The Asylum Chapter 9

Ariadne’s reading brought up heart-breaking story after heart-breaking story. None quite so sad as the story of Peregrine Norwich, but even so…Why were so many people so willing to use Wolvercote House in this way? “Another girl who will not have the sense to marry where her parents wish! But I think I am beginning to understand how this machine works now.” “The key is applying a stimulant directly after the treatment, in order to counteract the tendency to fall asleep. The mind is most receptive to new ideas and new concepts after a session on the machine.” “I have managed to manipulate her mind enough that, in these clothes, she will undergo a marriage ceremony and be unable to resist or refuse. It is quite fascinating to watch: one part of her obviously knows that she does not want to do this, but she seems unable to prevent herself from saying the correct responses.” “She left here to attend her wedding. And I heard later from her guardians when they settled their accounts: that she went through the whole ceremony with no more hesitation than would be considered proper in a young and nervous bride. And as her husband is some sixty years old, he will provide the sense she so patently needs.” As she turned the page on the sorry tale, it suddenly struck her that this might explain Pete’s behaviour towards her. After each ‘treatment’, he’d spent his time thinking about revenge – Sarah’s past revenge, and his own immediate desire for it. Maybe Dr Wolvercote had succeeded in re-programming Pete’s mind – without realising it! But how could she get Pete to see this? They’d done it! The bandages came off that day, and Jonas had his face back! There were one or two marks still left, but Olaf reckoned they should fade. And now Jonas and Ariadne were going to remove his helmet – and tomorrow, the three of them would work on Pete’s suit. Pete didn’t like the way Ariadne looked at him sometimes – as though everything was his fault. Whatever had happened to her, she deserved it! Olaf and Jonas looked at each other and burst out laughing at their hairless skulls. “Pete’s hair grew back fast enough,” Jonas said cheerfully – he was high on happiness and relief! Ariadne was happy for them both too – and once Pete was out of his suit, she’d ask the two of them to take this helmet off her. Sometime when Pete wasn’t listening…
In her cell, with her enhanced hearing, Amelie knew everything that was going on. And in her re-shaped and re-ordered mind, she formulated plan after plan. But a locked door was between her and the one that pulsed insistently in her head. Jonas was so happy that night, he forgot to lock Ariadne in her cell. And, just as before, Ariadne found herself in the cellar. “Your turn to be a little caged bird,” the voice whispered in the darkness. “And here – to stop your hands getting cold. They were made for young Norwich, when he was about 13, I think – they fit just fine, don’t they?” And Ariadne couldn’t break free of the metal grip on her arm. “I won’t bother leaving you any water – I’m sure Jonas will find you before too long.” The birdcage was cramped, and the seed and water jars were as mocking as they had been for Veronica, all those years earlier. Jonas did find her the next day, but it was a long night. And then Pete caught her by herself.
“Looks like you won’t be helping get this suit off me after all. But never mind – Olaf and Jonas can do it. Hope you like your new gloves – I think they’re perfect for you.” “Let’s face it, this is what you deserve! In fact I think you deserve 10 years in prison for all that’s been done to me alone! Only I’d have you serve your time in this place…” Maybe Pete was right. Maybe this was what she deserved. Maybe you did inherit this sort of debt. Olaf and Jonas (who still felt incredibly guilty about what had happened to Ariadne) assembled all the tools they thought they might need, and set to work. “I can’t thank you both enough!” Pete was wearing a somewhat motley assortment of clothes, but going round stark naked wasn’t really an option! “You know, we could raid the dressing up chest for you as well. You don’t have to stay in those hospital gowns.” Sometimes Ariadne felt she couldn’t bear it any longer. As the others began to make steps away from their imprisonment, away from the effects of the experiments performed on them, she seemed to be sinking ever downwards. “That’s staying on you, that helmet. Did you know that?” Pete had crept up behind her and made her jump. “I’ve told Olaf you need to wear it for my research purposes. And he’s not to take it off, even if you beg him, because then we’ll have to start the experiment all over again.” It pleased him to see her cower away from him. How many innocent girls had been frightened out of their lives in this very room? Olaf – and Jonas – had taken Pete’s advice and raided the clothes cupboard. Both felt all the better for being out of their institution gowns. Olaf was busy growing a beard as well.
“I don’t want to look like the person I was. I’m not him any more.”
Their next big question was how to help Elise – and Ariadne had been busy doing some serious thinking. She went to tell Olaf her conclusions. “So your theory is that the machine sort of wipes someone’s mind clean and leaves it open to new impressions?” Olaf said to Ariadne the next day.
