Alfred was losing his mind. He'd thought that it would be less painful then it was, his heart and mind shouldn't have hurt so much for something as simple as going insane, and yet night after night, as he lay strapped to his bed, all he could think of was the migraines, and the strange aching in his chest.

The one thing that changed the monotony of his existence was the angry little man that wandered around his room. He'd asked the scientists about him once and they'd asked him all sorts of questions; it was the first time that any of them had spoken to him. He immediately decided that he wouldn't tell them anything about the strange visitor; they were so interested in this man then telling them nothing was the only form of rebellion that Alfred had left.

After spending so much time locked away in this room, everything kind of blurred together, but he saw the man before him in so much detail that it made his head ache more than it already did, and even though he knew he must be hallucinating, he couldn't help but admire the image his mind had fabricated. Soft messy hair framed startled eyes and angry eyebrows and Alfred could make out the thin veins beneath the pale skin of the man's hands. He had to admit that he hadn't expected himself to make something so detailed and perfect, most of his thoughts were lazy and half finished before he became bored with them, so it was surprising even to himself that he'd thought something out so thoroughly.

Even though Alfred knew the stranger wasn't really there he couldn't help but reach out to touch him when he wandered surprisingly close to his bedside. Alfred couldn't move his wrists very much, but he wriggled around and stretched out his fingers as far as they would go and just managed to brush the edge of the man's jacket. He hadn't been expecting much, but he was surprised to feel just the slightest hint of cloth brushing his fingers, in fact he was pretty sure he had imagined it, so he reached for it again, but the man moved away.

Alfred huffed in irritation and glared toward the man. Even if he was just something Alfred had fabricated to entertain himself, the least the man could've done would've been to stay close long enough for Alfred to determine just how realistic his hallucination was, but no, he didn't even seem to notice that Alfred was there. Rude.

It was then that Alfred realized that the man was pacing. He watched the figure move back and forth at the foot of his bed and occasionally up the side again. Alfred tried to touch him again but he was never quite close enough. He sighed and finally gave up, his wrist was sore and staring at the man made his chest tighten and his head hurt. Still, he couldn't quite take his eyes off the man's irritated expression. Alfred couldn't help but wonder why he seemed so frustrated. He watched for a while, but eventually his eyelids drooped and he fell asleep unwillingly.

When Alfred woke up the next day, the man was gone. To be honest he was a bit disappointed. It looked like it was going to be another bleak day of blurry machinery and silent doctors. He turned to the blank faced young lady who was currently replacing his IV. "Hey, do you think you could at least dye whatever's in those bags different colors or something?" He used his chin to gesture to the clear bag of fluid she replaced on the hanger next to him. As usual he was met with silence. "If you could dye them green or blue or something then I'd at least have something new to look at." The woman didn't so much as glance at him.

These people were like machines. In all the time he'd been here he had yet to see one of them so much as tweak a smile, and his jokes weren't that bad! Actually he had to admit, he had told some pretty horrible ones if only to get a reaction. He was quickly running out of material though.

The woman left and Alfred was left to entertain himself again. This was what drove Alfred mad, the never ending silence. He would've thought that the machines would've made some kind of noise, clicking or beeping or something, or that the IV would've made some kind of dripping noise, but once that door slid shut, there was nothing but silence and Alfred quickly found out that silence can be excruciatingly loud. So Alfred devised a game for himself. He made up his own noises, and they were much better than some beeping heart monitor. For instance, he liked to pretend that all the green and blue lights that flashed on the giant machine to his left were actually fireworks, so everytime one of them blinked it sounded like an explosion. He gave everything a sound. The IV purred at him like a kitten and his pillows sang lullabies to him, the giant mirror across the room from him mocked him, and soon even the camera spying on him from the corner was playing the mission impossible theme. In short it was chaos, but it was better than nothing.

He had been playing this game and a few others on and off for days now and had never once been interrupted. The doctors or scientist or whatever they were, seemed to know when he was playing one of his mind games because they never bothered him while he was entertaining himself. So it was no small shock when everything suddenly went silent except for a soft clinking. Alfred's eyes flew open and he stared at the ceiling. He couldn't remember assigning anything in the room that particular noise. He turned his head to find the source, and was only vaguely surprised at what he saw.

Sitting next to his bed on a ridiculously comfy looking recliner and holding a cup of tea, was the man from yesterday. For a moment Alfred just stared. He wasn't really sure, but it seemed the other man was staring back. He was wrong of course, because two seconds later the man closed his eyes and took a delicate sip of his tea. Alfred couldn't help himself, "You're so british." he scoffed. The phrase popped out of his mouth before he could think about it. The man looked startled, Alfred suddenly occurred to him that the man in his head might actually be able to hear him. He opened his mouth to speak again, but then he remembered the camera. He glared at it. If he spoke to the man sitting across from him then he'd be giving these people exactly what they wanted.

Alfred hadn't had any human contact for ages, and the one thing he craved was to have someone that would talk to him, or at least react to him. So what if it was some made up person in his head? At least it was something. At least it wasn't silence. Besides, wouldn't talking to someone be it's own form of rebellion? They obviously meant for him to be completely alone, so wouldn't they just hate it if Alfred had someone that they couldn't ever take away from him?

"Hey you." The man jumped again and nearly spilt his tea, Alfred snorted and couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so easily, He must really be losing it. "So you can hear me then." The british man looked around confusedly and put a hand to his forehead. "trust me bro, I'm the one going crazy here, not you."

Thanks for reading guys, let me know if you liked it, hated it, or have any thoughts. If you want me to continue it, then I need to hear from you.

-Lafie