Arthur Kirkland pulled on his jacket over his white hospital uniform and checked the clock. Exactly ten minutes until he needed to show up for his job at the Ward for the Criminally Insane.
"Heeeey, Arthur! You leaving for work already?" asked Alfred Jones, Arthur's roommate. Arthur sighed.
"No, I'm going to go cook for the Prime Minister. Yes, I'm going to work, you git!" Arthur replied angrily.
"But you might get back from work late again!"
"Why the bloody hell do you care?"
"Cuz then Francis might come looking for you and come here and be a pervert!"
"Bonnefoy only came once! You're such a child!"
"Arthuuuuuur," whined Alfred, "pleeeeease stay here a little longer?"
"Hell no!"
Alfred pouted. Sighing, Arthur looked at the clock and jumped in alarm.
"Shit! I'm going to be late!" Arthur hurriedly put his shoes on and grabbed his briefcase. "Bye, love," Arthur kissed Alfred on the cheek before rushing out the door.
[1 hour later]
A dark-haired Asian man walked in to Arthur's office.
"Sir, the new patient has arrived," he said.
"Ah, thank you Mr. Honda. He is which of these...?" Arthur asked, holding up his massive pile of paperwork.
"Um.. s-sir... his name is..." Kiku Honda paused.
"What? Is this name hard to pronounce?"
"N-no, sir, it's just that... d-do you have a brother?
"I do- or I did. I have not seen him for a while, why?"
"B-because, sir, the new patient's name is..."
"Is...?"
"Uh...um..."
"What's his bloody name?"
"P-Peter Kirkland, sir."
Arthur stiffened. He sat frozen for a second, then quickly sifted through the paperwork in front of him, searching for the name that he had not heard in years. Peter Kirkland. The file Arthur found read:
Peter Kirkland
male
age: 13
previous residence: London, England
diagnosis: schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, i.e. homicidal tendencies
previous treatment: none
family: Genivive Kirkland (mother, deceased), Henry Kirkland (father, deceased), Arthur Kirkland (brother, age 23)
Arthur's face went smooth, hiding the raging torrents of emotion that were threatening to take over his mind. Kiku gulped.
"Bring him in," Arthur said in an emotionless voice.
"Yes sir."
As soon as Kiku left, Arthur gripped the edge of his desk shakily. Peter Kirkland... Arthur shook his head.
Clear all thoughts of him, he ordered himself. He's just another patient.
The problem was, Arthur knew Peter wouldn't be a normal patient.
Peter struggled against the straightjacket fitfully. They didn't understand, he wasn't crazy, he wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't...
was he?
No, no, no, no, NO! He couldn't be, no no no sir.
Peter fell over after ten more minutes of struggling.
Maybe he had problems remembering things at times, yeah, but he wasn't insane!
Was he?
They'd taken him away to jail yesterday, Peter didn't know why, he just passed out and then he woke up and had red paint on his front and cuffs on his wrists. He'd asked why he was all chained up and the policeman holding him looked at him like he was crazy.
I'm not crazy, he'd yelled at the officer. I'M NOT CRAZY!
Now he was being taken to the madhouse, he didn't belong there, no no no NO!
Peter would've screamed his frustration if they hadn't put a gag on him, stupid, stupid, he wasn't crazy, he wasn't crazy, no, no, no, NO!
You could just let go, whispered a voice in his head, you could sleep, they'd let you go, sleep, Peter, sleep...be the weakling I know you are, sleep, baby, coward, weakling, sleep...
"NO!" Peter screamed around his gag, "NO NO NO NO NO!" he thrashed around, his restraints cutting into his pale skin, while the voice continued to pull, to mock, You're weak, so weak, Peter, hahaha, weakling, coward, baby, ha, ha, HA!
The medical truck's door slammed open and Peter was dragged out, that voice still jeering at him, Look, so weak, you can't even stand with those bonds, you can't take them off, ha, ha, ha, HA!
"Sedate him!" yelled a nurse. Peter knew what would happen then, the voice would win, it would, it always did, it's not fair...
The needle plunged Peter into darkness.