QUICK DISCLAIMER: NONE OF THE STUFF IN THIS STORY IS HOW MENTAL INSTITUTES ACTUALLY ARE NOW, I HOPE NOT ANYWAY. ITS ALL FICTION AND I HOPE NO ONE IS OFFENDED BY THIS.
Keep running, keep running, keep running, keep running.
Thor looked over his shoulder, almost stumbling on branch on the forest floor but it was too dark to see what he knew was there. He quickly turned to see where he was going again.
Keep running, keep running, keep running, keep running.
He narrowly dodged a tree, only being able to see about two foot in from of him.
Keep running, keep running, keep running, keep running.
He heard shouting behind him, and growling.
Keep running, keep running, keep running, keep running.
"Thor!" Thor stopped. He recognised that voice. It was Sif's.
He spun round and saw her on the floor behind him.
"Why?" He sobbed, clutching her arm.
Thor heard the growling again and whimpered then kept running.
He saw the light flickering between the trees and headed towards it but as he got closer he heard screaming. He couldn't make himself turn back though, he kept running towards the screams and broke out into the clearing where three boys here burning, tied to a post.
Thor froze when he saw it and looked around for something to put the fire out with. Off to the edge of the clearing, Thor saw a figure leaning against a tree dressed in all black. He felt the compelling urge to walk over to the figure, ignoring the still-screaming boys and, as he got closer, realised it was Loki. His hair was shorter and pushed back away from his face. It was either gelled or sprayed in place and he looked younger, like he did in the picture Thor had seen.
And he was smirking, the light from the fire dancing in his blue-green eyes, making them shine.
Loki took a silver zippo lighter from out of his pocket and flicked it open, igniting the flame. He looked up at Thor for the first time and his smile widened.
Thor sat bolt up-right in his bed, breathing heavily. He looked over at Loki's bed and saw him sat up, staring at the wall.
"L-Loki?" Thor's voice came out croak and raw, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Loki?"
The other boy didn't react.
Thor pushed the covers off his bed and slowly approached Loki's bed. As he passed the alarm clock he noticed it was 6:30. They had to be up in half an hour.
Loki didn't move, still staring at the wall.
"Loki!" Thor barked, hoping to snap him out of it but nothing happened.
He hesitantly leant forward and put his head into Loki's line of sight he didn't even blink. Even when Thor clapped in from of his face, he remained still.
Thor started to get worried and thought about calling for whatever guard was on duty outside. He knew it wasn't Taylor until seven but he also knew Taylor was the only one of the guards that could do anything involving Loki without being threatened.
He reached out to shake Loki out of it but as soon as his hand made contact with Loki's shoulder, Loki grabbed his hand and bent his wrist back. Thor fell to his knees and tried not to scream in pain but yelped a little.
Loki stared at him for a few seconds before seeming to recognise Thor and let go of his hand.
Thor brought it to his chest.
"Sorry," Loki muttered, clearly not meaning it.
"Are you okay?" Thor asked, moving his wrist around. It wasn't broken or sprained, just hurt.
Loki looked at him curiously. "Why do you ask? Shouldn't I ask you that?"
"Were you going to ask?"
Loki shook his head.
"Exactly. But you were kind of zoned out for a while, just wondered if anything was bothering you,"
Loki blinked lazily. "Everything and nothing bothers me,"
"What does that mean?" Thor asked, confused.
Loki rolled his eyes. "It means nothing bothers me because everything bothers me,"
Thor just looked more confused.
Loki sighed and tried to explain again. "Well, if you were in a group and you liked everyone in that group equally then someone asked you who you like the most in that group, you wouldn't be able to pick, right?"
Thor nodded dumbly.
"Then if everything in the world bothers you, then someone asks if something is bothering you, you can't really say anything specific, can you,"
Thor blinked. "I… guess," He'd never thought about that. "But how can everything bother you? There must be something you like?" Thor sat on the edge of Loki's bed.
Loki's eyes flicked to Thor's hands, which were on the bed next to him but ignored it. "Nothing,"
"What about your family?"
Loki's eyes darkened. "I don't have one,"
Thor's eyes squinted. "Why not?"
"My mother is dead and my father is the one who dumped me in the hellhole," Loki spoke through gritted teeth and Thor tried not to let himself feel scared. He was older and stronger that Loki so if he needed to, he could defend himself.
"I'm sure he loves you…" Thor tried to reason but Loki shook his head.
"If he loved me he wouldn't have left me here," Loki looked down.
Thor thought it was best not to push it. "So, are you an only child?"
Loki nodded.
"Me too, I have a few cousins but they're all a lot younger than me. The oldest is seven, his name is Liam,"
Loki looked up hesitantly. "Liam's a cool name…"
Thor blinked, shocked he'd actually made a nice comment. "Yeah, I thought so. Although his sister is called Gertrude,"
"Gertrude is a horrid name," Loki smirked.
"That's what I thought! My aunt just wouldn't listen," Thor chuckled.
