Out of Their Minds

"Someone said they're your mom? That's strange."

Glenny looked at the other kid who'd just sit down with them and waved.

"Don't you think the hospital would know her when they saw her? What did she say?"

 

Gregor shifted to make himself more comfortable. "There was a crush. You had a crush on a man named Jason. It was a simple, plain crush. When he turned his attention to another, a woman named Jane Croosh there was ... an incident. You see plane crash, plain crush. Jane Croosh. Your mind built a house of cards to keep you safe. They could never prove you had anything to do with the double murder. You checked in a week later. Klesps and I are very sorry."

 

"She said....incoherences. This place...the people here is sick, but even the people outside are sick, I know that much."

Noah's face twitched into a crazed smile. "No matter what they say, that woman is not my mother."

 

Niel waves back at Glenny, he turns to Noah and says "Your mom used to hurt you didn't she?" He really hoped that Noah would open up to him.

 

"S-she was nice, but....she couldn't help me in the end." Noah sighed and leaned back. "I used to do drugs. A lot. And....she didn't help, until it was late."

 

"I bet," Glenny responded to the other kid after he waved to him.

"Maybe you just don't want to admit she's found you here."

 

Noah crashed the glass against the floor, letting it smash and brake into a million pieces as he stood. Eyes wide and crazy as he turned to point to the man that had just dared say that.

"That woman was not mom!!"

 

"Noah, calm down, we believe you" says Niel, "Please sit back down, we don't have to talk about you mom if you don't want to." Niel hoped to get Noah to relax.

 

Glenny stared at Noah incredulously as the glass shattered onto the floor.

"Hey now let's not get crazy!" he said.

"You're right. We don't need to talk about her. I don't like talking about mine either."

 

"You shut up!! You're all...you're all sick!! I'm...I'm just, here because I want to!!" Noah began to shake, succumbing to the schizophrenic side of his mind.

"I'm...I'm not sick like the rest of you! I can and will go out! You just watch me!"

He turned around and began walking to the exit, a couple of orderlies and nurses already waited there to stop him. Grabbing a lamp, he smashed it against a table to use it against them, his eyes twitching a bit.

"I'm not sick!!"

 

Ambriel...looked at him dumb founded...suddenly, her mind snapped back to a place she was unsure of at first...a house out in the country...it was raining and late at night.

Ambriel slowly pulled her car in the drive way,careful to kill the headlights. She could see a blue Jag in the driveway...it was Jason's; there was a Black BMW parked beside it. She had seen this car before...the night she and Jason attended the grand opening of the Children's Wing of the State Mental Hospital. It belonged to Jane Croosh, her daddy had donated most of the proceeds to the fund the expansion.

Ambriel could feel rage build up inside of her. Jason loved her, he told her just that evening that he wanted to marry her someday, when the time was right. He had been saying that for years...the time was never right.

Walking up to wards the house, she could see a light on in the front side window...ducking down as to avoid being seen, Ambriel looked in the window...there, on the floor, was Jason and his lover...Jane Croosh.

Ambriel stared in, speechless...her fingernails cutting into her clenched palms. She couldn't even feel the rain as it soaked through her clothes. With anger, lust, and rage...Ambriel pulled out a small pistol. She was crying so hard she could no longer hear the rain falling against the pavement.

Finding her way to the service door, she quietly entered the house. With the gun in her hand Ambriel followed the sounds coming from the den...she could her them rolling and laughing on the floor...."He is loving this tramp when he should be with me."

Ambriel had been standing in the doorway long enough to leave puddle's on the marble floor before either Jason or his new favorite heard the shots. Just the quickly she had taken the life of two people....two people who deserved what they had coming to them.

Careful to wipe up the trail of water and clean off any fingerprints, Ambriel placed the gun in Jason's hand...it was his after all. He had given it to her for protection when working late night shifts at the hospital. Ambriel walked out into the rain...she never looked back as she drove away.

Ambriel looked at Gregor...for a moment silence filled the space betwen them.

 

Skye's head was still resting on Ambriel. The young girl couldn't see Gregor. He pointed at her, put his finger to his lips, and said "Shhh .... it was always meant to be our secret."

 

Glenny looked at Niel with wide eyes as Noah took on a fit of yelling and ran out of the playroom.

