Quarantined

Chapter 6

I missed dinner tonight.

I woke up too late in the night to even eat a full course, so I just made myself a small sandwich using what I could find in the kitchen, which I took back up to my bedroom. I made sure to be quiet, as Chris and Sam had already returned some time ago and were likely already asleep. I finished it somewhat quickly, and then went to use the bathroom down the hall, almost getting lost again along the way. The hallway was so dark; I could barely make out the doors on the sides. I only remembered where the bathroom was because I made sure to feel the doorknobs on the right side of the hall and recalled Chris telling me on the first day that it was the second door on the right when exiting my room. 

I went back to my bedroom, but I could not sleep yet again. I was tempted to take another one of my pills, but I wanted to remain awake for a while to see if the silhouettes would reappear behind the bars. And of course, they did. Way more than last time, I should say. I counted about nine or ten. There were so many of those crawling figures, and they move quite rapidly. On top of that, the rather incessant sound of banging steel had returned to me. It was not as loud as before, but it was still enough to annoy me greatly. 

It is so hard to bring myself to open up about my condition to just about anybody. But I decided that I shall try it tonight. I walked to Chris and Sam's bedroom at the other end of the hall, gently woke Chris up, and asked if I could talk with him downstairs. Keeping my voice to a hushed tone so as to not wake Sam up as well, I told him that my health was not improving, and that I was beginning to see and hear things. I told him that I did not feel comfortable in this house, and that I wished (and practically begged) for him to take me back to our hometown so I could seek help. 

But unfortunately, my pleas fell on deaf ears. 

"You know the place has improved you significantly," he said. "Additionally, our vacation will be over in a few days anyway; can you not wait until then? Believe me, you're doing very well; I can see it. Reginald has been telling me you have been eating well, getting a lot of rest, and on top of that, I do not see even a speck of pale or red on you." "I may look better physically, maybe--" I began, but I couldn't finish what I was saying. I suppose the cat got my tongue. Or maybe I could not think of the proper words to phrase my argument. Regardless, I fell silent. "Can we go back to sleep now?" Chris asked me. "I, personally, do not see anything wrong with you, but if you really insist, I will book you an appointment as soon as we return from our trip." So of course, I did not say anything more, and we both retired to our bedrooms again. As I quietly shut the door, I realized something. 

Instead of banging steel, I now began to hear whispering. 

It was incomprehensible, sure, but I was almost certain it was coming from the shadowed figures on my wall. I still hadn't freed them, like I was meaning to this morning. And I have not the foggiest idea where all of these new shadows came from. I wonder if they had gotten themselves trapped behind the design too, as I did? Those poor things.....I find myself able to sympathize myself with their plight to an uncanny extent. Just as they are trapped within the wall, I regularly feel as though I am trapped in my house back in my own town. Even on this vacation, my initial bout of tiredness, and subsequently my visions, have led to me spending excessive amounts of time in this room, so it is as if I can never truly catch a break, even while supposedly on vacation.

I.....I must do something to free them! I would not wish for them to be isolated too, as I was.

Just then, I heard some rustling outside. I peered through the window, and I saw another shadow, crawling on all fours just like the rest, outside on the leaves that littered the backyard. Now, how did that one get free? As I was thinking about it, I suppose the shadow noticed me staring at it, and quickly retreated behind a nearby tree. I do not blame it in the least; after all, it must be ever so humiliating to be seen by someone else when creeping around. Hence why I always lock the door when I do so. And unlike that silhouette, I never get caught outside. I would not dare go outside even if I wanted to! Every inch of this room's wall is blue; my favorite color, I might add. Whereas everything outside the room; no, everything outside the mansion, is a rather sickly, disgusting green. Green grass, green leaves....my stomach hurls just thinking about it. Here, though, I can shuffle around to my heart's content, with the cold, refreshing air from the A/C unit always at my back.

But why should I allow my own kind to be stuck there within those walls? I should think they deserve to be free, and to crawl about with me! So, I begin brutally tearing and scratching at the wall like an animal, having come to see it as nothing but an obstacle. I scratched it so hard that eventually my fingernails started to bleed, and I began leaving streaks of red on the spots I picked at. I mercilessly tear it little by little until the paint chips begin to litter the floor. Suddenly, my work was interrupted when an unexpected visitor arrived at my room. 

"What is the matter? What on earth are you doing?" Reginald cried out in shock after he saw what I was up to. I paused for a second, and turned over my shoulder to look at him. "I told you to knock before entering...." I said in a gentle voice. I walked over to my bed and picked up a pillow. 

And then I lunged at him, using the pillow to rob him of all breath. 

He passed rather easily, I should say. His lungs gradually gave out, and his cane fell to the floor. The jewel which crowned it shattered into countless pieces.

But I did not care in the least. I took the key from a nearby dresser, locked my bedroom door, threw the key out the window, and closed it. 

It was a pity he had to go, but I wasn't about to let anybody get in the way of my task.