Ink Me Insane (Book One)

Two

I'm going to be fine, nothing can happen to me in the pit. She repeated to herself forcefully to chase away the already creeping demons of her mind. The utter blackness of the pit seemed to seep into her soul and her very breathing sounded foreign to her ears. She clutched her head to try and minimize the sound.

Rene wasn't afraid of the dark. The dark was natural. It was necessary. No she wasn't afraid of the dark; she was terrified of what could be in the dark. The unknown things that could be hidden within its depths and emerge without warning. Being afraid of the dark was silly and childish, being haunted by the things her mind concocted and yet she couldn't see, well now that just was insane.  I'm going to be fine, nothing can happen to me in the pit. Perhaps if she said it enough even she would believe it. Like what her social worker used to tell her, "Fake it till you make it."

Basically lie your butt off until you and everyone around you believes it.  If only she was a better liar she wouldn't even be here, the asylum, the pit. It was because she couldn't fake the happy for the string of foster families nor lie her way to a normal life that she was condemned for being different. Every family the same story, she's too weird, too sad, a delinquent. And don't even get people started on the tattoos. There was only so much the system could take before it spit her out like the poison she was. So five years ago, it was decided that there was nowhere better to develop a remedy to that toxin than the asylum.

Now technically the asylum was a licensed boarding school for troubled youth, specializing in those with mental disorders who needed closer attention than provided by the typical school. With certified PhDs in psychology, psychiatry, and other long fancy words, the various counselors were entrusted with the students' mental health while their brains were educated by the best professors money can buy, privately funded of course. Sure at one point the program probably worked great, but greed changes things. A place that once set out to help those that society had abandoned now focused on squeezing the asylum dry, leaving only the dejected. Even the best psychologists eventually got brought down into the pit of pain that was the asylum.

Rene curled herself into a ball pressed up against a corner in the room. Nothing. No sound, no light penetrated what is the pit. Outside the doors, the world could end and she would never know. If not for the subtle twitching of muscles from her eyes blinking she may have though it was her end. Open, close, it didn't matter. The darkness around her was leaking into her rotting mind. I am not insane. I will not break. I am not insane, I will not break. Isn't repetition the definition of insanity? No, I believe that would be talking to yourself and getting a response. Damn... screwed either way.

Time bled together like a fresh wound until the light washed over her feeling like a physical blow to her psyche. The dark was bad, the light could be worse. It shows all and knows all. All the crap and pain you try to hide are forced into being by the light. And then there is what the light brings. "Wake up crazy, time to go a couple more rounds." The guard's voice yelled.

Rene shakily got up and stumbled her way towards the door. "Learn your lesson?" he inquired.

"Yes, when you get in a fight make sure your daddy is paying everyone's salary." Rene smiled softly.

A hand slammed down near her head blocking the doorway. The guard leered into her face with a sneer. "I could just leave you down here, no one would even notice if you are gone. Besides these walls are pretty thick, we could have a lot of fun in the pit." His eyes raked her body like a carnivore.

Rene suppressed a shudder before dunking under his arm and striding confidently towards the door.  She would like to see him try and make a move on her. Rene was a lot of things but she would not be weak. She would not be someone's prey. Never again.