The Edge

Zacky:

The room I woke up in was a sterile white. Blank, looming, the florescent lighting stung my eyes, harsh and unnatural. I closed my eyes. There was a gentle knock at the door, the same timid voice from the white vehicle calling softly.

I didn't say anything. It was part of my act to stay quiet, act like I was afraid and I didn't know what was going on. I released a little whimper of fear, pushing myself back into the white sheets.

A young, dark-skinned woman with a sheet of short, dark hair, dressed in the nurse's uniform walked in carrying a tray of food and a small container of pills, "Hello, dear, how are you feeling?"

I leaned away from her again, beginning to shiver nervously, biting on my bottom lip like I was seriously afraid of her, "F-Fine, ma'am..."

"Oh, dear, you look upset... Here, these will calm you down, Zachary." the woman, whose name tag read 'Ann', offered me a few of the pills with the glass of water. I took the glass and the pills, popping them into my mouth and cheeking them, swallowing a few mouthfuls of water. She placed the tray on my desk, telling me I could eat if I was hungry before she disappeared out of the room.

I spit the pills into my hand, looking around before getting up and slipping into the bathroom, dropping the pills into the toilet and flushing it. I retreated back to the white bed, climbing up into the white bed again and reaching for the tray of food.

I considered the possibility that the food was also drugged, but I risked it, taking a bite out of the tiny loaf of bread on the tray. I remembered that the shot they'd given me to sleep on the way here hadn't worked, I thought that maybe my blood had some resistance to the drugs. It didn't make me want to try the pills the nurse, Cheryl, had given me.

Places like this were boring. It's not like they provide mental kids with something to do all day. I was tempted to just make myself sleep, but I was still curious about my new found abilities. I wanted to test them even further, because I already knew I could manipulate my own and the bodies of others,, but somehow, I thought there was far more to this. I looked around, my eyes finally settling on the plastic white dressed across the room from the bed I was on.

"Burn..." I whispered, looking directly at the dresser.

It burst into purple flames, beginning to melt and char. I smirked a little. It looked like my powers weren't bound to the living.

"Stop."

The flame died, though the melted plastic and the burn marks remained. Maybe I could heal with these abilities, too... If I could cause damage, it'd make sense that I'd be able to fix it, too. I thought of a good word for how I wanted to fix the dresser.

"Hm, how about... Restore?" I said to nothing.

The dresser's burn marks and melted parts slowly began to change until the char marks were gone, and the melted plastic had returned to normal. I smiled brightly. This meant if Brian was hurt, I could help him... or anyone else who I decided I wanted to help. I could be a hero, I could save lives...

Well, not really, being locking in an insane asylum means I don't have the opportunity to fly around saving the world... Not that I want to bother, really. The majority of the human race is doomed.

I opened my mouth, running my fingertip along my no-longer-jagged teeth. I wondered... how far these abilities went. What kind of things could I do? I'd find out, once I found out a way to get the hell away from here. Hell, maybe I'd find a power to help me get out of this place.

Suddenly, the white door of the white room was opened, and Ann smiled at me, "Hello again, Zachary. You have visitors..."

Visitors?

She opened the door wider, allowing two people I was relieved to see into the room, stepping in after them and closing the door. Brian smiled at me almost nervously, his mother stood a ways away, next to the door.

"Hey, Zacky, how are you?" he asked, walking over to me on the bed. I held my arms open for him and he hugged me quickly, "Want to tell me what happened?"

Tears...

I started to cry lightly, shaking and leaning against him, "I d-don't know... I don't remember... They told me I killer Gale... I didn't know... I feel sick, Brian..."

He cooed lightly, stroking my hair and sighing gently, "I'm sorry... It's okay, though, I'm here, and I'll visit you whenever I can, okay? I have school and stuff, but I can come up here on the weekends, if you like, I can bring some games for us to play, or something, alright?"

"I'd like that. I don't want to be alone, Brian. I don't like it here, I'm all alone..." I whimpered, cuddling up to him a little. He hugged me reassuringly, telling me he'd be sure to visit tomorrow and bring some games for us to play.

He lowered his voice dangerously, so it was a mere whisper in my ear, "Zacky, if they give you pills, don't take them. Don't let this place turn you into a drone, stay yourself, okay? I care about you, I don't want you to change. Don't let them trick you, they aren't your friends."

I nodded. He was repeating things I knew, but the fact that he cared enough to warn me made me feel so happy. He started to shift himself, gently sliding away from me and getting to his feet.

"You're leaving already?" I whimpered, real sadness penetrating my gaze. Brian gave me a deep, saddened look in response, nodding slowly.

