Chapter Title: Wrong Move
Notice..
This is a work of fiction. It should be noted that event and characters are not real so if some situation and statement feel real then it all purely coincidental .
.....
The nurse handed Annalisa her pills as usual. She held them up innocently, placed them in her mouth and took a sip of water, and then opened her mouth to show the nurse that she had swallowed them. Satisfied, the nurse nodded and turned to pick up the glass.
But in truth, Annalisa had never taken her medication. Every time they brought her pills, she performed the same act.
While sitting on her bed, she waited for the perfect moment and that was usually when the nurse turned around to grab the water glass or jot something down. In that split second, she would discreetly swap the pills with small, round pieces of chalk she had carved during her art therapy sessions.
With her utensils, usually a fork or a piece of broken cutlery she shaped the chalk into flat, circular pieces that matched the size and form of her real medication. It wasn't hard; the pills were simple in design.
She kept the fake pills neatly lined up at the edge of her bed, within reach but always out of sight. The swap had become second nature, a quiet routine perfected through weeks of practice.
Annalisa never missed a beat. To the staff, she was obedient, cooperative, and well-medicated. But only she knew the truth: she had stayed completely in control sober, aware, and always ten steps ahead.
After the nurse left, Annalisa lay silently on her thin mattress, with her eyes fixed on the ceiling but her mind was anything but still. She was planning. Calculating for nearly a year, she'd been observing everything: the daily routines, the staff rotations, the tiniest details in how the guards moved, when they slacked, who took breaks where, and for how long. Every movement, every schedule, she had committed them all to memory.
And finally she had found her perfect window.The upcoming general inspection.
It was an annual program where the entire institution plunged into a frenzy of cleaning, fixing, and pretending everything was normal. All hands would be on deck at that time. Every doctor, nurse, and guard would be too focused on making the place look perfect for the General Director's visit.
That was how Damien managed to contact her the everytime time during the chaos of the inspection. Slipping notes, messengers, and signals into the cracks of the system.
And now she would use that same chaos to break out.
She had already warned Damien. She had told him to be ready. To wait for her signal. In five days, everything had to be in place the transport, clothing, contacts, and above all, in silence.
No mistakes was allowed, because this time, she wasn't just thinking about escape.
She was determined to vanish.
She was so deep in thought that she didn't even realize when sleep had crept up on her and pulled her under.
. . .
The next morning, the pale sunlight slid through the bars of her window and spilled across the floor, slowly crawling up to her bed. Annalisa stirred in her sleep. Her eyes blinked open, sharp and alert. Without wasting a second, she got up, bathed, and dressed as she waited for her routine to begin.
Right on cue, the door creaked open, and in walked the doctor for her morning check-up.
Dr. Jisoo. Annalisa's first target.
She had been watching her for months or maybe even longer. Jisoo was young, barely older than Annalisa, and the youngest psychiatrist in the entire institution. She had arrived two years after Annalisa was admitted, and unlike the others, she had made the mistake of getting close. Too close.
She trusted Annalisa more than she should have and was a wrong move to make. To Annalisa that had always been the plan. Make her feel safe. To make her believe she wasn't a threat.
And now, that plan was about to pay off.
Annalisa's mission was clear: take her keycard. That was her way out.
Dr. Jisoo moved around her like usual, soft-spoken, smiling gently as she took notes and checked her vitals. Her guard was down just like always.
And Annalisa? She sat still, obedient… with a storm brewing quietly behind her calm eyes.
As she waited for the perfect moment to snatch away the key card
To Be Continued