Out of Their Minds

Niel looks up at her and says "That is pretty much what happed to me after my dad died. It was on my fourth birthday and he was taking me to the store to pick out my present. However, while he was driving me there a car crashed into us. He died but I just got a few scratches. After that I started having bad nightmares everytime i went to sleep and I wouldn't leave my room. I was always to afraid."

Niel paused for a second, wondering if he should tell her what happened next. He decided it was probably for the best to tell her everything. Niel says "Then one morning when I woke up I noticed that i wasn't in my room anymore. I was in a strange room that had no walls or ceiling. The entire room was surrounded by an black empty space. There was this kid there that looked a lot like me. The only differences between us was our hair and eye color. His hair was silver and his eyes were crimson. He walked over to me and said "Hi, I'm Chaos, from now on I'll protect you." Chaos has been here inside my mind ever since. Over time I learned how to give over control of my body to him. During the times that he controled our body he became a champion fighter in judo and kickboxing."

Just then Niel's eyes grew dark and his voice became deep. Instead of looking at her directly the way Niel did, Chaos pointed his head forward and watched her out of the corner of his eye. Chaos says "Hi, I'm Chaos, basically its my job to protect Niel and our body."

His eyes became light again and he turned his head to look at her directly. Niel says "As long as Chaos is with me I have nothing to fear."

 

Ambriel...wasn't sure if she should self protect or stay calm. The eyes of Chaos gave her a start...but, she wasn't afraid...why? It seemed without reason....up until this moment she was terrified to look anyone in the eye...or maybe she was afraid for them to look her in the eye....this was something she would have to discuss with Dr. Francine.

Focusing back on Niel, Ambriel thought it best to maintain a calm surface, she wondered why Chaos felt free to reveal himself to her. She wanted to know more about Chaos...surprisingly, he intrigued her.

"Niel...do you and Chaos converse, together I mean. I ask because, a patient at the hospital where I worked would often converse with her other....uhm...protectors." Ambriel asked, choosing her words carefully...she didn't want to offend the only friend she had, outside of Francine of course.

"Your lucky Niel, very lucky...when the night shadows come you are protected. Some of us must battle these terrors in our own way...privately alone." Ambriel paused, letting her words sink in...then she thought, "Oh, your so young Niel, you have a lot of fight inside of you...if only you knew."


Without warning she thought she saw it...a shadow moving across the room...could she be sure...could she trust herself?
Without thinking, she turned to Niel and asked, "Did you see that?"

The silence lay thick between them.

 

Niel looked around the room but he didn't see anything. He looks back at her and says "See what?" Niel sees that she is afraid so he smiles and says "It was probably nothing to be worried about." hoping to calm her down.

"To answer your quistion, we talk to each other all the time but not out loud. Anything I think Chaos can hear and anything Chaos thinks I can hear." Niel says.

 

Ambriel took another look around the room...whatever she had seen, clearly wasn't there now.

"Your probably right Niel, it was nothing...just my imagination playing tricks again." She forced a smile. She wasn't sure if it was to reassure Niel or herself.

Turning back to Niel, she purposely looked into his eyes...nothing but kindness met her gaze. "Thank you for being honest, Niel, for sharing yourself with me."...whispering she added..."And think you Chaos, for speaking to me."

She sat silent for a long time, wondering...if anyone else would ever be as real as Niel and Chaos.

 

Gregor slowly walked down the halls toward the rooms humming to himself. The orderlies were busy calming most of the patients down after Skye and Glenny dropped out of the ducts. No one paid him too much attention as peacefully strolled down the hallway. "What's that Dr. Klesps? Jerold? What about that brute of an orderly? Revenge? Yes, I rather think he will come after me before going home tonight. What's that? Us? Oh really Klesps, that's so kind of you, but Jerold can be very strong. Yes, I know your claws are sharp enough to deal with anything .... but you are a bit on the small side. Ok! There's no need to yell. I know it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. I would be honored to have you at my side.

"Hello Nurse Cekling."

