Asylum

'' So , Mrs. Carlson , have you had any more weird dreams this week ? '' , Dr Newman's voice echoed in the room . The walls were painted in a dark brown colour , and matched perfectly with the light brown wooden floor . Emily Carlson was lying down in the semi-sofa , trying to regulate her breathing as all she felt was pure anxiety rushing through her veins .

This was her third visit to Dr Newman's office , one of the town's best psychiatrists . No , she wasn't crazy just yet , but she sure felt like it . During the past few months , Emily has been having the same dream over and over again . The whole dream was nothing more than just one scene , that kept on replaying over and over again . All she saw was herself walking into a weird , huge forest . In her dream state , she had no idea where she was going , but somehow felt she had to reach a specific place . That never happened though , as she always woke up the moment she was about to reach any destination .

'' Nothing new ... Just the same dream ... Same forest , same path ... '' she mumbled , and the doctor sighed .

'' You never see a face , right ? Any familiar faces , maybe ? Or even a shadow , that in your dream state , you feel you know ? '' , he asked again and Emily shook her head .

'' No , nothing ... Just that forest . '' she said softly , and the doctor nodded ...

'' Alright then , seeing that nothing has changed ... Let's start again ... '' he said , and left the small notebook he's been holding the past fifteen minutes next to him . He stood up , and got closer to Emily .

She didn't react , she'd done it three times already . Even though she felt like nothing new would come out of it , she was willing to be hypnotized one more time . Dr Newman was an expert in this field , and that was one of the reasons she'd come to him .

He sat beside her , and took out a small pentant from his pocket . It was purple , with small stones on it , and it had two initials craved on it : B and E . Emily had never heard the doctor explaining anything about the pentant , or the letters on it , and she honestly didn't care ; she only wanted the dream to go away ...

'' Now , Emily , I'm going to need you to relax , and breath slowly ... Your body has to be in the calmer stage possible during hypnosis ... '' the doctor said in a calm voice , and Emily nodded .

'' We are going to do the exact same thing we did all the previous times , but now I'm going to need you to try harder , Emily ... I want you to get in that house ... No matter what happens , you must get in the house ... '' he said strongly , and Emily nodded again , sighing as she did so ; She was starting feeling slightly uncomfortable .

'' Alright , keep your eyes on the pendant , focus on its' movement and listen to my voice ... Allow yourself to sink ... '' the doctor said , and raised the pendant in front of Emily's green eyes ...

'' Your body feels lighter now , there is no force holding you down ... Your fingers hold on to nothing , your feet step on nothing , your eyelids feel heavy ... And you are sinking , Emily ... The water surrounds you , and you feel free in it ... The water surrounds you and transfers you somewhere you never thought it'd be possible to be . You are going there , Emily ... In that forest ... You can see everything once again now , the leaves , the tall trees ... The path to the house ... '' , Dr Newman's voice keeps on saying , and Emily feels she's sinking already , her eyes closed . She' s not asleep , she is not in any of those dream states everybody read about online , she's entered the hypnotic state .

'' Open your eyes , Emily ... '' she heard the doctor's voice from somewhere far , far away , and she obeys . As she opened them , she recognized the scenery around her : She's in the forest , that forest that haunts her dreams . She could see everything , but couldn't hear anything ; no birds flying , no small animals hunting for their midnight meal , nothing . She couldn't even listen the sound the wind makes when it collides with the leaves and brants , even though she could clearly see the movement .

She felt scared , but thankfully she's able to recognize the path . Suddenly , she heard a voice , the voice of the doctor ...

'' Where are you now , Emily ? '' he questioned , and she opened her mouth , feeling surprised she could talk ...

'' I - I'm in the forest ... The forest of my dreams ... '' she said as strongly as she could ...

'' Well done , Emily ... Do you see the path ? '' he questioned again ...

'' Yes , I do ... I'm already on it ... '' she responded ...

'' Follow it , Emily ... Follow the path ... Don't be scared ... '' the doctor's voice echoed in her head , but now it seemed like it was getting weaker , as if somehow the signal was fading ...

Emily chose not to answer to the doctor's last sentence , and slowly started making her way towards the path . She didn't see anything that could make her feel threatened , but still she felt scared , way more scared than she should be .

