The Warden Read Online Free PDF

stomach turned, her whole body rebelling at the sight of the poor, neglected girl.
    â€œYou want to help her,” Warden Crawford observed.
    â€œYes. Yes, of course I do. Don’t you?” She pinned him with a helpless look. The girl now stood motionless, pale and unnatural as porcelain.
    â€œAnd how would you help her, Nurse Ash?”
    He had sidestepped the question, but Jocelyn had more important things on her mind. “Bathe her, for one. Dress her in warmer clothing. House her in a place fit for humans. My God, I wouldn’t keep a rabid dog in here.”
    He had the grace to flinch at that assessment of his facility.
    But then he was taking the spectacles out of his pocket and placing them serenely back on his nose. He didn’t seem to notice the girl, and when his eyes chanced in her direction he only looked through her.
    â€œThen help her.”
    Jocelyn knew it couldn’t be as simple as all that, but she never backed down from a challenge. This was a thrown gauntlet, and she would pick it up, if only to prove that it was never right to give up on a person, especially one so young.
    Her own foolish words came back to haunt her.
    Some people cannot be cured. Not really. And it’s a misuse of hospital resources to insist otherwise.
    This was different. This was a child. Jocelyn drummed up her courage and turned to face the young girl, but she dropped the stern expression on her face, approaching with extreme caution. As a child she had always thought nurses looked so kindly and innocent, like guardian angels in their clean white uniforms. Angels were not always so good, Jocelyn knew that. She had read the Bible. But she was not an avenging angel today—no, this poor little bird needed to be cupped in warm hands and brought back to a nest. She was a tumbled sparrow, something to be treated gently and with ultimate care.
    Jocelyn crouched, holding out her hand to the fragile child.
    â€œHere now, little birdy, little sparrow. Why don’t you come here to me? You look awfully cold. Wouldn’t a warm bath be nice?”
    The girl hesitated, eyes shifting from the floor to Jocelyn’s face and back again. Her eyes were black marbles, colorless pits.
    â€œWhat’s your name, sweetheart?” Jocelyn asked, letting her hand fall to her side.
    Warden Crawford didn’t wait for her to answer. “Lucy. Her name is Lucy.”
    Lucy’s dark eyes found focus, gliding from Jocelyn to the man behind her. Speaking her name was like a curse, a spell. Suddenly she lunged forward, blindly, fingers unexpectedly strong and curved into talons. She tore at whatever was in her path, and that happened to be Jocelyn. Dodging, flailing, Jocelyn just managed to avoid one of those hooked hands coming for her eye and grabbed the girl around the waist, twisting and holding her, doing what she could to pin her arms.
    She heard Warden Crawford take one resolute step backward.
    If this was the first test, Jocelyn would not give up. She tried again, coaxing the girl’s arms down to her sides and holding them fast. This did little to deter Lucy in her rage. She wriggled and bucked, hurling herself back and forth until the force of it was too much for Jocelyn.
    She fled, releasing the girl and retreating to the door. But Lucy didn’t follow. Instead, she tore around the room, spinning, pulling at her own hair, knocking herself against the walls until she was breathless and panting.
    Jocelyn paused on the threshold of the room, feeling helpless. Smash. Smash. Smash . With every brutal toss of her body against the wall the girl was saying something, whispering it, hissing it out in a slice of a whisper.
    It took Jocelyn a moment to catch the word, hearing it cleanly just as the warden tugged her out by the shoulder and closed the door.
    â€œDo you still want to help her?”
    It was a ridiculous question. Jocelyn ground her teeth together as she followed Warden Crawford back through