The head nurse waved and smiled as Gregor walked past. "That poor woman needs a break Klesps. Look at all that paperwork. Her eyes are blood shot. What did you say Dr. Klesps? That is a wonderful idea."

Gregor turned on his heel and wrapped his forearm around Nurse Cekling's throat. His arm pressed tightly against the side of her neck blocking blood to the brain. Within a few moments, she slummed over in her chair. Gregor took her key to the meds closet and rolled her sleeping form underneath the desk.

"Rest well, Ms. Cekling. In an hour or so, you'll be feeling much better."

 

Gregor reached into the nurse's desk and grabbed her lighter and newspaper. He quickly rolled up the paper and lit it. After spilling her perfume into a nearby garbage can, he dropped the newspaper into it and kicked the can on it's side before taking off towards the meds room. As he ran down the hall, he hit the fire alarm. A few seconds later, teh smoke caused the sprinklers to go off.

With a hiss of pressurized air escaping, the meds closet opened. Gregor grabbed everything he could find. He popped off all the tops and ran back into the halls.

"Trick or treat!" he said as he began throwing the bottles everywhere. Pills rained down as patients began to snatch up their favorites, crush those the had been force fed for far too long, or just played with those that looked pretty.

Down one end of the corridor, Gregor could make out Jerold's bulky form. "Yoo hoo!" said Handel as he began to unlock every room. Patients flooded the wet, pill filled hallways as Gregor ran.

Jerold's increasingly loud cursing telling made looking back unneccessary. Gregor slipped on a puddle and crashed through a door. He looked up at Jerold crooked smile.

"Well if it isn't our staircase," said the orderly. "Too bad you're so clumsy Dr. Handel. It lookks like you are going have a really bad fall this time."

 

As Niel sat there Chaos spoke to him "Its unbelievable just how much she reminds me of you when we first met." Niel responded by thinking "Yeah I know but unfortunatly for her she didn't have anyone there to protect her."

Niel looks up at Ambriel and says "So what was your husband like, if you don't mind me asking."

 

Jerold dug his fingers into the sides of Gregor's chest and lifted him up. The orderly chuckled. "You keep saying you're a doctor. Tell me, how many times will I have to throw your back against these stairs before you can't walk anymore?"

Gregor locked eyes with his tormentor. "Dr. Klasps has studied your case for a while. You are far to agrressive -" Dr. Handel pulled out his make shift knife, a crude tool made of sharpened metal and creased cardboard, and plunged it into the orderly's forearm. Gregor gave it a sharp twist as the Jerold's fingers jerked open.

"The forearms contain long rope like tendons. If you cut them, the finger's can't work. I'm afraid my accidents are over."

Jerold lunged at the patient who dropped to his knees and dug the tool into the soft flesh behind the orderly's knee. With a sharp yelp of pain Jerold crumbled to the floor. Gregor stood up, stretching his body to it's full height and plunged the tool into Jerold's shoulder.

Quickly Gregor, pulled off his and the orderly's belts. After a minute, Jerold McCarney was tied down and stretched out, unable to move. A dirty sock jammed into his mouth kept him quiet.

Dr. Handel stood over his patient. "The patient exhibits extremely violent tendencies. After much talking and consultaion with the esteemed Dr. X. Klesps we have concluded that there is only one solution - brain surgery." As the tool grew larger in Jerold's eyes, all he could do was try and scream.

No one heard him.

 

Taken back by the question...Ambriel could feel tears stinging her eyes...a large lump kept her form speaking above a whisper..."He was a good man...an honest man....until the....." her voice trailed off.

"I am sorry Niel, it such a painful thing and I am not sure you would want to hear all the sorted details..besides...it's...."

BAUM BAUM BAUM....the sound of the fire alarm caused Ambriel to jump out of her chair..."Wha....what is that?" it took just a second for her realise the fire alarm was going off and the patients were running out into the corridors..like little children.

"Oh sh#t...Gregor...what the hell have you done?" Ambriel swore under her breath.
She knew it was him, nobody else had the nerve to pull off half the trouble that he did. She was never really comfortable around him...sometimes, she felt as if he could see through her. "Don't be rediculas"...she thought..."It's just your imagination, Gregor is a nut job...simple as rain."

