Asylum Love

Chapter 1

The mind is a prison of its own

But imagine the dread

Of being stuck not only in your mind,

But behind bars as well?

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The bell blared through the halls, waking all the unfortunate souls who had wound up here. Among them being Will graham, who tossed in his cot, the siren like bell doing nothing to give him a comforting wakeup as he bolted up, white shirt clinging to his body covered in sweat, hair stuck to his clammy skin.
The sheets they called blankets pooled around his waist, the cot giving a creak, threatening to collapse on the mess of a man in it.

His chest heaved, fingers digging into the sheets as he calmed himself.
Its only a dream, nothing more.
A weak attempt to sooth his mind, working enough, as he reached under his pillow and pulled out his glasses, sliding them on.
Sliding his feet over the edge of the cot, no longer wincing at the cold stone his feet landed on, the sensation not unlike needles shooting up his legs for a luckily short moment.
He sighed, reaching down, grabbing the edges of his white jumper and pulling it up his legs, standing to shimmy the course fabric over his hips. One, then the other arm slid through the sleeves, before zipping the uniform up and shuffling to door.

It was unlocked, and he stepped into the hall where other occupants left their rooms, filling the hall in a slow and loud shuffle to the dinning room. He eyed them, frown as always in place as he tried to avoid bumping anyone. He hated these morning treks just for some oatmeal, maybe a apple or carrot on a good day.
A endless cycle, wake up in a sweat, shuffle among the other occupants, eat, go through their 'free' periods, maybe a therapist appointment or two, then go back to their rooms to sleep and repeat.

Will found his seat, taking the opposite side of the table as he pushed and poked at the gelatinous goo he had in a bowl. At least it was warm, for once.
He finally went to take a bite, as a body slammed into his back, making him cough as his rib as slammed into the edge of the thick table.
The body left him a moment after, even though the pain remained, throbbing from his rib to his back.
Turning, he caught the knucklehead who had slammed into him; he looked around grahams age, if not younger, but a lot taller and much more bulky. Will wanted nothing to do with him.
Unfortunately, the brute caught his gaze, eyes narrowing as the smile turned malicious.
"What are you looking at, glasses?"
The man scoffed, eyeing will..Will knew he wasn't much to look at, and didn't look threatening in the slightest.
He quickly looked away, shaking his head, not wanting a fight.
"Nothing, Sir."
He muttered, knowing the sir would butter the brute enough that hed let it go.
And he did, with a scoff, back to talking with his friends, about how 'respected' he was by the other inmates.

Will didn't respect anyone here.
They were all here for a reason, none of which he found impressive. And if they thought brute strength earned them respect, then they were in the wrong prison.

Having lost his appetite, he forced himself to take two more bites before putting it at the empty bin, letting them throw it away or another inmate to find it and fill themselves. Either way, it was no longer in his hands.
Their was time on the clock before he had his first meetings,so he decided to wander the halls. Not much else to do here on your own.
He wandered the halls, passing rooms, until he turned down the staff hall. They weren't forbidden there, mind you, it was just where offices and meeting rooms were. Of course, he was heading for the library instead, planning to pickup a book he had been asking for, waiting multiple months for the okay, and they finally said okay. On his way down to the library, past the more unused offices, he noticed one of the doors was open and had boxes in front of it. The vacant paper had been slid out fo the name tag next to the door, so he guessed they had a new member on staff. Interesting.

He kept going, knowing hed meet them sooner or later, his book more important to him than a social encounter with the newest person to question his sanity. In fact, he'd rather avoid them as long as possible, so they couldn't analyze him. Psychoanalyzing was annoying, he found, and neither of them would like the results.
And so he reached the library, walking past the shelves slowly being filled with more than just magazines and dictionary's, not that he didn't appreciate the language books, but he didn't think learning three more languages would do him much good behind bars.
The inmate on shift as the librarian looked up, noticing him, and brightening.
They had talked on occasion, and ic he had to choose one person in this prison he didn't detest, it would be the little librarian.
"oh! Here to pick up the book already, i see. I knew you'd be excited about this one,"
They chattered as they stood, walking to the hold cart to pull the thick book put, and slide it across the counter to Will.

"ah, thank you. When should i return it?"
He asked, running his fingers over the cover.
"take your time with it! Nobody will notice its gone,your the only person to ever come down here anyway."
The boy of a man said with a wink, friendly.

"oh-are you sure?"
He asked, brow furrowing as he held the book safely to his chest.
"Of course! You've waited months for it, and you'll take care of it. Just bring it back when your done with it so i can give it a glimpse through too, right?"
He said laughing, will smiling slightly and nodding.

And so he left, book tucked to his chest. He was so caught in his head, he didn't noticed the figure watching him from the doorway of the new office.