The Asylum

One

"Jeff! Higher!" The red-headed girl squeals as Jeff pushes her with all the might in his tiny arms. A grin stretched across her face as she flew high into the air on her swing. Jeff giggled at her and stepped out of the way that way he wouldn't be hit with the swing, "Jeff, mom said it's time to come home." Liu stated matter-of-fact as he walked into the park that was just down the road from their house.

Jeff poked his bottom lip out and gave his best pouty face, "That's not fair though! We just got here!" He crossed his arms and looked away towards the giant trees that lingered in the dark depths of the near-by forest. Liu rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips, "You've been here for forty-five minutes Jeff. Mom's making dinner and she said she wants you to take a shower before you come to the table."

Jeff helped his friend stop swinging and waved to her has he sprinted down the road back home with Liu.

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  Jeff lay on his dilapidated bed and stared at the white ceiling, or at least what used to be a white ceiling. The rusty tint proved that there was either water damage or they seriously didn't care about the conditions that the patients lived in. Despite being strapped in a straight jacket Jeff found the bed rather comfortable, his eyes bounced around the room taking in the unkempt floor and disgusting looking ceiling and the thick metal door with more then two bolt locks on the outside. Jeff sighed, he'd been here only a week and he was bored to the point that if he didn't have all his wits about him he'd probably be rocking back and forth hitting his head on the wall for entertainment.

The latched on the outside of his door made a heavy grinding noise as they were unlocked and the door slowly swung open, squealing and creaking in the process.

Two guards walked in and grabbed Jeff, dragging him into the hall. He knew he was going to therapy, he went every day. He was shoved into a tan office that held a sleek black desk and a dark brown leather chair. This didn't look like Jeff's usual shrinks' office. Jeff looked around, puzzled at why he was in a different room for his therapy. A slender man with pale skin and jet black hair sat behind the desk his fingers interlaced. "Hello Jeffery, your shrink is... ah, sick. I am here to take her place, please have a seat." Jeff tentatively sat down in one of the soft green chairs facing the desk. The ghostly male stood up and walked around the desk and behind Jeff. The restraints of the jacket were loosened and Jeff's arms slide into his lap. He hadn't realized how painful it was to be in a straight jacket until then.

"Why did you do that?" asked Jeff in a low voice as he moved his arms around.

The man sat back down in his chair and leaned back, "For one, I know you wont hurt me. Two, I know how painful those are, and three, I've been studying your behavior. Your quite a remarkable being Jeff."

The man twirled a pen in is hand and stared Jeff down, "Your mind as society would call it, is broken. Everything is just floating inside your head, nothing specific is on your mind, really. Your emotions take after that too. Your anger is always there though, the first emotion to jump into action... the others just sorta... laze around and bump into each other, yeah?"

He sat forward and raised a brow, "I'm not going to lie and say im going to help you, because in all honesty, I don't think I can... talk to me about these flashbacks Ms. Kramer told me about."

Jeff stared at the man unbelieving that this one man could read him in under five minutes, "A girl is always in them. I guess she used to be my friend, but I don't remember every having any other kind of contact with her... it's strange."

The man gestured for Jeff to carry on, "Liu and I only ever depended on each other I don't remember having any other friends besides him."

A thoughtful expression befell the mans face as he looked Jeff over carefully, "Who is Liu, Jeff? Why is he important to you?"

Jeff pulled at the frayed edges on the sleeves of his jacket and began to talk, not realizing he was opening up to a complete stranger, "Liu was my brother, He was everything that I want or needed him to be. He was my protector, I could go to him for anything, He was somebody that throughout my childhood I had idolized... I-I-I-Im lost without him." Jeff felt his chest tighten and his mind start to race

The shrink stood up and walked over to Jeff, placing a hand on Jeff's shoulder, "It's alright, the past is the past, I'm not one to judge too harshly Mr. Woods. I have some good news for you Jeffery... Would you like to hear it?"

Jeff shrugged and looked up at the shrink, the shrink leaned down and whispered in Jeff's ear, "I can get you out Jeff."

Jeff's eyes widened and his face became bewildered as he whipped around, "How?!" The man re-strapped Jeff's arms and turned toward the doors, "Guards! I believe Mr. Woods is ready to leave. We'll talk tomorrow about it, Goodbye Jeffery."

The two bulky guards escorted Jeff back to his lonesome cell. Jeff sat on the creaky bed and stared at the door. "Could that man be telling the truth or is he toying with my mind to see if I would take the bait? I don't know, but he said we'll talk tomorrow so I'm going to find out as much as I can about him and his little scheme." He thought as he lay down and stared at the rusty bars that covers the high above window. Maybe this staff member wasn't so bad after all, not like the others... Maybe there was a chance for Jeff to be free again, to be the person he was meant to be, a killer.

A person everybody would eventually coward down too and scream in fear at the sight of his blood drenched knife. His hopes had been running low but this strange ghost-like man just took his hopes and made them fly again, he was optimistic about seeing the shrink again tomorrow... Eventually he fell asleep to the screams and thudding coming from the other patients rooms.