A Friend In Need 
Part 1

It was an unseasonably warm mid-afternoon day in late March, and Linda Jennings had just bounded out of her parents' house in Jefferson County for a short run.  She was in her first year at the University, and decided to spend spring break back at home, relaxing with her family.
Her thick, black hair, pulled back in a ponytail, shone in the sunlight as her long, toned legs propelled her down the street.  Linda's muscular-yet-still feminine body was the result of years of swimming.  She held several high school records, and she was attending university on an athletic scholarship.

After a couple of miles, Linda reached McKenzie Park, a small public park she loved to play and explore in before she became more involved in academics and competitive swimming.  She hopped on the small paved path which encircled the park, going past the baseball diamond, along and over the winding creek, past the playground and outdoor pavilion, and made her way through the "secret shortcut" through the woods.  She stopped running when she reached the big lake at the far end of the park.  Looking upon its tranquil surface, Linda remembered when she first met a good friend.  A former friend . . .

An eight-year-old Linda was riding her bike around the park with her friends when they came to the lake, and found the neighborhood bully shove down a girl and throw her doll far into the lake.  Linda and her friends didn't hesitate to chase off the bully and comfort the girl, who was new in town.  The new girl wailed about her lost doll, but Linda had two years of swimming lessons under her belt, and jumped into the lake, clothes and all, and swam 20 feet to get the doll.  The new girl, who introduced herself as Jennifer Jones, was overjoyed to get her beloved doll back, and was even happier to make friends so quickly in her new environs.

Linda and Jennifer were best friends through elementary and middle school, but things changed when they entered high school.  Jennifer, cute, blonde, and petite, was made for the cheerleading squad, while Linda grew several inches seemingly overnight and excelled on the swim team.  Sports took up a much greater part of their lives than before, and they began to drift apart as they made new friends and pursued different goals.  Still, they considered each other a friend, until . . .

Linda frowned as she reluctantly remembered their junior year.  Jennifer and some of her fellow friends had made the varsity squad, and they began to get swelled heads and acted badly towards those students they deemed not as important.  When Linda saw the cheerleaders chew out a shy, studious girl in front of the cafeteria, she angrily told the girls to shut the hell up, singled out Jennifer for her behavior, and invited the shy girl to sit with her and her teammates.  

This act of kindness only served to start a minor war of hallway whispers and bathroom graffiti between the cheerleaders and the swim team.  Linda's home got so many crank phone calls that her parents had to change their number; the original number was unlisted, so Linda knew that Jennifer must have been spreading it around.  The feud came to a shocking climax when the assistant principal, acting on an "anonymous" tip, searched Linda's locker and found the answer keys to several midterms inside.  Linda and her outraged parents denied her involvement, but the evidence was overwhelming, and she was suspended for two weeks.  Linda tried to call Jennifer and ask her about it, but got Jennifer's mother, who coldly informed her that her daughter wished to have nothing to do with her.

The night she was suspended, Linda and her teammates got together and hatched a plan.  The teammates, along with some of their younger siblings, all began to carry recording devices to school, in an attempt to get some evidence that would clear Linda's name.  Their efforts paid off a couple of days later, when one of the younger siblings caught a cheerleader bragging about how she stole the tests and the locker master key.  Linda's parents and attorney confronted the school with this, and Linda's suspension was overturned with many apologies.  The cheerleader responsible for the mess was expelled.  The other cheerleaders, Jennifer included, were all suspended for one week, as they learned of the set-up after the fact, but didn't want to "rat" on their teammate.

After that, the feud died down, as the two former friends finished high school with no further incident.  Linda was still a little angry over Jennifer's betrayal, but decided that she had to write her off for good and just keep living her own life.  She ran back to the park path, looping around to the beginning and heading back home.

Linda stopped running when she caught sight of her house, and began to slowly walk to cool down.  As she made her way up the driveway, which was hidden from the street by a row of tall hedges, she saw a large SUV parked near the garage.   The windows were tinted, so she was unable to look inside.  

