All In Your Mind
Fawkes
I was woken up by screaming.
My second night in this place and I was finally seeing something I was expecting. I scrambled out of bed in a panic and into the doorway. Only one other figure was in the hall, Reid from the room next door. He was twitching and sniffing and tapping his foot as the screaming went on, louder than before and I heard nurses running down the hall.
"Should... Should I be worried?" I questioned him.
"Nah. Nah, dude. Nah. It's just Sam. Sammy, Sam, Sam. Another episode, excellent," he scrunched up his nose and let out a small grunt noise. "She's the one with the weird sleeping stuff. Like, the stuff, you know. Goes between not sleeping and sleeping a lot. Some fucked up nightmare, man. But anyway, I gotta go sleep too or else my meds don't work."
"Okay," I nodded at him as he left me alone in the hall, unsure of what to make of him. The screaming was dying down. I took a walk to the end of the hall, where the social area was. On the other end, was the girls dorm. It was in darkness, except for light spilling out of one room. I thought about what Reid had said. Nightmares. The screams had roused me from my own nightmare, I recalled.
A shivering feeling ran down my spine and I bit down on my knuckles. I was having bad cravings, like I always did after a nightmare. Last time I'd had one as bad as this I'd ended up scooping out the sand from the clean end of my cats litter box and eating it. Now instead I was swarmed with memories of the nightmare.
I'd been walking the halls of Sunnyroad, except it was bigger and the decorations were different. People were sitting in the lounge area, rocking back and forth. One was lying face down in a pool of blood and a nurse was screaming behind the desk, tied to a chair. The glass front was smashed and the lights went out. When they came back up, blood was everywhere. The windows were smashed and destroyed, the doors was kicked in and I was alone. But I could feel somebody creeping behind me, closer and closer but I couldn't run away. I couldn't even turn around to face them. Then they grabbed me and whispered my name and the screams took over and woke me.
I bit down on one of my hangnails, ripping it off with my front two teeth and swallowing. It snagged on the back of my throat, but I did it for every fingernail, biting them down short and swallowing them. I even bit the skin around the nails, tiny nibbles that I swallowed too.
"Mr Muir? You need to go back to your bedroom." One of the nurses stepped out of Sam's room, the light now out. He frowned at me, taking a few steps forward.
"Is she okay?" I asked, not moving.
"You need to go to your room, Mr Muir," he repeated, striding over and standing next to my bedroom door, as if I'd forgotten where it was. "Miss Byrne is being looked after by the doctor. You need to go to your own room now. Please don't make this difficult. We were told you'd be a co-operative patient. You will, won't you?"
I could hear the edge of a threat in his voice, so I nodded, returning to my room with a glance over my shoulder to Samantha's room. I wondered what nightmare had upset her so badly, and if it had anything to do with mine.
My second night in this place and I was finally seeing something I was expecting. I scrambled out of bed in a panic and into the doorway. Only one other figure was in the hall, Reid from the room next door. He was twitching and sniffing and tapping his foot as the screaming went on, louder than before and I heard nurses running down the hall.
"Should... Should I be worried?" I questioned him.
"Nah. Nah, dude. Nah. It's just Sam. Sammy, Sam, Sam. Another episode, excellent," he scrunched up his nose and let out a small grunt noise. "She's the one with the weird sleeping stuff. Like, the stuff, you know. Goes between not sleeping and sleeping a lot. Some fucked up nightmare, man. But anyway, I gotta go sleep too or else my meds don't work."
"Okay," I nodded at him as he left me alone in the hall, unsure of what to make of him. The screaming was dying down. I took a walk to the end of the hall, where the social area was. On the other end, was the girls dorm. It was in darkness, except for light spilling out of one room. I thought about what Reid had said. Nightmares. The screams had roused me from my own nightmare, I recalled.
A shivering feeling ran down my spine and I bit down on my knuckles. I was having bad cravings, like I always did after a nightmare. Last time I'd had one as bad as this I'd ended up scooping out the sand from the clean end of my cats litter box and eating it. Now instead I was swarmed with memories of the nightmare.
I'd been walking the halls of Sunnyroad, except it was bigger and the decorations were different. People were sitting in the lounge area, rocking back and forth. One was lying face down in a pool of blood and a nurse was screaming behind the desk, tied to a chair. The glass front was smashed and the lights went out. When they came back up, blood was everywhere. The windows were smashed and destroyed, the doors was kicked in and I was alone. But I could feel somebody creeping behind me, closer and closer but I couldn't run away. I couldn't even turn around to face them. Then they grabbed me and whispered my name and the screams took over and woke me.
I bit down on one of my hangnails, ripping it off with my front two teeth and swallowing. It snagged on the back of my throat, but I did it for every fingernail, biting them down short and swallowing them. I even bit the skin around the nails, tiny nibbles that I swallowed too.
"Mr Muir? You need to go back to your bedroom." One of the nurses stepped out of Sam's room, the light now out. He frowned at me, taking a few steps forward.
"Is she okay?" I asked, not moving.
"You need to go to your room, Mr Muir," he repeated, striding over and standing next to my bedroom door, as if I'd forgotten where it was. "Miss Byrne is being looked after by the doctor. You need to go to your own room now. Please don't make this difficult. We were told you'd be a co-operative patient. You will, won't you?"
I could hear the edge of a threat in his voice, so I nodded, returning to my room with a glance over my shoulder to Samantha's room. I wondered what nightmare had upset her so badly, and if it had anything to do with mine.