Out of Their Minds

"Could you please tell him to stop!"

Brenda raised an eyebrow, writing down on the notebook.

"He doesn't even exist, Glenny."

She started, and then clarified:

"He's in your head. No one can hear, see or feel him. Look, if he existed, he could punch me and it would hurt me."

 

"Have you every wondered, Doctor, why you still have no clue who I am. Fingerprinting, DNA, and any number of other assorted tests and you still have no clue as to my identity. At my trial they kapt calling me John Doe until I had my name legally changed to Gregor Handel. All that technology and you still can't figure out the identity of a middle aged man. You know what? If you ran those same tests, you wouldn't find anything on John either. We have .... a shared history. Now why are they here? Oh .... an doctor - the blood has only just begun. You don't know John, like I do. SO I ask you once more, why is the military here?"

I sighed, somewhat shocked. Either Gregor had lost every bit of his brain or he was being a very different person today. She finally spoke:

"I can't tell you Gregor. It's...confidential. Like perhaps this meeting."

 

Ambriel, thought a moment before answering her question. She knew Skye was hanging on her words. A direct answer could be too much, a less than honest answer and she would know.

"You know Skye, I think we are all afraid of something...when I was a little girl I was always afraid to go in my closet. I thought there was an ugly shadow who lived there."

Skye looked up at her with concern...Ambriel smiled and stroked her hair.

"My father went in one night and opened the closet door...he slept in that tiny space just to prove to me it was safe...sometimes we have to prove our fears wrong." She looked into Skye's eyes..."Do you understand what I am saying?"

She hoped that Skye could comprehend the weight of her words. They would become important to her progress in discovering Gregor's true past.

 

"Have you every wondered, Doctor, why you still have no clue who I am. Fingerprinting, DNA, and any number of other assorted tests and you still have no clue as to my identity. At my trial they kapt calling me John Doe until I had my name legally changed to Gregor Handel. All that technology and you still can't figure out the identity of a middle aged man. You know what? If you ran those same tests, you wouldn't find anything on John either. We have .... a shared history. Now why are they here? Oh .... an doctor - the blood has only just begun. You don't know John, like I do. SO I ask you once more, why is the military here?"

I sighed, somewhat shocked. Either Gregor had lost every bit of his brain or he was being a very different person today. She finally spoke:

"I can't tell you Gregor. It's...confidential. Like perhaps this meeting."

 

Gregor leaned in until his nose was almost touching Francine's. "You can't have it both ways Doctor. You must choose a side. Are you a scapel or a tumor? Once John gets what he wants, we'll all die. Myself, Klesps, Skye, Mortimer, Niel, Chaos, Glenny, Ambriel, and even you. Deep down you know it's true. If you do nothing, there will still be blood on your hands. So one last time which madman are you going to trust John or me?

 

Skye looked back at the darkness. She didn’t like it and certainly she did fear it.

“I understand.” She said, “I think.”

Her eyes looked hard into the darkness, trying to see something that wasn’t there. Why was she afraid of it? Because of him? Because he always got her in the darkness? She shouldn’t be afraid, he wasn’t there anymore. Her eye gave a twitch.

“Oral enthusiast!” she screamed.

“My grandmother use to tell me to face my fears.” She said, “Some fears are rational though. Some fears are supposed to be feared.” His face seemed to fill the darkness, and she jumped in shock and buried her face into Ambriel’s chest.

“Some fears are real.” She said, her voice muffled by the material.

She looked up at her with watery eyes, "Were you afraid when you talked to Gregor about the secret?"

 

Glenny's eyes grew wide. He knew Ramses would have a thing or two to say to her.

"You really shouldn't say that, Miss."

Glenny started to frown, and looked for Ramses, who was nowhere to be found. Then he heard him speak.

"Move away Glen," he said.

Glenny clutched one of his eyes as if someone had given it good prick, and told Ramses to leave as friendly as he could, to get him to simmer down, but Glenny was uncontrollably thrown out of the room.

Ramses kicked Brenda in the shin.

"Did that hurt?" he asked.

 

A deep breath...it was time to talk to her about it. She knew it was going to come up. Ambriel hoped that she convey to this broken child the reality of what should and should not be feared.
Sometimes it's the shadows of your own soul which should be feared and respected. Those things which are kept dark and hidden, because if they are allowed to come out and play...something evil is bound to happen.