"Mom wants me to leave," he said somberly, "She thinks you're going to snap and kill us."

My shoulders slumped. I would never hurt Brian or someone he cared about. He meant the world to me, I was going to protect him and hope he did the same, I would never harm him, not ever. Something told me his mother wouldn't believe this even if I swore to it. Nevertheless, tears began to spill down my cheeks.

"I would never..." my voice was broken, "I'd never hurt you... I love you."

Brian flushed a bit, "Th-That's what I told her, I said you wouldn't do anything, I didn't even believe you did it in the first place... It's okay, Zacky, I believe you, even if they," He gestured viciously at the two woman back against the wall, "don't. And I promise you I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

I nodded, getting up and shuffling across the cold white tile and leaning against him. Brian sighed lightly, wrapping an arm around me, "It's alright, adults are stupid. Just remember what I told you, okay? Don't let them change you. You're an awesome kid."

I spent a moment basking in the compliment, nodding slowly. He stroked my hair, kissing my head, before pulling gently away from me. As the nurse led them out again, Brian waved, smiling sadly and mouthing, "Bye, Zee."

Yawning, I sat down on the sterile, too-white bed and read through our conversation in my head. Brian thought I hadn't killed her... It was sweet of him, and I wasn't one of those 'take all the credit' sort of people, so I wasn't about to tell him the truth. Still, even if he found out I did kill Gale, he wouldn't stop visiting me...

My eyes closed. I wished there was more to do around here. Seriously, just because you're mentally ill doesn't mean you should be totally bored every hour of every day. I guess it was better than being in juvy, though, because I'd get raped in juvy... Or be presented with the opportunity to kill other people.

Stop being so malicious. Go to sleep, nancy boy.

~

I woke up to Ann's thickly accented but still timid voice calling my name gently. I groaned, opening my eyes slowly. The dark woman was standing a few feet away, doing... something, preparing me drugged water or something, it looked like.

"Morning, sweety. I thought you might like to meet someone new to play with... I know you're thirteen, but kids your age need socialization. Would you like to meet her?" Ann asked. If there was one person I liked here, it was Ann. She was kind, and she always managed to smuggle me extra cookies at lunch. She had a fondness for children, especially the 'sweethearts', she'd told me.

"Uh..." I mumbled, playing with the sleeve of my hospital gown-thing, "Sure... she's nice, right?"

Ann laughed lightly, turning to me with a can of soda in her hand, "She's very sweet, like you. And here you are, it was difficult to get a hold of, but I thought you deserved a treat."

She handed me the soda can, a delighted look spreading across my face, "Well sure, I'll meet her, is she'd nice, and thank you Miss Annie!"

I cracked open the soda, taking a sip of it. It was cool and fizzy, and I hadn't had soda since I'd been staying with Brian. Ann 'aww'ed, smiling lovingly at me. She was a very good woman for this job, patient and kind and gentle, unlike some of the nurses here who resented working with mentally ill people. I liked having her as my primary nurse, I hated when the other ones came around. There was a short, chubby girl named Wendy who called me names when she had to bring my lunch, and she'd do cruel stuff on purpose. I can do cruel stuff on purpose, too.

"Well," Ann said, smiling, "I'll be off to fetch lunch and I'll being her in to eat with you, if you're okay with that, Zacky. Enjoy that soda, okay? I'll be right back, hun."

Ann waved, smiling, before disappearing out of the heavy door. I sipped some more of the soda, looking around again. I wanted to color the walls or something, make everything in here less... white. It was far too white in here, that's for sure.

I had about half-finished with the can of soda when Ann came back, one hand holding a tray of food, the other clutching the hand of a young girl. She was pale, lengthy brown hair curled in to frame her face. She was shorter than me, and she had chocolatey eyes. They weren't as pretty as Brian's, but she was a girl, so, what could you expect?

"What's her name?" I asked as Ann handed me a tray of food and let the girl sit down on the center carpet. The nurse handed the girl her tray, and the girl nodded, not speaking.

Ann turned back to me, giving me one of her twinkling smiles, "Her name is Cheryl, she's a bit older than you. I'm going to stay in here, I don't want anything to happen.."

She gave me a warning look. I liked Ann, and I knew she was just looking out for the two of us, it was nothing personal. It was her job, after all. Ann gestured a bit at Cheryl, "Come on, dear, talk to Zacky. He's a sweet boy..."

After another moment of silence, Ann sighed and nodded before going into the bathroom and grabbing her cleaning supplies, starting to clean the shower. As she closed the bathroom door, the girl, er, Cheryl, looked up at me and smiled.

