Mental

Prologue 

Trish was cold. But that was nothing new. The foggy air in the room was always cold. Her skin itched again, and she wished it was time for her meds, but according to the plastic clock on the wall, she had already had them today. She can’t remember though. She scratched another mark in the papery wall, the 23rd mark. 23 days she had been in here.. But she couldn’t remember why. Struggling to regain her memory once again, she sat on the irritatingly rough bed. Cupping her face in her hands she tried to silence the room. It wasn’t that noisy there, just the huffing wheeze of the broken air vent. Trish tried to match her breathing with the sound of the vent. Panting heavily now, she felt the goose bumps rise on her porcelain skin. Her green eyes were dulled over. Not that they were bright to begin with, Trish didn’t have pretty green eyes like she longed for. They were more described as an asparagus green. She dug her nails into her skull, as if to force the memories out. A sticky crimson substance appeared under her fingers. Pulling her hands back, she looked at the warm red substance on her hands. The metallic smell and bright appearance set off some kind of memory locked deep inside her skull. Trish didn’t know why, but she had to get the damp substance off of her. Right now. Going into a screaming frenzy, she wiped her hands across the pale flimsy walls. Frantically she attacked the bed sheets and scrubbed her hands and her head with them. Blood was everywhere now, and just as Trish was about to run boiling water on herself, three men with big long white coats on came rushing in the room. Two grabbed her and the third pushed a long needle in her skin, letting her sink into deep deep bliss. The last thing she heard was

“You’re going to be fine Sara, you’re going to be just fine.”

Chapter One

Aaron

Aaron thumped out of his room and stormed into the kitchen. He didn’t like hearing the house so quiet, so he banged around and made as much noise as possible. Pulling the fridge door open he peered inside. Nothing.

Dang it!

He forgot to go grocery shopping. Slamming the fridge shut, a picture flew off of the door and floated under the stove. Flopping on his knees he dug in the mess of pieces of old food, dog hair, and dust to retrieve the picture. Pulling it out, he glanced at it only for a second before hot tears welled in his eyes. It was a picture of his wife, Elaine and their dog, Jasper. Blowing the dust off of the picture, he placed it back on the fridge door with an inconspicuous magnet. Shuffling to the bathroom, Aaron didn’t bother making any noise as he turned the bathtub’s water on, slipped out of his clothes, and sunk down in the tub, letting his worries and tears sink into the scalding water.

A few hours later, Aaron was pacing the aisles of the grocery store. This was one of the very first times he’s managed to venture out of his home since the incident. His eyes glazed over the rows of colorful boxes. Elaine always did this. This whole, grocery shopping thing. He didn’t even know what he needed. Throwing random boxes into his cart, he moved from isle to isle. Lining up at the checkout he could feel the eyes of other shoppers on him. 

I didn’t forget pants again did I? His head mumbled as he inconspicuously glanced down to reassure himself that he did in fact remember to put pants on. Sighing he knew the real reason people were staring. No one’s seen Aaron K. Jones since the incident. It’s been 23 days since anyone’s seen him out of his house. 

Shoving the food in where he thought it should go he lugged the 50lb bag of dog food out to the garage. 

“Jasper!” Aaron yelled, jumping a bit at the sound of his own voice. He watched as the once perky Borzoi slouch out into the garage. Lazily he laid down and chewed some food, almost like he didn’t want to eat, just knew he had to.