The Psychopath Maker

Chapter Five

At the end of the hall, is a room that is rarely visited. A room that nurses, doctors, techs, maids, and the most tragic of all visitors rarely step foot in. This is the room Benny has all to himself, but this night is different than the other uniform nights. This night he had a visitor. His one and only visitor stood on the slickly mopped floor.

"I can't live there. I'm the one playing crazy remember." Benny sat up in his bed. He was the only patient that had a real brass full bed in his room. The mattress did little to repair the damage the pallet at the asylum reeked on his back.

"That's my point." Malachi stuffed his frozen hands deeper in the pockets of the dark blue Dawson Prep hoodie. "You're not crazy. You shouldn't be here. You should be at the dorms. The room is next to mine and it's a single. No roommate. And if anyone gives you shit I'll handle it." He affirmed leaning on the bed's tailboard.

"It's pointless and I'm not packing up and moving. There is just a couple of weeks left until graduation anyways." Benny looked at the calendar hanging on the wall with duct tape since the head nurse warned him not to put holes in her wall. "The big issue is where I'm going to be after." Benny leaned back against the pile of fluffy pillows.

"Are you still having a hard time picking between Harvard or Brown?" Malachi asked. "I thought we decided. Brown isn't an option. Brown is in Rhode Island with the rest of the Lemen clan." He spat the surname out like it was doused in lemon juice. "You don't want to be around those people."

A frown ran across Benny's face, "Those people are my family. They're our family." Benny pointed to him then Malachi.

Malachi stood up straight and took a small step back. He looked at the pale boy lying in the bed, then around the room. He could easily forget the lack of heart monitors and oxygen tanks in the room. The smart TV docked in the corner, the leather jacket draped over the oak desk chair and the royal blue rug doing its best to cover the entire tile floor helped aid in the task of making Malachi think Benny's room was normal. But it wasn't and he kept reminding himself that it wasn't. Nothing about Benny's entire situation was normal and that was why he hated the Lemen's.

"Look, it's not about that." Benny shook his head knowing Malachi was traveling to Fuck Lemen-Ville "He won't let me go. I don't have the money to go. He has my money." Benny looked up at the white ceiling. The same ceiling-colored ceiling has been looking at since this travesty unfolded, white. He tried to blink the burning from his eyes but the tears that swelled there did not heed his request. Going to college was planned for him since his birth. He didn't know what else to do after high school.

"He won't let you. Who?" Malachi questioned stepping around the bed. "Dr. Fulton. Don't worry about him. Fulton doesn't run anything. I got you here and I'll get you to college. My father will pay." Malachi assured.

Malachi's phone beeped in his pocket. He pulled the phone out of his back pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Ben," Malachi called. The boy didn't move. "Benjamin Alexander!"

"What?" Benny turned over in the bed.

Malachi walked to Benny's side. He leaned over to look him in the eyes. He knew the boy's soul was hurt. He felt Benny's pain with him.

"You're going...I don't care where but you're going. So cheer up." He playfully punched him in the shoulder "See you at school tomorrow." Malachi beamed a warm smile flashing his dimple. A light smile made its home on Benny's face but was not strong enough to display his dimple.

Malachi sped walk down the hallway the rain was picking up and if he didn't get out now he would need a motorboat to get back to campus but his ears prompted him to stop in the first room.

"What are you still doing here?" Malachi stood in the doorway of the room transformed into a purple paradise.

Isabeth jerked her head around to the sound of the familiar voice. "She wanted to show me her room." She turned back to the little girl holding the book in her hand.

"It's late, let's go," Malachi ordered waving for Isabeth to come with him.

Isabeth slid off the bed closing the book. She gently kissed the girl on her tender forehead.

"Can I have a soda before you leave?" The little girl asked snuggly tucked underneath her purple sheets with a matching comforter.

Isabeth looked at Malachi standing by the door, "Yeah." Isabeth placed the book on the table next to the bed.

Isabeth pushed Malachi out the doorway as she passed by him. She wrapped her arm around his arm with his hand still firmly planted in his pocket as they walked.

"Why are you still here?" Isabeth snuggled closer to him inhaling his Pasha de Cartier. 

Out of all her friends, Malachi was the one she trusted most. Not because he was her first kiss or because their parents' California estates were next to each other. It was the mere fact that he was a constant in her life. Malachi wasn't a changing force like her other friends. His morals didn't flip flop like Kevin's, his personality didn't change overnight like Faith, and he wasn't a little naïve lamb like Harper. Malachi knew what he wanted, was who he was, and wasn't changing for anyone to fit in, and he stood by his word.

"I was um, um helping a kid." Malachi flexed his shoulder as he stood in front of the elevator. "Are we really getting a soda?"

The elevator dinged. The doors parted like the Red Sea.

"Yeah," Isabeth answered as they stepped onto the elevator together. "Her medicine dries out her mouth. She gets super thirsty. She could choke."

"She could choke?" Malachi pressed the little clear button prompting the suspended box on its descending course.

"I guess." Isabeth shrugged looking up at the lighted numbers.

The hum of rain met them as they entered the lobby. Isabeth released Malachi's arm when they approached the unoccupied receptionist's desk. The main floor would be deemed empty if it wasn't for the mother rocking her baby bundled in a yellow terry cloth blanket tighter than a burrito.

Malachi pulled his hoodie over his nicely cut waves, "You want me to wait for you?"

Isabeth shook her head, "Just go. I'm right behind you." She flashed her pearly whites inching back to the hallway that led to the cafeteria.

"Give the kid her drink." Malachi zipped up the hoodie. "Don't go hunting for a straw. Don't be mother Teresa. It's late, it's dark and stormy. A bad combination."

"Okay, dad." She laughed forged down the hallway. 

Looks like Malachi and Benny have been keeping a little secret of their own!