Hellesdeon

Chapter 1

Christopher Woods stepped onto the driveway and into the first rays of natural sunlight. It was nine o’clock in the morning on his first day outside. His skin prickled as the fresh air brushed against it and his nostrils tickled with a once familiar aroma that he no longer recognised. The smell of clean air. 

“Christopher?”

He snapped out of his daze and turned toward the doctor. 

“I just need you to sign these final forms and you’ll be officially discharged and free to continue with your life” the doctor said. Christopher took the pen from the doctor’s hand. The cylindrical object with its pointed tip felt foreign between his fingers. He held it with the point facing downward  and a drip of ink splashed onto the paper work. Stunned he continued to stare into the letters on the page. 

“Christopher, if you can’t sign the paper work, we cannot let you go.” The point hit home and without a second thought Christopher scrawled a few malformed lines that somewhat represented his name. Doctor Albert Frank patted him on the back and then rather unceremoniously took the paper work, turned and walked back into Hellesdeon Mental Hospital. Christopher stood a long while to breathe the air and feel it circulate in his lungs. He did not know how long it had been since he’d been outside. The air was crisp and the smell of the smoke from the furnaces danced across the near tangible scent of dew coated grass. Even his own clothes felt different. Cotton against his skin and the smoothness of underwear. He flexed his arms and stretched his legs then stood and savoured each second until his hansom arrived to collect him. 

“Christopher Woods?”

“Ah! Harry! My old friend. How great it is to see you!” 

The two embraced one another, before they climbed into the back of the hansom and Harry gave the driver their destination. 

“How have you been Christopher? It has been so long, I am glad they’ve cured you!”

“That place is hell Harry, hell I tell you!” Harry laughed unaware of the seriousness of his friends voice. “Glad to see your sense of humour hasn’t changed one bit, even if the rest of you has!” Harry quipped. 

“How is the family Harry, how have you been all this time?” Christopher attempted to shift the focus off himself as they gained distance on the nightmare he had been living for the last five years. Anxious to be in the world outside of the walls of Hellesdeon, he turned his head and watched the building disappear with a small sense of loss he could not disregard. 

“I’m married now, they say forty five years of age is too late for children, but I have found a wonderful woman. She is only twenty four and we have been married for three years now. Her name is Maria, you are going to meet he today.”As Harry spoke the time Christopher had spent in Hellesdeon slowly revealed its self in the changes he began to notice in Harry. The man’s eyes had become harder, the hazel colour now no longer as inviting as it was once was. He had grown a small goatee and his dress was impeccable. It became abundantly clear that Harry was no longer the person Christopher had known. He stroked his beard as he watched Harry slip into thought. It had been a fixture since his third week in Hellesdeon and aside from the occasional trim Christopher had let it be. He know found himself quite fond of it. 

“You’ll have to shave that horrendous beard before you meet my wife Christopher!” Harry joked “something smaller and well maintained, perhaps?” 

“I am quite fond of it, thank you Harry.” His companion snapped having missed the playful overtones in Harry’s voice. His remark left the two in silence and Christopher watched the streets morph into each other. 

“Christopher, I know it’s been a long time but I am still the same person I was five years ago.”

Christopher sat in silence, unaware of how to respond. Harry’s perception had caught him off guard and aside from the orderlies, Christopher had had no one to one personal interaction since his admittance. He found his thoughts were empty save the recitation he’d prepared and rehearsed for weeks.