My escape from the ward

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I was notified by the doctor that they planned to force me to take an injection in a couple of days, if I didn’t cooperate, they would do it the hard way, they said. I didn’t want to take medication at all, I needed to get out of there. I was in my room at the ward, making a plan for what I could do.

I would live in the woods near a golf course in a tent, I had my credit card, so I could withdraw a lot of money in case they closed my account. That way I could buy food and bring it to my tent. If I could manage to live like this for 6 months, I thought after that I could come back and say “see, I’m not psychotic, I have lived on my own in 6 months, and I’m healthy”.

Ok so that was the plan, now how could I escape from the ward?

They often offered trips to the grocery store with the patients. I said I wanted a trip to the store. My plan was to take the trip to the store with one of the nurses who worked there, and escape right after we had exited the store.

The trip to the store was coming up soon. I was mentally preparing, got my credit card: check: Got my running shoes: check. That’s all I needed.

I was told who was going to take me on the store trip. I looked at the guy, he seems fit, he got sport clothes on, and when I looked down… damn! He got running shoes. Wonder if I’m faster?

It was time for the trip. I could feel the adrenaline building up, I was trying my best to just relax and talk normally on the way there. We chatted about random stuff. We entered the store and I was getting even more nervous, I had to make this believable. I’m gonna buy some candy while seeming completely normal. I put some candy in the bag, and then some more. More is more believable, maybe? Yeah I’m just going back to the ward and chill with some candy all day.

We exited the store, talked about random stuff. Should I run now? I didn’t feel it, I need to wait. the adrenaline was building up and I’m sure it came through as nervousness in my voice, but I tried to keep it calm.

We were close to the hospital now. Damnit, are you gonna do it or not? We were closing in on the entrance. Now or never!

I dropped the bag of candy on the ground, turned around and ran like I’ve never ran before. I looked behind me after running a few meters to see if he was chasing me. He just stood there still, looking disappointed. I shouted “Sorry!!” and kept running, running into the city.

I got caught by the police a couple of hours later.

THE END.

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Good story, sorry you got caught! It reminds me of my younger days when I lived in Florida and did not have my illness under control. I managed to get out of a locked psych ward once…they had this button behind the nurse’s station that they would press that allowed the doors to the unit to unlock after a few seconds’ delay. Well, I figured out that if I popped the door to the nurse’s station open and reached my hand in and pressed the button, I could run like hell and the outer doors would still be unlocked when I reached them. It worked… unfortunately, I had on nothing but a gown and underwear at the time which made me rather easily noticeable to the police as I walked down the street. I did this twice and, after the second time, they relocated the button to where patients couldn’t reach it. Ahh, the old days when I was so much faster and wilder!

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Lol, a good story you have as well. Nice escape attempt. Maybe it’s for the best that we didn’t manage to escape.

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Lol. Funny stories @magz @WhiteRaven

I was way too well behaved!

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Well written story!

Why don’t you want to get shots? They’re very convenient if you can afford them

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Thanks, I was against medication at that time because of bad side effects I had gotten before, and also because I sort of believed psychosis was kind of a spiritual journey you went through, and that the medications hindered that. Something like that. I view it a bit differently now.

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Oh I see. I have a great pdoc who lets me try different meds if side effects are unbearable. She has also given me benztropine for side effects which was very helpful

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I’m glad you have figured it out! Meds aren’t optimal but I guess it’s better than psychosis.

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