‘Why don’t yer let me help you,’ she said breathily as she ran the flannel across Ruby’s softly curving stomach.

Ruby stood completely still, although she wanted to scream and lash out. But then the nurse’s hand rose to her breasts and the woman began to pant. Ruby stepped back and threw her arms across herself. ‘Get away from me,’ she spat. ‘I’m quite capable of washing myself, thank you very much!’

A blow to the side of her head sent her sprawling onto the cold, tiled floor, but Ruby didn’t care. There was no way she was going to allow this sick, perverted woman to touch her intimately, even if it meant another punishment.

‘Huh! You really think yer somethin’, don’t yer?’ the nurse ground out, making the hairs on her chin quiver. ‘Well let’s see how yer feel when you’ve had a bit o’ time in solitary to think about it.’ With that she strode to the door and shouted for help and within seconds the male nurse she had seen the day before appeared. Nurse Keen whispered something to him and he left again as Ruby snatched up her shift and pulled it over her head.

When the man returned, he was holding a strange-looking robe with very long sleeves with ties on them and before she could stop them, they had thrust her arms into the sleeves and then to her horror they tied them tightly about her so that she was unable to move her arms at all.

‘Welcome to yer first taste of a straitjacket, me beauty,’ Nurse Keen chortled gleefully.

It was then Ruby realised that this woman was probably more insane than some of the patients incarcerated there. Either that or she was pure evil. But she didn’t have long to think on it for they were soon dragging her out of the washroom and along the corridor again. They stopped in front of a door that had no peephole in it and without a word they opened it and thrust her inside before slamming it resoundingly behind her.

It was pitch dark, but as Ruby’s eyes became accustomed to the gloom, she saw that it was quite empty and the walls were padded. Feeling utterly helpless and frustrated she began to scream, but eventually, when she realised it was fruitless, she sat down on the floor with her back against the padded wall and made herself as comfortable as she could until at last sleep claimed her.

She had no idea how long she was left in there, nor whether it was day or night. The room was soundproofed and she had never felt so alone. But finally, the door opened and as the light streamed in, she blinked as her eyes adjusted to it.

‘Come along, Ruby. Shall we get you cleaned up and back into your room?’