08 Illusion by Frank Peretti Read Free Book Online Page A

to you and try to figure out what’s going on. But they’ll need to see that you can control yourself and conduct yourself safely around others, which means …” The doctor indicated Mandy’s situation at the moment, like a raging animal in a net. “If you want to get out of here, you’ll behave yourself so nobody has to restrain you. Does that make sense?”
    Make sense? This was just so ridiculous! This really was Planet of the Apes and she really was Charlton Heston the astronaut and she was the weird one, not them, and nobody could see that.
    But why would they, and what could she do about it anyway? These were the rules of the game, like it or not. She was the one in the complimentary scrubs and borrowed robe, and all she had in the world was what she knew but couldn’t prove. She wasn’t the doctor with the totally true and trustworthy folder in the big, intimidating hospital with Johnny, Bruce, and Dave working for her.
    Play the game, girl. Do your time. Show them you’re okay.
    She gave up and covered her face to shut out these people and this insane, impossible world.
    Dave and Bruce relaxed their grip but didn’t let go.
    “Bruce and Dave are going to take you to another part of the hospital and get you checked in.”
    She rose to her feet, ably assisted. “What part?”
    “Behavioral Health. Don’t worry. They’re great people.”

chapter
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    6
     
    H i, Mandy. I’m Bernadette Nolan, from Health and Human Services. How are you?”
    Mandy squared up the deck of cards she was playing with, set them aside, and stood to shake hands. Bernadette, a young lady with fiery red hair in big, beautiful curls, took the only other chair, on the opposite side of the table. She did it so professionally, as if she’d said “Hi” and “I’m Bernadette Nolan” to a zillion souls before this, maybe at this very same table in this very same little room with no windows except for the one in the door.
    Mandy answered, “I’m clean,” which was about all she could say for sure. The Behavioral Health Unit had loaned her soap and shampoo for a shower and a toothbrush and toothpaste for her teeth and took them back when she was finished so they couldn’t become a means to harm anyone, including herself.
    “You look great,” said Bernadette, opening a valise and pulling out a writing pad and some forms.
    Right. Clean, but with no way to fix her hair and wearing nothing but hospital scrubs and another pair of those one-size-almost-fits-all slippers. Mandy sent a message with her face: Oh, come on! She thought better of it and stowed the look, but not before Bernadette saw it.
    “Go ahead. Say it.”
    Mandy looked into those friendly green eyes. “ I look clean. You look great.” And Bernadette did look great. Nice jacket, cool jeans, slick pumps.
    Bernadette nodded, even chuckled. “I’m the one in the civvies and you’re the one in the scrubs.”
    “Right on.”
    “How does that make you feel?”
    “How should I feel? You weren’t locked in your room with a camera trained on you. You didn’t have to take a shower with Nurse Baines watching you. You got to fix your hair this morning and pick out your own clothes. You even get to wear a bra because nobody thinks you’ll use it to hang yourself.” Mandy, you’re getting angry. “But you do look great. And I like your lipstick.”
    “Thank you. It’s called Deep Blush.”
    “It goes with your complexion.”
    “So how do you usually fix your hair?”
    “Oh, straight, with combs and sometimes a clip. I have some headbands, they’re kind of a trip—hey, I made a rhyme!”
    Mandy had no grudge with Bernadette and Bernadette was sweet enough. They talked—maybe a little testy at first, checking each other out—but they got on a roll, and every once in a while Bernadette would jot a note on her writing pad or circle an item on a form. Mandy settled within herself that Bernadette was only doing her job; it wouldn’t be fair not to like