Len World

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Len World - book excerpt

Chapter 1

6am: time to wake up the patients. An alarm that cuts through the bone is blasted out of hundreds of speakers dotted around the building. They drag themselves out of bed, with a little help from the nurses, brush their teeth and are all ushered to the showers. Freezing cold, as always.

The men pull on their blood-red overalls and make their way to the communal room at the end of their dorm. They’re surprised to see a circle of chairs in the middle of the room with a nurse stationed behind every one.

“Come in.” A tall male doctor with glasses and a long white lab coat gestures with his hands for them to sit down.

He’s the head of the ward, Doctor Harris, a man who is seldom seen wandering around, mixing with patients. Something big must be happening. He has an air of respect hanging around him. Quiet, but confident. Modest, yet conceited. A recluse, who nevertheless has a way with people.

With caution, the patients sit, twisting their necks to look up at the nurses behind them.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Doctor Harris reassures them, sensing their hesitation to join them in the circle. “We have a new, very interesting, patient joining us today. So, we thought we’d give him our biggest welcome.” He smiles.

It’s unsure whether his joyfulness and affection for the patients is genuine or not. But who cares? He has treated them better in these mere few moments than any of the nurses ever have.

One patient speaks out. “Who is he?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked that, Mehzah. He’ll be sharing a room with you!” Doctor Harris chirps.

Mehzah curses under his breath as some of the patients snigger at him. It’s a luxury to have your own room in a place like this, but very rare. It is said that Mehzah coaxed his last roommate into committing suicide so that he could have the room to himself. They questioned him but, quiet as always, he just stuck his many chins out at them. Nothing was conclusive.

“Now, now. I want you all to make him feel welcome, like he’s part of the family.”

Before anyone can mock the use of the word ‘family’, the double doors, windows covered with thick wire mesh, are swung open. A nervous-looking young man is escorted into the room by two nurses either side of him, each with a hand under his arms, just in case they need to drag him anywhere.

“Ah! Speak of the Devil. Everybody, this is your new friend, Len Moscow.” Doctor Harris introduces him to everybody.

Len looks around at all of the unamused and overly amused faces that stare back at him, making him even more nervous.

“Oh my God, Len! It’s such an honour to meet you!” Paul runs over to him, Gone Too Far West clutched in his shaking hand.

“Get a grip of yourself, sir,” Doctor Harris says to him in an unusually calm manner.

Paul drops his head and retreats backwards to where he stood before. A smirk forms across Len’s lips. He’s a celebrity!

Soon enough, he gains his confidence, greeting everyone individually, shaking hands, patting some patients on the shoulder as he chats. Len sits down on the last remaining chair and folds his right leg over the left, hands clasped tightly on his knee. He smiles. He’s quite happy with himself.

“So, Len. Welcome to George Lee’s hospital. We hope you will find your time here to be pleasant and worthwhile,” Doctor Harris starts, trying to make the stay sound voluntary.

“Thanks, thanks.” Len holds a hand up to wave to his subjects.

“Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?” As Doctor Harris says this, all of the nurses whip out their notepads and pens, ready to start when the klaxon sounds.

Ready. Set. Go.

“Hi, I’m Len, as you all know. I’m twenty years old, and I’m a murder suspect from Warrington.” A line that would not have gone down well if he’d been on a gameshow.

Paul makes sure to note this all down with his special navy-blue, tortoiseshell pen, inscribed with his name, that his mother bought him for Christmas: you never know, he thinks; if he solves the case, these precious notes might sell for a fortune in a few years’ time.

“A murder suspect, wow! What happened?” Mehzah’s eyes light up. Another of his kind.

“Well, it’s all a bit of a mix-up, really. You see…” he begins.

“It was a crazy year. I spent the whole time with my mates, Flic, Javan and Jenkies. Flic had this beautiful black ship called Black Beauty, which I had just been promoted to Captain of. I woke up one morning, I could hear my name being called. It was the crew. I emerged from underneath the deck to a raging storm. But not of wind and rain. Of cannonballs! We gave it our best effort to fight back, of course. But the ship was captured, by none other than Blackbeard himself! He had piercing blue eyes, sharper than his sword! Scars on his face were deeper than the ones he had made to our ship!”

By now, the nurses had removed the tips of their pens from the paper and instead watched him, irritatingly, dance around the circle, acting out his fantasies. Some of the patients follow him around with their wide-open eyes, yearning to hear what happens next.

“I couldn’t just stand there and watch my crew be killed. As soon as he stepped foot on my ship, I swung around the boat on one of the ropes and pierced him directly in the heart, through his back. He never saw me coming. I was hailed a hero by my shipmates and everyone else, but authorities saw it differently…”

“What happened to Black Beauty?” an older patient shouts to Len eagerly.

“I fixed it, of course. With my bare hands.” He holds them up for everyone to ogle over.

The old man, known only as Mr Lewis, reaches out a frail hand to connect his with Len’s.

“Eh! Look, don’t touch.” Len pulls his hand away.

