Read Online The Rasner Effect by Mark Rosendorf - Free Book Online

She stood like a brick wall, her arms folded and an annoyed expression on her face. Hefner stood behind her, a soldier following her commander. Officer James stood nearby, his arms folded across his chest. Clara rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
    “I understand Clara was disrupting Mister Royal’s classroom again,” Miller growled.
    “Everything’s fine now,” Rick offered, wondering how she could enunciate with her teeth ground together that way.
    Miller let off a sarcastic, “Hah.” Then, “I will not have a patient in this institution wasting my staff’s time and energy. If she wishes to waste our time, she can waste it until tomorrow morning in Seclusion.”
    “I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Rick began, when suddenly Clara took a step back, anger shooting from every pore.
    “I am not going into fucking seclusion again! I hate it there!” Clara attempted to dart past the group of adults, but the very large Officer James snatched her by the collar. Despite her struggles, the huge officer only needed one yank to drop her to the floor. His massive hand on her stomach kept Clara’s body pressed against the hard floor. She was trapped like a turtle flipped over on its shell.
    “If you’re going to wild-out, you’re best off just going,” Hefner said, but Clara was too busy with futile attempts to get away from the large guard.
    “You should not be offering options. This is not a discussion.” Miller chastised her head of security. “Get Doctor Barnes out here, immediately!”
    Hefner removed a walkie-talkie from her belt and spoke into it. “Doctor Barnes, we have a Code Four out here. We need an IM injection and a jacket right away!”
    “No! You’re not drugging me!” Clara screamed, managing to pound a closed fist into Officer James’s nose. Her skinny body slithered away from him but Hefner quickly grabbed her arm, allowing Officer James to regain control.
    The door near the office swung open and the short Asian man with his white lab coat and thick-framed glasses ran toward them. He clutched a large syringe filled with clear liquid in his left hand. In his right, he carried a straightjacket, its myriad straps dragging like party streamers. He looked very serious as he approached the thrashing girl. Just as the doctor bent over her, Clara caught Rick’s eye. The look of sorrow she threw nearly broke his heart.
    Hefner stooped and took hold of Clara’s right arm, stretched it out straight, and knelt on it with her knee. The Doctor stabbed the needle in Clara’s flesh, making contact with a vein despite the girl’s squirming. He pressed the plunger with his thumb.
    Her struggles slowed. Suddenly, the whole hallway spun in slow motion. Rick felt as though he were on a carousel on a foggy day. Round and round he went. He squeezed his eyes shut and open several times, but the fog remained. Once again, Clara’s eyes met his. Help , they seemed to cry. But he was as helpless as if the sedative flowed into his own arm.
    Clara’s struggles ceased. Hefner tied her into the straightjacket. Officer James lifted her by the loops on the jacket and dragged her into the Seclusion room. Rick opened his mouth to dispute the treatment, but he was sorely outnumbered. Now was not the time to protest.
    Hefner closed the door and locked it. Hefner and James took off in the opposite directions. Rick confronted Miss Miller. “I had her all calmed down. She was ready to go back to class.”
    “That’s a problem child who thinks she can run this facility!” Miller pointed a finger in Rick’s face as she screamed. “I run this institution, not these children!”
    “I understand, but she was calm.”
    “On top of everything else, I am required to run a school within these walls and I will not have her disrupting my classes. If a child chooses to be disruptive, we take care of it. Do you understand how that works or must I tell you again how to do your job?”
    Miller stood in place, waiting