JACK Read Online Free PDF

were all white and surrounded by light, making it impossible for me to look directly at them. My head felt full of rocks. I wondered when I’d see Momma and I asked for her but no one seemed to understand me. Maybe they did understand but chose to ignore me, just like Emma.
    Mostly I slept.
    At some point I opened my eyes to a man I didn’t know. His glasses were so far down the end of his nose they pinched his nostrils shut. He wore a dirty Santa hat. It clashed with his green bathrobe.
    “Awaken my prince!” He waved a bent straw near my face.
    “Mr. Greenwich, you’re supposed to be emptying the garbage. If you don’t stay on task you’re going to lose the privilege.”
    The stranger in the Santa hat disappeared and was replaced by a serious looking man in a blue shirt and dark tie. He smiled at me. “How do you feel, young lady?”
    I tried to scratch my nose but couldn’t lift my hands. I tried again and then looked down. Thick leather braces bound my wrists to metal bed rails. I yanked and the entire bed shifted.
    “Easy!”
    “Where am I?”
    “My name is Dr. Chance, and you’re in the Meadow Wood Psychiatric Hospital for observation.”
    Oh God, Emma had done it. She’d locked me away. Panic made me kick but my ankles were bound too. The gown I had on slipped down, flashing my chest and the big black bruises marring my skin.
    “Easy, Jacqueline, we’re here to help you.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with me!”
    A nurse wearing a folded white cap stepped up behind Dr. Chance and handed him a syringe. “I’m going to give you something to help you rest.” He flicked the glass cylinder twice with his finger. A small squirt of fluid dripped from the tip of the needle.
    “I don’t want to rest! I want to go home!” I tried to escape the needle coming at my arm but I was trapped. The sharp pain was followed by a burn. My muscles slackened and it became impossible for me to keep my head up. I collapsed against the pillows.
    The woman made a fuss about fixing my gown then stepped out of my line of sight.
    I stared at Dr. Chance, wondering if he was blurry because of the shot he’d given me or the tears filling up my eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?”
    “We’re just here to help you. That’s all.”
    “I don’t need any help.”
    “You jumped off a bridge. Don’t you think that’s something that needs to be addressed?”
    “I wanted to get away.”
    “Who were you trying to get away from, Jacqueline?”
    “Jack.” It was getting hard to keep my eyes open.
    “You were running from Jack?”
    “No, my name. My name is Jack, not Jacqueline.”
    He smiled again and patted my skinned fingers clinging like a limp rag to the rail. “Okay, Jack, we’ll talk later. You rest.”
    “Please let me go.”
    “We’ll see how you do over the next few days before we make that decision.”
    I don’t think I was out very long. A squeaking sound woke me up. A woman came into my room with a cart. “Who are you?”
    “I’m here to change your bed pad.”
    I had no idea what she meant until she walked over and dropped the rails near my hip. Then I felt the wet clinging to my skin. I’d pissed myself. I struggled and every cut and bruise on my body protested. “Let me up!”
    “I’m sorry. You have to talk to Dr. Chance about that.”
    “I’m not an infant!”
    “It’s okay, honey, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
    I was ashamed. I was humiliated. I had to lay there while she pushed me around, removing the soiled pad then putting a clean one under me. Then she pulled up my gown and wiped my ass and groin. I turned my head to hide my face in the pillow. The nurse checked my body over, poking the bruises around my stomach and ribs. She got a tube of greasy medicine and put it on the deep gash on my leg before stepping back.
    “Do you need to go again?”
    I couldn’t even look at her. “What?”
    “I’ve got a bed pan on the cart if you need to have a bowel movement or