea’s foot rubbing over my lips and her bony butt covering my face. By morning, I couldn’t take any more! I was determined to get out of that hell hole, at any cost. My best chance was through the psychiatrist who wanted me. I was prepared to give him anything he wanted, if he would have me transferred to a humane facility. I went to him with tears in my eyes. Instead of sympathy, he practically bit my head off! He called me a weakling and a whore. He roared, “Stop expecting everyone to protect you! You have to learn to stand on your own two feet! If you don’t learn to fight for yourself, you won’t last long!”
That day, I discovered that everything had changed. Guards who had flirted with me suddenly treated me like garbage! I slowly accepted the cold truth. They had never been interested in me. Lea was always their favorite. They had only flirted with me to make Lea jealous, hoping to set up a fight between us. I felt ashamed and stupid, for having done exactly what they expected me to do. They got a show, and all I got was a few stitches!
The guards were especially mean to me. They knew about my allergies, but they ordered me to work in the garden! Soon I swelled up so badly I could hardly breathe! They showed no pity. They even made me work a double shift, just to prolongue my agony!
By the time my shift finally ended, I was so weak I couldn’t stand. The guards refused to offer any help. They made me literally crawl from the fields back to the hospital. As I approached my room Kerri saw me. She ran out and helped me in.
I asked, “Why are they being so mean?”
Kerri shrugged and answered, “Maybe they lost a bet.”
I sat on the bed, wheezing. “I can’t breathe!”
Kerri said, “Try to calm down. The worst is over.”
I told her what happened between me and my psychiatrist. “Why did he turn on me? What did I do wrong? Why was he so cruel to me?”
Again, Kerri answered, “Maybe he lost a bet.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” I asked. “What do you mean by--?”
My eyes widened.
Kerri nodded. “Do you finally get it? Do you understand what’s happening here?”
I gasped. “Oh my god! The guards are setting up fights between the patients and betting on who’ll win!”
“It’s not just the guards,” Kerri explained. “It’s the doctors and the staff, too. The way I hear it, you were a heavy favorite to beat Lea. Your doctor really thought you were something special. He probably made some big bets on you. You didn’t live up to expectations. When Lea mopped up the floor with you, he probably lost a small fortune. The guards who bet on you lost money, too. They’ve been punishing you because you lost the fight.”
The terrible truth was finally out. It all made sense. The staff knew our psychological profiles. They knew our weaknesses. They knew exactly what buttons to push in order to turn us into raw nerves. That was why they took away my medicine! That was why they left poor little Lacey in the dark! That was why the guards flirted with me instead of Lea, right before Lea’s eyes. They knew exactly how to control us. They made us into raw nerves, turned us against each other, and then set us on each other so they could watch the fight and bet on the outcome!
Kerri said, “You were lucky. Lea left you helpless at her feet. She could have messed you up a lot worse. All she did was to humiliate you. Believe me, it could have been much, much worse!”
The next day, the worst happened.
We all knew what was happening. The staff had picked a new target. They went to work on little Lacey! They did everything they could to get on her nerves. They gave her the worst chores and took away her privileges. They yelled at her. Before long, they had her ready to erupt. It wasn’t hard to figure out who they wanted her to fight. The staff was aggrevating the young Mexican beauty, Jackie, too. Jackie already had a delicate temper. It didn’t take much to work her up until she was ready to fight just about anyone who dared push her too far.
I wanted to intervene, but Kerri held me back, whispering, “This isn’t your fight. Stay out of it. It’s every girl for herself.”
The staff had turned both Lacey and Jackie into powder kegs. All it would take was a single spark to light their fuses. That evening, the staff provided the spark. They waxed the floor in the cafeteria in such a way that there was only one long, thin strip of unwaxed floor we could walk on. We were warned of severe punishment for anyone caught stepping on the newly waxed areas. Due to the divisions in each floor, the girls from down the hall, including Jackie, ate just before my unit did. We showed up at the cafeteria just as Jackie’s group was ready to leave it. The staff had us form two opposing lines. They let the first girl leave the cafeteria, walking the thin strip of unwaxed floor. Only when she was done could one of our girls enter. In this way, only one girl at a time walked across the thin strip of unwaxed floor. This worked perfectly, but the staff made sure Jackie and Lacey would line up opposite each other. Instead of having Jackie leave and then having Lacey enter, the ordered them onto the thin strip at the same time! They met in the middle of the room. There wasn’t enough room for either to pass!
