[ OT ] Sunday Free Write : Leave A Story , Leave A Comment- On Schedule Edition

I suppose I could post an except of my novel. It's unedited but I do like this part as of the moment, so please excuse tense issues as I'm sure it's full of them as well as lots of repeated word choices. This section is about 80k words in, so there's a lot left unsaid about what's going on. Suffice it to say that the main character has been hidden under the desk by an orderly staffing the asylum and there are government agents wandering the place. There's a lot more going on but my description would become overly long. 
 
 *** 
 
 “ I—I don ’ t know. ” Tara keeps her eyes focused on the fabric of Sibyl ’ s pants, the woman ’ s lower body the only thing visible. There ’ s a long silence before Tara hears the door open to the gym and watches Sibyl ’ s body tense. 
 
 “ Good afternoon Miss. ” The voice was recognizable, sending a shiver up Tara ’ s spine at imagining the smile on the male agent ’ s face. 
 
 “ Good afternoon. Is there a reason you ’ re inspecting the gym? ” 
 
 “ We ’ re attempting to locate two patients from the hallway. We hadn ’ t spoken to them yet and they fled from us. ” The voice draws closer and Sibyl stiffens more as Tara curls up further in an attempt to make herself smaller. “ Oh, you would be Sibyl? ” 
 
 “ That ’ s me. ” 
 
 “ The other orderly, the big guy with the eyepatch, said that if I wanted to speak to the girl, you were the one to talk to and that he couldn ’ t do anything to assist me. ” A low chuckle crawls up Tara ’ s spine like a spider. “ I had assumed that I would need to speak to her doctor but I have no idea who this girl is. Everyone I give a description to says that there ’ s too many patients here and that I ’ m describing over half the women. But she appears to be your youngest patient; one would think that would be noticeable. ” 
 
 “ You ’ d be surprised. ” Sibyl responds shortly and the flip of a page can be heard. 
 
 “ Is that so? ” 
 
 “ Yes, some of the patients here appear a lot younger than they are. ” 
 
 “ You ’ re telling me that she ’ s not young? ” 
 
 “ Mister… ” 
 
 “ Thornton. ” 
 
 “ Mister Thornton, I ’ m not at the current moment sure which patient you ’ re speaking of. As of the moment, each orderly has a set of patients that they are most familiar with. I have the majority of the female patients as I am one of the few female orderlies. ” Sibyl shifts, uncrossing her legs and setting both feet firmly on the ground as Tara watches. The Guardian flits around the bottom of her chair, unwilling to go up further. “ If you could offer me a name for this patient, I might be able to assist you further but currently, I am unable to help you. ” 
 
 “ Is that so? ” There ’ s a pause before someone snaps their fingers, the sound echoing faintly in the quiet room. There ’ s a snap that sounds like a clipboard or a binder. “ I believe the patient with this one was named Jayce Wynward. Agoraphobic with a sleep disorder. Can you assist me now? ” 
 
 “ Jayce is a social butterfly. He ’ s around a lot of the patients, not just the male ones. He ’ s pretty friendly to all the patients that aren ’ t completely off their rockers. ” 
 
 “ Is there a particular one he ’ s taken an interest in? ” 
 
 “ I wouldn ’ t know. Jayce isn ’ t my patient despite my seeing him frequently. ” 
 
 “ You see him frequently? ” 
 
 “ He works out in the gym fairly often. He ’ s around some of the patients I deal with fairly often as well, so I see a lot of him. He ’ s not my business though. ” Sibyl taps her foot slowly. 
 
 “ How many schizophrenics do you have in house? ” The question makes Sibyl pause, her toes still in the air before she sets her foot fully down on the ground again. 
 
 “ Not many. It ’ s not exactly something that ’ s common. We have more than 
 our share though due to Pescadero being quite isolated. ” 
 
 “ Is that so? How many are free to roam on the main floor? ” 
 
 “ Not many. Is there a point you ’ re leading up to with this? ” 
 
 “ Yes. How many schizophrenics do you have under your care? ” There ’ s a long pause. 
 
 “ I would have to check my records. ” 
 
 “ You couldn ’ t make an educated guess? Based on your interactions with your patients? ” 
 
 “ I suppose… that I could. ” Sibyl reluctantly replies. “ I would say three. All female. Without my paperwork on each of them though, I couldn ’ t actually tell you anything. ” 
 
 “ But you stated that you were familiar with each of the patients? ” 
 
 “ Familiar. I don ’ t know their medical charts by heart, Mister Thornton. ” 
 
 “ Well, shall we retrieve those charts? I ’ d really like to finish up here sometime soon so that we can continue on. ” 
 
 “ You ’ ll have to give me some time to call a coworker to man this desk. ” 
 
 “ That ’ s quite all right, I ’ ll wait out in the hallway. ” Tara listens to the man walk away as she hears Sibyl writing furiously. 
 
 “ Yes, Thomas? Could you do me a favor? ” There ’ s a pause. “ I ’ m sure that you ’ re busy but unfortunately these damn people wandering around want me to locate some of my personnel files for the patients. ” Another pause. “ I ’ m well aware that I can ’ t show them. I have no plans of doing so. I just need you to watch the desk for me while I ’ m away. ” There ’ s an extremely long silence. “ Thomas. You calm down now. Murray is fine no matter what he talks about. ” Another short pause. “ Good. I ’ ll leave it unlocked for you. ” Sibyl gets to her feet and a piece of paper falls to the floor as she stands. “ I ’ ll talk to you later. ” She steps away after there ’ s a click of a phone in a receiver, leaving the paper on the floor. Tara waits for the door to shut loudly behind the orderly before reaching out and picking it up. 
 
 * ‘ Find Jayce. He might have hidden himself downstairs. It ’ s up to you to figure out how to get there if that ’ s where he is. Stay with him if you manage to find him. If not, stay away from these people. I don ’ t like them. ’ *
