I had this story on the backburner for quite some time. So I might as well upload the finished chapters of it on here. As always constructive criticism is appreciated and I hope you enjoy your read.
Chapter 1
Dr. Salazar was sitting in her office filling out paperwork as someone knocked on her door.
“Come in please.”
A tall brutish security guard stepped into the room, he was holding an envelope in his right hand.
“I have the file you requested doctor.”
The guard laid the envelope onto the doctor’s desk. The cover read:
“Inmate I-2257 Classified”
“Excellent!”
The doctor couldn’t help but smile as she opened the envelope and began to read through the files.
“Where is she at the moment?”
“Holding cell B, doctor. A proper cell is being prepared for her as we speak.”
“Good, good, has the new inmate already received her garments?”
“About that...”
The doctor glanced towards security guard. The unease was written all over his face.
“Hmm? Is there some sort of problem?”
“Well… The inmate was unwilling to comply and even attempted to attack one of my men so I had to subdue her.”
“My, my quite a temper our new inmate seems to be having. Once she awakens bring her to my office.”
“Are you certain Dr. Salazar? She’s volatile and there is no tellin…”
Before the guard could finish his sentence, the doctor had already put a finger on his lips bringing him to an abrupt halt.
“Do I need to remind you that you are not only talking to this institutions head psychologist but also your superior here? When I say that I wish to assess the new inmate personally you are to follow my orders with no objections. Are we clear?”
Despite the doctors words being free of any detectable malice her eyes were speaking a different story, her piercing and authoritarian gaze sending shivers down the guards spine
“N-no doctor Salazar we will bring her to you as soon as she wakes up.”
The guard swiftly stepped out of the room leaving the doctor to sit back down at her desk as she continued to flip through the files he had left on her table.
“This is bound to be interesting.”
A few minutes later
The guard, after taking a moment to regain his composure, was now standing in front of the door leading to the holding cell. He gulped as he held his keycard to the keypad. He had dealt with many violent inmates before, but this was the first one in a long time that cause him such… unease. He was certain that, had he reacted even a second later, this inmate could have done a lot more than just giving his colleague a bloody nose. The keypad beeped confirming the validity of his keycard before sliding the door open. The inside of the room was as barren. The only “furniture” present in the room were a washing basin, a table, a couple of chairs, a wall mounted communications console, and a fire extinguisher. His colleague sat on one of the chairs holding a bloody tissue to his nose muttering to himself.
“Has the inmate woken up yet?”
“No, she’s still unconscious. God damn it I can’t believe I let that bitch get the better of me.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, she blindsided us both.”
His colleague nodded still visibly annoyed by the situation and continued muttering to himself. Deciding it would be better to leave him alone for the time being the guard turned his attention towards the inmate, who was still out cold on the floor. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and shackles adorned her ankles, her messy deep brown shoulder long hair obscuring her face. Under normal circumstances prisoners would simply use this cell to change into their prison garb and wait for their cells to be prepared for them. This inmate had however vehemently refused changing into their attire and when his colleague had attempted to reason with her, she had suddenly kicked him in the face. Given her petit frame and overall average physique, nobody had expected her sudden violent retaliation. And now she was laying here on the floor, unconscious. The guards had a female colleague change her clothes for them. As the guard went through the events that had transpired today in his head, he noticed the inmate beginning to stir from her slumber.
“Uggggghhhhh… M-my head…”
The Inmate groaned as she attempted to stand up, only now noticing the restrains binding both her hands and feet.
“Wha… Where… where am I?”
“Quit your rambling inmate, you have already caused more trouble than you are worth. Now get up, doctor Salazar is expecting you.”