He quickly leapt to his feet to see what was going to happen. In shock, he watched him run out into the hall screaming.

"I'm not sick!!" he shouted after he'd broken a lamp and pointed it threatiningly at the orderlies and nurses. Ramses tapped him on the shoulder.

"Told ya."

 

Ambriel...remembered everything...the night, the gun..the sound of Jason's crying when she shot Jane. "I loved you most." That was the last thing she ever told him before pulling the trigger.

Looking at Gregor, she quietly said..."I am murderer...nothing more than a killer. I wish I had been the one at the other end of that bullet Gregor...it should have been me."

Ambriel wanted to ask him how he knew...but she was afraid he wouldn't want to answer. Still the not knowing was unbearable. "Please tell me the rest...and how you know....and tell me...why is this our secret Gregor...please explain."

 

Niel looks at Glenn with said eyes and says "Noah obviously has issues with his mom. But I think his biggest problem are the amount of pills he takes. Let him calm down for a bit, he should feel better in the morning." Niel looks in the direction of Noah and says to Glenn, "He is fighting his insanity the only way he knows how, drugs. I feel sorry for him."

 

Noah swung the broken lamp around, keeping the nurse and orderlies at bay.

"Noah! Calm down! Give us the lamp!"

Noah swung it around again before throwing it against them, dashing the other way around. If he could reach that door...the door with the crazy guy behind it, the guy that said he was a Messiah.

 

Glenny looked at Niel.

"They're gonna have a hard time calming him down, I'm guessing. I think it's best they avoid him."

 

"Jason was one of my patients," said Gregor. "I'd forgotten- I know it's shameful but there were so many - but you reminded me and Klesps vouched for you. You offered to perform the procedure. Now I knew you had no chance of performing a proper operation, but we worked out a way to remove the faulty part of Jason's brain with a gun. I never used firearms myself, but you seemed comfortable with the idea. Now secrecy is very important to me, so I also coached you on how to avoid being seen. I'm sorry Ambriel, I think the pressure of the surgery was too much for your mind. The fact that he didn't survive was what caused your delusions. When you were first admitted here, you began talking about your husband. Dr. Francine and I decided it was best not to correct you."

 

Ambriel stretched herself out beside Gregor...the feel of him beside her, made her feel safe...nothing would ever be the same again.

Skye sat on the other side of bed quietlly...the three of them seemed to belong together...they were the same.

 

Gregor leaned over and whispered, "I'm afraid we both need to get up. We're making Dr. Klesps awfully jealous and I think he feels like a game of cards."

 

With Ambriel and Skye's help, Gregor made his way into the game room. He sat in his favorite chair and nodded at the familiar faces. As Klesps began to deal, Handel sighed. "It really is good to be amongst friends. What do you mean I can be too friendly? Ambriel? Oh Dr. Klesps we are just friends. She was exhausted from the ordeal. No! Stop it right now. Put down that bottle of after shave. You don't need any more of it. I'm serious," said Gregor as he reached for Klesps. "Oh that is not funny, floating towards the ceiling and holding the bottle just out of reach. Careful, you're getting that stuff all over the cards."

 

Ambriel walked into the Playroom with Gregor on one side and Skye on the other...the others in the room seemed to take notice...Ambriel wasn't hiding her eyes. She felt courage for the first time...and wondered what Francine would say about her sudden breakthrough.

Gregor and Skye walked ahead to the card table...Ambriel followed slowly behind...there was much on her mind.

 

That door was still the same. In the same place, with the same appearance and the same crazy guy behind it. Skidding to a stop, Noah began to bang on it. "I need help!!"

Hurriedly, Noah undid the locks of that heavy door and pulled it open, unaware of what he was about to let go.

 

As soon as he saw Gregor entor the room, Niel's eyes grew dark. Chaos says, "Hi there doc." He looks at Ambriel and says "I hope you are starting to feel better." Chaos thinks to himself "If he tries to "cure" her, I will make him pay dearly."

 

Gregor nodded quickly at Chaos. "It's good to see you and Niel again." The "doctor's" arms strained upwards toward the lights. "Klesps you've gone through half a bottle in the last two days. Please at least have the decency to take a shower between applications."