Watch Your Back

Chapter 14

"Aaron! Aaron, are you okay?! What happened?" Aaron's mom ran into the room shortly after Dr. Harrison left. The doctor rushed into the concrete cell and immediately dropped to his knees as he beheld the sight of the murdered teen.
"No," He whispered. "no. No, no nononono! Jonas, my son! MY SON! NO! MY SON! MY SON!" The doctor grabbed his brown hair and began to sob. He crawled over to the lifeless body of his sed to be son and cradled his bloody head. He silently cried while a steady stream of tears trickled down his face like a slow waterfall. Blood dripped onto his lab coat and his dark pants.

"W-who did this?" The doctor looked at Aaron pleadingly. "Please, please tell me who did this."

Aaron frowned. "A man. A man came in here. He had purple, crazy hair, green eyes, and a bloody lab coat."

"Did you get his name? What was his name?"

"He said his name was Doctor Harrison." Aaron's mom gasped and ran over to him.

"Aaron! Oh, Aaron! God, did he hurt you? Aaron, please tell me, did he do anything to you!? Anything?!" His mom hastily fingered his throat, apparently looking for any sign of obvious injury that signaled that he wasn't dead. Her hazel eyes were shiny with brimming tears.

"No, mom. He didn't hurt me." Aaron pushed his mom away. "What's wrong? Who is Doctor Harrison?"

"Oh, it's...it's..." His mom choked on tears, and she ran out of the room. Looks like Aaron wasn't the only one with secrets. Aaron turned his attention to the doctor. He had stopped crying and had directed a small team of doctors to pick up his son's lifeless body. Aaron didn't know where to go, so he sat down on the floor and curled up. He took heavy, deep breaths. He wanted it to be over. He wanted all the torture and dreams and bodies to go away. HE wanted it to go away. He didn't want to go to school or the asylum or anywhere. He felt like...like...

Aaron felt like dying.

Aaron had never thought about suicide. He was too busy doing life and keeping himself occupied to ever stop and think about things like that. But now that he was overwhelmed with this torture, the subject appeared in his sleepless brain. Ever since the hospital incident, Aaron hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. His mind was plagued with terrors of blood and torturous nightmares. So one chilly, cloudy night, Aaron made a decision.

But how? How would he kill himself? Google hadn't been any help, only recommending suicide hotlines and help programs near him. He didn't have any medicine to take, not even any pitiful cough syrup. That probably wouldn't do anything. He used up all the fever medicine when he was sick a while back. Hanging? Aaron didn't feel like choking to death. And he didn't feel like stabbing himself. Gave off too much of a "Doctor Harrison" vibe. But he was going insane, and running out of options. Except for one.

The bathtub knob squeaked off and light steam rose from the water. The bathroom was the farthest room away from his parent's room, and luckily, they were both heavy sleepers. The lights were dim and Aaron's body was shaking. He sighed and gave himself one last look in the mirror. An ashy face with dull green eyes and pale skin. This is what he had become. A healthy, happy teen to this fucking cesspool of shit and paranoia. Oh well. He peeled off his Pink Floyd Shirt and looked at it. Light blue, the logo slowly fading from age and detergent. Aaron took up a few more dreadful minutes to finish undressing. He dropped a white sock to the floor and climbed into the bathtub. Nothing. Then he began to cry. The water was so warm and relaxing against his pale, ashen skin. Hot tears rolled down his sunken cheeks. Aaron squirted some shampoo into the water and mixed it around. The tub had mountains and valleys of soap covering his knees. Aaron breathed a deep sigh and slid down further into the tub. The water was up to his collarbone. Now it was up to his chin. Now his upper lip. Aaron inhaled and plunged into the water. He opened his eyes under the water and was surprised; the soap didn't burn his eyes. He saw tiny particles swimming in the water, mixing with the saltiness of his own tears. Aaron sighed, closed his eyes, and inhaled.

Spots blurred his vision.