Linda opened the front door, wondering who was visiting her parents.  She walked into the living room and was surprised to see her mom sitting on the couch with Jennifer's mother.  Mrs. Jones was dabbing her face with a tissue as Mrs. Kennings comforted her.

"Mom?" Linda said, with a hint of confusion in her voice.

Both women turned their heads to her.  "Oh, Linda, you're back from your run," Mrs. Kennings said.  "Jennifer's mother came over to talk with us about something important."

"Yes, yes, that's right," Mrs. Jones said, haltingly.  "My daughter . . . she's had some emotional difficulties in the past several months," "She's even had to spend some time in a, um, . . . hospital."

Linda's mom held Mrs. Jones' hand in support and continued for her.  "Linda, Jennifer really needs someone to talk to about this, and I think it would do you both a world of good."

Linda hesitated.  While she had dealt with Jennifer's rotten behavior and moved on with her life, she would've been perfectly happy to never see nor hear her again.  But she was affected by Mrs. Jones' genuine distress and her mother's sympathy, and decided it probably wouldn't hurt to make peace.

"Mrs. Jones, I can see you're really upset about this.  I'll talk with her if it'll help you guys out."

Mrs. Jones daubed her eyes with a tissue.  "Thank you so much, Linda.  Jenny's waiting in the back of my SUV.  You can talk to her there, in private."  Linda nodded, smiled at her mother, and walked out of the house onto the driveway.

"Jennifer?" Linda tentatively called out as she approached the SUV.  The front windows were rolled down, but she didn't see Jennifer inside.

"Linda?  Is that you?" a voice replied.  "Come in and sit in the front."

"OK," Linda answered, as she jumped in the front seat and closed the door.  "Your mom told me-"  she continued, but she was shocked into silence by what she saw in the back.

Jennifer was held in the middle of the heavily cushioned back seat by two seat-belt-style straps which came over each shoulder and crossed in the middle before locking into place by her hips.  There were more straps which wrapped around her waist, thighs, calves and ankles; so many thick, wide straps that Linda could barely see that Jennifer was wearing dark blue jeans tucked into black leather knee boots with 4-inch stacked heels.  To Linda's further astonishment, Jennifer was also wearing a bright white straitjacket.  The stiff, heavy canvas encased Jennifer from its high collar, which started right under her chin, to a few inches below her waist, and a wide strap extended from the bottom between her legs.  Her arms were crossed in front, emphasizing her generous chest, and the sleeves were placed through wide loops sewn to the front and sides of the jacket before they were tied behind her.  Each sleeve had a strap tightened around each wrist, to prevent Jennifer from somehow slipping her arms out, and another strap was attached to the jacket right above the front loop, passing over her lower biceps before being fastened in the back.

Jennifer tossed her head back to get her long blonde hair out of her face and sadly smiled at Linda, nodding down as much as the collar of the straitjacket allowed her to.  "I guess you weren't expecting this, huh?  Neither was I."

"Jesus, Jen, why are you tied up like this?  This isn't right at all."

Jennifer let out a long sigh.  "Do you mind if I start at the beginning?"

"Not at all," Linda replied, shaking her head.

"Well, I started at the University this past fall.  I thought it was going to be a lot easier, but I fell behind pretty quickly, and I would up on academic probation.  I was also seeing this guy, and we had a huge fight before finals and we broke up, which didn't help things at all.  After I got my grades in the mail, I went to my Literature professor, because that was the only course I flat out failed in.  I tried to sweet-talk and flatter him into raising my grade to a C-minus, but he wouldn't budge at all."

Jennifer paused and slowly shook her head.  "I mean . . . it was the first time I really FAILED at anything, and I couldn't take it.  I just let him have it - I screamed at him for a full minute before stomping out of his office in tears.  I drove around for a while, saw a movie once I calmed down, and went home.  Well, things got worse there, as the professor had actually called my parents and told them about our meeting!  My parents tried to talk to me about my behavior, but all that anger came right back, and I ripped into them twice as badly as I had at the professor.  Then, I just stormed up to my room and cried myself to sleep."   

