De Pride Isle Sanatorium

Chapter 10: Morning & Breakfast

A bell begins to ring. I slowly open my eyes. "Good morning, dears! Rise and shine! Wake up and head out of your dorms and head upstairs to the cafeteria!" Just what I wanted to wake up to. A morning announcement. "Good morning, Johnson." Jaxton says, smiling. I sit up and stare at him. "How can you act so normal after what happened last night..?"

"Listen, me and Jaxton have been here for months. We know the whole shtick of this sanatorium. We know everything. We're used to this. Sure, it's still disturbing, but we can't change it. We're all sick. Either suck it up and try to survive and be cured, or mope around and get eaten." Marissa says sternly. We both glare at each other. "...Come on, guys. Don't fight. Listen, Johnson. She's right. We're just gonna have to get used to it. There's not much we can do."

I stayed quiet. I looked down at the floor and start crying. "I-I... I'm stuck here, aren't I? I'm infected..." I sob. I don't want to be stuck here. I don't want to turn into one of those sick creatures. I hate this. I just wanted to get help for my mental health. Why did I choose this asylum? Why?

I feel a sudden warmth around me. "It's okay, Johnson. This is all overwhelming. We're all going to get better, one day. Don't cry." Jaxton says as he hugs me tighter. I feel safe in his arms for some reason. "Stop babying him. He's going to have to cope with this on his own." Marissa says. "Come on, we'll be late for breakfast." She opens the dorm door and leaves. "Come on, Johnson. Let's get food."

As we leave the dorms, I noticed that the body from last night is no longer there. I assume it was from that woman last night. Is that what they do when they die? They take them away before anyone sees? "Jaxton, where do the bodies go? They're gone."

"The Morticians take them away."

"Morticians?"

"Yes. They take them at night so other patients don't wake up to half eaten corpses."

My stomach then growls in disgust. "Please, don't describe them like that. It makes me feel sick..."

"Well, you asked, so I answered. That woman last night was probably one of the Morticians. They don't dress like the other nurses. They mostly wear red instead of mostly white."

We're both quiet for a moment as we walk up the stairs. We head towards the cafeteria hall. I look over and see people leaving a room. My eyes widen. Some of the people have bloody faces and clothes. A nurse is talking to them and then they follow her as they walk towards us and out of the cafeteria hall. "...Those were the cannibals. They've turned into humans again. I hope they get holy water soon."

"Where did they just walk out of?"

"The isolation rooms. You don't wanna be in there. It's disgusting."

We walk into the cafeteria and make our way towards the table Marissa is sitting at. We sit down and wait for our meals. I notice some people are crying. It makes my heart hurt knowing that some people can lose their friends in this asylum. I don't like it here. I wanna go home...

I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, lighten up. Maybe the nurses will let us go to the playground today?" Jaxton says. "I hope so! I love the playground! I really miss the fresh air. We haven't had the privilege of going outside because people were being assholes last week. They wouldn't move so the nurses could unlock the doors." Marissa says. "Oh my god, yeah. Sister Annabelle was so pissed. She threw her hands up and told us that we weren't going to have playground after all and told us to go to the lecture hall and wait for shipment." Jaxton says, then he starts to laugh.

I smile at him, watching him laugh. "Hey! I haven't seen you smile since you got here!" Jaxton says, looking at me. I stopped smiling. "Yeah, now you won't see it again." I replied. "Come on, man. Don't be like that."

"Ah! Good morning, darlings! Time for breakfast! Today we are going to have some delicious fried flamingo! Please be in uniform and seated!"

"Oh, yum! I love flamingo!" Marissa says excitedly. The nurses exit the kitchen and begin to do their routine of handing us our food. "Are they just gonna act like nothing happened...?" I whisper. "Yeah. That's always what they do." Jaxton whispers back. I watch as the nurses happily hand out the plate of delicious food. "Should I ask them about it?"

"No. They will call you crazy."

Crazy...? Why? Did they not see the massacre that happened? ...Or are they told to pretend nothing happened?