Without a clue as to what was happening and still barely clinging to consciousness the inmate was pulled to her feet. Normally she would have objected the guard’s rough treatment, but her still throbbing head in combination with it taking almost all her strength to even keep herself on her feet was enough to force her into compliance. The guard motioned the inmate to move out of the cell into the hallway. The aggressive shine of the buzzing halogen lights forced her to squint as she slowly started to walk down the hallway, careful not to trip herself on her shackles. The guard was following closely behind seemingly still on edge excepting the prisoner to retaliate at any second. However, the short walk to Dr. Salazar’s office went without a hitch and the inmate could hear the guard behind her quietly sighing as they arrived at the door. From the outside the door looked like any of the thousand other doors adorning the seemingly endless sterile white hallway, however the room it connected to could not be any more different from that. The PVC flooring of the hallway gave way to a dark wood, the sterile white walls were replaced by a soft sand-like beige tone and the buzzing cold halogen light changed to a warm and soft incandescent light. The office contained several pieces of expensive looking wooden furniture among them several comfortable looking chairs, a sofa, a coffee table as well as the massive wooden desk sitting in front of the large panorama window front tinted black by the night, while the walls on the other hand were adorned with bookshelves and paintings. The room in its entirety had an oddly calming aura to it, as if it was intentionally designed to coax someone into letting their guard down.
“Ah, finally our guest of the hour has arrived! I take it there weren’t any further complications in bringing them here, correct?”
A voice ripped the inmate out of her thoughts, the guard behind her swiftly replied.
“No further complications doctor. The inmate has made no further attempts at disobeying orders or attacking staff. I would still be careful though; I got a bad feeling about this one.”
The inmate turned her head towards the desk where she found the source of the mysterious voice. A woman in her mid-30’s was sitting behind the enormous desk chuckling at the guards remark. She had long, slightly wavey, reddish brown hair reaching just over her shoulders and piercing green eyes gazing at her through a pair of rimless glasses. The doctor as she was referred to by the guard was wearing a lab coat overtop a loose fitting red blouse.
“I appreciate your concern, but I assure you I am very much capable of handling the inmates that are brought to me. Please seat and restrain our guest”
The guard did as he was asked and quickly shoved her onto one of the chairs, binding both her arms and legs to it.
“Please leave on of her arms unrestrained.”
The guard seemed hesitant to follow the woman’s wishes.
“With all due respect Doctor, I think you are underestimating the aggressive potential of this inmate. Leaving one of her hands unrestrained would be an enormous risk to your safe…”
He was unable to finish his sentence, as the doctor quickly interjected.
“I don’t remember asking for your opinion, I merely asked you to keep one of her arms unrestrained. Have I made myself clear?”
The last sentence seemed to have struck quite a bit of fear into the guard as he quickly removed one of the inmate’s handcuffs.
“Y-yes doctor Salazar, m-my apologies.”
“Good, you may leave now.”
Without any objections the guard left the room closing the door behind him
“I must apologize for the behavior of our security staff; they can be a little brutish at times. Oh! Where are my manners? Let me introduce myself, I am Doctor Julianna Salazar, the head psychologist of this facility, the high security division of the Saint Antonio federal correctional facility. And you must be miss...”
“M-my name?”
For some reason the inmate mind was pulling nothing but blanks when trying to remember her name. In fact, she couldn’t recall anything about herself at this very moment.
“Yes, well… Of course, I already know your name but I found that asking an inmate for their name makes for a better conversation starter.”
“Inmate...? What are you talking about? What am I… doing here?”
As her head began to clear more and more questions started popping into it, making her come to a shocking conclusion, she could not remember anything. Seeing the clear distress in her eyes the doctor poured a glass of water and handed it to her while also taking the inmates file out of her drawer and putting it on her desk.
“It seems that the stress of your arrest as well as the tranquilizers you were subjected to, have resulted in a case of short term amnesia. Now, there is no need to panic. Your memories should return to you within the next few days. And while we wait, I can help you jog your memory a little by reading you some of the information we have gathered about you.”
Still somewhat uneasy the inmate gulped down the water handed to her only now realizing how dry her throat had been up till now.
“Let us start with some simple facts about yourself. Name: Mary Strasser, born on the 28th of November 2000 in Vienna Austria, currently 24 years old, no siblings, father was a computer technician, mother studied biology before marriage and then remained a stay-at-home mother to raise her only daughter, Unremarkable childhood, above average school grades, excelled especially in the field of linguistics, described as very sociable and outgoing by her peers, later went on acquire a bachelor’s degree in Journalism.”
With those words the doctor closed Mary’s file, redirecting her gaze at the inmate again.
“Well? Did that little excerpt manage to jog your memory?”
“I guess it does answer some of the more basic questions.”
Mary replied unable to hide her disappointment as the number of unanswered questions still outweighed the what she was able to make sense of at the time.
