A.B.Y.S.S. Asylum

Chapter 1

Catastrophe! Everything starts from there and everything ends there, too. Some people just pack up their lives as though it were a bunch of commodities and go on an extended holiday. They are cowards! Some people are brave enough to face it and I applaud their daringness to be willingly burnt by fire. But some like me, start drowning and then we learn what it is like to breathe again.

"Ms. Walsh, would you care to explain this?"

Hailey just stared, focusing on nothing in particular. She was so tired of this, of life, of the stupid cliches everyone seemed to believe in...

"I will not repeat myself again, Ms. Walsh! Is the rain more fascinating than the class being held here?"

Maybe it was. It had the power to destroy and the power to save. It was everything that we need but nothing we liked. It was depressing like the hollow colours of a grey-blue melange.

"I hope you don't mind getting wet!"

She was dragged outside and shoved into the downpour. She was completely soaked in minutes. She looked up and lifted the corner of her lips ever-so slightly. There was a rainbow. 

She was contented to stand and watch. It was odd how something so dark was so beautiful! In her dreams, she couldn't appreciate any of this. The say your dream is a wish your heart makes, but hers were characterised by disturbing things. Lonely, winding roads with experimentally failed animals, faceless people out for blood and the most common one- her death in the most painful, bizarre way possible.

They promised her dreams would come true but forgot to mention that nightmares are dreams, too! And everyday she died a little...

"Hailey dear, why are you wet? Did you walk home from school?"

She was so  tired. She had to sleep, shut her eyes for a wink before the screams started again. She couldn't seem to get those raspy voices out of her head. They were out for again, she didn't have what they need. They had promised that they will be back. This time for everyone!

She wailed and thrashed about. She scratched herself in the process of escape drawing out blood. She opened her eyes and pinched herself. 

It is dream, god damn it , it is all my mind! Get out, get lost! 

She pulled at her hair frantically and somebody grabbed her in her moment of weakness. She hollered for holy intervention and she jabbed her attacker with her elbow until her senses cleared out to hear the soothing voice of her mother, hushing her and holding her. She cried in her embrace and crumpled her shirt. She held on for dear life.

"Mom, I am so sorry, this will be the last time..."

Her father was standing in the doorway and her younger brother looked terrified. He went and hugged her.

"You will be alright Hayles. You tell me who they are, I'll beat them up for you. I am a big boy now, daddy himself said so." 

He gave a toothed smile with a couple missing.  Hailey hugged him with all she had. 

"Daddy, I can explain, please don't send me away..."

"It's getting worse sweetheart, you weren't even completely asleep right now... I am sorry."

"Mom? Are you siding with dad too on this?"

"Hayles, I feel that a change in scene might be better. This will be for just a couple of months until you get better."

"A couple of months? What about school and my friends? I have a life here! I can't just leave, what will people say?! You can't do this, I won't allow it. This is my life, we are talking about!"

But school wasn't any better. All her friends had been ignoring her. The teachers hated her and she was at the very bottom of the social ladder, not that it mattered anymore. She just didn't want to leave the comforts of something she knew. 

"The limo will be here in a few minutes. Your clothes have all been packed. This will help you sweetheart. We just want what's best for you."

"Are you sure about that? If you wanted the best for me, you would have taken me to a shrink! You wouldn't have sent me away! You are cowards, afraid of what society will say about your "perfect" family, now that it is so dysfunctional! How long do you think you can keep up this facade. I pity your miserable, pathetic lives!" she spat out with as much venom as she could muster.

"That is enough! You will not talk to your mother like that!"

"Whatever..."

She stormed out the door, banging it noisily in the process only to come face to face with a young boy. There wasn't enough light from the night sky to see him clearly but her mind tingled with recognition. 

"Aren't you that green-eyed boy that lost a drag race?!" 

He just ignored her and she angrily muttered to herself about the rudeness of the upper class of society and their ignorant beliefs of being superior!

They drove for about 3 hours until the city gave way to the tranquil country. They pulled up at tall iron gates of a country mansion whose expanse stretched over a few hundred acres complete with a fairytale like forest surrounding the eastern and southern perimeter. The northern perimeter overlooked the horizon of the bright city light over a steep, merciless cliff and the west was covered in beautiful landscaped gardens and a swimming pool.

She got down and looked around in awe. She always had a penchant for historic architecture and this place was abundant in them! It was a dream come true! Maybe she could the owner for its history or even for permission to explore...

In the dead of the night, a tall woman approached them and shook their hands. She had a kind smile and wrinkled face. Her clothes suggested that she was once a part of the highest class in society but her manners spoke far more. She was definitely down-to-Earth.

"I am Jacqueline Wilson and I welcome you to ABYSS."

Sorry I'm late! College started with a bucket load of three hours homework a day. Not that, that's a valid excuse. So what do you guys think