Free Bent But Not Broken by Elizabeth Margaret

there are no doors on the toilets or showers? You have to give up any ideas of privacy in here. It took me a week to have a shit. Try it with the door open, and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.
    We spend most of the time in the lounge. The nurses' station is a glassed room in one corner. There are those weird round mirrors high up near the ceiling like in a regular hospital. I suppose it's so they can see up the hall to the bedrooms from their station.
    The lounge is done out in soft colours with pictures on the walls. Nothing special like real pictures – they're just prints. Like a nice hospital, I guess. The blinds are in soft colours too. I reckon they think if there were bright colours we'd go even madder, or something. I hate it. It's so artificial. Like anyone could be in here. There's no personality. All neutral. One of the things that reminds me of where I am (as if I could forget!) are the blinds. They are controlled from the nurses' station. They are electric and make a kind of robot whirring sound as they are lowered each night. Really odd. Can't we even be trusted with curtains?
    Some of the girls do pretty good paintings in the art sessions. I reckon it would be good for their pride if they could have them put up on the walls instead of the god-awful prints. I might say something about this in group.
    Suzy and I spend a lot of time jabbering away. We play chess while we talk about stuff. She was in Year 12 before it all went shit-shaped for her. She said she missed being able to study, and reckons she's lost a whole year of school because of all that's happened. I told her about having my sessions with Doctor Hobbit in the library. I know it was breaking a rule because we are not allowed to talk about our individual sessions with the others. But with so many rules in here, I figure you've got to choose the ones that you care about. So I told her about the trade I did to get into the library. I could tell she thought it was a good deal, and one she would readily make.
    Now I am a little bit nervous. I really like Suzy and would like to see her happy again. I just hope she keeps me out of it when she asks Doctor Hobbit to have her sessions in the library.
    Love,
    Abigail
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    CASE FILE #2794 ABIGAIL LEE MANUS D.O.B. 02/04/1998
    ENTRY 27: 15/05/2014
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    Abigail maintained her stony silence in our individual session again today. She glared and stared and challenged. A teenager can be so expressive without saying a single word! I decided to let her win this one. She spent the session reading. I kept her company by reading too.
    Abigail seems to be forming a friendship with Suzy. This is a positive sign. Abigail has kept herself so tightly buttoned up thus far. She has spoken in the group sessions, and shown herself to be a capable and effective leader. I have seen that she has empathised with the situations described by the other girls. Forming a friendship is an indication that at least at some level she is returning to a more natural emotional state. Peers should be more important to a girl of her age than the adults in her life. That she has chosen Suzy is not a great surprise. They are both intelligent and sensitive young women. I know that Abigail has shared that we have our individual sessions in the library with Suzy. I expect she will make the same request soon.
    I am very pleased with this development. I believe that friendship between these girls will be beneficial to them both.
    Dr. Harry Nightingale
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    Dear Crystal,
    A terrible thing happened today. Kayla somehow got her hands on the stuff they use to clean the toilets. No-one knows how. All we saw was her staggering into the hall, her hands around her throat. She couldn't speak. She sort of toppled to the floor and was thrashing about. The nurses went into hyperdrive. I didn't know they had a panic button. A red light was flashing outside the nurses' station. Suddenly there were doctors and nurses scrambling