Captivated

Jessica

This chapter is for @neets_2005. Don't be a silent reader, come say hi!

It was my first day at work, and to say I was stressed was the understatement of the year. My phone was vibrating constantly with people telling me not to be worried and that I'll do my best which did little to reassure me. I knew I would do my best but the main cause of my stress, however, was not the fact that it was my first day - I felt quite excited about that - but that KK had plonked herself on my lap and was refusing to move. I could feel her claws digging into my thighs as she watched, eyes wide open without blinking.

"You barely looked at me since we have moved here, but now all of a sudden, you want to show me affection?"

She blinked slowly and settled down further, purring.

Damn it, I was really going to be late at this point, and I really wanted to make a good first impression. I believed that to have a successful career, a person needed to maintain professionalism and the correct work ethics and this demon on my lap clearly disagreed with me.

Suddenly, her ears perked up and she shot off my lap to God knows where, leaving me to deal with the aftermath of her sudden affection. Cat. Hair. Everywhere. I had no time to change, so I brushed a lint roller vigorously up and down my skirt, trying to minimalise the damage and ran out of the house, to my car. Stepping on the pedal, I pulled out of my driveway and made my way to work. Since I was now a member of staff, I had to take a different route to work than I had previously, and looking around, I could see security was no joke here. There were watchtowers posted every ten metres or so, barbed wire and spotlights. How had I not noticed it before?

As I pulled up to the staff entrance, I noticed multiple guards with what I noted with a sense of morbid fascination were guns. How could they have guns? Isn't that too much security for a hospital? I barely see police with guns and they have to face much more dangerous situations than guarding a few mental patients.

I passed the newly issued ID badge that I had received in the post to the tall, muscular guard with the label 'Corporal' who waited patiently for it. He scanned it and began checking something on his tablet.

"Ms Carlson?"

"Yes, that's me". Despite not doing anything wrong, I felt extremely worried that I had done something without knowing it, especially with all the extra, seemingly unnecessary security.

The guard looked at me kindly. "No need to be stressed darling, it's just the customary, daily checks, and you'll get used to it. Now, since it's your first time, I need to scan your fingerprints and upload them to our database so you can have access inside the hospital and in and out of here. Hand please".

I held out my hand, which he pressed to a screen until it flashed green.

He gestured to another guard who had a handheld scanner and the guard began waving it over my car. I held my breath nervously. The guard straightened up. "All clear, Tom has also checked her data, she's good", he gave a thumbs up and walked to the next car behind me

"All done, just a reminder, you need your ID badge and fingerprints where ever you go so make sure to keep both with you", he said, chuckling at his joke. "Good luck!"

He gave me a two-fingered wave and gestured to someone and my car was allowed through the boom barrier.

For my interview, I hadn't seen this level of security and certainly not guns. There had been lots of guards posted around but not enough to amount to suspicion. I wasn't sure why but it unnerved me, the amount of security. Made me feel like they were hiding something inside that building that they didn't want to let out. But how much of a threat could some wealthy mental patients pose?