As she kept on walking , she started whispering things to herself , trying to somehow get rid of that horrible feeling down in the pit of her stomach ...

'' Remember , Emily , you've watched so many movies like this ... The bad guys are always stupid , that's why they lose ... Except from the times they are actually smarter than the good guys , then they win ... But you are smart , Emily ... No bad guy is going to take you down ... So STOP thinking negatively ... Try and remember something nice ... '' the voice in her head started saying , and Emily decided she'd do exactly that .

She started trying to remember , and she did try really hard . However , she couldn't remember a god-damned thing about her life , her relationships , her job . She was unable to even remember what she'd eaten for breakfast the same day she went to that doctor's office ... Or didn't see ?

All of a sudden , she felt she couldn't remember anything about a doctor's office , or the doctor himself . She started panicking .

What if the doctor , and that office was an illusion , and her dream , that forest was actually the reality ? Right then , she couldn't remember anything else but that office , and that pendant .

B and E

Suddenly she let out a yelp as she heard a scream coming from somewhere near . She raised her head , and finally met the house she hadn't managed to reach in any of her previous dreams or hypnotic therapies .

'' I - I reached the house ... I can see the house ... '' she said loudly , not knowing why , but thanked whoever God existed up there when she heard the doctor's voice once again ...

'' Great , Emily , great ... What does the house look like ? '' the doctor asked , and Emily got closer ...

'' It's an old house ... I don't think anyone lives here anymore ... And it's really big . It has broken windows everywhere , and I think back in its glory days , it probably was ... white ... '' she said as she managed to get closer to the house .

It was enormous , but obviously left unattended for quite long . The roof top was gone , and the left side of the building was falling apart . The house seemed to have 4 floors , and the fourth floor had absolutely no windows . The third floor had only broken windows , and the second one had black windows . Only the first floor had some normal , unbroken windows , but still Emily was unable to see anything through them ...

'' I - I can't find a door ... '' she said as she got closer , desperately searching for a door . However , as she kept on searching for a door , she spotted an old sign , hanging from a broken window . She grabbed it , and tried reading it . She could make out some letters , however she couldn't make out any words or sentences . The sign was covered in glass , and the glass itself was beyond dirty and made everything unreadable ...

She left the sign right where she'd found it and was about to start searching for a door once again when a loud scream errupted from somewhere within the house , causing the sign to fall down and the glass to break .

Emily turned around quickly and picked up the sign again , now able to read everything it said ...

Saint Marcus Asylum .

'' The ... The house ... It's an asylum ... '' Emily whispered , and felt her blood freeze in her veins as she heard more screams from within the building ...

'' Emily , can you read the name ? '' the doctor's voice came ...

'' There are people in here ... I can hear them screaming ... G-od they won't stop screaming ! '' Emily kept on saying , completely ignoring the doctor's question ...

'' Emily , listen to me ... Tell me the name of the asylum ... Focus , Emily ... " the doctor ordered , and Emily nodded fast

'' Saint Markus ... Saint Markus Asylum ... '' she said the name quickly , and took a deep breath as she tried to force herself to think of something to do .

Suddenly an image popped in her head . She saw a door , she had no idea how or why , but she saw a door . Suddenly she felt confident that a door existed in the back of the asylum . She started running to the back of the building , and she could hear the doctor's voice in her head becoming slightly irritated ...

'' Where are you going , Emily ? '' the voice questioned ...

'' There is a door ... I know there is a door ... Right h- '' Emily almost completed her sentence as she reached the back of the building , and faced the door she'd seen in her mind only a few minutes ago .

'' Here ... '' she said quietly , and moved to open the door . The moment her hand reached to touch the doorknob , her mind was plagued by yet another image : A man was lying down the floor , beaten , bruised and barely breathing . He lifted his head , and Emily was met with a pair of brown , glistening orbs . His mouth moved to say something , but right then the image vanished ...

'' I ... I saw someone ... A man ... '' Emily said , and the doctor's voice replied ...

'' Emily , get in the house ... But be careful ... '' , and Emily frowned , seeing that the doctor had completely ignored what she'd just said .

She silently opened the door , and got herself into the asylum . To say that everything looked like an absolute mess would be an understatement . There were some half-broken chairs covered in dust , an old radio that played nothing . A carpet covered the floor , dust and mud all over it , but Emily noticed something else as well . She kneeled down , and spotted some dark red stains , and her eyes widened as she realized what they were ; Blood .

