Hearts Lost

Part 1-Victor's Escape

A left arm hangs off the side of a bed, mutilated by an ice cold razor. The razor that was used is embedded and lost in the torn flesh that was once this person's forearm. What is left of his arm belongs to 21 year old, Victor. As his eyes began to grow heavier, he thought of the all of the events that led to this moment. He thought of the visuals of his six year old little sister being run over while in his care. The seven year old painful memory remains fresh in his mind as if it just happened a split second ago.

The devastating reminders of guilt were drilled into his head constantly by his parents. More cold heartedly were the kids at his school. He never turned to any type of drug, legal or not, but instead turned to any liquid over 80 Proof. At this moment he has been on the wagon of sobriety for going on nine months. As his eyes drift off into what many would consider an afterlife, he sees the darkest of shadows at the foot of his bed. His blurred vision never regains focus. Deep down he assumed it was Death coming to take him to Hell, where he belongs...at least from his point of view.

He finally blacks out. He cannot open his eyes but hears commotion as he slips in and out of a blackened consciousness. The bickering surgeons arguing over if his arm could be saved. He hears the nurses grumbling over if he will even live or not. One nurse offers a genuine prayer for him. He so desperately wanted to scream and let everyone know to let him die or let his arm go. He had a serious anger issue over his left arm. I am sure we will have more on that later. Let's just say he wasn't just trying to cut his wrist. He was trying to remove his hand AT the wrist. He remembered hearing a familiar voice telling him that it will be ok. He remembered a firm tone instructing the doctor and nurses to wrap the arm up and it will be ok. He knows he heard the voice before but with everything that happened, he can't really identify its owner.

A week has gone by. We know that and everyone around Victor knows it. Victor has been in a coma since his surgery. Suddenly he feels his body shaking. He hears metal clanking, his body being jerked around and multiple voices that he can't even understand.

Suddenly his eyes burst wide open! He is strapped to a gurney. Around him are orderlies in red scrubs. It is as if the volume to the world has increased tenfold. He is able to see that he is being wheeled through a long corridor with rooms on each side of the hallway. It seems like it never ends. He vaguely sees demented and tortured souls peering through the window of their room, laughing hysterically and boisterously.

He begins to scream the most heart wrenching scream a man can belt out of his throat! Next thing he knows he wakes up in a dark and cold room. It is barely midnight but again, he doesn't know that. He doesn't know where he is at. He sees blood coming through his heavily bandaged arm. The tips of his fingers are turning black and useless. He can't understand why he even has his arm to begin with. He slowly gets to his bare feet. He lets out a slight grunt as the floor is freezing. Minimal light from the full moon above shines in. He is thankful that it isn't cloudy. The room is rather small with a rimless toilet seat. A small sink that is so dirty that you would be better off not washing your hands in it. This isn't any hospital he's ever been to. He spent a weekend in an asylum after a two day binging of Everclear and Vodka. Even that place was paradise compared to this one.

(Author's Note: The Asylum does have a name and a long history. However it is the focal point of a different and much larger story. This story is just connecting the two. You will read that story from me one day.)

Behind him he hears a hissing followed by a rattling noise. He is startled and looks back. Out of his little cot that rests underneath the window slithers a black snake with blood red eyes. The snake's forked tongue is pearly white. Its tail is not a typical rattler but a rattler with a scorpion stinger on the tip. Victor is a snake lover and enthusiast but this was not your typical slithering asylum snake. The snake doesn't appear to be threatening. It makes its way to the darkest corner of the room. The beaming red eyes glow in the darkness about two feet off of the floor.