Suddenly a loud voice filled the room. "All right, all right...everyone back to your rooms...for head count....I repeat...everyone back to your rooms!" Benny, one of the Ambriel's favorite orderlies was ushering everyone out of the Day Room.

Looking back at Niel, she said. "It was nice to meet you, perhaps we can talk again sometime?"

 

"It was nice meeting you too, and yeah we will talk again." says Niel.

Niel hears Chaos say "Give me control, I want to check out the situation." Niel responds by thinking "Fine."

While walking around Chaos sees a small fire in the receptionist's office. He puts out the fire and checks on the nurse. She appeared fine, except for a few small burns. Chaos leaves the receptionist's office and head towards the staircase. As he walked, he saw the patients crawling on the floors and fighting over pills. "F***ing pathetic." says Chaos.

 

Out into the corridor, Ambriel felt the water spray down from the sprinklers in the ceiling...heavy smoke began to fill her lungs. Coughing, she looked down at the floor, the scattering of pills reminded her of confetti at a party.
"Only we aren't at a party, girl, this is real life." Ambriel caught herself speaking out loud. She was noticing a lot about herself lately.
Just then the little pink pills caught her eye...she immediately recognized them as the pills they give the Narcoleptic patients, to maintain their ability to stay awake. Stooping down she grabbed up as many as she could and stuffed them inside of her bra and underwear..."Thanks Gregor". It was the first time she was thankful for one of his..."episodes".

Quickly she ran into the safty of her room...the cafe was just down from her...Niel was on the other end. Ambriel smiled.

 

As Chaos walked down the corridor, he accidently steps on one of the pills and breaks it. "Hey you broke my pill you bastard"

As Chaos looks down he sees a wild eyed young man laying on the floor. "You did that on purpose didn't you." the man yells as he lunges toward Chaos. As soon as the man is close enough Chaos grabs his arm and throws him against the wall with tremendous force. As Chaos threw the man, he heard a pop. Chaos instantly knew that he dislocated this nutjob's shoulder. When the man landed, blood started to flow from his mouth. Instead of staying down however, the man got back up and smiled as the blood dripped down his chin.

"Damn, your too strung out to feel any pain aren't you." Chaos says while the man attackes him again. This time Chaos threw him to the ground and then landed an open palm strike into the mans chest. The man laid there gasping for breath. "Your lucky I don't like the idea of killing, with just a little more force I would have destroyed most of the organs in your chest." says Chaos.

"Lets just go back to our room." Niel says to Chaos. Chaos responds by thinking "Fine." Chaos turns around and starts to walk back to their room.

 

(sorry for this meanenless post but i had something good and i was about to enter it but i must have pressed something because now its all gone-i had about 21 lines and im not joking!)

 

Gregor always loved to hum "Amazing Grace" while performing surgery. He didn't know the words, but the tune always relaxed him. He'd been humming for at least twenty minutes before he stopped.

"Klesps, could you help me, my elbow is stuck. Yes, I know it's really in there, now will you stop laughing and give me a hand. No. Don't you dare try and give me noogies. Klesps!" Gregor sighed. "Thank you, now help me pull." With a wet pop, Gregor's arm came free along with a good portion of the orderly's brain. "Oh well, we did all we could. Now it's up to him. As you always say Dr. Klesps, if a patient really wants to get better they will. WHat's that? Unsterile conditions? infection? I suppose you're right. I'd better cauterize the incisions. We really can't afford for my malpractice insurance to go up any more than it has."

Gregor spilled the last of the head nurse's perfume on Jerold's body and then lit a match.

As he locked the stairway door behind him, the body was already beginning to smoke.

Dr Handel calmly walked back into the playroom and sat down ignoring the chaos around him. "Klesps did you fiddle with these cards?"

 

"Hey, I said watch it!"

After being dragged halfway down the hall to his room from the playroom, the two male orderlies used a double-effort to get Glenny to stop struggling. Once in his room the men took him by the shoulders and forced him into his bed. The whole time he tried desperately to sock one in the head.

