Insanity (Sequel To Madness)

Everything That Begins, Must End

I open my eyes. That's how everything must begin and end, right? Well, that's how my welcome to death began too. I wake up in a room that I seem to recognize all too well. This is the room that I was put in at the mental institution. This is Room 18, in Ward 6 of the Carson Asylum. I still hear the man in the cell next to me singing the tune "twinkle, twinkle, little star," but this time something seems different. The voice sounds familiar, almost like I've lived with them.
"Excuse me, but, what's your name?" I call out the bars on the door, much like the ones in the prison cells at the Main District.
"I'm... Carter..." He mumbles, then continues singing. I wrinkle my eyebrows softly and then hear a loud scream as a man is being dragged down the hallway. This is just like last time I was here, but this time I recognize the man being dragged towards a room labeled "Execution Room." It's Wade. This is probably some weird mind trick, since I had to kill him. More like, I had to execute him like he is going to be here. This is my nightmare where he is always getting killed. The last time I saw him he was begging to be killed, and now he is begging for his life to be saved by anyone.
"Clark, Violet." A guard calls as he stops at my door, opening it with one key that is on his waist.
"Clark..." I mutter my old name. I never thought I'd be called by it again, how weird.
"Come here, you go to the living space this hour." He demands, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the padded room. I stumble out and follow him as he leads me down new hallways that I don't recognize. He pushes open a large, metal door and throws me inside to the ground.
"Hey! Play a game with me!" Someone shouts as soon as I land on the cold cement. It feels like I might have bruised my elbow because of how hard I landed. I wince in pain and look up slightly.
"Play a game!" The same voice calls, and this time I see the source. A man who holds a green, toy revolver stares down at me as he spins the barrel of his toy.
"Play a game!" He repeats while laughing hysterically.
"Myers, sit down!" A guard shouts at the man. He rolls his eyes as he spins his revolver again and sits on the ground, beginning to rock himself and laugh hysterically at nothing.
"Myers..." I mumble the familiar last name. I stand up and dust myself off, noticing that I am now in a hospital type gown. It is light blue and feels like it could be made of a thick paper. I look around the room and see people scattered around, just acting insane. I suddenly hear a scream, turning my head towards the sound I see a familiar man who screams and hides his face from everyone.
"Lancaster! Shut it." I hear a guard shout at him.
"Lancaster..." I whisper to myself softly.
"Lancaster..." I repeat, my eyes slightly widening as I walk towards the screaming man, who has now stared crying into his hands.
"Shane?" I ask him, sitting in front of the man they call Lancaster. He lifts his head from his hands, sniffling from his previous crying.
"You know my name?" He asks me, his eyes widening. I smile softly and grasp his hands into mine.
"Yeah, I do, Shane. Its me, Violet." I tell him, tears brimming the corners of my eyes.
"Hi... Violet. Its a pleasure to meet you." He smiles, which makes me notice a few of his teeth missing and the bruises on the side is his face.
"You too..." I whimper softly, trying to keep myself from crying. I never thought I'd see my husband again, I only wish the circumstances were different.
"Why were you screaming?" I ask him kindly, gently rubbing my thumb over his hand.
"I saw them again..." He whispers, as if it was a type of secret.
"Saw who?" I ask curiously, leaning closer to him to make sure I hear his response.
"The... Aliens..." He whispers, glancing around nervously.
"They experiment on me..." He adds, nodding frantically.
"Aliens?" I ask him, slightly tilting my head.
"Yeah... They're everywhere..." He mumbles, staring at a wall blankly. I softly shake my head and move closer to him.
"Shane, there are no aliens." I tell him, shaking my head softly.
"Yes, there are! They stabbed me!" He screams, beginning to cry again. Maybe this is a weird trick too, since Shane was stabbed to death only a few days ago. But he was not killed by aliens that abducted him, he was stabbed and bled to death because of Josh.
"No... There's nothing here..." I tell him kindly, trying to understand why my businessman of a husband would think such a thing.
"Well... Not now..." He replies, continuing to stare at nothing in particular as if he didn't realize.
"Bang!" Someone yells, laughing hysterically again. I turn around again and the man holding the revolver laughs behind me.
"Play with me!" He shouts, just as he had when I just arrived.
"What do you want to play?" I ask him, trying to place his face.
"My game!" He laughs again while pulling the trigger on his toy gun over and over again.
"Leave her alone... Ian... The aliens will come for you if you don't." Shane threatens the man behind me.
"Ian?" I ask, suddenly realizing who this man is.
"Yeah, that's me. Let's play!" He shouts, pulling me from the floor and handing me the toy revolver. Oh, this is the biggest joke my mind has played on me yet. The day Jack died, I should have gone and played Ian's game, dying instead. This whole thing, making Ian play a game with me, it represents that perfectly. His grin could be glued on and there would be no difference in his expression.
"Bang!" He yells, jolting the gun as if it went off. I close my eyes softly and shake my head, dropping the plastic toy onto the ground.