Jennifer began to cry a little, and Linda grabbed some tissues from the front seat and wiped her friend's face down.  "I'm so sorry, Jen.  The first semester was pretty difficult for me, too."

Jennifer nodded, and composed herself.  "OK.  Now, have you heard about the new mental health act the county legislature passed last year?  It said we all had to take yearly psych exams until we're 27 or something?"  

Linda nodded.  She read the law online when it was passed, and thought it was too broad and invasive, and was going to not take the exam in protest.  After some discussion with her parents and a therapist at the University, however, she took the exam right on her birthday last month and passed with no problems at all.

"Well, I hadn't taken it yet - I wasn't scheduled until February.  But under the new law, there are these 'notes of concern', which pretty much any adult can fill out and send to the police - you can even do them online! - if they see a young adult acting 'in a disturbed or unusual manner' - that's what the form said, I read the blank one online.  Well, the professor filled one out - I probably scared him to death - and so did my parents.  If the police get two notes within a week, they have to bring you in and make you take the exam.

"So, the next day, I wake up to my father knocking on my door and asking me to unlock it.  I was pretty groggy when I unlocked it, but I completely woke up when four police officers swarmed in!  Two of them pinned my arms behind my back and spread my legs apart as the third one opened a leather bag and took out a mess of chains and cuffs!  The fourth guy, the sergeant, read out the court order while the others began to tie me up.  They put a long metal chain with two cuffs around my waist and locked it in the back with a small padlock, and then forced my arms to the front and tightened the cuffs around my wrists,  I then saw that there was a chain attached to the waist chain in front, which dropped down to a set of larger cuffs on the floor, which they put on my legs, right above my ankles.  Then they took out six more of these get-ups and locked them all on me!  Only then, after I had what felt like 50 pounds of metal on me, did they hustle me past my dad trying to comfort my crying mom - I feel so horrible putting them through that - and into their squad car.  The sergeant and one of the officers got in the front, and I was squeezed in the back between the other two.  They jammed this giant white ball in my mouth, with a strap that they tied at the back, and forced me to sit hunched over, with my head almost between my knees, as they drove me to the County Mental Hospital."

Linda listened to this with increasing anger.  "That sounds like police brutality to me!"

"They said it was standard procedure for 'head cases' - their words.  Besides, who's going to listen to a complaint from a mental patient?"  
Jennifer asked, raising her straitjacketed arms a little for emphasis.
"Anyway, they took me to the hospital, where I had to take the exam while I was still chained up - like that was going to help matters!  Big shock, I was kept there for 72 hours of further testing and observation.  The staff psychiatrist recommended I stay there for at least another 14 days, but at my parents' request, he approved my transfer to the Morningblossom Asylum For Troubled Women."

Linda nodded, as she had occasionally passed by the imposing, Victorian-era building, hidden behind a tall brick wall and metal gate,  in her jogs around the city.  The Asylum had been closed for several decades, but was recently rebuilt and re-opened a few years ago, a private hospital catering to a wealthy clientele.  "It's nice that your parents were able to afford to send you there.  I've heard it's pretty easy to get lost and forgotten in those big institutions."

"Yeah, they said the Asylum had a 5-to-1 doctor-patient ratio; it's closer to 20-to-1 at the county hospital.  Plus, it's only 5 miles from my house, not all the way in the sticks.   Anyway, I had to go to daily therapy sessions, and learned a lot about myself.  They also put me on a bunch of medications, adjusting the dosages day-by-day, to keep my emotions from getting the better of me.  I was allowed to go home after 14 days, but only as an involuntary psychiatric outpatient."

Linda frowned.  "What does that mean?"

"At the beginning, it meant that I had to come back to the Asylum three times a week for private sessions with my psychiatrist, Dr. Jacobs.  I was also restricted from leaving my parents' house except for classes; any other times had to be approved by Dr. Jacobs with 48 hours advanced notice, and I had to be accompanied by at least one of my parents - I even had to be within their sight at all times!  Also, I can only drive from half an hour after sunrise to half an hour before sunset, which is pretty difficult in the short winter days!