"Glenny I'm very disappointed in you," his nurse told him as the men finally let go of him and he was sitting on his bed. He rolled his eyes.

"You have had me running rampid all day looking very silly, and I don't appreciate it!" she gave him a glare and turned to one of the men, whispering in his ear.

She then left him there, locking the door and giving her other key to the men.

Glenny stared at them as they stared at him. Not thinking, he grinned widely at them, and received no response.

His smile faded, and he turned away.

"Great."

"You did this Glen."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. I told you that girl was nothing but trouble. Now you're stuck here with these jerks."

"Well I won't be forever."

"You're an idiot. They're probably gonna put you in the jacket."

"Are not."

"Yes they are."

"Prove it."

"Glen, are you deaf? Didn't you hear what she whispered?"

Glenny' eyes grew wide and he turned to the men again. Maybe he could persuade them.

 

Ambriel saw Gregor walk into the Play room...she wondered should she dare go in there and see what he had done. He did provoke a pretty big disorder of the place.

"Hell, why not...he will be thrown into some kind of Lock down soon enough...this might be your only chance." She walked out of her room and headed over to the Play room.

Inside the doorway she saw him siting there, at the card table... talking, but not a soul was there...nobody she could see anyway...Ambriel thought of the shadow from earlier..a shiver ran down her back.

Patients were in the halls crying and laughing..but she ignored them, focusing on Gregor. Could he be this mad...or maybe, just maybe....nah, Gregor was the same as all the rest of them. Walking up behind him she trembled just a bit...what would she say, what would she do if he looked to deep into her eyes? Pushing aside a chair, she took a seat across from him. Blood splatter was on his clothes. She saw a nasty gash on the side of his head.
"That's too much blood to be his." She thought to herself.

"Uhm...it's okay if I...I ahh...may I sit here...or... uhm, I could just move over...if you would rather." Ambriel was spilling words all over herself and she knew it.

 

Gregor smiled brightly. "Well Dr. Klesps, it seems we have another player. We have been so popukar lately. What's that? Well ... yes... it might be your new after shave.

"Ah Ambriel, it's been a while since we've talked. Remember that orderly Jerold, the one who always made those crass jokes, well I had a man to man talk with him and I'm happy to say I think he's seen the error of his ways. I'm afraid his ego won't let him appologize, but he's made some progress. So how have you been?"

 

Skye awake to a blasting sound. Her eyes shot open and she jumped from her bed, as she looked at the water trailing into her room. Her floor was covered with a thin film of water, and her door was half-way open. She quickly looked out her door, but recoiled as water hit her face. Her hands wiped at her face furiously, getting the water droplets off.

She quickly ran over to her pillow, picking it up. Her eyes went wide as they met her butter knife. She gave a slight smile. He had given it back. Not only given it back, but he had delivered it. She gave a laugh of glee, as her eye suddenly twitched. She could smell the fire, and hear the noise of the yelling voices underneath the high pitched alarm. She wanted it to stop. She quickly slid the knife in the pillow, and put it over her head, and ears.

She slammed the door open and took off running. The floor was slippery as she ran through the hall, taking a quick turn. She slid into the other wall, but kept herself balance as her nose gave a turn. She stopped, and closed her eyes. She tried her hardest to concentrate on the smell, as she followed it. She couldn’t place it. It was almost familular. Her eyes went wide as her eyes met the vision of a charred, still burning man. She could feel the vomit pushing its way her throat as she quickly looked away. She quickly ran, holding her pillow tightly in her arms.

Her body was soaked head to toe as she ran past the kitche. She slammed the door of the playroom, with tears flowing down her eyes. Her eye gave a twitch, as she looked over at the two at the table.

“I’ll bash your head in!” her voice bellowed. She slowly walked towards the table, pulling an empty chair next to Gregor. She hadn’t yet met the woman, but she wasn’t in the mood for introductions. She gave a half-hearted wave at the woman, as she held her pillow close. Her hands shook uncontrollably and her heart hammered. Fear. She didn’t like that feeling. Fear and Confusion.

