Playing God With A New World

I'm Not Crazy, but That's What a Crazy Person Would Say

Brian awoke strapped to a bed. His arms and legs held down by restraints, and another across his forehead, not allowing him to even look around the room. A bright light hung high above his head. Disorientated he fought with all his might to try and get free, he screamed bloody murder. It was no use, there was no way he was going to break free. His screams had excited the other patients that could hear his struggles. They echoed in with screams of their own. A pack of wild dogs screaming at nothing. Brian did not belong here, he was more sane than the people running this place, his thirst for power had put him here. Anger overcame his composure, he was mad at himself, he was mad at the world. As he lay there fuming, a nurse came in to check on him.

"Glad to see you're awake, I have you next dose of meds here. They will make you nice and comfortable." the nurse said. Without hesitation, she fed Brian an unknown concoction into his IV. The room started spinning and Brian had flashbacks of his time a few days prior in the London hospital. He was just as helpless than as he was now, except now he didn't have the escape of death. Colors and shapes darted across the ceiling, and Brian was taken over by a fit of laughter. He had no control over his emotions. Tears streamed from his face, and his chest hurt from the deep hysteria that had taken him over.

"Please, you have to help me" Brian pleaded through the laughter."The full effect of the medicine will take effect soon, don't worry, I'll be back in to check on you" said the nurse, as she hustled out of the room."I'm not crazy, I need to get back to my lab" Brian shouted as she disappeared from the room.

His words fell on deaf ears.

In and out of consciousness, Brian didn't know if it was minutes or days that were going by. When he came too long enough to grasp his reality, he was sitting in a wheel chair in a cafeteria. Doped out patients were strewn across the room. Brian looked at the plate of slop in front of him. A greenish brown color, indistinguishable from being edible or not. He watched as one person dove in like an animal, with food dripping from their chins as they cautiously looked around room. As Brian assessed his situation, he noticed one other man calmly sitting there, doing the same. He was the only person that looked coherent, besides the couple workers who chatted at a table to themselves. 

Wheeling over to the man, Brian introduced himself "Hi, I am Brian."

"Nice to meet you Brian, I am Albert" said the man" 

"Is it always like this?" Brian asked.

"Every single day" Albert replied."This is all a big misunderstanding, and I will be out of here" Brian started to explain, before Albert interrupted with a chuckle."That's what they all say" said Albert."I'm not crazy, I have just gotten myself into a mess I am trying to fix" Brian said."Would a crazy person know they are crazy?" Albert questioned."I had never thought of it that way, I guess you're right" responded Brian."What are you in here for?" Brian asked Albert."Just woke up in here one day, or maybe I have been here so long I forgot about my past life" said Albert."I have had the craziest dreams the last week or so, every night I would dream I was a different person, and when I would wake up from my dream I was still here" mentioned Albert."And that has never happened before?" inquired Brian."Must be a different batch of drugs they are giving us" Albert explained."Do you remember anything from before you started having these dreams?" Brian asked."Not really, all the days have just blended together. I couldn't even tell you what day or year it was, let alone who our president was." responded Albert.

He started to speak again, but was interrupted by a bell going off in the corner.

"Lunch time's over, we can continue this at dinner if we are coherent enough." said Albert as he wheeled himself towards the exit door.

Brian sat their pondering the conversation. Could what Albert experienced somehow be related to his experiment? Did Albert remember what had happened to him? He was not sure what this meant, but it was Brian's first glimmer of hope since he got here. Maybe Beth would start to remember him and he would be rescued. Snapped back to reality by the nurse roughly grabbing his wheel chair and starting to push him back to his room. He was greeted by two large male nurses that were prepared to help strap Brian back into his bed. There was no point in fighting, Brian willing got into bed and let them strap down his arm and legs. Maybe because of his cooperation, but they neglected to strap down his head this time. They however, did not forgot to give him another dose of meds that sent him back into an altered state of reality.

Coming to, Brian was back in his wheelchair being brought back to what he figured was the cafeteria. This was not the case at all, he was brought to a secluded room where the two cops from the night before were waiting for him. They started with a little small talk, asking if he was being treated well, but soon the conversation turned more serious.

"You are in a lot of trouble Brian, we want to help you, but you need to help us" One of the cops said."We just want to know how you found out about the reactor, and who you work for" the other cop chimed in."You will not believe me, but this is the truth, that used to be my lab. I do not work for anyone, I am just trying to get my life back to normal" Brian tried to explain."Brian, we have records here of you working at a local warehouse for the last 20 years. You have no scientific education, and a pretty lengthy record of OUI's, public intoxication, and disorderly conduct. If you do not cooperate, you will be going away for a long time" threatened the first cop."I have nothing I can say that will convince you, I do not belong here, please talk to Dr. Simon again, she has stolen my life" said Brian."Don't you worry Brian, we have thoroughly investigated Dr. Simon and she has never seen or heard of you. You are not doing yourself any favors not working with us. Maybe if we let you rot here a little more you will smarten up" the second cop responded.

With that, the cops motioned towards the door and a nurse quickly came in and wheeled Brian away. He had gone through so much trauma in the last week, but that he was hardly affected by his scare tactics. The nurse wheeled Brian to the cafeteria and planted him in front of a long table with another tray of slop for Brian to gag over. Still not hungry enough to try the sludge they were trying to feed him, Brian searched the room for Albert. He spotted him, but immediately noticed that Albert was not as coherent as he was early. His head was slouched over with a long string of drool falling from his mouth. Brian wheeled himself over and greeted Albert. Albert barely acknowledged Brian was there.

"You are not looking very good Albert" Brian stated.Albert slowly turned his head to show Brian his sunken eyes and mumbled a couple incoherent things and continued to zone out in his stupor."What have they done to you Albert, a few hours ago you were the most normal person in here" said Brian.

This was not meant to be funny, but Albert burst out into a hysterical fit. Spit flying from his mouth with every cackle. Brian knew there was no getting through to him. He slowly wheeled himself back to his table and decided to spend his moment of clarity pondering his situation. The cafeteria was chaos, Albert's laughing fit had aroused the fellow patients. Brian could barely hear his own thoughts as howls and screaming echoed throughout the room. The staff apparently didn't want to deal with this, and they quickly started wheeling people back to their rooms. Soon it was Brian's turn and he prepared himself for an awful night of being helplessly strapped to his bed falling in and out of reality.