I transmigrated and got a husband and a son!
Chapter 875: Prison of the mind

Chapter 875: Prison of the mind

The mental facility might have been helpful to many of their patients. But in Primo’s case, they could barely help him. If they could make him forget everything, perhaps they could treat him properly. However, all they could do was give him medicine to calm himself down whenever he would wake up from a nightmare. Even with the therapies they told him to participate wasn’t helping. Not that he had hoped in the first place.

Primo knew he was hovering in the fine lines of sanity and madness. Sometimes, he would step on the line of madness and sometimes, he would go on the other side. Just like the rest of the patients in this facility.

Prim1o gazed at the old man across his bed. Both of them were sitting on their beds, their back resting against the headboard. While Primo was staring at the old man, the latter was reading a book quietly.

’I wonder...’he thought. ’Why is he here?’

After coming to this place, Primo had seen different levels of craziness. He wasn’t criticizing them. Some of them were naturally good people who deserved to be treated so they could live. But if there was someone Primo was curious about, that would be the old man in the same ward as him.

When Primo came into this place, this old man had been in there already. Unlike some of the patients, he hadn’t seen this old man go through an episode or anything of the sort. This elderly would just sit all day in his bed, reading a book. Sometimes, he would go for a walk. He looked very normal in Primo’s eyes thus, inciting intrigue from him.

"Mr. Garner, time for your medicine."

Suddenly, the nurse in charge of the ward came in with her trolley. She had this kind smile on her face, stopping beside the old man, Mr. Garner’s, bed. The old man stopped reading and looked at her. Without saying a word, he offered her his arm so she could take his blood pressure.

Primo watched everything from his bed across from the old man.

’That’s right,’he thought. ’This is why I kept looking at him.’

It wasn’t because the old man’s bed was across from his. Primo found himself observing the old man curiously because he noticed nothing was wrong with this old man.

"Open your mouth," said the nurse as she bent down. Mr. Garner opened his mouth wide, lifting his tongue to reassure the nurse that he swallowed his medicines. The nurse smiled brightly, praising the old man’s compliance.

She then went to another patient in the same ward, doing the exact same thing she would do every single day with her shift. Lastly, she went to Primo and did the same thing.

"Open your mouth," she said once again to him, and he did as instructed. "Good. I’ll come back to check later, okay?"

Primo glanced at her and sighed faintly. When he looked away, his eyes instinctively landed on the old man across from him. This time, Mr. Garner was looking in his direction. He was neither smiling nor was he looking at him in a way that would incite question.

He just looked at Primo blankly and, without showing the slightest emotion, he went back to reading.

’What a strange old man,’he whispered, sliding down to sleep. After taking his medicines, Primo often found himself a little sleepy. So, he went into a position, and in no time, he fell asleep.

*

*

*

Primo’s cycle in the facility was something he had already grown used to. It was like a prison for the crazy. The food wasn’t as good as that on the outside. They couldn’t get out, and they were monitored 24/7. The only difference was that they were taken care of by caring nurses and that they would be able to get out of there once they were treated. In prison, even if they changed behind bars, a chance to receive parole was slim and they might stay there for the rest of their lives.

Primo knew that as a man who had studied law.

Sitting in the outdoor park, Primo watched nurses and patients take a recreational walk while he sat on the bench. Patients were allowed to take a walk in the garden under supervision. They said it was a good exercise for their patients as if their way of showing they weren’t prisoners. Other patients receive their visitors in this place as well, where they eat or have a picnic.

As Primo observed everyone from the bench, he sensed a presence on his side. Turning his head, his eyes fell on the old man sitting on the other end of the bench with him.

"You..." he trailed off as the man faced him. "... you’re that old man. What are you doing here?"

The old man smiled subtly. "This is where I usually sit during our given time outside."

"Ah." Primo rocked his head in understanding. "Then I’ll go find another spot to sit on."

"Do not bother." Mr. Garner chuckled as he opened the book in his hand. "You don’t seem as unwell as the rest, so I’m sure you’d behave yourself."

Primo glanced at the book the old man had been reading since he came in here. It was a novel Primo once read as a law student. The first book he bought with his own money for cheap.

"Hmm?" The old man raised his brows and glanced at the man beside him. "Do you want to borrow this book?"

"I already read that — more like I memorized it already."

The old man chuckled. "Do you like it that much to memorize it?"

"It’s nothing like that." Primo hummed as he looked away, taking a deep breath. "It’s the only book I have had. The place I lived in the past leaks whenever it pours, so most of the books I had were destroyed."

"I’ll lend you some of my books if you want."

"Don’t bother," he replied without looking. "I’m not interested." — he wasn’t even interested in most things."

Mr. Garner smiled humbly and set his attention back to his book. "I’ve read this book at least three times when I get in this place. There were other ones I could read, but I like this book specifically because it takes me to a place far away from my reality."

Upon hearing the old man’s sentiments, Primo slowly looked back at the old man. Mr. Garner slowly looked back at him.

"Alexander Cafre, is it?" he asked, causing deep lines between Primo’s brows. "Do you want to forget everything and start anew?"

"Huh?"

"This mental facility helps those who had a future outside this place. But for people like us, facing reality wasn’t exactly what would help us," Mr. Garner continued with a smile. "I learned that long ago when I lost my wife and kids at the hands of a monster... just like what you went through."

Primo held his breath, eyes wide at the old man. Mr. Garner, on the other hand, smiled kindly at him and nodded.

"Their memories... those lovely memories that were full of warmth, and knowing that warmth would never return is more like a nightmare that haunts us even with our eyes opened," Mr. Garner continued and then added before he left, "Once you made up your mind, I’ll tell you the secrets of how to break free from the chains of your mind. Until then, it was nice talking to you."