Review: A worth-while short story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 14, 2013
This short but gripping story is definitely worth checking out, though I do need to emphasize that there are rape and abuse elements, so please pass over this if those are triggering to you.Gabrielle is tormented by nightmares that play out in real life. The story opens with her being attacked by a tree, and the branches are wrapping themselves around Gabrielle before her father hears her screams. He saves her, and then calls an ambulance to take her to the hospital, though Gabrielle soon realizes that she's taken to a mental asylum, not her regular hospital's emergency room. At first she believes it's a mistake, that she was only taken there because it was closer; however, after a brief meeting with a psychiatrist and then her father, she learns that she has been admitted to the psychiatric hospital because she needs "help [her father] cannot provide."Without a second glance, her father leaves Gabrielle to begin treatment. Other than a brief interaction with a nameless patient, Gabrielle is alone, kept company only by a variety of male nurses.  Shortly after being shown to her room, she is sexually assaulted before one of her "nightmares" comes to life.  Narrowly escaping death for a second time in less than 24 hours, Gabrielle is able to use the "nightmare" to save herself from Rapist Nurse and escape from the asylum.This short story was gripping and could serve as a chapter of a full-length novel. The only criticisms I have are the fact that there seemed to only be male nurses in this asylum, and even more unrealistic, only one nurse and one security guard on staff for the overnight shift. I was unable to tell whether this was a modern-day setting or not, or if it was US-based or not; regardless, I would imagine that even if there were no female nurses on staff, there would be at least two nurses on staff during the overnight shift.