Emily kneeled down , and tried touching some of the stains . The moment she did that , though , a loud sound emerged from the upper floor . She raised her head , and felt her heartbeat stop .

Blood started covering the old walls of the asylum , and it seemed it was flowing from the ceiling . Suddenly everything were covered in blood , even her own hands that had only touched the stains . Right then , in the asylum , it was literally raining blood .

She closed her eyes , and started whispering things to herself . She could hear screams , shouts , pleadings , and then more screams and yelling and dark , sadistic chuckling coming from the upper floors .

Nothing is real , not any of this is real ...

And with that thought , she opened her eyes , and felt relieved as she saw that the blood was now gone , and the asylum's walls were once again in that sick , pale color as before .

'' Emily can you hear me ? '' the doctor's voice came , and right when Emily was about to answer , another voice came into her head ...

'' Run , baby ... S-ave yourself ...

And right then , Emily saw the man she'd seen before lying down the floor . He looked better than that time , but still had some bruises and cuts .

'' Emily , baby , you have to go ... Th-ey will come again , I - I won't b-e able to protect you th-en ... '' the man said , and hugged Emily tightly ...

'' Wh-o ... Who are you ? '' , she questioned , feeling beyond confused . The man pulled back , looking confused as ever ...

'' You don't remember me , baby ? '' he asked , his eyes showing hurt and ... betrayal .

'' I - I ... I feel I know you ... But I can't remember your name ... I don't know your n-ame ... '' Emily said weakly , and the man sighed ...

'' I'm Brian , baby ... We ... we are married ... '' the man said , and Emily widened her eyes ...

'' I'm not married ... Brian or whatever your name is I'm single ... And this whole th-ing is in my head , it's just a dream ... You are not r-eal , I don't kn-ow you ... I don't e-ven know what this place i-s ... '' , she said , and watched as Brian kept looking at her , fear in his eyes ...

'' S-o , you don't remember anything ? B-aby , we ARE real ... Emily , please ... Right now I don't care if you believe me or not , I just need you to go ... They'll hurt you ... '' he pleaded , and I watched as his face suddenly got more cuts on it ...

'' What's happening here ? '' Emily questioned , more herself than Brian ...

'' F*ck , they are coming , please baby run ... R- '' Brian kept on pleading , but right then the a door opened , and several men immerged , immediately grabbing him and holding him down .

'' Don't you f*cking dare hurt her , you assh - '' Brian screamed in pain as one of the men delivered a punch straight in his stomach . The men proceeded in taking turns into beating him , and after some minutes they stopped , leaving Brian a bloody mess on the floor .

During that whole time , Emily had remained still . She'd noticed that the men hadn't even seen her , and she was standing right in the middle of the room . She watched as the men kept on beating Brian , and she felt her heart break . She honestly couldn't remember him and her being together , however she felt he was familiar .

The men stood up , and left the room , not before one of them said to Brian ...

'' The nurse will bring you your medication soon ... '' .
Emily immediately rushed to Brian's side , who seemed to have passed out due to the beating ...

'' Brian , Brian ... Wake up ... Wake up ... '' , she started shaking him , not sure if that was the best thing she could do right then ...

'' E - Emily ... B-aby ... '' the man started whispering , and Emily sighed ...

'' Th-ank God ... '' she said , and moved in order to somehow examine Brian's body ...

He had cuts all over his body now , his one arm was broken , his abdomen was heavily bruised and blood was oozing out from his chest , nose and mouth .

'' B-aby ... Y-ou must go ... Find a w-ay ... I - I'm going to die anyways , but please sa-ve yourself ... S-ave our ... our baby ... '' Brian said , and then he closed his eyes , his powers leaving his body .

Emily left Brian and stood up . Not only was she married , but she was also pregnant ? Everything seemed too surreal for her to bear at that point . She was now positive she couldn't tell reality from fiction .

'' I'm .... I'm pregnant ? '' , she questioned , and heard no response ... The doctor's voice had somehow disappeared ...

'' Hey , can you hear me ? Mr. Newman ? Can you hear me ? '' she kept on screaming to nobody , but the voice didn't return . Great . She was now left all alone , in a dream / reality she couldn't bare ...

