Patient: Ella

Patient Name: Ella

Age: 18

Risk Level: Low

Patient Overview: The patient is a young woman suffering from the delusion that she is a fairy tale princess. She poses little threat to staff physically, so she will be restrained in the standard Sternway Institute Full-Body Straitjacket; however, her constant singing carries the risk of provoking negative behavior in both staff and her fellow patients. For the safety of others, the patient will be kept in a soundproof padded cell and gagged whenever she is taken outside of her cell. Despite her classification, the patient is forbidden to visit the Institute’s gardens, not even as a reward for good behavior. Treatment of the patient consisted of constant degradation, through constant confinement in her straitjacket and hostile treatment by her nurses, to force her to give up her fantasy. This has, however, proven to be ineffective, as the patient considered her adversities similar to those of heroines in classic fairy tales. The Institute’s doctors are currently working on a new treatment plan for the patient, one that hopefully also cures her compulsion to burst out into song.

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Once upon a time, there lived a princess named Ella, who had the most beautiful singing voice. Her voice was so beautiful that whenever she would burst out into song, animals would come gather around to listen. Unfortunately for Ella, while the animals loved her, the people around her were different. They hated her constant singing; jealous of her talents, they did whatever they could do sabotage her. They called pest control, had her banned from the mall, and played music so loud that would drown out the sound of her voice. But none of these adversities stopped Ella, as when she was young, she was told that the sound of her voice would one day lead her true love to her.

One day, as she was getting dressed, evil rogues paid to kidnap her stormed into her two-story house of a castle and drugged her, taking her far away from the home she knew. They brought her to an isolated fortress known as the Sternway Institute, where they locked her away. They kept her, not up in a tall tower or deep below ground in a dark dungeon, as was appropriate for a princess like her, but in a cell with padded walls that kept those outside the small room from hearing her voice. They ripped her dress to shreds right before her eyes. And then made her wear a special jacket that covered her whole body and pinned her arms to her chest. They gagged her so no one would be able to listen to her singing and her true love would never be able to find her.

Every day the nurses that were supposed to take care of her degraded her instead, treating with cruelty. They kept her locked up in her straitjacket for days at a time, fed her with nutrient paste that they pumped into her mouth through a small hole in her gag, and spat on her whenever they felt she needed to be punished, which was often as they would consider even the tiniest hint of resistance against them as an attack on their authority. They even stopped removing her gag whenever she was alone in her cell. But no matter what they did, Ella still kept up hope. Even gagged, she would still try to sing. The sound of music was the only thing she had left and it kept her from giving in to despair. Despite their constant assaults on her dignity, she never forgot who she was. Locked away, she waited patiently for her true love, her brave knight, to come rescue her from her captivity.

Then one day, a private detective came to the Institute, sent by her parents to look for the missing princess with the most beautiful singing voice. He had gotten a lead that she was being held there against her will and set out to find her. But when he asked the director about her, she denied that Ella was there, having prepared for his visit by deleting her file from the Institute’s records. She showed him that no patient by her name existed. At first the detective didn’t believe her, but after talking to the doctors and nurses, the staff convinced him they were telling the truth. He was just about to leave and never return when he suddenly heard a beautiful voice coming from deep inside the Institute. That day, after the nurses fed her, one forgot to fully close the door to her cell. And through the tiny crack, her voice floated down the hallways as she lay on the padded floor, humming her favorite song.

The private detective heard the beautiful singing and realized the staff’s deception. He ran down the hallway, following the sound of her voice through the winding corridors. The nurses and orderlies tried to stop him, but he pushed past them toward Ella’s voice. He reached her cell door, and with a single swift tug, pulled it wide open. Ella was elated as she saw the private detective standing in front of her, having finally been found by her hero. But her joy was soon replaced by fear, as the Institute staff had also reached her cell. As her knight had proof they were illegally keeping her as a patient, they planned to kill him to keep their crimes secret. The Institute staff tried to tackle him as he tried to reach her, the length of her padded cell being the only distance now separating them. They succeeded, but just as they tackled him to the ground, he was able to reach out and unlock her gag. 

It fell from her face and for the first time in a long time, Ella’s song could be heard outside the confines of the Institute. Her voice was heard by all the animals in the forest surrounding the Institute, who had missed her and her voice she had been confined. They rushed toward her, stampeding through the hallways, until they reached Ella’s room and knocked all the staff members gathered there unconscious. With the help of the animals, she had all the cell doors in the Institute unlocked and all the prisoners were freed from their restraints. She and the private detective called the police, who came and ordered the Sternway Institute shut down forever. All the staff, from the orderlies to the doctors, were arrested for their crimes. And while the police were taking them all into custody, they ran out of handcuffs, so the director and the nurses who abused her had to be restrained in the Institute’s own straitjackets.

Finally free, Ella returned home, finding that the people around her had come to miss her beautiful singing, and all the ones who were jealous of her were also arrested by the police. She ended up marrying the private detective who saved her, as it turned out that he had become infatuated with her during his investigation. They had several children and lived happily ever after.

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Ella watched the closed cell door, waiting for her brave knight to come and burst through it. Her hair was frazzled and disheveled and a hint of madness had crept into her eyes. Her body rocked slightly back and forth as she hummed to herself.

He would come, she told herself. She just had to hope. Some of the other patients she had seen had given up, but not her. One day, he would find her.

One day, she would be free.

Happily ever after.