"For the first few weeks, my mom had to drive me to the Asylum, but with the progress I made, Dr. Jacobs let me drive myself, eased up on my other restrictions, and decreased my meds.  I was doing very well for the next month - I even had my sessions cut to twice a week - until . . . "

Jennifer trailed off.  The silence grew heavy in the air between the two.  Linda finally spoke.  "Jen, you don't have to say anything else if you don't want to."

"No, I really need to finish this.  Dr. Jacobs said I should.  A little more than a month ago, I was driving to the Asylum, when I went off track and drove over to McKenzie Park, and stopped by the old lake . . . where we first met."  She smiled at Linda.  "I got lost in thinking about how much simpler and happier things were when I was younger.  Before I knew it, I was 20 minutes late for my appointment!  When I entered the Asylum, Dr. Jacobs was standing in the lobby with four female orderlies.  I began to apologize and tried to explain, but she nodded to the orderlies, and they tied me in a straitjacket and locked a muzzle gag on me!  I tried to fight them off, but they were too strong.  A nurse came over and jabbed a hypodermic full of sedatives in my butt, and I was dragged off to a small room, strapped into a restraint chair, and left in a druggy haze for the next several hours.

"When Dr. Jacobs finally came to see me, she undid the muzzle and let me explain my tardiness.  She said that that could be an important breakthrough in identifying the roots of my illness." Jennifer winced as she said the last word.  "She kept me there overnight for observation - she let the orderlies untie me and put me in a padded cell with a twin mattress on the floor, so I wasn't tied up at all.  The next morning, I was taken to Dr. Jacobs' office, where my parents were waiting.  I swear, Linda, I never saw them as upset as they were that morning.

"So the four of us had a long discussion about my behavior.  I swore to them that it was just a one-time lapse and that it wouldn't happen again, but the doctor insisted that my behavior was a subconscious cry for help, and that I needed closer supervision.  She didn't want to recommit me to the Asylum, because she thought taking me away from my parents and from college at that point would be counterproductive."

"So what kind of restrictions are you under now?" asked a confused Linda.

"Well, they're far heavier than when I first left the Asylum.  I can only leave the house for classes now - no special exceptions - and I have to be driven to and from the campus by my mom.  It is nice to spend the extra time with her, but it can be incredibly stifling for me as well.  Dr. Jacobs upped the dosages of the antipsychotics she had me on, and also prescribed a strong sedative to take before bedtime, to make sure I get at least 10 hours of sleep a night.  Also, I have to be put in restraints while I sleep."

"What?! You have to be tied up like this at home?"

"I know it sucks, but I'd rather be tied up at home than in the Asylum.  I have to wear this straitjacket and what are called "four-point restraints":  four leather cuffs that are attached to the side of my bed.  They go around my ankles and my biceps, over the straitjacket sleeves, and I can barely move once I'm tied down like that.  My parents were given a short course by the nurses at the Asylum on how to properly put this jacket on me, so that it's not loose enough for me to escape and not tight enough to cause circulation problems."

"Well, what happens if there's an emergency, or it you just have to go to the bathroom?"

"They've got a baby monitor next to my bed, so I can call to them if I get a muscle cramp or something.  The nurses also recommended that I wear diapers overnight too, so I don't have to wake them up to take a leak.  So now I have to put on these big, extra-absorbant diapers before my mom puts my restraints on. I actually haven't had to use them yet, as my parents wake up pretty early to untie me."

Linda let out a long sigh and slowly shook her head.  "That still doesn't explain all of this," she said, gesturing towards Jennifer's seat.  "Do you have to be tied like this going to the University?"