"Yes, Skye...I was....I didn't know what I was going to discover...you will find as you grow and get older that there are things more scary than shadows and what other people are able to do to you...what you can do to another person is the scariest thing that you could ever see." Ambriel continued to stroke Skye's hair while quiet tears burned down her cheeks.

Gregor crossed her mind once more...she needed to find out more about this man. She would take advantage of the night...as soon as Skye feel asleep.

 

Niel could hear Chaos say "We should probably get more info on Dr. Francine before talking to her." "Good idea. Ambriel is likely to know more about the doctor than us. Lets go and see if she is in her room." thinks Niel. "Since its after dark you should give me control, who knows who is in the halls at this time of night." says Chaos. Niel's eyes grew dark.

Chaos stood up and walked to Ambriel's room. He knocks of the door and says "Hey Ambriel, are you in there? Its me, Chaos, there is something that i want to talk to you about."

 

She looked up, confused. She didn’t think you could do anything scary to another person. Only those silly moments when people tried to get a fright out of you. She found that more of a surprise then an actual fear. She looked over as she heard a voice from behind the room door. She hopped from Ambriel’s lap, and opened the door to her room.

She looked up at Niel, giving him a half smile as she walked from the room with the blocks in her hands.

“I’m going to face my fears Miss Ambriel.” She said, as she walked back to her own room. Back to the darkness that haunted her.

 

I wanted to smile upon his mentioned of John as a madman. It was very true, actually. But at the same time, I didn't know what to tell him. What if...what if Gregor was fooling me? But there was more chance of John fooling me than Gregor. Even if he was fooling me, I had a fully-loaded gun. I felt my gun which was stuck at my hip.

"Gregor..."

I started, and then walked to the door, closing it. I was so afraid of everything.

"...It's hard to explain. I think I've lost my head...but...the thing is, military suspects there are...I know it's unbelievable...but the military suspects there are aliens here. I know, they're being stupid. After all, there's no such thing as aliens. But they forced me...they said they'd confiscate my patients if I didn't agree. But...I think, once the urine is tested, there will be no more military around here. So stop fretting Gregor, and relax. I know John was wrong, but he's playing me right now. I can't do much."
******
John pushed his hair back and sighed.
"Stupid woman. Stupid man. Both of them are simply too stupid."
His thoughts were angry, yet sarcastic.

"Don't worry, Francine - I'm not here for long, you're right. Just give me one more chance to get closer to you, and I'm done."
He smiled, looking in the hall making sure no one saw him.
"And you so-called Gregor - just wait, old friend. Just wait."

He then walked in the hallway, thrusting his gun back into the belt.

 

Ramses kicked Brenda in the shin.

"Did that hurt?" he asked.

Brenda sat calmly, waiting.

"So, when will Ramses kick? I can't wait all night, you know."

 

Chaos walked into the room and looked at Ambriel. He could tell that she had been crying. "I need you to tell me all you can about Gregor and Dr. Francine. I think they know why the military got involved during the riot, and they could tell us what that detective's connection to all of this is."

 

Gregor smiled, "You've done quite a bit already. Klesps and I are sorry, but things are going to get a lot worse before they get better."

 

"So, when will Ramses kick? I can't wait all night, you know." Brenda said, unphased by anything.

Ramses was angry. Ramses knew the way people treated him, and he didn't answer her question plainly. Instead, Ramses stared at her like she was some sort of idiot, and kicked at her harder.

"Don't push me around just 'cause Glenny is an idiot." he said.

 

I smiled, raising an eyebrow. Poor Gregor, the shot had made him worse. Maybe I could start a recovery therapy in a week, or well after John's gone. Gregor was starting to sound like he really did know John...of course I didn't believe him. He was schizophrenic, for God's sake.

"Well, you should rest Gregor. That's my order as a doctor."

I turned to leave, and then added:

"And so should your Dr. Klesps."

With that, I was out of the room. Whew, it was getting late and I had encountered two crazy men as though I were their slave. That was the last thing I needed, or wanted.

 

"Glenny, reply to me."
Brenda spoke strongly, and then looked around.
"I'm assuming Ramses has hit me, and if he has then I swear I felt nothing."

Glenny seemed suspicious of Brenda, at which she spoke:
"Ask him to punch me so hard that I should knock out. If I don't, then you must believe he doesn't exist."

