Asylum | E.D

4

"What? Did your little friends tell you to stay away from me?"

Ethan

I came face to face him with a mirror. I look down at my hands, and their the same. I'm still wearing the hideous grey jumpsuit, with the white vans. I look back up at the mirror and study my reflection.

But it wasn't my reflection, it was Grayson.

Grayson smiles at me through the mirror and I furrow my eyebrows together. What is he doing here? I stare at Grayson through the mirror. He isn't smiling anymore. In fact, he looks afraid, terrified almost. Afraid of what? I don't know what's happening. I turn around to see if there's anyone behind me, but there isn't.

I turn back around and Grayson crying now. His eyes are bloodshot. It didn't take me long to realise Grayson is afraid of me. Guilt ripped through me even though I had no idea what I did to make him afraid.

The sobs get louder, and I cover my ears to hide the screams. I don't dare look away from him. I held out my hand, trying to touch him. As I touch the mirror, it completely shatters, and Grayson's blood is all over me.

I take a step back, shaking my head and wanting to get out of here. As I turn around, I'm face to face with my sister Cameron. She starts crying, just like Grayson. Tears stream down her face, but it wasn't tears.

It was blood.

I open my eyes abruptly, jolting up from the bed where I was sleeping. My mind was racing, my heart is beating so fast I felt like I just ran a marathon. I place my hand on my forehead, shaking my head.

It was just a nightmare. I tell myself. I haven't had a nightmare in weeks. I thought they gave up on me, but I guess I was wrong. They didn't. There they are again, haunting me. This time it's much more frightening.

"Hey, you're awake." a nurse rushes over to me, with a tray of food in her hands. I then realised I wasn't in my usual room, I was in the asylum hospital. "What happened?" I asked, not remembering how I ended up in the hospital.

The nurse pulls a chair next to my bed and sits herself down on it. She takes the bowl off the tray and hands it to me. "Here, eat this first." she says, I look down, noticing what looks to be soup in the bowl.

I take the spoon she was handing and start eating. My stomach started rumbling, I then realised how hungry I actually was. How long have I been here? "Why am I here?" I ask again.
The nurse looks at me with a sympathetic smile, while adjusting her glasses.

"You've been here two days." she starts. "I don't know the exact details, but they rushed you here when you collapsed out in one of the hallways. The brought you here and said you start to have some sort of panic attack, and that you wouldn't stop screaming and running." the nurse explains.

I didn't remember doing that, to anything about the last few days really.

-

I was allowed to leave by the time dinner came around. Slipping on the shoes next to the hospital bed, I got out of bed and began walking out of the hospital room. A nurse escorted me down the hall, and watched me cautiously, afraid I might have another episode again. I managed to get down the hall without saying or doing anything.

I ripped my arm away from her grip, feeling annoyed that she had to watch every move I make. The nurse said nothing, then left me by the door. Sighing, I opened the cafeteria door and walked over to the line.

I noticed the new girl with the blonde hair and brown eyes, was standing in front of me with her tray in her hand. She was biting her nails nervously as she looked around the room. Her head turned in my direction, her eyes widening as she studied my face.

My eyebrows raised as I looked back at her. "What? Did your little friends tell you to stay away from me?" I ask her, knowing that Ellie must have said something. I noticed she sat with them for lunch, so I figured they spilled the beans on the rumours about me. After all, who doesn't love gossip?

"I..uh..no." she stumbled over her words as her cheeks turned a shade of pink. "The other night I saw you getting dragged down the hall a-and I heard you were sent to hospital two days ago. I wasn't expecting to see you, I was hoping they didn't do anything bad to you." she tells me.

I was taken back by her answer. She was concerned for me? "Well I'm fine, nothing I'm not used to." I tell her and she raises an eyebrow. "T-They do that often to you?" She asks me.
I shrug. "Only if I 'misbehave' which tends to happen a lot. Nine times out of ten it's not my fault, but I'm always the one to blame." I tell her, now noticing we reached the end of the line.

I notice Ellie, Tyler and Jackson are all staring at the two of us, with confused faces. I roll my eyes, taking my gaze off them and back to the blonde haired girl. "I never got your name." I tell her, looking down at her blushing face.

"Oh," she smiles, looking up at me. "My name is Jaylee." she says, biting her lip. "I'm-" I start but she cut me off. "Ethan Dolan, I know. I've heard some things about you." she says, shrugging her shoulders.

"And do you believe them?" I ask her, chewing on the inside of my cheek. I was hoping she wasn't like the others, who believed I was a psychopath.

"No, I've had experience with rumours myself. False accusations, it's actually the reason I ended up in this place."