"No, I go to classes with just an ankle monitor on.  There's a narrow range on the campus where I'm allowed to go, and if I veer off, the police and the Asylum are notified, and I'd probably end up recommitted for a few days - or worse.  After the incident, Dr. Jacobs increased my therapy sessions to 5 days a week, with an extra-long group therapy session on Saturday mornings.  She doesn't want me to miss any of my sessions or hurt myself or others if I get too emotional, so I've got to be trussed up like this before I go.  For the first few weeks, she actually sent a couple of orderlies to my home to take me to and from the Asylum.  They came in an unmarked van with four seats in the back, with strap arrangements like this, and it was completely closed off from the front, except for a small window with a sliding door.  Sometimes there were other girls like me in the back, but mostly I was by myself.  

"My parents had to have me in the straitjacket by the time the van arrived.  Before strapping me into my seat, the orderlies would lock leather cuffs on my ankles with a short strap connecting the two, so I couldn't run away, and strap a transport jacket over my straitjacket.  It's like another straitjacket, only without the high collar and sleeves - just a canvas shell with handles on each side.  I was kept in the two jackets and hobble for the entire session, tied down to a couch with all these heavy leather straps.  It was only last week that Dr. Jacobs let my mother take me to the sessions, and only if I'm wearing the straitjacket.  She gave my mom the address of the business that installs the restraints in their vans, and they put all these straps in, no questions asked.  Hopefully, after next week, I can go without wearing the jacket, and, if all goes well, I can start driving myself again a few weeks after that.

"And that's . . . pretty much it.  I am getting better grades, and that's pretty much because I can't do anything else and . . . oh, Linda, I'm so sorry about everything that happened in high school!  I don't know why I left you behind!  All my old friends won't talk to me since I got out of the Asylum, and I don't have anyone to turn to . . ."

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny!" Linda interrupted, not wanting Jennifer to get too upset right before her session with her psychiatrist.  "Jenny, I've done a lot of thinking about this over the years, and I should've told you this a while back. I forgive you."

"You do?" Jennifer replied in disbelief.

"Yes, I do.  I don't know if we'll ever be best friends again, but I've moved past that pain, and I can honestly say that I'm not angry at you anymore."  It's funny, Linda thought to herself:  if someone had asked her an hour ago if she had forgiven Jennifer, she probably would've given a very different answer.  But seeing her in this pitiful situation, trussed up like a wild animal, had opened Linda's heart to Jennifer again.  It was the very least she could do, if it helped her down the road to recovery and got her out from under the thumb of that bizarre Asylum.

Jennifer burst into tears.  "Thank you, thank you!  You don't know what that means to me!"  Linda tried to wipe away Jennifer's tears as their mothers ran to the SUV.

Mrs. Jones unlocked the rear door and climbed in next to her daughter.  "What's wrong, Precious?  Are you all right?"

"Mom, Linda forgave me for what happened in high school!  We can be friends again!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!"  Mrs. Jones exclaimed, hugging her restrained daughter as best she could.

Mrs. Kennings placed her hand on Linda's shoulder.  "Linda, I'm so proud of you."

Linda swallowed hard.  She really hadn't intended to renew her broken friendship with Jennifer.  She just wanted to give her some peace of mind, so she wouldn't get dragged down by the past and ruin her future.  
However, she certainly wasn't going to say that out load, not here.

Mrs. Jones checked her watch and climbed out of the back of the SUV.  "Well, we really need to get going.  We can talk about this more later.  This is such great news!   I'm sure Dr. Jacobs will be happy to hear this!" she exclaimed, hugging Mrs. Kennings.  Linda wasn't sure she wanted to be on the doctor's radar.

Linda turned back to Jennifer and said, "Well, good luck.  I really hope things get better for you."

"I'm sure they will, Linda, now that we're friends again!" Jennifer replied with a bright smile.  It was the first trace of the old Jennifer that Linda saw in several years.  Mrs. Jones hopped into the driver's side of the SUV, and Linda took that as her cue to exit.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Jones," Linda said as she closed the door.

"Goodbye, Linda, and thank you so much!  This means to world to Jenny and me!"  Mrs. Jones started up the SUV and slowly rolled down the driveway as both Kennings waved goodbye.  Linda was happy that she may have helped Jennifer, but she couldn't avoid the sinking feeling that this was going to pull her life in a very unexpected direction.