"It's raining again," a voice said.
"What's raining?" asked another voice.
"They sky is raining," answered the first.
"But what is raining down?" came the voice from the shadow filled corner.
"Rain. What else would it be?"
"What else? Do you really want me to tell you?"
"That's enough," the doctor interrupted. "The only thing it will ever rain is water."
"If you say so," replied the shadow.
"I do say so. Now sit in one of the chairs like the rest of the group," the doctor said in exasperation.
"I'm not like the rest of you though. Why pretend to be?"
"You're right of course. These men actually want to get better. They want help. You don't."
"You mean they're willing to play along by the rules of your game. They do what you tell them and take the pills you feed them. They tell you their deep, dark secrets and you write them down in your notes. Then you go to your office and decide they aren't safe to be let out of here. You tell them your lies and they believe you."
"That's enough."
"Every day you come in here and tell everyone to sit in those chairs. You tell them to open up and share the horrors that live inside them. You sit there telling them it's alright and there is help if they do what they're told."
"I said that's enough," the doctor said, anger and impatience coloring his words.
"You do the same things, say the same things, every day. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results?"
"That's it," the doctor said as he flushed. "One more word from you and it's solitary. Again."
"You call it solitary but then the guards are at the door every fifteen minutes and you come in twice a day. That's not solitary by any means doctor."
"How many times are we going to do this? How many times are you going to push until you've pushed too far?"the doctor asked as he pushed the button on his remote.
"As many times as it takes."
"It doesn't have to be this way. All you have to do is admit that the visions your having are all in your head. Just accept the medication to make them stop. Talk to me, talk in group. There is hope for you if you'd only admit that those things aren't real."
"That's what you tell everybody here. Yet none of them have left and they do what you're telling me to do. You give them the same lies you just gave me."
"They aren't lies dammit!" the doctor exploded. "You are sick and need help. Everyone here is sick."
"Everyone?"
"Yes, every single person in here is sick and needs help."
"You're here doctor. What kind of help do you need?"
"I'm not a sick little fuck like you!" the doctor yelled as he lunged for the man still sitting calmly in the shadows.
"Doctor?" asked the orderlies as they rushed into the room.
"Get him out of my sight," the doctor screamed, pointing to the corner. "Take him to solitary and lock him down. Full restraints."
The two bulky men walked to the corner as the man there finally stood. It always amazed them that a man who barely reached their shoulders could cause every person who came in contact with him to recoil in fear. It wasn't the tattoes that covered a good part of his upper body. It wasn't the fact that he kept to the shadows and rarely spoke. It was his eyes and the aura of absolute darkness he gave off.
They each took one of the smaller mans arms and led him out of the group therapy room. Down the halls to the elevator and from there to the basement level where the room had no windows. The light from the hall barely illuminated the small rooms with no more than a bed in them. The small man stretched his body out before laying on the bed and allowing himself to be restrained.
For the next hour someone came in every fifteen minutes to check on him and remove one of the bonds holding him down. Another hour passed in silence and darkness without the man moving from the bed. The doctor arrived and the dim light in the room came on. Still the man on the bed didn't move.
"Are you satisfied? Is this what you really want? To spend the rest of you days in this room? In the darkness and solitude?" the doctor asked.
"I would prefer the solitude but you just keep coming back."
"Let's start from the top. Do you know why you're here?"
"Why are any of us here?"
"Do you know why you were brought to this hospital?"
"Because everyone thinks I'm crazy."
"No. You're friends brought you here because they were worried about these visions that you keep having. They brought you here so you could get the help you need."
"In other words, they think I'm crazy."
"Tell me about these visions you have."
"Vision. There's only one. It's always the same and you've heard it a hundred times already."
"Tell me again. All of it this time."
"Whatever. Get your recorder out because I'm tired of repeating myself."
"Alright, I'm ready."
"It's going to rain blood. A fine mist of red blood at first, building up to a heavy downpour of thick, black blood. The skies will be so dark that the sun won't be able to shine through it. The earth will quake and shatter, deep rifts opening up and swallowing cities whole.
"Just when the world stops shaking and the screams of those still alive quiet the fires start. From volcanoes, from the rifts and valleys fire will pour out and spread everywhere. Ash will rain down with the blood, making it impossible to wipe away, impossible to see through.
"For those unfortunate souls who survive all that the worst is yet to come. After the ground breaks open and the fires have burned out, after the world finally stills and it looks like the destruction has ended that's when they come out.
"Monsters, beasts, demons. Whatever you want to call them, that's when they crawl out of the deepest pits. They attack all those left behind and feast on them, still living. Begging for mercy from creatures with no souls or remorse. We're just prey to them and what mercy has man ever shown its prey.
"That is my vision. The same one, over and over again. Every time my eyes close, every time the lights go out."
"And when does this supposedly take place?"
"What's today?"
"You know I won't tell you what day it is."
"Have it your way. It's not like there's anything you could do to stop it from happening anyhow. Why worry about it, huh?"
"One of these days you're going to admit that it's nothing more than your imagination. It's just an illusion that your mind has created, nothing more. Once you finally accept that we can finally start your treatment so you can get better."
"One of these days it's going to rain blood. Then it won't matter anymore who's the crazy one here."
"It can't rain blood. There is no scientific reasoning to back up your delussion."
"The world as we know it is going to end and you think I really give a fuck about science and reason?"
The doctor was about to respond when there was a frantic pounding on the door. He turned to see one of the orderlies from earlier looking through the window on the door. The doctor saw his eyes were wide with fear and his mouth moved soundlessly. He turned to the man on the bed and spoke quietly.
"I'll be back tomorrow, Kyo. Maybe, just maybe, you'll be ready to let me help you."
"Doubt it doc."
The doctor turned and left the room and the dim light went out a moment later. Kyo lay on the bed wishing he had a cigarette and wondering who he could talk into bringing him one tonight. He focused on the remembered feel of a cigarette in his hand, on the acrid smell of the smoke.
Before he could get the image firmly planted in his mind the screaming began. He sat up slowly in the bed as the red glare of the emergency lights came on. He could hear the sound of feet running around outside in the hallways. People were shouting orders but he couldn't quite make out the words through the thick door.
The window in the door slid open again and he saw the doctor on the other side. Something in the other mans eyes told him all he needed to know. The window slammed closed again as he started to smile. As the building started to tremble and the screams rose again there was one sound louder than the others.
Laughter, dark and spine chillingly haunting laughter. It came from the lowest depths of the hospital and echoed eerily off the sterile walls. Long after first round of earthquakes passed and the fires burned out. After black blood ceased falling from the darkened sky. Even after the terrible creatures crept out of the bowels of the Earth and devoured the last remnants of mankind.
Blood red lightning flashed across the darker than pitch sky. Slowly a small figure emerged from the ruins in the center of a destroyed city. His once white hospital uniform now stained black from the bloody soot that had rained down. He climbed to the highest point left standing and surveyed the broken and barren landscape.
"Who's the crazy little fuck now doc?" he said as he began to laugh again.