“That’s what Wolvercote thought,” Ariadne said. “So if we could give Elise some pleasant new impressions – something beautiful to listen to, or to see, it might help pull her out of this pit she’s in. She’s been looking at those four grey walls for so long now! But I don’t think he realised just how it worked. Look at Pete – all he thought about after each session was revenge. And now listen to him. And what did you think about?”
“My research – though he used the new machine on me. He wanted to make me agree to something..”
Ariadne interrupted him. “Precisely. And now it’s like your research is all that’s real to you. Everything else seems to be peripheral.” “Something beautiful to see. That’s going to be hard here. Unless…”
Ariadne could almost see the light bulb going on above Olaf’s head.
Five minutes later, they were in the cellars, with Olaf going through the contents of the workbench. Maybe he could make a new visor, but unlike the one he’d worn, program it for beautiful scenes.
“I can do this! Ariadne, I think you’ve come up with the best idea yet!” When Ariadne was outside, she regained some sense of perspective, could see that it wasn’t fair for Pete to hold her responsible for all the wrongs done there. But inside the building, it was hard for her to hold on to that viewpoint, and as autumn advanced, there was less to do in the garden. Olaf had set to work straight away on an adaptation of his visor – one that could be taken on and off for starters! He was beginning to be convinced that this might just lift Elise from her current state. It had to help! Otherwise she’d never be fit to leave here – or only to go into another institution. Poor Elise looked – and was – scared half witless as they sat her in the chair and locked her into place.
“She won’t sit still of her own accord,” Pete said. “I couldn’t have done. I hate to do this to her, but we’re going to have to.” Olaf operated the machine, while Pete smiled reassuringly at Elise, hoping it would help. Then they moved Elise into the modern laboratory. Once again feeling rather mean, they locked her into an old device Pete had found: they had to keep her still and stop her taking off the visor Olaf had made. Olaf put the visor on her, and Pete selected some music – classical, lyrical and peaceful – and then they all watched Elise anxiously, to see if her fears were subsiding at all. Amazingly, as they watched her, her face calmed and relaxed.
And as the sessions went on, Elise began to look better and better. She stopped pulling out her hair and even let Jonas wash it for her. The colour came back into her face. But she still remained passive under their hands, letting them move her from one attic to the other, treating her to the best of their ability. The music spilled out from the laboratory, echoed along the corridor, and wound its way through the bars of the cells. And in her room, Amelie heard it, and the red light faded from her eyes. “Olaf, what’s this thing round Elise’s neck?” Ariadne had to stay away from Elise unless Elise was wearing the visor; the sight of Ariadne made her scream with fear. Olaf looked at it more closely. “I don’t know, but I think I’d like to find out. I’ll have to see if we can remove it – if Elise will let us.” In between sessions, Elise slept, but she looked peaceful and untroubled now, and Olaf reckoned her brain needed the down time. But she still hadn’t spoken to anyone. Pete reckoned he looked almost normal again. And Olaf thought he’d probably managed to make a key that would unlock the collar from around Pete’s neck. The Wolvercote family had been a sight too fond of their precious alloy, Pete thought angrily. It was poetic justice, Ariadne’s present state. Olaf took the metal object off from around Elise’s neck. It wasn’t easy, and in the end he and Jonas had to resort to brute force, cracking open the locking mechanism with tools that were designed for something else entirely. Elise sat obediently while they worked on it. Once it was off, she touched the place where it had been – and then leapt up and hugged him! And then Jonas – who rather enjoyed the experience. “Thank you both, so much.” Her voice was husky from disuse. Olaf was intrigued. What was it with that thing round her neck that had been so significant? Haltingly, she told him about it.
“It was a lock – a bit like the ones on your wrists? But it was programmed for time. It wouldn’t unlock for twenty years. And if I tried to go out of the main gates, I’d get a shock that would stun me. I wasn’t going to be able to leave here until I could take it off.”
“Twenty years! No wonder you still felt so hopeless!” Elise raided the wardrobes and made herself a dress from a corset and another dress. Pete, to everyone’s surprise, proved to be a dab hand with the scissors and cut her hair very nicely indeed. Ariadne would have hated her, the contrast between the two of them was so great, were it not for the fact that Elise was so kind to her – and so apologetic for having being scared by Ariadne’s appearance. Elise’s kindness to her and evident sympathy for her actually made Ariadne’s life a bit more bearable. They continued to trawl through the journals together, this time looking for building plans – anything that might help them escape. “Pete. Listen. If you’re going to get out, you need me.”
It was Amelie, speaking to him. And as Pete looked at her, he noticed something different.