 

"Yes Klesps, I'm afraid she is in for a shock," said Gregor as Dr. Francine closed the door."Is that gin? So that's why you've been using so much mouthwash. Can I have a nip? Yes, I promise not to put my lips on the flask."

 

Ramses didn't like her tone, then Ramses head began to hurt.

"Ramses!" something in his head seemed to be telling him.

"Ramses don't do it!"

"Shutup. Now you go away Glen."

"Ramses, stop being such a jerk!"

"Go away Glen."

Ramses rolled up one of his sleeves, and smiled at Brenda curtly. He liked it when people threatened him. All the more reason to hate them.

"Ramses! I mean it!"

"Would you shutup?" he told Glenny, not looking away from Brenda.

"C'mon Ramses, she was never any mean!" Glenny pleaded.

Ramses hushed Glenny again, and stared at his fist.

"Don't!"

He wanted to do it. Preparing to hit, he clenched it tighter, and swung, silently praying he hadn't missed.

 

Brenda yawned so as to show her oblivion. There was no sound, no knock out, nothing.
"Now, did he hit Glenny?"
Glenny was silent.

"I think you mean to say he did. If he did, then why in the world am I sitting calmly? Am I made of metal, Glenny?"

When Glenny didn't reply, Brenda spoke authoritatively:
"Speak, Glenny. You have to give me a good reason to believe Ramses exists."

 

"Aaah!" Ramses groaned at her response.

"You fool! Why don't you-"

"She's not talking to you Ramses! She told me to speak!"

"Shutup Glen!"

"Ramses, go away!"

Ramses buried his head in his hands, and looked up again. Glenny couldn't get Ramses to leave, so he decided to speak over him.

"He's trying to hurt you!" he yelled at Brenda, struggling to keep Ramses out of his conversation.

"He just won't shutup!" Glenny said, and Ramses pounded on his noggin as if trying to get him out of it.

Ramses told Glenny to leave again, but he resisted. With all his might, he managed to yank Ramses from the chair.

"He just won't shutup.." Glenny said.

 

"Okay, this is it, Glenny."

Brendas reached for her purse and pulled out an injection.
"Ramses is just an imagination inside of your head. You think he can hurt me, but something which doesn't exist can never hurt me. Your medication was halted to check severity. I'd rate it mild to severe, and in view of that I think you need to restart medication."

Brenda clicked her fingers, and two orderlies came and grabbed hold of Glenny.
"There now, we're all going to get along just fine."
She pricked him with the needle, in response to which he struggled brutally.
"This medicine will put you down to sleep for a short while, and will send Ramses away."

With that, she gestured the orderlies to take Glenny to his room. Unlike Francine, Brenda was a cool personality who never cried over her patients' pain. Her mobile started to buzz and she ran over to it.
"Hello?"
"Danielle, you need to go get your job done."
"On it boss."
She cut the call and ran to the store room.

 

She woke up in her bed. The numbers scratched in the wall were the obvious work of Vira, but she knew Olena was the last in the room. She smiled a bit - she was the only one who knew. Somehow, she had a good idea what was going on, as well - the military had been in the ward, and they were trying to figure something out about the patients. She shook her head - she didn't want to be any more trouble, she wanted to help. Actually, she didn't want Vira to be any more trouble. Vira wasn't evil, she wasn't malicious, and she didn't enjoy seeing people in pain; she just had a bad temper, that's all. She got up out of the bed and walked into the hall, where everything was choas. People taking way too many pills, mostly, so she went around taking bottles away and leading people to rest in their rooms. There was so much to be done around here.

 

Ambrial didn't answer him. "I guess you're not in a mood to talk right now, I'll talk to you sometime later." says Chaos as he walks out of the room. "Well that was useful." thinks Chaos "Maybe I should go ask someone else."

 

Ambriel heard footsteps and turned to see Niel walking away.

"I guess I feel asleep." She thought to herself. Quickly looking around for Skye, who must have returned to her own room.

Ambriel then left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hey Neil, wait up." She whispered loudly. "Obviously you wanted to talk to me...and I...well, I need to talk to you, too." He paused and turned to face her. It was clear he was disturbed by the fact she hadn't responded to his visit.

"I am sorry, I must have dozed off...please forgive me Niel, Chaos." She waited for him to answer...it was going to be a long night.