Already on her last nerve, Jackie growled, “Move!”
Lacey shouted “You move!”
Jackie shouted, “Get out of my way!”
Jackie shoved Lacey. Already pushed to her limit by the staff, Lacey’s temper boiled over. She shoved back. Jackie then shoved Lacey hard. Lacey’s feet flew up, and she sat down in the wax. Lacey knew she would be severly punished. At first she looked ready to cry, but then fear turned to rage. She charged the Mexican beauty. Jackie and Lacey traded fists. Jackie already had Lacey glassy eyed and on wobbly ankles by the time Big Kathy could break it up. Lacey was lucky. She couldn’t have lasted much longer. The kid had her fight and had come out of it okay.
The next morning, I approached Kathy. “Have you seen Lacey? I wanted to pay her for--”
Kathy looked up. “You haven’t heard? Lacey fought that Mexican gal, Jackie, in the showers last night. The kid didn’t stand a chance.”
I swallowed. “Was it…bad?”
Kathy nodded. “Jackie had Lacey beat in under a minute. She just beat the snot out of her. In two minutes, Lacey was screaming and crying. In three she was bawling her eyes out, grovelling at Jackie’s feet and begging for mercy. The problem was, Lacey managed to pull out some of Jackie’s hair early on. Jackie was in no mood to show mercy. She intended to mess Lacey up some, and to humiliate her ten times worse than what Lea did to you. Stupid kid! All she had to do was to lie there and take it. She would have been shamed, but…. Stupid kid! She always said she could smuggle anything in. I guess she was right.”
“I don’t understand.”
Big Kathy explained, “There’s an old saying that warns you not to bring a knife to a gun fight. It’s even worse to bring a knife to a fist fight. Jackie had hurt Lacey, bad. She’d already knocked out Lacey’s front tooth. She had broken a few toes and pulled out gobs of Lacey’s hair. I think the kid panicked, terrified of what Jackie might do next. Jackie would only have humiliated her, but Lacey didn’t know that. Somehow, Lacey had managed to smuggle in a small knife. She ran and pulled it out from between two towels. By pulling a knife, Lacey changed the rules. At that point it must have been Jackie who was terrified. The experienced street fighter did what her instincts told her to do. She charged Lacey. They fought for the weapon. Jackie won. She went wild on poor little Lacey. She--” Kathy looked up. Her face turned pale. “Lacey’s not coming back…ever.”
My heart almost stopped. That sweet, funny little girl was gone forever!
“Are you sure? Maybe--”
Kathy shook her head. “The staff won’t tell us anything of course, but…one of the girls saw a large vehicle pull up last night. She watched through her rain-streaked window as two orderlies brought out a stretcher. On it lie a sad little figure, covered head-to-toe under a white sheet. The vehicle they took her to wasn’t an ambulance. It was a coroner’s meat wagon.” Kathy looked up in tears. “Our little Lacey is never coming back.”
Later that day, we all stood at the front window, watching as a police car pulled up. Two officers yanked Jackie out of her room, pinned her arms behind her back, and slapped a huge set of handcuffs over her wrists. Just before they shoved the beautiful Mexican girl into the back of the car, she looked back at us. We saw the tears gushing from her eyes. They shoved her into the car and took her away.
I had wanted to hate Jackie for what she had done to Lacey, but I couldn’t. Two lives had ended. Jackie would live out the rest of her life in prison because of what she had done. I couldn’t hate her. Lacey pulled a knife because the poor girl had been terrified. I’m sure Jackie was just as scared, when she saw her opponant with a knife. Neither girl was to blame. I knew who was. The staff had taken two troubled, scared young women and manipulated them into a fight to the finish.
When I first arrived at Ore Creek, Kerri warned me about the monsters who occupied the west wing, living nightmares like Helena Lundgren and Alexandra Dubois. I knew the real monsters were the doctors and staff who ran the place! They pitted young women against each other in human dog fights, and set back and watched as we fought for our lives!
As horrific as the battles had been, the worst was still to come. The doctors and staff wanted to stage something big. Soon they would open the gates of Hell and unleash two living nightmares, to clash in the most terrifying battle of all…and we would be caught in the middle of it!
