𝕯𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖉 ☽ 𝕒𝕙𝕤

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

Later on that night, I'm trying to make myself comfortable on the bed in my dreary cell. It's so small - I've never really been claustrophobic before but I feel like I'm suffocating.

The bed springs feel like daggers crudely nailed into a wooden board, the stained, scratchy sheets offering little relief.

The double doors at the end of the hallway are flung open, followed by the jingling of keys. I can make out two sets of footsteps and the sound of shuffling feet.

The noise grows louder as they near my cell. I see Kit pass the barred window, being dragged down the hall. I hear the clattering of metal as he is thrown in to the cell next to me. The footsteps fade away.

'Kit?' I say shyly through the wall. I don't know whether I should be scared of him or not.

'Evie?' He whispers back. I hear shuffling next to the thin wall followed by a grunt and a broken sigh.

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I've had more lashes than this,' he says, 'still hurts like hell though...'

'Kit...'

'What is it?'

'Why are you here?' I ask with apprehension for the answer.

'They say I killed my wife...'

'Did you?'

'No... I would never. Please believe me, I think I might really go insane if someone else in this place thinks I'm some deranged serial kille-'

'I believe you,' His response was enough to invalidate my doubts. Maybe I'm too naïve, but he's only been kind to me and I can't imagine him doing what he's accused of.

'Really?'

'Of course - you believed me, didn't you? There was... someone I knew. There was something in his eyes, and I never quite knew what it was. But now I know that it was the flare of a killer. And the only thing I see in yours is innocence and pain.'

'So what's your story?' he says.

I sigh.

'I don't mean to pry.'

'No, no it's alright. Well... I lived with my mom and dad, we were a pretty average family. We moved to a new house that people would always refer to as 'the murder house' and I never understood why. Terrible things had happened there and for some reason if you die there your soul becomes trapped.' I hesitate. 'I know... it's hard to believe but I'm still trying to understand. I met this boy - I loved him... or at least I thought I did. He was dead. He shot up a school and was killed by the police afterward. I was so overwhelmed and confused - I wasn't thinking... I took too many pills and I just remember waking up feeling trapped but numb. My parents sent me off here because they thought I was crazy.'

'Well, you aren't crazy. And sometimes you gotta tell yourself that so you don't go completely insane. I believe you - don't ever worry about that.'

'Thanks for being so kind to me. So why are you here instead of prison?'

'I need to either be deemed guilty or insane. My wife got abducted my aliens the night before she supposedly died. I know she was. But no one's gonna believe my story about the little green men are they?'

'I'm so sorry, Kit... But if it makes you feel any better - I think you know what you saw and you're definitely not crazy.'

'Thanks...'

I take a sigh of relief and lean back against the wall.

'Kit?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you know a way out of here?'

'To escape?'

'Yeah...'

'It's too dangerous. What would they do if we got caught?'

'Escaping is no worse than what they're doing. It's not right.'

'Well...' he sighs, 'the only way out of here I know of is... death.'

'There has to be a way-'

I'm interrupted my one of the other cellmates opposite us yelling for us to shut up. We both chuckle softly and tired.

'In that case, I guess... goodnight, Kit.'

'Night, Evie.'

I hear him shuffle into his bed with a creak as I endeavour to get comfortable in mine. I stare up at the grey, splotchy ceiling until I pass out into a shallow, nightmare-filled slumber.

✧

The next morning, I wake up to a cacophony of clanging metal and shouting. The guards are ushering everyone out of their cells and in to the common room. It's still dark outside and it feels as of I haven't even closed my eyes yet.

As I get pushed down the corridors along with the other patients, I notice a new face. Her eyes are visibly raw from crying and her temples bear the trademarks of electroshock therapy.

When we filter out in to the common room, I watch her take a seat before I approach her. She grabs out a notebook and harshly scribbles something out in pencil.

I walk towards her and sit down on the chair opposite her. She shakily looks up at me, startled, as she stuffs the notebook behind her. The look she gives me is that of pure terror, like a deer caught in the headlights.

'It's okay - I'm not a total nutjob. And neither are you.'

She relaxes a little and gives me a small, forced smile.

'I'm Evie,' I smile.

She offers her name in return.

'Lana. Lana Winters.'

✧