The Life of a Psychopath

Chapter Six

     I blink my eyes repeatedly when I wake. The sun is shining bright, even through the tree branches. I sit up, the dead leaves under me crunching and breaking. The cool wind whips my hair around my shoulders. I look around, slightly disoriented. It takes me a second to remember all that had happened.  Guilt builds up inside of me, making my stomach clench. I close my eyes tightly and grit my teeth. I must not feel guilty for the things I have done.
     Slowly, I push myself to my feet and look around. Woods. I'm surrounded by trees. But I must be close to a town or neighborhood still, because I hear the wailing of sirens in the distance.
     Which is probably the police, searching for the person who killed my mother. Searching for me.
     I turn and walk towards the sirens. The school is only a block away from my mother's house. If I can slip past the police, I can get to school, kill everyone, and then be gone before they even smell the school building burning. My heart beat quickens and adrenaline flows through my veins. I wonder how many people will be torched alive.
I wonder how many people I'll be able to kill before I lock the doors and set the building on fire.
     Slowly, the amount of trees surrounding me lessens, and I find myself at the edge of the woods. I stand right behind my mothers house. Nobody has seen me yet. Crouching down, I take a few deep breaths. Then, once nobody is in sight, I run. In seconds, I am lying on my neighbors patio; out of sight of the police or any other authority crawling around. I stand up and slink over to the corner of the house. I peer around the corner and see seven police cars and an ambulance. My grandmother is sitting in the back of an ambulance, being questioned by a police woman. I turn my eyes away from the scene and run across a few yards until I find myself twelve houses away from my mothers house. Safe. I'm now safe. I lean over, hands on my knees, and breathe deeply. The school isn't that far away. Glancing at a utility shed behind me, I realize something. I have knives, but I don't posses anything that would light a school on fire. I run over to the shed and find it to be unlocked. After a bit of rummaging through golf balls, bikes, basketballs and things of the like, I come across some matches. Perfect. There is probably gasoline at the school. I slip the matches into my back pocket, then start jogging in the direction of the school building.

******

     Finally, I reach school. I run around to the back of the building, and push open a heavy metal door with a neon sign above it that says 'Exit'. The 'x' flickers repeatedly, and when I open the door, I'm greeted with a thick cloud of dust and many dead bugs. A staircase stands before me. This exit apparently hasn't been used in quite a while. I step over the threshold and onto the small concrete platform in front of the stairs. Behind me, the door slams shut loudly, and I wince. After a few moments, I realize that it's highly unlikely that anyone actually heard the door, and if they had, they probably wouldn't have given it two thoughts. Confidently, I walk up the stairs. There's only one flight, but it's a bit long. Finally, I reach the top of the steps and gently press my hands against the smooth, wooden door. I can hear people outside of the door, their keys jangling softly, their hushed laughter, and the quiet voices of students who know they are supposed to not be talking. I close my eyes and inhale deeply, waiting for the sounds to cease. After about ten minutes of standing in complete silence, I hear the muffled footsteps of about twenty people walking away. Once the sound of the foot steps fade out, I'm left in complete silence. I push open the door and slip into the hallway. The lights are incredibly too bright, and the smell of books, paper, and lavender scented antiseptic spray overwhelms me. Nobody is in the hallway at the moment, so I take a second and lean against the wall. All my senses are sharper than before. Every sound is amplified, every color seems more vibrant, every smell seems so overpowering. What's going on? I exhale, and my breathe is incredibly shaky. White dots blur the edges of my vision, and I feel light headed but also completely in control of myself.

It's time. It's time. It's time. It's time.

    Those two words are now all I can hear. They repeat and repeat, going faster and faster, until I black out. I slump against the wall, and fall to the floor. Trying to hold onto consciousness, I bite my tongue. Blood trickles down my bottom lip. Suddenly, a balding man leans over me.
    "Hey, are you oka-" He starts, but then he takes in the blood falling from my mouth, and the dark red stains all over my clothes. "Oh my god. Somebody, call an-"
Those are the last words I hear before I finally lose my hold on consciousness and pass out.

******

      Rubbing alcohol. The burning stench of rubbing alcohol stings my nostrils. I try to lift my hand to cover my nose, but I find myself unable to move. Panicked, I open my eyes and try to sit up, but I can't even do that. I'm tied down to some kind of bed. My heart beat quickens, and breathing suddenly becomes difficult. I'm in a completely white room. No windows. No desk. No decorations. Nothing.
     After closer examination, I realize that I'm tied to a hospital bed.
     But this doesn't look like a hospital room. I knit my brows together. Where am I? How long have I been unconscious? I look around again, trying to figure out a way to answer my questions. Slowly becoming frustrated, I pull at my bindings. Thick, fabric strips hold me to the bed tightly. One over the tops of my arms, one over my stomach area, and one over my legs. No matter how much I struggle, I find that I can't move at all, nor can I break the bindings. I growl angrily.
     "Hello? Can anybody hear me? Let me out! Where am I?" I yell. I wait a few moments, but never get a reply. I try pulling against the straps again, but they don't budge even a little. I yell in frustration, kicking my feet against the mattress. I sigh heavily and let my head fall back against the mattress. It's no use. I can't move, so there's no point in wearing myself out.
     "Alex? Are you awake yet?" A mans voice asks. Startled, I lift my head up and look towards the door way. A middle aged man with thin gray hair, thin wired glasses, and a white lab coat stands in the doorway, holding a clip board. He doesn't smile at me.
     "Okay. Good to see that you're awake," he says, writing things down on his clip board. "Do you know where you are?" He asks, glancing up at me.
     "No," I answer him. He nods, still looking down at his clip board, but not writing anything down.
     "Well, that's to be expected." He says, walking into the room and closing the door behind him. He walks closer to me, until he is right next to my head. "Alright. I have a couple questions for you. What's two plus two?" He asks, looking down at me.
     "Four...?" I answer, confused as to why he'd ask such a simple question.
     "Yes. Can you spell 'orange' for me?"
     "O-r-a-n-g-e."
     "Good. What's your date of birth?"
     "August twenty second," I reply. "What's with all these questions? I want to know where I am." I say impatiently. The man scribbles on his clipboard, not even looking at me. A minute or so passes until he finally answers me.
     "You are in the Saint Joseph county psychiatric hospital. You passed out at a school. You've been unconscious for five days. In that time, we learned that you murdered your mother, step mother, father-" Before the man can finish, I cut him off.
     "I'm fully aware I killed all those people. Is that why I'm here? You think I'm crazy?" I ask him, a small smile starting to appear upon my face. The man takes a couple steps away.
     "You have been confirmed as a mentally ill person, yes." He tells me. My small smile becomes a grin that stretches across my face.
     "Well, then you're absolutely right. And are you my doctor?" I ask. He nods, looking down at his clipboard again. By now, I've realized he's just trying to avoid eye contact with me. I laugh softly as he walks towards the door. A psych ward, hm?
     I'll have fun with this.