Prologue

Hey guys...

I got a bit stuck on the other story, so I'm gonna be writing a new one for while, until I get more ideas for the other one. This one is inspired by the movie Gothika, but it's not the same storyline at all. I just got the idea when I saw the movie...

I really hope you like it... And of course ideas and critique is always welcome! :D

This wasn't really a prologue... But more like an introduction to what I am gonna be writing. I'm not gonna tell you what the couples or characters are gonna be... You'll have to find out in the story...

Enjoy...

I'm crazy! I'm out of my mind and ravaging crazy. I should be locked away for my own safety and throw away the key. At least that is what they tell me, but I don't know what to believe anymore. They all tell me stuff, but it all just seems to be forgotten in my mind. Maybe that is what they mean when they say that I'm crazy. That I'm crazy for forgetting the things I have done. But if you are crazy for forgetting, they all should be in here too. They have forgotten to tell me why I am here. They tell me I have done something bad, and I get that or else I most likely wouldn't be in here. But what is it I have done? They won't tell me, even if I time after time plead them to do so. They keep saying no. The word have now become stuck in my mind, like it was tattooed on my brain, but I don't know why?

As time flies by I go from a depressed, crying mess to becoming hollow and careless. They tell me it's a miracle that I have survived all of this and even better, stayed sane. Or as sane as they believed I was in the first place. 4 years just seems to fly by when you are in here. But what do I care. They can let me stay in here for another 4 years if they want to. As I said, I'm careless. That's what 4 years of isolation does to you; it makes you not care, because no one loves you anymore. Not even my family. Mother, father and little sister, and not even one visit, and after 4 years you just lose hope. But as I keep saying, I don't care.

For the first time in 4 years, I'm being moved from this isolation prison. They believe that I'm no longer a threat to everyone around me, but was I ever? I don't know and probably never will. My new prison is a lot bigger than the old one. Still no windows or sharp objects, just like I'm a little kid who cannot take care of myself. I sat on the white bed and looked around waiting for my so-called lunch. Pills. Seems like the only thing they serve you here and they have some for everything. I got rid of the handcuffs, so I'm able to take my own pills now. Shots were never really my thing, even when I wasn't in here… I think.

The nurse comes in with my gourmet lunch. Afraid that I might attack her she comes with an army of soldiers, or as I would call them, middle-age chubby men who just learned to use a gun. If I actually wanted to run (not that it's in my interest to do so) they would need more and better people to hold me down. The nurse hands me the pills and the water and watches as I swallow them slowly. I hate the look they have on their faces. They pity me. They look at me like I am some small kid who's been locked up for something he did not do. They tell me that I'm finally ready to be analyzed. I don't really know if I should be happy or sad about that, but they say there is a new doctor coming, someone who might be able to help me remember the things they say I have forgotten. They say it's my own decision if I want to or not, at least for another six months or so, since I got out of Solidarity a half year early. The nurse asks me to open my mouth to see if I swallowed the pills. Of course I swallow the pills, I always do so. They keep the nightmares away…

The corridor, where does it lead? It's dark, cold and wet. I'm soaked as I walk down the corridor. I'm in a house I hear screaming. I see blood…

I wake up bathed in sweat. The nightmares never go away. I look around the room searching for people. Had I been in solidarity, it would have stormed with people giving me shots and restraining me to my bed. I guess they trust me a bit more now. I took a sip of the water standing on my bedside table. It burned all the way down my throat. Burn in hell. They say the nightmares will go away eventually, but that's also what they said 4 years ago. Not even a new kind of prison can help them go away. I wonder if they ever will.

Nicholas, wake up! It's time for breakfast.

I wasn't even asleep. I never sleep. I was just contemplating whether I should make them suffer a bit longer or not. They seemed to feed of giving us pills; it was like their own drug, when they really say it's us who need pills. Yeah, I said us. I know there are more people here. I've seen them when I had to go to therapy. They are together. Friends. They enjoy their restricted freedom for the years they are here, while I'm in Solidarity. Eventually I gave in and took my pills. She told me that if I did so I would be going into the living-room for a few hours. Restricted freedom, that's what waited for me out there.

As the nurse said they came to get me around twelve. Yeah, there was a watch and a calendar in this room.

I walked down the long hallway. It was dimly lit with small lamps. Creepy, had I cared. When we came to the room, I couldn't help feeling a little bit anxious. I haven't had a real conversation with someone in over 4, 5 years. As I entered the room I felt the little breeze of fresh air hit me in the face. No one around me seemed to care that I was even here. Maybe they really were a couple of nutcases. I took a seat beside a black haired girl on the nearest couch. She was scratching her wrists while staring into midair. Nutcases, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again the girl was staring into my face. She didn't even blink and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Suddenly she cracked a smile. "I'm Demi", she said shaking my hand. "Nick…" I said not really sure how crazy this girl was. „So you're the new guy, i suppose? Hm… interesting. I've been here for 1, 5 years 6 months in Solidarity and 12 months in 'restricted freedom!' What about you?" She asked throwing her feet up on the table. "I've spent 4 years in Solidarity and well… 10 minutes in restricted freedom" I answered looking at my hands. She was so shocked she almost fell of the couch. "4 YEARS? How the hell did you survive?" She asked getting off the floor. "I don't know. I don't really know why I'm here though?" I said trying to help her off the floor. "Ahhh that would explain it all… DO NOT TOUCH MY WRISTS!" Her mood changed from calm to angry in a split second and she was trying to choke me. Her hands weren't really that strong so it didn't hurt, but she seemed downright angry. The nurses came to lock her away. My first "friend" in many years, seemed to already hate me. I don't know if I should care?