“So… why am I here? You said this was a… correctional facility, so there has to be a reason I was imprisoned here.”
“That is correct, although to say that there is a singular reason for your imprisonment would be a, frankly, gross understatement.”
Doctor Salazar reopened the file, flipping through the pages until she had found the page she was looking for.
“Ah there we have it! To name a few of the offenses we have: Fraud, Kidnapping, Money laundering, Extortion, Identity theft, ties to various criminal organizations… In short, your criminal record is quite the impressive one.”
Mary could only gawk in sheer disbelief as the doctor read out the various types of offences she had seemingly committed. It felt completely unreal, her lacking memory of any of those offenses not exactly aiding her in making it sound more believable.
“Th-this is absurd!! Why can’t I remember even a single one of those things?”
“Well…, like I said in the beginning it seems that you are suffering from short term amnesia, all I can say is that there is evidence for more than enough of your offences to have you on death row if it wasn’t for this correctional facility. You can count yourself incredibly lucky that you were given this option, otherwise you would probably be sitting on the electric chair by now.”
The thought sent shivers up and down Mary’s spine.
“If I truly committed all of these offenses then how come I was even given the chance to…”
Before she could finish her sentence, a sharp pain in her crotch area cut Mary off. As she tried to ease the pain by pressing her hand against her crotch, she noticed something weird. Her crotch area felt oddly soft and fluffy while also being crinkly to the touch. Looking down she was quickly confronted with the reason for that odd feeling. Even though they were somewhat obscured by her pants, there was still very clearly a diaper wrapped around her waist, its bulk forming a visible bulge in the front of her pants.
“W-what is this?! Why am I wearing this?!”
Doctor Salazar chuckled before answering.
“Oh right, you weren’t conscious when you were put into your uniform. The short answer is a) A diaper and b) because it is part of this facilities, standard high security inmate uniform. Can I interest you in the long answer as well?”
Despite the doctor’s sarcastic tone, Mary could not fully resist the effect of her mockery as she replied slightly agitated.
“I would love to know the story behind making your inmates wear freaking diapers, but unfortunately I am about to piss myself and would first and foremost like to prevent that from happening.”
“I am afraid that is a wish I am unable to grant you miss Strasser. The only available toilets in the building are reserved for the staff. You will have to use your provided diapers like any other inmate I’m afraid.”
The increasing pressure in Mary’s bladder in combination with the smug tone of Dr. Salazar were making it hard to focus on staying calm.
“God damnit I am not going to piss myself like a fucking infant you…!”
Just as she was about to lash out at the doctor an audible hissing noise quickly followed by a warm sensation spreading around her privates forced Mary into an involuntary silence. She could only look down at her crotch in horror as the warm feeling continued to spread always accompanied by that petrifying hiss. No matter how hard she tried she could not avert her eyes or utter even a single word, despite her best attempts. After what felt like hours to her the hissing finally died down finally snapping Mary out of her trance. Unfortunately, the first thing her eyes met after raising her head was the face of an amused Dr. Salazar.
“Finished?”
Mary would have responded with a snarky rebuttal if she hadn’t been occupied with preventing herself from breaking out in tears from the sheer amount of embarrassment she was currently feeling. She had wet herself with a sense of timing that was nothing short of comedic, few things could be more embarrassing.
“I will take that silence as a yes. After all you, miss Strasser, wouldn’t be the first one to freeze up after being forced to relieve themselves in diapers for the first time, but not to worry I can assure you will get used to it in no time.”
For some reason these words that would have been drenched in a thick layer of sarcasm just moments prior, now sounded rather sympathetic, soothing even, allowing Mary to finally break her silence.
“Mind telling me the reason this had to happen now?”
“The reason the inmates of the high security tract of the Saint Antonio correctional facility are required to wear diapers is a relatively simple one. The individuals incarcerated here are deemed too dangerous to be given access to the privacy of a restroom.”
Mary cocked her head in confusion.
“Too dangerous? How is someone too dangerous to be allowed access to a restroom?”
“Unfortunately, I am not allowed to disclose any information about the other inmates to you, however I assure you that once you meet some of them you shall find the answer to that question yourself.”
The doctor takes a look at a small ornate clock sitting on her table.
“My goodness is it already that late? Apologize but I must cut our conversation short unfortunately.”