Doctor Harris rolls his eyes quickly before anyone can see. “Alright. Well, I think that’s enough for today…” He glances at the nurses. “Mehzah, why don’t you show Len to your room and give him a quick tour of the facilities. Introduce him to some more of the patients.” He walks over to the big nurse, the one who physically enforces the rules of the institute and they whisper to each other.

This nurse, we have met before. The harsh, obese woman called Mrs Hunning. Known to patients as Atilla the Hun. She is strict and unforgiving, and in no way shy about it. That’s why they hired her.

She steps forward, presenting herself to the circle of the forgotten.

“Right, you ‘eard the man! Everyone else get to your usual business!”

Chapter 2

“This is our room.” Mehzah ushers Len inside the tiny room.

He takes a look around, despite there being nothing in the room except for two metal beds bolted to the floor. Len notices a pile of comic books on Mehzah’s bed and he sees him looking at them.

“You can get magazines delivered here,” says Mehzah. He walks over and picks up the one on top of the pile. “This is my favourite one, The Adventures of Sewer Boy, it’s very exciting.” He holds the cover up for Len to see.

A man dressed in rubbish bags and a scraggly hat, stood in the sewer with his hands on his hips. Interesting…

“I’d learn how to sleep with one eye open if I were you, bru. Gets dangerous here at night,” Mehzah whispers, as he shuffles closer to Len.

Len stares back. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Can we go and see what’s downstairs?” he urges.

“Yes.” Mehzah turns around slowly and walks down the corridor to the stairwell. “There’s the dayroom and the cafeteria down here. Where all the fun happens, innit.”

Exiting the stairwell, to the right, two giant doors are held open to display a giant dayroom, full of patients. Big, stained-glass windows cover the room in red and pink. An old TV set supplies entertainment to the group of people huddled together on chairs and sofas. A ping-pong table sits over by the wall, untouched all day. Len spots a scrum of people hanging around the corner of the room.

“What’s going on over there?” Len asks Mehzah.

He panics. “I wouldn’t go over there, bru, that’s Big Al.”

“Who’s Big Al?”

“The most feared patient in here! Even the nurses are scared.” He begins to shake.

“Come on, he can’t be that bad.”

Len begins to walk over to the crowd. He turns around to see if Mehzah is following, but he’s completely disappeared.

Guess I’m going in alone.

He pushes patients out of the way to see what’s so interesting. A green table, covered in packs of cigarettes and crumpled pieces of paper, a straight line of cards running down the middle, is surrounded by patients who are sitting on wooden chairs, holding playing cards close to their chests.

“Fold!” one patient cries, thumping his fist on the table, his black, matted hair covering his tears.

Everyone goes silent for a while…

“Scott!” someone shouts, awakening a young man adorned with a blond mullet.

He snorts as he sits back up in his chair, a card stuck to his cheek with drool. He peels it off, takes a quick glance. “All in.” He pushes his pack of cigarettes into the middle.

Len looks at the cards spread out across the table: queen of hearts, ace of diamonds, ace of hearts, king of hearts and eight of diamonds.

He must have a full house.

“All right…” The dealer collects the last round of bets. “Show your hands.”

Scott puts his hand down first, ace of clubs, king of diamonds. “Full house!” He smirks.

“Oh, nice! Al, what’ve you got?” The dealer says.

Which one’s Al?

“Royal flush.” A jack and ten of hearts is gently placed on the table.

A small girl, blonde hair plaited innocently on the back of her head, wearing a dark green turtle neck under her red overalls, smiles as she collects her winnings. The table erupts into mayhem. Some praising the winner and the exciting game, others cursing to themselves, having lost.

“How did I lose that?” Scott throws his cards to the dealer.

“Better luck next time, Scotty.” Big Al winks at him as she stands up from the table, putting her winnings in her pocket.

She glances at Len, hidden amidst the crowd. His heart skips a beat but he manages to stay composed.

As the group begins to thin, he stands his ground. The only people left are the dealer, Scott, Big Al, the patient with matted hair and, of course, Len.

“And who might you be?” Big Al asks, without smiling.

“Eh? I’m Len. I arrived this morning,” he struggles to say.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Al. This is Scott Green,” she gestures to the mullet, “this is Theo,” she then gestures to the sad-looking one, “and this is The Dealer.”

He nods at Len.

“Hi.” Len nods back.

“So, what are you in here for?” Scott asks, looking up at Len.

“I’m not sure…” He fumbles for words.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.” Big Al claps her hands together, triggering everyone else to get up from the table.

Len backs away from them, unsure of what this implies.

Al starts towards him, walking swiftly around the table. Len freezes in fear. She hits him hard on the back, pulling him in closer towards her.

“Do you smoke, Len?” she asks. Scott and Theo are closing in on him now as well.

“Eh? Smoke what?” he replies.

The three of them erupt into enormous laughter,

“That’s a yes then!” Scott roars over their howls.

Len tries to giggle along, his eyes darting between the three of them. They all stop laughing suddenly, and so does Len.

“Stick with us, mate. You’ll find that loony bins aren’t as bad as you think.” Al laughs and Scott and Theo chuckle to each other, too.

I’ve done it. I’m in!