It's been three days. They told me that I was allowed to come to the living-room, but I was too frightened to do so. I was afraid that I blew it. Afraid of another round of rejection, which didn't seem like me? I'm the careless type, remember? I haven't really done anything these past days other then staring at the ceiling. Did I really wanna blow this chance of getting closer to freedom? In the end I asked one of the nurses if it would be okay to go to the living-room anyway. She sighed and got another nurse to follow me down there. Her name was Betty, though when I looked at her I wasn't really sure of she was a man or a woman. She was tall and broad shouldered and I don't even think that I would be able to get past her. She would most likely be better at stopping me then all those idiots running around with guns. She pushed me down the hallway. Her grip on my arm was so tight that I never thought my fingers would live to see the living room. She pushed me in the room and locked the door.

Lots of people where here today and I never thought I would be able to find Demi. I walked around the large room trying to divide the people from each other. Apparently, I didn't watch where I was going and bumped into something and hit the floor. The noise ended and people looked at me in shock. What was wrong? I looked up and saw blond haired guy staring at me. He didn't smile; both his face and his eyes were expressionless. His face looked grey and pale. He just stared at me and then he left. Rude! I thought and got on my feet. People had started talking again and I finally found Demi I the middle of the crowd. She was sitting on a couch looking at a painting. I walked to the couch and sat down. To my surprise she smiled at me and took my hand. "Why have you been gone for three days?" She asked turning her attention back to the painting. "I was afraid that you were angry with me. So I stayed away" She smiled at me again. Her smiled was really dazzling and most likely her most beautiful feature. Her eyes were tired and hid pain, but else she was a really beautiful girl. "I'm not angry with you, you couldn't know that I don't like it when people touch my wrists" She said. I wondered if I should smile back at her, but decided not to. I don't smile either. "I'm sorry anyway" I said squeezing her hand a little. Oddly, I didn't find it strange to sit here with her, holding hands. "So what's the deal with all of these people?" I asked, trying to find a subject instead of looking like this happy couple. "Hmm… you mean their stories? Well, I'll just tell you about the regulars. Most people come and go, but a few of them have been here for a long time, just like me" She said, excited that she got to talk about this stuff. "Well, you see Julia?" She pointed to a white chair in the corner. A blond girl sat in the chair rocking back and forth, whispering things while looking around the room anxiously. "Some say she fell into a hole and was bitten by rats. She had nightmares for several nights before she went back to the hole and stayed there for days until her parents found her. She really believes she's a rat". I swallowed; this really made Demi seem too normal for this place. "What about him?" I asked, hoping his case wasn't as serious as Julia's. "That's Henry. He is pretty nice and normal to. To people, that is. He kinda likes weird food. He says he killed his dog and ate it because there was no food in the fridge. He has weird cravings now, but otherwise he's normal" I swallowed again, well that was… Demi looked at me and could see my reaction to it so she continued. "I do this one quickly. You see Susan?" She pointed to a red haired girl.

She was staring at me and smiled manically. I freaked out a bit when I saw it. Demi put her hand on my thigh. "Don't worry. She's blind. She thinks she is a vampire and that is why she cut out her eyes. So she didn't have to look at the sunlight." I thought I was gonna pass out from all of this but a blond haired guy caught my attention. He sat at a table in the other end of the room. His eyes were green and staring right at me. He looked like he was wondering about something. He was what you could call beautiful. "Who's he?" I asked Demi. She looked at me in terror. "Ehm… that's Riley. No one really knows why he's here but some say he killed someone. I don't think this would be the place for him then, but who knows" I looked right back at him. Something about him made me continue to stare. It was like he could see right through me. See the stuff that I was dying to figure out. He smirked slightly at me and continued to read his book. Something about that boy made me wonder, like I haven't done it in over 4 years and it scared me.

Several days went by in the living room with Demi. We didn't really talk much. Usually we just looked at pictures and held hands. I had no intention of being her boyfriend, nor do I think she had. But it actually felt nice, just to sit there and do nothing. Riley kept staring at me when he looked up from his book. I had thought about going over there, but the thought of what he might have done, made me stay in the other end of the room.

One day when Demi had gone to the bath room, I decided to look at the message board. Lots of yellow and pink notes with rules and suggestions where spread on it. One note said a new "doctor" was coming; he had a new method in making people remember and help them deal with it and move on. At first I thought it was the answer to my prayers, but then again, did I really wanna know? I mean, if I had to be locked up in Solidarity for that long, I must have done something REALLY wrong? I put a hand on my forehead and sighed. I was not used to making decisions. "What do you think about the new doctor?" Someone was breathing down my neck. I knew it wasn't Demi because she was not that tall. It wasn't uncomfortable. The breath was warm and slow, it made me get Goosebumps. I looked around and saw Riley standing only a few inches away from me. I didn't know what I was supposed to say but I would be rude not to say anything at all.

"I..I don't know… might be alright…" I stuttered. He had his head over my shoulder. He did put it on it but it was very close.

"Hmm … I personally don't like all that new stuff. I don't think I need it either. What about you?" He asked stepping closer to me (like it was possible).

"Maybe… I don't know" I said, a bit more calmly this time.

"You really don't know anything?" he said chuckling a bit as he did so.

I smiled, " I suppose not". I turned around and stepped a bit away.

"I'm Nick" I said putting my hand out. "I'm Riley" he said taking my hand in his and shaking it. It was so warm and soft.