Silence Falls

From between the bars of his cage, Hermanni placed a compassionate hand on Jack’s shoulder. The Orderly was exacerbated, internally punishing himself for making the impulsive decision that extricated Bert’s life, but ultimately had doomed an innocent. Words weren’t gonna be enough to eradicate the persecution Jack was mentally bludgeoning himself with with every minute that passed since that man died, and so Hermanni had to rely on another technique to abate his suffering. That technique was his own powers. He could feel the tingle of it activating just as Jack closed the distance between them.

“I’m a monster, Hermanni.” Jack whispered tightly, his hands fisted at his side wishing he could bash himself in the same merciless manner his co-workers had to that defenseless old man. But he couldn’t. Something in him confined him from causing the self-harm he’d been desperately needing as of late. He deserved such punishment!

“No, you are no monster!” Hermanni opposed with a sure shake of his head. He wouldn't accept anything that wasn’t true. Giving Jack’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, he told him. “Understand this, Jack, you did not sentence that man to his death. His name was Randy and he was already permanently debilitated from the those torture that felled upon him before you were ever employed in the Hospital. One of those inflictions had gone horribly wrong, resulting in a lifetime of excruciating pain for him. Randy was sentenced to his death, yes that is true, but he was also set free of his suffering. He died peacefully in his torturer's chair before they could sadistically get the chance to electrocute him to death, unlike all the other patients before him that are not so fortunate.”

Jack gaped in Hermanni’s incredible eyes, seeing the truth for himself being projected back at him like a drive-in movie.

Could it be true?

Had he not truly been the hand that ended that man’s life, but rather saved it?

Watching the conflict Jack was internally having when it came to believing his story, Hermanni’s eyes began to glow in that way that told he was using his powers. Averting his eyes to stare at the stone wall over Jack’s shoulder, Hermanni told him what he saw and knew from the remnants of Randy that he was only able to translate. “In a strange way, Randy was at the perfect place at the right time when you considered everything he has been through. He did not look upon you in betrayal because you threw him to the wolves the way you did to save Bert, Jack. Rather, it was in gratitude for terminating the pain he did not have the strength to end himself, nor anyone else would humanely grant upon him. Your co-workers will miss Randy only because they can no longer physically abuse him and watch him writhe in pain. They found his pleas for mercy to be very entertaining, and you discontinued that from them. You stole their happiness which is a win in Randy’s eyes.”

That was another thing Jack found strange to get used to, Hermanni’s eyes changing. They were so striking yet bizarre to look at. Like a moth was attracted to the beam of a light, he was fixated on staring into those orbs of sapphire blue encircling emerald green. He wasn’t frightened when he looked into them. Just entranced, like a spell was bound around him and keeping him fixed on Hermanni’s eyes.

“A-Are you saying I saved him?” Jack whispered with tears he hadn’t known were emerging, saturating his eyes. Despite Hermanni’s mesmerizing eyes, he was able to take in his words and understand them. But what he couldn’t wrap his mind around was that he had actually saved a life he had condemned to death. It didn’t make any sense to him how that was so.

Death should be the opposite of saving, shouldn’t it?

Hermanni nodded with a heartening smile on his face, his eyes returning to Jack. In his eyes, he could see the war still storming within him. Murderer and hero brawled on the inside, befuddling poor Jack who stared up at him much like Jesus’s disciples did when looking for answers. At least, his expression mirrored those he’s seen in the stained glasses of a church. “You did save him. His last thought before he took his last breath was a prayer for his God to bless you.”

Jack closed his eyes, his tears trailing down his cheeks. My god, did he want to believe what Hermanni said to be true. He wanted to believe he hadn’t killed an innocent man, but had in some strange way set him free from his tormenting life. It would feel so damn good to have saved a life after assisting in so many deaths while brainwashed by a religion he thought to be pure and compassionate.

But Jack didn’t have time to dismantle his self-loathing. He didn’t have time to lounge around in the Asylum when he had to be back with his patients at the Psychiatric Hospital. Clearing his throat, Jack rubbed the wetness from his eyes as he stammered to Hermanni. “Bert uh…Bert and I came up with a plan. We’re going to use the laundry carts to smuggle everyone to the ground floor of the Hospital. I’ll raise a distraction from the basement that will have everyone running to investigate. I should be able to get them out without anyone trying to stop us going out through the front.”

Nodding in understanding, Hermanni regarded this plan with what he already knew of the Psychiatric Hospital he had never even been to. Thanks to expunging Matt from the existence of everyone’s mind within Silence Falls’s radius, Hermanni was able to memorize the interior of the Hospital to its smallest detail. He knew what laundry carts Jack was talking about and what laid in the basement that could be used to redirect the other employee from the front of the building. He already knew the schedules, and so he made a suggestion to the young Orderly. “You must carry out the escape next week, Jack.”

“Next week!?” Jack repeatedly loudly, gaping at the mystical man in the cage. “Why the hell so goddamn soon!?”

“The elevators will be overloaded around the early morning of Monday so your staff will feel less likely to volunteer to push your laundry carts for you with that amount of traffic. You mentioned the distraction will take place in the basement?” Hermanni informed him, arching a brow.

Jack couldn’t resist chuckling at Hermanni who laughed at how outrageous he was being. The guy was acting like he was making an educated guess when really he already knew what the two had plotted all along. “You don’t have to ‘guess’ what I said, Hermanni. I can tell you already know!”

“I try not to!” Hermanni defended himself with a chuckle. It wasn’t like he tried to find these things out through the mind and eyes of others, it just came naturally to him, like he had been present alongside them too. Of course, that wasn’t the case here. “I do not want to know everything. There are some things I would like to learn at the same rate as an ordinary human being, I just…cannot.”

“Whatever man.” Jack muttered, rolling his eyes with a smile. As the two began to sober up, he inquired in a serious tone. “So…is there any other suggestions you want to give that’ll make this process any easier on us?”

Hermanni smiled at him and nodded. “Yes, are you ready to hear it?”

Taking a deep breath, and exhaling it, Jack nodded. “Yeah, I think I’m ready.

“You will also need to take the gun from Chase in order to protect yourself and the others.” Hermanni informed him, his glowing eyes narrowing a bit in concentration. “He will be suffering from a condition that causes his feces to frequently discharge from his body in a liquid form, so he will be less likely to be alert as the other guards with that weighing heavily on his mind.”

“…you mean Diarrhea?” Jack asked, a look of repulsion scrunching up his features.

With a knowing smirk, Hermanni affirmed his guess. “That is correct.”