Well , she didn't have much choice but to keep on searching the asylum . The walls had changed once again though , now they had writings on them , red letters plagued them . They were all written by psychos , Emily thought , as they made absolutely no sense .

She saw a staircase , and she started making her way to the upper floors . She found nothing new as she kept on going , just more and more blood as she reached the higher floors . However , she never once met a single person or figure , or even a shadow that could signal a human presence somewhere in the asylum .

Everything changed , though , the moment she reached the fourth floor . Here there were no windows , no rooms , it was just a wide , filthy space . She noticed a man in a white uniform standing still , accompanied by two women that were also dressed in white .

The three of them were standing over a person , who was screaming . Emily , though , couldn't see that person . She could only hear the deafening yells and pleadings ...

'' Just stay still , it won't hurt a bit ... '' the man said , and the two women by his side turned and gave him two syringes . The doctor then kneeled down , and after some minutes another loud scream echoed in the room , probably coming from the person the man's body hid .

'' You are ready , Emily ... The fetus's heart will stop beating in precisely ten minutes .Hopefully no complications will be occurred ... '' the man said and then stood up and started heading away from the person , the two women following him .

Emily saw the faces , but reminded her of nothing familiar . She turned and took a look of the person lying down . She wore a white dress , but was bloodied all over the part that covered her belly . Her hair were in her face , and she moved to take them out of it , hopefully managing to recognize the women .

As she did that though , her blood froze . She recognized the woman's face . The woman laying half dead down the floor was her ...

Emily immediately stood up and grabbed her stomach , feeling a huge wave of pain rushing through her . She raised her hands , and saw there was blood all over them as well . She screamed as loud as she could as she looked at her belly , and saw that blood was oozing out of there as well .

And suddenly , she could see . She saw her and Brian kissing passionately , making love to each other until the sun came up , promising that they wouldn't let go . She saw the two of them going to a doctor's office , learning that she was pregnant with a little boy ...

And then she saw that night . How they run out of gas in some highway , and Brian thought it'd be a great idea to go in the woods and search for help . They spotted the asylum and thought it was the perfect solution . Asylums are built to help people .

However , right when they got in , they attacked them . They took Brian , and kept Emily in a huge room with no windows . Occasionally they'd allow each other to meet , and every time Emily saw Brian , he looked worse than before . They were beating him to no extent , he'd lost most of his weight as they starved him , they were slowly but surely breaking him down .

Still , though , Emily remembered that Brian smiled at her whenever he saw her . He was trying to ensure her safety , he'd told her that all the beatings were just in order to make sure they wouldn't hurt her . And even his words came to her head ...

'' Baby , don't w-orry about m-e ... I'll b-e okay , I'll b-e fine ... Emily , p-lease I want you t-o make it ou-t of this al-ive ... '' , Brian pleaded as Emily kept on crying ...

'' But , Brian , I want you t-o make it out of here too ... I don't w-ant to liv-e alone ... P-lease , Brian ... Th-ey ... They already took o-one piece of me away ... I don't w-ant them to take you away too ... '', Emily cried , and Brian tried his damn hardest to hold her strongly in his weak arms ...

'' B-aby , they will never take me away from y-ou ... I'll ... Always be coming b-ack for y-ou ... H-ey , hey remember th-is ? '' , Brian asked , and reached with his one hand to show Sierra the small , purple stone that hanged across his chest ...

'' Th-is is one thing they'll n-ever take aw-ay from us ... N-o matter what ... '' Brian said softly , and Sierra held onto the pedant as tight as she could .

'' I - I love you Brian ... '' Emily said in almost a whisper , and softly caressed the carvings of their initials on the pentad .

'' I l-ove y-ou too , Emily ... '' , Brian responded , and held her even closer as he softly kissed the top of her head ...

And right then , Emily watched the scene in front her unfold . She saw Brian being taken away from her and slammed against the wall , once again receiving the blows from all the men , as he couldn't fight them back . She watched herself scream for them to stop hurting Brian , but the men paid no attention . By the time Brian had almost lost all his senses , one of the men left and came back holding a burning piece of iron . The two men held Brian down with not much effort as the third one pressed the iron to Brian's side , branding him .

Emily screamed , and started crying , but Brian only let out a silent grunt , either because he couldn't physically do anything more or due to the fact that he didn't want to make Emily cry more ...

