to me.
I nodded in understanding and reached a hand down to stroke his slightly jelly like head.
"It’s alright, Mousy. Your company is enough. Once I track down that English-speaking slug, however, I will have some hard questions for him."
Mousy climbed onto my hand, up my arm, and then perched on my shoulder. It was time to get going. I got off the bed, grabbed my Snoopy Cap, and started to leave, turning back with regret to look at this haven of safety.
I then realized I had completely forgotten about my Pocket Watch and Book, both still sitting on my bright new shelf. If I was leaving, I wasn’t leaving without both of them. Even if the book was creepy.
Moving over to pick them up, I saw that the Book had changed right along with the rest of the room. I flipped through its pages, finding most of the old stuff though the first bit, the Book of Ages, had been replaced by something called Genesis. I skimmed through it in confusion as it explained the beginning of mankind. It went on about some Adam and Eve characters, which was completely at odds with what the Book of Ages had said.
The Book of Ages had spoken of how we were descended from demons who had escaped from the uttermost pits of Hell long ago. None of this new, made from dust by God stuff. Needless to say, I was woefully confused.
Still, I didn’t disregard it out of hand and kept such things in mind for future study. If this was Siegfried’s doing perhaps he was trying to tell me something. So taking Book, Pocket Watch, and Journal, I set off to go be a hero.
Only partway down the hall outside my room, I stopped and leaned against a wall, feeling dizzy and nauseous. I had no idea what I was doing or how I would help the imprisoned patients of Atrium. Just because I wanted to, no longer so willing to flee the whole God-forsaken place, didn’t mean I had a clue how to begin. I was no hero. I was just me.
Not sure where I was going, I began moving again, heading to the same room where I’d first found the killer. Holding all my stuff would only hinder me since I had no pockets to keep it in.
Making it to the room within a few minutes, not encountering a single warden, I hurried inside, glanced around for any waiting Killer, and stuffed my stuff under the mattress. I kept the Snoopy Cap of course. That would follow me to my grave.
Mousy hopped off my shoulder and scurried over to the door. He rustled quietly, warningly. On tiptoes, I headed over and opened the door the merest crack, peering outwards. The Killer was right outside, wandering slowly down the hallway, head bent and looking at the floor. His gaze roved left, then right, then back again, as if following invisible tracks. Tracks that were leading him right to the door that I hid behind.
I could have been scared. I probably should have been. But after standing up to the Hooded Man, I was done with all that. And I had an idea. The way the door was designed it opened both ways. And hey, it had worked against one Tormentor already.
Grinning like a maniac, I waited right up until his hand was on the doorknob before slamming it open, knocking the Killer off his feet. Then I grabbed Mousy and ran like a scared little girl down the hall. If only I could carry a door with me everywhere I could beat every monster in this place.
A lion-like roar echoed around the walls behind me, and I knew I’d only managed to tick him off. I was good at that. But now I’d found a stairwell leading upwards, and maybe just maybe he’d think I was still on this floor.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I was nearly at the top when I ran right into my buddy, Warden Copley, his back to me as he munched on pretzels. The salty snacks flew everywhere as we collided, bouncing down the stairs like so many scattered dreams.
I kicked him in the head while we were down, stunning him and scrambling to my feet. He yelled at me but I was already running up the stairs and away. Things were about to get desperate.
My feet skidded across the floor as I slid to a stop to avoid colliding with another surprised Warden. I gave him a sheepish grin, then punched him and ran down another turn of the hallway. Was my life to consist of just running down halls?
Crazy ideas ran through my mind as to how to get away; Starting a fire and burning the place to the ground (bad idea), explaining that it was all a big mistake and nothing was my fault (worse idea), and somehow finding a doctors coat and sneaking out of Atrium dressed like one of the staff. The last option appealed to me most, but then it occurred to me that I was awfully short. Every doctor in the building was taller than me and if I wore one of their coats I’d look like a little kid playing dress up. Sigh. And people think being a deranged mental patient is easy!
