4.

In her place of residence, the last residence she will ever have, Lacey Ellis has a room to herself. Most every other resident ever to stay here has to share a room with one other. Not every residential room has a window, steel meshed covered or not, though Lacey Ellis does have one rather small window in hers.

She has three flowering plants by her window, one large-ish and two small, each hanging on to life by a thread and each having been brought to her from her former home at her request. They are brought to her after the birth of her daughter has occurred and had previously been something that had been with her since she was a child.

Months before a birth occurs, New Year's Eve 1999 and the end of a decade has come, the end of a century has come. There is a concern within the world over all things digital though that will prove to be unwarranted, a real and worthy fear has still to be born. The main concern for Lacey is that she is with child she is under serious watch and there are plenty of restrictions too.

On this particular evening, she is strapped once again to her bed once night has come for fear she may cause herself or her child harm. Staff at this facility have their guests to look after and a newly digitized computer system to keep an eye on. Many records here are ... sensitive and can ill afford to be leaked, stolen or lost to the turn of the century.

With there still being two hours until midnight, there comes a young orderly doing his rounds checking on the guests. If he were to find any kind of problem with any of the guests, he is to report it so it can be looked after though with the evening being what it is there is one problem he checks out by himself without reporting it.

Through a glass panel on the door to the room of Lacey Ellis's room this orderly looks inside to see that Missus Ellis is not in her bed. She should be as her straps had been previously checked and double checked.

Indeed, this orderly investigates alone, letting himself into that room believing himself capable of handling it. At first, he doesn't see her. The lighting within the room is off and Lacey is standing in a dark corner of the room. Once the orderly has stepped right into the room Lacey goes for him, using one of her straps to attempt to choke the orderly out.

With other staff not allowing the current date to distract them all so much, it isn't long before a commotion is dealt with. The lone orderly in Lacey's room passes out but is to survive his ordeal. Enough noise had been made to alert others. Lacey is dealt with and protocols within the facility are reviewed and certain orderlies are given more leeway to operate business as how they see fit and to operate other behaviour's as to how they see fit, living things open to abuse, such is life.

One thing not given any credence from the initial report offered by the lone orderly is the telling of an entity. Yeah, the attacked orderly was sure as sure can be that there was someone else within Lacey's room when she attacked him, someone or something dark with extreme power.

'Ooh ... extreme power ...' the childlike jeers would come until such time other orderlies, doctors too, would begin experiencing odd occurrences mostly emanating from Lacey's room.

These odd occurrences at times did cause injury though thankfully no fatalities. It would be safe to say that both staff and guests of the facility would be somewhat weary of Lacey Ellis.

***

Many years come to pass, and Lacey remains a guest to the facility and a guest without access to her daughter. She is aware of a number of things and unaware of others. Time is something she appears not to have a full grasp of. There are many moments after that one on her first New Year's within her now permanent place of residence that create cause for staff to fear her, they do the best they can. As it does go for Lacey, her mind has its good days and has its bad days.

Life could not be any more different now to what it once was, to the point that Lacey is almost unrecognizable versus the woman she once was. She now is very much a woman who belongs in this asylum and the worst part for her about her current residence is that she cannot get to her daughter, someone she has not seen since the day she gave birth. Yeah, she has not seen Nancy since the day Nancy was born but during the months that lead up to the birth ... well ...

Time as it always does, moves on, a decade in fact and three long years more. There is something coming that Lacey has felt coming for a long time and on one day in particular or night in particular, it is the larger of her not quite yet dead plants that lets her know that an arrival is imminent. It may be dark outside though there is enough light coming into Lacey's darkened room that she can see those potted plants of hers.

She is fully awake within her own madness and it is a slight crackling sound that makes her get up out of her bed. She moves straight to her plants and visually witnesses a second brief crackling sound. The sound is accompanied by brief movement. The largest of the three plants is reacting as if an injection of life is occurring within it.

'She is here' Lacey speaks as she turns towards the door to her room.

Being as late in the night as it is or rather so early in the morning and being so far past curfew the door to her room is locked and Lacey knows not to even try open it, for she will not and cannot get out of the room until someone comes in the morning to let her out. It is not long before Lacey can hear commotion beyond her door. The asylum indeed has a new guest, someone Lacey is looking forward to meeting. Almost a week passes before she gets her first opportunity to do so.

Lacey is escorted into the common room where the new girl so happens to be, and she locks eyes on that new girl almost immediately. Her escort informs her to play nice as he knows all too well from Lacey's previous activity that she will make some sort of contact with that new girl.

'You know my daughter' she speaks to the newcomer.

The newcomer has been so displaced recently that she easily is further displaced by being approached in such a peculiar manner by such a peculiar woman. 'Excuse me?'

'My daughter, you know her, don't you?'

'... I can't say that I do ...'

'It's not time yet. Yeah, you are too young. You will know my daughter; you will know your sister. You will ... you will ... he will bring you all together. Tell her to come see her mother, won't you?'

'Now, now Lacey' speaks Sammy, the orderly who had accompanied Lacey into the common room. 'Leave Majella be. Give her time to get fully accustomed to her new surroundings.'

Lacey turns her head then moves away towards one of the four corners of the room, a spot she will claim as her own, a spot where she will continue to observe the newcomer.

'Don't mind her' Sammy tells Majella. 'Missus Ellis has been here for some time, since December of '99 in fact. She is harmless, most of the time. She has a bark, but she never bites. I did hear that there was this one time ... I wasn't here for that.'

December of 1999 Majella considers that for a moment, such a time was only a matter of mere months before Majella was born and as it is in this moment Majella is thirteen years old.