“Is our invisible friend with us?” she managed to say through a trembling voice.

 

"Oh course my dear," said Gregor, "Dr. Klesps always seems to be around whenever you show up. He's sitting across from me." Gregor whispered to Skye, "Say something about that god awful aftershave he's wearing. He put it on for you and he just keeps gping on and on about it. By the way, did you find your .... property?"

 

Gregor's voice was easy and surprisingly kind, his question seemed odd...but under the circumstances it made more sense that anything else in her life. The urge to avoid eye contact made her leary...but in spite of her apprehension, she lightly held his gaze.

Jerold....he was of the orderlies who forced her into that horrible chair. Shamefully, she felt a smile cross her lips.

"I have been okay I guess...still not sleeping well." Ambriel answered.

"How are you Gregor?" She felt as if he had known her longer than was fact.

Ambriel wanted to ask him about the blood, she wanted to question the pills, but the truth was she would never get a coherent answer. So, she decided to let him lead the conversation.

 

"Oh busy, busy, busy. I still have patients to see, procedures to perform. It's all part of my oath as a doctor. I don't know where I'd be without Dr. Klesps' help. You remember Klesps, don't you?" Gregor passed her a note with her cards.

Ambriel quickly unfolded it. It read, "Keep those pills safe, I don't think I'll be able to do that again. Your friend, Dr. X Klesps."

The note was scrawled using a finger dipped in blood.

 

She gave a small laugh, feeling her tense body, relax. She liked Gregor, though the blood scared her. She wanted nothing more then to help clean him up, being dirty wasn’t something she usually let happen. Her eye gave a twitch, as she decided to ignore it. She liked him, she didn’t want to give him a reason not to like her.

She looked across the table and gave the invisible Doctor Klesps a smile.

“What is that marvelous smell that’s coming from you Klesps?” she said with a giggle, “It smells fantastic!”

She looked back at the women.

“Hello there.” She said, as her nervousness left her. She had nothing to fear, she was amongst friends.

“My name is Skye.” She gave the woman a friendly wave, “May I ask what your name is?”

 

Gregor chuckled ashe watched Klesps smile and try to talk to Skye. Handel whatched the invisible doctor speak but nothing came out of his mouth. "WHat's that matter Klesps?? Oh your sore throat. You know we should've looked for cough drops while in the meds cabinet."

 

Glenny slid farther away from them on the bed then looked at one of them, and smiled a friendly smile. The man's face remained straight.

"So, uh.." he began.

"That's it Glenny. Talk him into going away."

"I, um.."

The men stared with stern faces still.

"Ask them about the screaming."

"Screaming?"

"You are deaf! In the hall now!"

"Uh.."

"Glen!"

"Screaming!" Glenny blurted.

"In the hall now!"

He gained his confidence, and cleared his throat.

"Do any of you guys - gentleman - know what the problem is out there?"

One of the orderlies looked at the door, and back to Glenny.

"You ain't fooling us." he said with a smirk on his face.

The other man went to the door, and opened it slightly to see out of the tiny slit.

"Uh, man" he said nervously, pointing a shaky finger outside the door, which being opened, had leaked the screams into the room.

"He isn't fooling."

Glenny looked confused and nodded when the orderly glanced back at him.

 

Ambriel took her cards and laid them out in front of her...the note she discreetly tucked in her bra, ignoring the blood...funny, that was the safest place to keep anything these days.

Looking in the direction of the empty chair, she nodded and said, "Thank you Dr. Klesps...I understand."

The girl sitting beside him reminded her of a girl she had cared for in her other life when she was once a nurse. For a moment she felt the twinge of her former self quicken her spirit.

"Hello Sky, my name is Ambriel...how are you today?" Her own voice was familiar to her...like a friend from the past.

Gregor caught her attention with his address to the invisible Dr. Klesps..."So, that was were the pills came from." Ambriel knew this was going to get more interesting, and decided that it was best if she stay on all Gregor's good sides. The blood was a clear warning...even if he never spoke anything but kindness.