"Myers! Clark! Sit down!" A nurse shouts causing me to snap out of my moment. I drop to the floor and cross my legs and hug myself slightly just remembering the awful things Ian had done to me.
"You took him..." I mutter to myself softly. Suddenly remembering how Jack dropped to the cold pavement once Ian pulled the trigger that day. I lean against the wall trying hard to forget about it. All of it. The foul odor that came from his body, the pale expression his face stayed in, even the color his fingernails became from the process of decomposition. Every bit of it was stuck to my mind and I just couldn't shake it.
"Clark." One nurse calls, breaking my long line of thoughts again. I look up suddenly to see a nurse who wears the face of my mother. I blink a few times trying to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. It was definitely her, fully Janice Clark, my awful mother, who I ended up shooting in the head with one of my beloved arrows.
"Clark." She repeats while rolling her eyes. I blink a few times, realizing I'm supposed to reply.
"Yeah?" I ask, trying to hide my fear just this once from her.
"You have a therapy session, come with me." She demands while walking towards the entrance to this hangout area. I nod slowly trying to process what she asked. I very carefully stand and look at my mother with pure shock.
"Okay, miss." I mumble under my breath like I used to when I was a child talking to my mother.
"Hurry up." She demands while placing one hand on her hip in a way that makes her look like she's bored. I walk towards the entrance while holding onto my forearm nervously. I almost feel guilty seeing her like this now. My mother opens the door with a large pull and pushes me out of it. I stumble forward slightly, not expecting her to immediately act like her old self.
"Walk." She demands, pushing me again when I don't start walking when I exit.
"Yes, ma'am." I mutter with a soft nod that is followed by me following my mother's directions to where she is pushing me to go. She opens the door at the end if the hall, and I recognize it from the last time I was here. I'm suddenly eager to go inside, already guessing who will be awaiting me on the other side of this door.
"Mr. McLaughlin will be your therapist while you're here." My mother explains as she nudges me inside, and I go willingly this time. I look around, seeing the familiar medicines, needles and books lining the counters.
"Mr. McLaughlin..." I mumble, searching for the face of the man I know is here.
"Oh, sorry I'm late." He says, running a comb through his hair before picking up a folder filled his documents. Just seeing him standing in front of me is like a dream. My mother leaves seeing that I am now under that care of my therapist.
"So, you're Violet Lancaster, right?" He asks giving his papers a slight glance before looking up at me with that classic smile on his face.
"Yeah, Jack... I'm Violet..." I smile with tears brimming the edges of my eyes. He nods and puts his documents back down where they were before.
"Its a pleasure to see you, Violet." He comments while softly shaking my hand. I softly rub my thumb over his hand like I used to and smile to myself just looking at it.
"Would you like a water? Green beans? You can have something before we start." He explains, his bright blue eyes smiling at me in their own way.
"Oh..." I mutter, remembering when he watched me eat cans of green beans when we were on the outside for those long months.
"Can I have a water please?" I ask him, staring into his eyes. He nods and releases my hand while he goes and pulls out a bottled water from a small fridge in the corner of the room.
"Take a seat, lay down, make yourself comfortable. We have a two hour session today, so you will be here for a long time." He explains, his Irish accent becoming thicker on the word two which makes me giggle quietly to myself.
"Okay, thanks, Jack." I say as I sit on a rather uncomfortable couch in the center of the room. I cross my legs and set my hands on top of them, toying with my fingers lazily.
"Yeah, you're welcome." Jack replies as he hands me the bottled water and takes a drink from his own. He takes his seat of a plush armchair across from me, still giving me that smile that I've missed so much.
"So, is there something you want to tell me?" Jack asks as he sets down his water in the center of a small coffee table next to him. I nod, trying to keep my tears from coming.
"Okay, where do you want to start?" He asks, his eyes lighting up suddenly. I look deep into those bright blue orbs of his and just smile at the sight of them.
"I want to start from the very beginning." I tell him with a nod.
"The beginning of what, Violet?" He asks me in return, his eyes wandering to the edge of the couch I sit on. I glance at it and notice a small, green ribbon tied to the edge. My fingers get tangled in memories of ribbons like that one. I look back up at Jack, my fingers still going over the smooth fabric of the ribbon.
"The beginning of us, to the end of us, and at the very end, the end of me." I explain, our eyes locking. In that very moment, I felt like I finally was about to complete my promise I made to my lover all those months ago.
"Oh? And where did I all start, Violet?" Jack asks me, his expression not changed from his bright smile that causes one to form on my own lips.
"Well... I scream as my mother drags me from the car and into the Insane Asylum, the Carson Asylum." I start while nodding slowly to myself. Jack nods and leans forward while resting his elbows on his knees, staring at me with interest in his eyes.
"Go on, love. I will listen to everything you say and never tell a soul about your words." He explains with sincerity in his voice which only makes my smile widen.
"Thank you. I have so much to tell." I respond as I take in a breath to begin my story, the story of my madness and insanity that haunted me for so long.