"Do you have any other cousins?" Loki drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
"Yeah, Liam and Gretchen have a baby brother called Luke and my uncle has two kids. Duncan and Mary,"
Loki nodded. "Mary is sweet. Duncan reminds me of a douche from my school. Luke is nice too,"
Thor smiled. "Do you have any extended family?"
"I have an uncle called David. I hate him,"
"Why?" Thor tilted his head.
"He doesn't like movies," Loki smirked and Thor laughed, despite his better judgment.
"I take it you like movies," Thor sat cross legged opposite Loki as the younger boy nodded.
"It's how I spent ninety percent of my life until I came here,"
"What's your favourite genre?"
"Horrors," Loki smiled.
"Me too! If the body count isn't high, I'm not interested," Thor laughed again and Loki nodded in agreement.
"What's your favourite?"
"Hide and Seek," Loki answered after a minute thinking.
"What's that about?" Thor asked, having not heard of that before.
"It's about a guy called David and his daughter, Emily, who move to a new town after David's wife kills herself. David likes this woman called Elizabeth but Emily doesn't like her then Emily get an imaginary friend called Charlie and she tells Elizabeth that they're playing hide and seek. Emily is only little so Elizabeth humours her and pretends to look for Charlie then Emily pushes her out of a window and when David asks her who did it she says Charlie did it and made her help. Then David cuts up his neighbour who he assumes his Charlie and other stuff happens but I'm not going to tell you the rest because you should watch it someday,"
That was the most Thor had ever heard him so in one go. And one breath too. That's impressive.
"Huh, sounds good,"
"What's your favourite?" Loki asked.
"Hmm," Thor hummed while he thought. "The Grudge," He shuddered a little.
"I've heard of that but I never watched it,"
"It's really creepy, do you know what it's about?"
Loki shook his head and scooted closer to Thor to listen, resting his chin on his knees.
"It's about this woman, Karen, who does to take a job as a carer in Japan then she realises the family that used to live there were killed. The wife had a crush on her son's teacher and she wrote about him in a diary which the husband found. He thought she was having an affair so he snapped her neck and drowned their son, Toshio, in the bathtub; he drowned the cat in there too. Then stuffed his wife in the attic and his son in the closet then hung himself. The wife and son haunt the house. Kayako makes a croaking sound she made while she was gasping for breath when her neck was broken and Toshio makes cat noises… I never quite understood why, all I got is that the cat was drowned in the same water as him," Thor shrugged. "Karen tries to get rid of the curse because if you go in the house you'll eventually die, Kayako comes after you. It's really creepy,"
Loki listened intently and nodded along. "Sound interesting,"
"Do you know a lot about horrors?"
Loki nodded, looking smug. "Everything there is to know,"
"Really?" Thor decided to test Loki's knowledge on horrors and smirked. "So, when was Psycho released?"
Loki shook his head. "June sixteenth, nineteen sixty,"
Thor blinked. He wasn't expecting the exact date, just the year.
"Okay," Challenge accepted. "When was Texas Chainsaw Massacre released?"
"October first, nineteen seventy-four," Loki didn't even hesitate.
"Who stared as the voice of Chucky in Child's Play?"
"Brad Dourif,"
Thor cursed. "Okay, who directed The Exorcist?"
"Friedkin Williams, at least make it a challenge for me,"
Thor glared then came up with the perfect question.
He smiled brightly as he asked it. "What is the Poltergeist Curse and why do people think it exists?"
Loki looked excited to be able to relay the information he had. "In the six years it took the trilogy to be completed, five people working on it died,"
Thor nodded sulkily and was about to move on when Loki continued. "There was Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister in the first movie, she was murdered by her boyfriend. Heather O'Rouke, who played Carol Ann, dies from septic shock because of an obstructed bowel. Julian Beck, who played Kane in the second one, dies of stomach cancer. Louis Perryman, who played Beck in the first movie, was murdered. And Will Sampson, who played the Medicine Man in the second one, died of kidney failure,"
Thor stared at Loki. "How… the hell…?"
Loki shrugged. "I have a good memory,"
Thor chuckled. "No kidding…" He looked down, trying to think of more questions.
Then Thor heard a beautiful noise he'd never heard before. His head shot up and he stared at Loki.
"What?" The younger boy asked, self-consciously.
"Did you just…"
Loki blinked and sat up straight. "Oh…"
Thor's smiled grew brighter. "You just laughed,"
Loki bit his lip. "Yeah…"
"I heard you never laugh," Thor grinned wider.
"I don't…" He was staring down at his lap.
Thor leant forward and placed his forefinger under Loki's chin to make him look up. "It's okay to laugh,"
Loki stared at him. "Not for me,"
"Why?" Thor asked.
"I don't deserve to…" Loki tried to look away but Thor cupped his face in both his hands.
"Everyone deserves to laugh. Nobody deserves to be miserable,"
Loki knocked Thor's hands off him and jumped out of bed as Taylor opened the door to wake them and the boy screamed at Thor.
"BUT I'M NOBODY! IF I WAS SOMEBODY I'D HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SAVE HER!"
Both Taylor and Thor were caught off-guard by Loki's outburst so Taylor didn't stop him as he bolted from the room.
The guard regrouped quicker than Thor and muttered a quick "Crap!" before running out after Loki.
