Suffering Alone In Silence

The last few days have been tough on both Mikey and Frank. Frank's been taken off every medication he was on, and Mikey's had to put up with him going through withdrawal. Frank hasn't opened himself up at all, he still firmly believes that whatever happened to him was completely normal and has nothing to do with why he's there. Except for the nightmares. The only thing that tells hims otherwise is the things he sees when he closes his eyes.

Last night, and the night before that, and the night before that, and the night before that and the one before that, my pager has gone off at ridiculous times, always the nightmares. He often won't tell me what happened in them. But last night, he said that it was all the darkness, it was eating him, devouring his flesh. He said that it felt like it was eating his soul, ripping his heart from his chest and leaving him too die. Before, he said that he couldn't move, the world was rushing around him, but he was totally frozen, he couldn't breathe, he was suffocating. Today, I got him a nightlight, to tame the dark and the monsters that hide in it, I'm giving it to him this afternoon, after school.

I hear a knock on the door, I open it, to come face to face with Dr Kilhanna. He was standing next to a young boy, who was sobbing silently. Kilhanna pushed the boy into my office and walked back to his.

On closer inspection, the boy was covered in bruises and scars, he wasn't crying either. He was shaking with laughter. His pale face was contorted with a horrific grin and the blood that was slowly etching it's trail through it didn't seem to bother him. His hollow laughter echoed through my office, bouncing against the empty walls.

Slowly, his hysteric laughter started to die down, he fell into a chair and turned to face me. His blond hair hung over his face, covered in, what I presumed was, his own blood.

At that moment, my pager went off. The boy peered over at my desk and made a face, seeing what it was.

“You work for a hospital?” he asked, in a disgusted tone.

“Yes, if fact, I do. And if you would excuse me, my patient is waiting,” I said, before grabbing my bag and rushing out the door into a freezing corridor.