𝕯𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖉 ☽ 𝕒𝕙𝕤

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

𝚖𝚊𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 - 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚣

☽

I'm lead into the common room. The staff slam the door behind me as I walk in.

I look around to take in my surroundings. The whole room is thick with the stench of rot, and filled with wails and inaudible moans from the patients.

A woman stands in at the edge of the room, wrinkled and tired beyond her years. Her brown hair is matted and she bangs her head against the window repeatedly. It's clear that she had done the same thing for a long time, her movements had become like clockwork.

Another cradles a tattered baby dool, her blue outfit torn and stained. Every patient in this room is either running around mindlessly or barely moving, as if all the energy had left their bodies.

There's this awful french song playing in the background that makes it hard to think. I scan around the room for the source and I target an old vinyl player in the corner. I walk over to it and teach to lift up the needle.

'You don't wanna do that,' says a man's voice, as his hand stops my arm from reaching it. I pull away, startled.

'Why not?'

'I know - it's enough to make you insane if you aren't already - but don't turn it off. As long as the song plays, the common room stays open.'

I look up to see his face and immediately look back down, concealing the fact that I'm blushing.

Come on, Evie. You don't even know his name yet and there's got to be a reason he's in this place.

He outstretches a hand for me to shake and introduces himself.

'Kit Walker,' he says, his accent coming through.

I take his hand.

'Evie. Evie Montgomery.'

He leans on the vinyl player as he talks to me.

'So... what did you do to end up here?'

I look down, trying to decide how to answer that question.

'Oh... I'm sorry,' he apologises, 'I didn't mean to pry. I haven't told anyone my story yet. It would fall upon dead ears if I told any of these nutjobs,' he laughs.

'And who's to say I'm not one of them?'

'Nah, I know what crazy people look like by now.'

'Well...  tried to kill myself after I found out that my ex boyfriend was a serial killer that ha-,' I stop myself. Why am I telling him this?  Why do I always open up so easily? I have no reason to trust him and why would he believe me? 'I'm sorry... I know that sounds-'

'What? Crazy?' he asks, 'don't worry, I believe you - you're not the only one that no one else believes.'

He smiles at me and I smile back. At least I know there's one person in this hell hole that believes my story.

'And, I'm sorry.'

'It's okay,' I shrug, 'so how did you get here?'

He's about to start telling me his story when someone walks up to us.

'Hey bloodyface,' he says with an ugly smirk as he looks at Kit.

Bloodyface?

'Who's this chick yer talkin' to, eh?' he looks at me with a predatory grin and starts moving towards me before Kit pushes him off.

'What do you want, Donnie?'

'I guess you've found yerself a new little lady friend, after what you did with yer last one, huh?'

I look at Kit, confused.

'Don't you da-'

'Or what, Walker? You gonna kill me too?'

He snarls at him again, and pulls his elbow back, preparing to strike Kit with his clenched fists.

I try to hold his arm and diffuse the situation, but he's way too strong for me. As he knocks me to the ground, his fist flies through the air, bloodying Kit's nose.

Kit lashes back out, tackling him to the ground. After getting in a few punches to Donnie's chest, they roll over so Kit ends up on the bottom, receiving several punches to the face.

Blood is streaming from his nose and anguished tears from his eyes.

I scan my eyes across the room, landing on a small metal tin. I focus on it - there's no way this is going to work. But the dresser, the cut - there has to be something up with me. If only I could harness it when I want to.

To my surprise, the tin flies from the table and strikes Donnie in the head, enough to knock him out.  He falls limp to Kit's side as he scrambles up and asks me if I'm okay.

'I'm fine,' I mutter, still stunned by what I just did, 'I think you should worry more about yourse-'

The doors swing open and the clicking of heels sounds throughout the common room.

Sister Jude is in front, followed by three guards and the man in the suit from earlier.

'He started it,' Kit makes an attempt to plead innocent, pointing over to Donnie unconscious on the floor.

One of the asylum staff walks over to Kit, pulling out his baton. His eyes change from sad to terrified as the guard strikes him on the head, rendering him unconscious.

I watch as he is dragged away. The two other men pull Donnie up and move him out behind him. As they are leaving I pull the suited man to the side.

'Do you know anything about Kit?' I look up hopefully. I need some answers.

'Bloodyface?' he asks.

Why do people keep calling him that?

Noticing my confusion, he explains:

'He skinned and beheaded three women, including his wife. The man's a monster of the purest form.'

I step back, trying to process the information. Could this man really have done such evil things?

'Wh-what? He doesn't seem like the kind of pers-'

'Well people aren't always what they seem, Miss Montgomery. The sooner you learn that the better.'

With that he walks away, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

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