Thor jumped up and followed him out of the block. He saw Taylor tackle Loki and Loki try and claw at the grass to get away as Taylor pulled him back by his ankle.
Other patients walked around, some looking over, but most of them had learnt it was best not to look at Loki when he was like this.
Taylor straddled Loki to pin him down as he took out his hand cuffs to restrain Loki, who screamed the whole time.
A few other guards had seen what happened and were rushing over to help with a man dressed in all white just behind them. The guards all pinned Loki's arms and legs to the grass as Taylor knelt next to his head. Thor could see his mouth moving as he spoke to Loki to distract him while the man in white stuck a needle in Loki's arm. Loki screamed louder and tried to pull away but they held him down a little longer until his struggling became weaker, his screams faded to whimpers and he eventually passed out. The guards let go of him and the man in white said a few things to Taylor before walking back to the building with the other men. Taylor sighed and scooped down to pick Loki up bridal style.
Thor expected him to bring him back to their room but instead he went over to the block Thor had never been in.
He rushed over to them and walked beside Taylor.
"Where are you taking him?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Solitary," Taylor sighed.
Thor looked at Loki's sleeping face and back up to the man's. "How long will he be unconscious?"
"An hour or so,"
Thor tried not to let his relief show too much. "So he'll be back to our room then, right?"
Taylor shook his head. "He has to stay in Solitary," He sounded upset about that.
Thor's brow creased. "For how long?"
Taylor shrugged. "Depends what he's like when he makes up. It's a day, minimum. But that's if he's on his best behaviour, which he very rarely is when he's in that place,"
"He goes there a lot?"
"More than enough," Taylor looked glum as the block came into view. It was made of steel and looked dark and creepy.
"How long is he usually in there?" Thor asked, trying not to think of what the inside of that building looked like.
"Usually between three days and a month. Loki hates it in there, that's why he always acts up. But they still keep on sending him," Taylor looked irritated, not at Loki or Thor, but at the system.
"What happens in there?" Thor asked at the came closer.
"He'll have to sit in a plain six-foot-by-eight-foot steel room, alone, and then someone shoves a tray of food through a gap in the door for each meal time. Then they'll inject him with another sedative every night to make him sleep. Then in the morning it'll start again,"
"How much trouble can he really get into?" Thor asked.
"He knows what time they come with the food so he waits near the gap and claws them with his fingernails. Then they pin him down and trim them – giving him more sedative so they can do it without him attacking anyone – then he just punches their hands or something. You know the staffs there actually have bets about how long it will be until Loki's back in there? And how long it'll take for him to be let out?" Taylor shook his head in disgust. "They bet money too. And he knows it. They taunt him about it but no one will do anything about it because the only proof they have is Loki's word. They don't do it to any other patient, just him because somewhere in his file it says he's a compulsive liar,"
Thor felt a surge of anger. "Can't you do anything about it?"
Taylor shook his head. "I believe Loki, that's the only thing that makes me think it's true, as well as the fact I know the guys when they're not working. Assholes. The lot of them,"
Thor nodded.
"You know, if Loki doesn't eat they force feed him. And I don't mean with tubes or anything, no, they come into his room, pin him to the bed and force food into his mouth then hold his mouth and nose closed until he had to swallow it to breathe,"
"That's horrible!" Thor looked down at Loki.
"He has appetite issues. But they can't do anything about it because, again, it's his word against theirs. But Loki comes back with fingertip shaped bruises on his cheeks from when they put their hand over his mouth to stop him from just spitting it out. They say he did it to himself but…" Taylor shook his head and shushed Thor as they entered the building.
There was a chubby man leaning back on his chair with his feet up on the desk behind a glass window. He dropped his feet and eyed the group.
"Well, well, Sparky's back, huh?" He chuckled and Taylor nodded curtly.
Thor refrained from saying anything as the man – whose nametag identified him as Larry – came out of his booth and called over to a few guys down the hall.
"Hey, fellas! Our resident Firestarter is back!" He waved them over and they all walked up to Taylor.
"Is he out cold?" One of them asked then sniggered at his own choice in words. Taylor nodded again and a big guy held his arms out for Loki but Taylor shook his head.
"I'll put him in the room," He announced and looked to another guy who had a ring on keys on his belt.
The guy rolled his eyes. "D'you want to kiss him goodnight too?"
Taylor glared at him. "Just get the damn door," He ordered and the man held his arms up but obeyed, opening the cell at the very end of the corridor.
Thor followed Taylor to the doorway then watched him lay Loki down on the bed and leave the room quickly. The man locked it behind them and Taylor put a hand on Thor's shoulder, leading him out of the building without looking at the other men. As they walked out the door, Larry called Taylor back to sign a book.
Taylor returned a minute later and led Thor to the rec room then went to see Dr. Merrick about Loki's outburst.
Thor looked around and went over to sit in Loki's corner near the book.
He sighed then Romey sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around Thor's shoulders, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I saw what happened with Loki, you okay?" She asked sweetly.
Thor looked confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Romey looked up at him and smirked. "Oh, no reason. No reason at all,"