"What are you in here for? You look normal." She said. Her voice was soft, but melodic. Rather like a birds. I found it odd, but also intriguing.

"Looks...." I said, taking a bite of the Mac and Cheese on my plate, "Can be deceiving... I'm anything but normal... Why don't you eat?"

"Food's drugged." she grunted, "It must not affect you, if you can eat it and not get all... loopy and weird. That's weird, never met a kid who isn't affected by it..."

I shrugged, taking another bite of the food. I had concluded there was something in my blood, probably whatever it was that was giving me my odd abilities, that dissolved any of the drugs that entered my system.

"I'm not exactly your average kid..." I told her quietly, sipping at the soda some more, "Well, I'm pretty average. I was, up until a few days ago..."

Cheryl looked at me patronizingly, "What did you do to get yourself locked in here?"

"Killed my caretaker."

"Ah, I thought it was something minor. You don't seem like the killing type, I can usually read people pretty well, though." She said, her tone colored with her deep thoughts.

"Well..." I looked around a little, taking another bite of Mac and Cheese, "What did you do?"

She sighed softly, "I have schizophrenia. You know what that is, kid?"

"Nope. And my name's Zacky."

Cheryl rolled her eyes, "That's great, I don't care. Anyway, the type of schizophrenia I have is rather minor, but I can't tell the difference between real and unreal things... and I hear voices. I'm on medication for it... It's getting better. But, anyway, you don't seem really insane, why'd you kill her?"

"Er... she was a bitch." I replied, wincing a bit.

A laugh escaped Cheryl, her curly brown hair bouncing, "Wow, you're funny. Zacky, right? Well, I'll make an effort to remember you now, I like guys who can make me laugh."

She gave me a look. I winced again, "I'm gay."

"Figures, the cute ones are always gay. Well, we can be friends anyway. Do you have a boyfriend, then, Zacky?" She asked curiously, tilting her head a bit. She looked rather like a dog, but not in a bad way. It was sort of funny.

I smiled a bit, glad my teeth were no longer pointed, my face flushing a bit, "Sort of... But he doesn't know it yet. He thinks he's straight... He's so fucking gorgeous."

"Aren't you a bit young for such language?" Cheryl gave me a stern look, but her eyes laughed, "No, just kidding, I couldn't care less about your language. If your gorgeous man comes around, though, you have to let me meet him, okay?"

"So you can steal him? I think not." I returned, throwing a threatening look at her.

Ann came out a moment later, saying she should bring Cheryl back to her own room now. I waved goodbye to my new friend, and she did the same, the nurse and the girl disappeared out the large door.

~

A bit later, there was a gentle knock at the door and Wendy, the nurse I seriously didn't like, poked her head in, glaring at me, "Hey, you have a kid here to see you."

She opened the door wider and Brian slipped in, showing off his brilliant smile. Wendy closed the white door, stepping inside to 'watch' us. I hopped up from where I'd been laying on the floor, and he hugged me tightly.

"Hey, how are you?" he asked gently, sitting down on the carpet. I sat next to him, opening my mouth to respond when Wendy let out an obnoxious and loud sigh, signifying her distaste for me.

Brian narrowed his stunning eyes, turning and glaring at her, "Hey, bitch, get the fuck out of here. He isn't going to kill me, he doesn't even have any weapons. And I saw the dudes outside the door, if I start screaming, they'll come to my rescue. I'm sure you have better things to go then stand here being a prick, go."

I smiled widely as Wendy gave Brian a flustered look, turning it into a hateful glare and tromping out of the room like a high class hooker. Brian sighed, muttering, "At last... How you deal with these people, I will never understand. She is a world class bitch, Zacky."

"Don't worry, Brian, my actual nurse is a lot nicer. Her name is Ann. That one is Wendy, and she's just a lonely slut." I told him, clambering up into his lap.

Brian patted me leg, snorting, "I don't even want to know why you know what a slut is... But, anyway, I'm here, so you want to play that game?"

"Only is you kiss me."

There was a sigh and a rolling of deep brown eyes before my face was tilted up and a small kiss was placed on the corner of my mouth. I beamed up at him as he pulled away, letting out a faint mew-like noise. Brian laughed softly.

"God..." he mumbled, "At thirteen you ask for kisses, you'll be begging me for sex in three years..."

I smirked, "And you'll give it to me. Not so straight, are we, Brian?"

"Ya, ya, shut up. You're thirteen, and it's not like I'm with you or anything," Brian retorted, biting back a small smile.

"Not now, but you will be."