Scar
He hears the beastie close behind, hears the pebbles and leaves rustling as the beastie meanders through the forest. Simultaneously, he hears the frantic drumming of his heart, and feels the moisture close to his cheeks from his uneven breath. He runs desperately through the dark green forest, just as the pocket blue sky that's barely visible through the dense leaves morphs to menacing grey. He jumps hurriedly on to a boulder, missing the beastie's bite by two milliseconds. He reaches for one of the many vines that hang under the canopy of trees, and tugs harshly: he swings off the boulder, in to the air, and across the forest.
He feels a sharp sting on the back of his hand, and finding the vine in his hold to be a verminous black snake, he abruptly lets go of the vine and falls down. Grey smoke surrounds him, as wilted white flowers and curly brown leaves rush upward, past him. He frantically tries reaching for a tree branch, or something to stop the fall.
Suddenly, he lands on soft golden sand. Warm sun shines on to his face and chest. Around him, glittery purple butterflies flutter. At the end of the sand, he finds a deep blue-green lagoon, and a cloudless blue sky. Henry and Johnny appear from thin air, and now sit next to a large sandcastle. He skips to join their game of castle and riders.
The castle explodes as lightening bursts in the distance of the dark sky. Rain pours down around them, yet Henry, Johnny and he move to seek shelter. He follows the chief and dances around the red hot fire. He holds a stick in one hand, and chants along with the tribe: "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
More lightning flashes close behind them. The chief leaps toward the beastie that stumbles from the forest.
"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
Standing next to Henry, he strikes wildly at the beastie. It screams loudly.
The beastie transforms in to a bag of hair, but he knows of its magical power. He continues hitting the beastie, despite the fact that it now transforms to look like Simon.
"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
Bloody wounds cover Simon's body as he looks straight at him, but for some unknown reason, he continues chanting and plunging. The trance holds him, until a blink and he finds himself in the centre of the ring. Henry, Johnny, Simon and the chief raise their spears high above him. Lightning strikes around him as the spears plunge in to his flesh.
A frightening scream tears through his conscience. He leaps up from bed, as the door opens and three people rush in to the room. Beside him, the chief and all continues dancing happily around the red hot fire. The scream continues, loud and agonising. He struggles against the nurse's hold and their needle, which pinches his neck. Everything slows around him; his bed turns immensely soft and fluffy like clouds. He drifts to sleep.
"...bikes are used here as family saloons, delivery trucks, people carriers. They're used for everything. If you don't have a bike here, you're a nobody..."
The voices emit out from the speakers inside the common room. He turns to the window, and through it, sees the television that shows men driving queer motorbikes.
A movement in the corner of his eyes causes him to turn away from the common room. Opposite him sits a lady holding some cards. He becomes aware that he is in the middle of a game, as some cards are held in his hand. They are outside in the garden, enclosed by high green hedges, and occasionally a yellowish blossom floats down from the tree behind him. His companion is another resident of Fairlawn House, like himself, and he remembers her name to be Ann. She places a pair of red eights on the table, trumping his pair of red fives. Red blood slowly oozes from the hearts and drips over the table.
"Mr. Madison." He shivers, shaking the image from his mind, and turns to the voice. Jeffrey, the nurse, smiles from inside the threshold. "It's time for your session with the doctors."
Two of the three people waiting in the meeting room look familiar. He and Jeffrey sit down in the empty seats. The clock on the wall reads half past ten, as it ticks steadily.
"Mr. Madison, I'm Dr. Rajpal. We've met before. Do you remember?" He nods to the Indian lady, and then turns to the other lady next to him.
He remembers her, his baby sister, Helen. She's the image of their dead mother. He remembers the week following his mother's death, when the beastie returned and has been hunting him ever since.
Helen takes his hand in her own as a way of greeting, then Dr. Rajpal introduces the third person, Dr. Shapero to them.
"Before we begin, Mr. Madison, could you confirm your name and date of birth?" asks Dr. Rajpal, as she passes some papers to Dr. Shapero and Jeffrey.
He gives his name: Percival Wemys Madison, third, April, nineteen forty eight. He pauses half way over the address, remembering that his family has moved from the Vicarage long ago.
"Do you understand why you are in care, Mr. Madison?" No, he answers to Dr. Rajpal's question.
Dr. Rajpal mentions traumatic stress and hallucination, along with reports of his episodes. Yet, at this moment, he hears only the loud ticking of the clock, and sees Dr. Shapero whispering. He shakes his head.
"What do you see, Mr. Madison?" Briefly, he turns to Dr. Rajpal, but soon turns back to the other doctor.
He withdraws in to his seat, and whispers fearfully to Helen, "He wants to cut my throat."
Dr. Shapero appears to transform; his hair grows longer and the colour changes from dark to long blond. His lean body expands in to a ball of fat, and a mulberry mark materializes on his left cheek.
"Percy!" His sister tugs on his hand forcefully.
"Mr. Madison, no one will harm you here." He misses Dr. Rajpal's reassurance. He only hears the chief's order that they chant, and around the blazing fire, he sees Henry and Johnny dance with the biguns. The chief sits next to Dr. Rajpal, with a crown of garland atop his head and a spear in his hand.
Lightning flashes around them and spears fly straight at him.