With those words she produced a small oval object no bigger than a USB-stick from her coat pocket.
“Miss Strasser is ready to be brought to her cell now.”
She spoke in to the device.
“An escort will arrive shortly; they will bring you to one of our automated changing stations before you’ll be brought to your cell.”
Moments later the door opened and a guard stepped into the room. After quickly readjusting her cuffs and shackles she was escorted out of the room and towards the changing station a couple doors to the left of the doctor’s office. The rooms walls each had two metal changing tables mounted to them each with a small control panel next to them.
“Lay down on the table inmate”
Mary followed the guards order and waddled towards the closest table which automatically lowered itself as she approached it.
“Please place yourself on the table to begin the changing sequence.”
A mechanical voice demanded. The table, being made of metal was cold to the touch and gave of a pungent disinfectant smell. As she positioned herself on the table the guard pressed a button on the control panel causing a metal case to flip out of the wall covering up Mary’s lower body. With another click on the control panel the guard then started the changing program and Mary could start to feel the inner workings of the machine first removing her old diaper, then thoroughly cleaning her crotch area before concluding the routine with a layer of barrier cream and a fresh diaper.
“Changing sequence concluded, to prevent injury please only remove yourself from the table once it has fully stopped moving. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The table was lowered again allowing her to slide off of it. The difference a clean diaper made to a soaked one astounded Mary, just a few minutes ago even walking without constantly tripping over had felt like a challenge. Now even with her legs still in shackles her movements felt much less sluggish and limited.
“Move it inmate we don’t have all night for you to daydream.”
The guards barking ripped Mary out of her thoughts as she proceeded to move out of the changing room closely following the guard. They soon arrived at a large bulkhead door with a terminal next to it. The guard proceeded to type something into the terminal before inserting his keycard.
“Request for prisoner transfer received. Please stand clear for retinal scan.”
Two small camera tentacles came out of little chutes next to the door, one of them stopping in front of the guard’s face as the other proceeded over towards Mary scanning her retinas.
“Identification complete. Inmate I-2257 and Security staff member S-4028. Access granted. For your own safety, please stand clear of the door until it has fully opened.”
Following the announcement, the door slowly lifted itself upwards allowing them passage. Appearance wise the hallway behind the door looked no different than the hallway they had been walking through previously, however the bold red capital letters on the wall spelling out “Cell block C” made it quite clear that the hallway they were entering would be Mary’s final destination for the foreseeable future. Another minor difference to the previous hallway Mary noticed were the touch screen displays next to each door, some had the letter C, a set of 4 numbers as well as either the word occupied or vacant displayed below. Eventually they arrived at a cell with the code “C-2257” on its display, which the guard proceeded to open with his keycard.
“Get inside inmate.”
Following the guard’s instructions Mary stepped into the cell watching as the guard closed the door behind her. As soon as the door had closed a small light on the door lit up.
“Please step in front of the door to remove any restraining devices authorized for removal.”
As she stepped closer to the door two small boxes, one with holes for hands and one with holes for the feet were pushed out of the door. Stepping into the box at the bottom and holding her hands into the other she could hear her cuffs opening with a distinct clicking noise. As she pulled out her now freed hands and feet the boxes retracted back into the door. Finally free from shackles and cuffs Mary took a moment to look around and get herself familiar with her new surroundings. The room was held in the same white as the hallways with the only splashes of color being the greenish PVC flooring and a singular blue stripe that wrapped itself around the walls of the cell. The room looked barren above all else, the only furniture were a simple white bed with a thin blanket and a pillow both held in the same blue as the stripe on the wall, a similarly colored chair, and a small white desk. Overtop the door she could see a display mounted onto the wall reading both the current time, it being 21:55, and the notice that the lights would automatically be turned off at 22:00. Left with no other option Mary let herself fall onto the bed letting out a sigh knowing, that the sheer number of unanswered questions still buzzing through her mind, wouldn’t make it easy for her to come to rest. “I am supposed to be some kind of criminal on death row?”, “Why was I brought here instead of being executed?”, “Why can’t I still remember anything? I’ve never heard of tranquilizers giving people amnesia”. The questions yearning to be answered kept on swirling through her head as she forcefully shut her eyes eventually succeeding in putting her sleep deprived body to rest.