After that , the men left Brian's body fall down , and Emily rushed to his side . She could tell that Brian was in excruciating pain right then , but was fighting with everything in him not to let it show . She touched his face softly , and kissed his bloody , bruised , chopped lips . Brian
smiled faintly at the kiss . He tried to speak , but Emily hushed him ...

'' No , no , baby ... Don't sp-eak ... It's going to b-e alright , we'll f-ind a way out of here ... Y-ou are going t-o be okay ... You w-ill be safe ... '' Emily tried conforting Brian , but he shook his head weakly .

'' E-mily ... L-isten to me , baby girl ... Th-ere is a doo-r behind the building ... I he-ard them talking about it ... It's th-e only way ou-t ... Once y-ou reach that , you r-un ... You run as f-ast as you c-an ... And tr-y to get on the highw-ay ... You'll f-ind a car , and you'll ... you'll b-e safe ... '' Brian said as strongly as he could , and he knew Emily would object , so he interrupted her before she could even speak ...

'' B-aby , there is no other w-ay ... I'm half d-ead as it i-s ... And , I d-on't w-ant them to end m-e ... S-o , baby , pl-ease ... '' Brian whispered , and Emily immediately shook her head .

'' N-o , no ... I won't k-ill you , Brian ... I c-ould never kill y-ou ... P-lease don't as-k me to do it bec-ause I can't ... '' Emily cried , but Brian held her there .

'' Th-ey will only keep o-n torturing m-e , Emil-y ... That'- s all they'll d-o . P-lease , k-ill me and s-ave your self ... '' Brian pleaded , but Emily kissed his lips once more before standing up ...
'' There is no salvation without y-ou , Brian .. I'm g-oing to g-o and get help ... '' Emily said with as much confidence as she could , and started running .
She couldn't keep the tears from falling down her cheeks as she kept reaching the lower floors , desperately searching for a way out . She had to save him . Failing was not an option .

However , right then the voice came back ...

'' Emily , I'm going to bring you back ... Your eyelids feel lighter , your breathing becomes lighter , you are waking up , you are leaving the forest ... Don't try to hold on to anything , you are going to be fully awake in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... '' the voice said , and right then Emily blacked out ...

'' Open your eyes , Emily ... '' , the voice came again , and Emily was now in the doctor's office . She stood up , and met the calm expression of her therapist .

'' I - I have to ... You need to get me to that Asylum ... Br-ian is still there , he needs help ... '' Emily pleaded , but the doctor didn't react at all . Instead he took off the pair of glasses he
wore , and looked deeply in Emily's eyes ...

'' Emily , the asylum you saw doesn't exist ... The man you are referring to is Brian Haner Jr , your husband who died three years ago ... '' the doctor said strongly , and Emily furrowed her eyebrows .

'' B-ut I remember now , doctor ... W-e were abducted , the Asylum is real , there are people there killing , torturing ... Th-ey killed my baby , and they ha-ve Brian ... I promised , I PROMISED I'd g-et help ... Please , you n-eed to '' Emily broke down , but the doctor didn't seem to be affected by that .

'' You were never pregnant Emily ... The baby never existed , all these are real only in your imagination ... '' the doctor concluded , and then turned his back to Emily as he stood up and reached his office .

Emily then remembered ; the pendant . The pendant Dr. Newman had hypnotized her with was the exact same as the one Brian had on his neck , the same one she held onto in that Asylum .

It was real , it had to be real ...

'' But the pendant , doctor ... The pendant is the exact same as the o-ne that Br-ian used to have ... '' Emily mumbled , and the doctor didn't respond ...

'' Dr. Newman ? Did you hear me ? The pendant is exactly the s - '' she tried saying again , but the voice got caught in her throat as she watched the doctor turn towards her .

His face started turning , blood started dropping out of his mouth and nose , and he clutched his side . His grey hair suddenly became brown , his nose became smaller , his white clothes slowly became dirty , and his whole body changed as well ...

Emily screamed as came face to face with a bloody Brian , who kept staring at her . Her screams only became louder when the walls of the office started oozing blood as well , turning the whole room into a crimson red .

Brian only stood there as the office turned into the asylum . Emily was shaking uncontrollably as he approached her and hugged her close , before he collapsed in her arms .

She never left ... .