Alarms went off throughout the ward. Everyone would be hunting me now. Mousy rustled worriedly upon my shoulder, his eyes swiveling back and forth looking for a route of escape. There was none. It was all just hallway and random doors, leading either to offices or patients rooms.
One of them opened, a doctor I’d never seen before poking his head out to see what the hubbub was about. I waved at him cheerfully and smiled. He gave me a confused look. I gave him a thumbs up in return. Shaking his head, deciding he didn’t want to deal with me, the doctor withdrew back into his office. I continued running, hoping to find some stairs leading up to the third floor.
A door opened a little further down from where I stood and a large mass slowly shambled out to confront me. It was hard to even tell what faced me, just a massive pile of stuff. I saw what looked like fire hoses, lots of what seemed to be moss, and bits of moldy hospital clothes and blankets.
The creature made a loud huffing sound, like a dog choking on a hairball, and then shambled menacingly towards me. It was like a walking pile of trash. Not even wanting to deal with this Shambler, I turned and ran back the way I’d come, taking a different turn in the hall that might offer a route of escape.
Within moments I found an old set of fire stairs and ran up them, slamming open the door at the top. Sunlight hit me in the face, forcing me to shield my eyes. The Tree from the yard rose towering above me, even here at the top of Atrium. I took it as a good sign.
As I turned away from it, hoping I might find some ladder or something leading straight down, a Warden hit me from behind with his baton. I tried to push myself back up with my arms, but the man kicked them out from under me. The sound of others running up the stairs assailed my ears, moments before they too joined in on the fun.
They hit me, again and again, bruising and breaking my helpless little body. I rolled onto my back, trying to protect myself with my arms as much as possible. It wasn’t much use. Fully half of the attacking wardens were Monsters, who rather expectedly, were the ones that hit me the hardest.
I was down and out, poor me soon beaten into unconsciousness and hauled off to God knew where. The last thought I had before the darkness took me was a hope that my death would at least be quick.
Time passed. I’m not sure how long. Even here in the dark, I did not dream. So it seemed like only seconds before I woke up, finding myself strapped to a chair surrounded by doctors. Though I knew it had to have been longer than that.
I couldn’t see too well, since one eye was swollen shut and the other was close, but I could make out Dr. Higgins. That man so obsessed with dreams who just could not believe I was incapable of the phenomena. Beside him stood the emotionless Dr. Sirius, and behind him was dear Dr. Flagham, wringing his hands nervously while watching me. There were a few other doctors standing about, some I knew and some I didn’t, but Sirius and Higgins were the highlights.
A lesser doctor who stood in the corner, a man I’d always known as Dr. Cornwall, was obviously a Monster. He was grinning at me, though I’m sure no one noticed. I also spotted my Snoopy Cap, chucked uncaringly onto a table in the corner. That more than anything made my blood boil.
The doctors had been engaged in some kind of discussion, but broke it off once they saw I was awake. Sirius stepped forwards till he was right in front of me.
"Feeling well?" he asked calmly, a simple enquiry as if
they hadn’t just nearly beaten me to death.
"More so than you can ever imagine," I replied, thinking back to Siegfried telling me that I was not blind like the others but could See.
Dr. Sirius stared at me, perplexed by my answer. He then shook his head as if to dismiss anything I had to say as irrelevant.
"No matter," he confirmed, waving a hand and motioning two doctors I didn’t know to step forward. "The Board of Directors have been apprised of your case and are in full concurrence with me that the only logical solution left to alter your dangerous behavior is a lobotomy. As you know, we take this drastic step with the utmost reluctance and only resort to it when left with no other choice."
He then adjusted some of the straps on my chair, moved some kind of metal arms into place, and clamped them around my head.
"Please reconsider," said Hammy, stepping forwards. I was overjoyed to see that there were actual tears in his eyes. "Nil isn’t a bad girl, Dr. Sirius, she’s a gentle soul. I know in my heart that she didn’t hurt anyone. She just suffers from a mental disease, that is all."
"And that disease is called insanity," Sirius replied calmly, regarding Hammy with a disdainful look. "Proceed with the operation, gentleman." Two of the doctors started towards me.
"Don’t listen to him!" shouted Hammy, stepping in