Justin woke up the next morning after going into cardiac arrest. Hearing Zoey say that name triggered something within him. It triggered memories of the dark past...
"Shit, I haven't been in this hospital for even a day and I'm already being reminded of my past." he said, completely distraught with everything going on.
He used the bathroom, washed his face, and began to look at his reflection. Looking in the mirror felt odd, as the man he was seeing didn't look like him, but rather a former shell of a once happier, friendlier, more sexually active young man.
The same man who scored with the most attractive women in his city, had sex with the literal Goddess of Love, and defeated the Nymphojinn. Now, he was locked in a mental institution, not sure what his fate would be.
"What is even happening anymore?" Justin said, putting his hand on his head.
He then headed into the day room, being greeted by the cyber chick and a mug, most likely containing coffee.
"Greetings." she said in her usual, robotic tone.
He looked at her, proceeding to sit down in a chair across from her.
"Would you like some tea?" she asked, offering him a mug.
Oh, it's tea. Even better.
He nodded, accepting her kind offering. She poured him a mug and handed it to him. It was almost like a tea party, except not as fun.
"So." Zoey said, taking a sip.
"So..." he replied, doing the same.
"Are you alright?"
I'm a lot of things, but I'm NEVER alright.
Instead of answering her question, he cut right to the chase.
"How the FUCK do you know him?" he asked in a serious tone.
"I don't know him, personally. I merely saw reflections within the inner recesses of his mind. He is a sick and demented man that does not need to be roaming freely around the streets. I'm uncertain if he has yet to be incarcerated or not."
Zoey looked at him, wondering what the deal was.
"So, how do you know Kenny?" the cyber chick asked, assuming he's heard of the same individual.
JD made a grim expression. He had neglected to touch up on it for over a year at this point. But he knew it was finally time to reveal some of the terrible things he had witnessed while under Greenseed's custody.
"Kenny Bagworth was my roommate while I was locked up in Greenseed."
She gasped, which was a pretty rare occurrence from the almost emotionless cyber chick.
"Y-You shared a room with... You witnessed his-"
He nodded, begrudgingly confirming the numerous comments of the predatory behavior that his ex-roommate was known for.
Zoey turned her head, covering her mouth in disbelief. I can't even...
Lillian and Sarah both came in, awakening from a long night's sleep.
"Like, I really fucking hate being forced out of bed and shit." the goth stated, sounding very grumpy.
The weeb let out a huge yawn. "I'm tirrrrrred!"
Lillian then turned to Zoey, wondering why she looked so spooked.
"You good, Zoe?"
The cyber chick turned back to Justin.
"I-I had no idea you were forced to share an environment with him." she stated.
He nodded once more, knowing that Kenny was a horrible individual.
"Seeing his thoughts is one thing." he said. "But living with the man himself... That's a whole other story."
The weeb and the goth both looked at each other, not entirely aware of what was going on.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that." he added, apologizing to Zoey.
She shook her head, thinking that the apology was completely unnecessary.
"No, Justin Dark, I'm sorry. No living being should ever have to experience something as repulsive and horrid as that monster. I could have never guessed that you were one of Bagworth's victims, sharing not only a household together, but a bedroom."
Share isn't the right word. Tolerated is more like it.
The goth then finally realized what was going on.
"Oh..." she said, not knowing what else to say on the matter.
Sarah, on the other hand, was very upset knowing about this.
"Y-YOU HAD TO SHARE A ROOM WITH A PEDO?!" she cried.
He frowned, not liking this sort of spotlight for his disturbing past.
The weeb began to shed tears, proceeding to hug JD a bit too tight.
"I'M SORRY, SENPAI!" she shrieked, squeezing him even harder.
"Suki... You're hurting me."
"You're hurting me, Senpai! I'm super duper sorry you had to go through that stuff. That Baka must've done something to you."
She continued to squeeze him, refusing to let him go. Even though he knew that Sarah "Suki" Stevens was obviously losing her mind (or going through major anime withdrawal), it was still nice knowing she was still heavily obsessed with him.
"Suki, could you please loosen yourself from him? You're beginning to cut off his source of oxygen." the cyber chick said, kindly asking her to let go.
The weeb did as she was commanded, realizing she may have hugged him a bit too tight.
"Oops, sorry."
JD took a deep grasp of air. "I-It's fine, Suki."
He wasn't entirely upset with her about this. She was only expressing her love.
"So like, was he as fucked up as Zoey said he was?" the goth asked.
"Y-Yeah." he said, suddenly getting a bad feeling in his gut.
The goth turned her eyes to Zoey, now getting a better understanding as to why the cyber chick refused to talk about it while they were still in Daten City. No wonder she almost went off on me that one time.
Later on, the rest of the patients came out of their rooms and formed a "line" to head down for breakfast.
These people all looked very odd to Justin. The man who he shared a room with, while not as awful as someone like Bagworth, was still a bit concerning. He was a brown-skinned man named Morris, who talked a lot in his sleep, constantly saying "stupid-ass shit" multiple times over. Must be a way of verbal stimming.
As he got in line to wait on the nurse to lead them downstairs to the cafeteria, he took a good look at the eight other patients there with them.
A large man was getting very angry. "Scottie hungry!" he yelled, sounding to be mentally challenged.
"Calm down, Scott. We'll be going to the cafeteria as soon as I do a role call."
The large man grunted, getting very angry.
"Alright, let's see: Morris Cortez?"
"Yeah." the brown-skinned man said.
"Scott Grossman?"
Of course, the nurse knew who he was, obviously having to previously deal with him.
"Cassie Curtis?"
"Right here." the red-haired woman said. Sarah glanced at her, seeming to have some kind of rough history with this Satanist-looking woman.
"Clyde Kimmi?"
A quiet Korean man raised his hand, choosing not to say anything. JD wondered about him. He wondered why he was in here.
"Mel Rosenburg?"
The man, who had a vague stain of clown makeup on his face, raised his hand that had a paper bag on it reading 'Harry McHaroldson'. Obviously, this was some sort of inanimate object he made into a friend.
"Sarah Stevens?"
"Oi!" the weeb shouted.
"Lillian Aurawell?"
"Yeah, I'm like here." the goth said.
"Denise Greene?"
"Zoey." the cyber chick stated, not fond of someone using her birth name, even if it was still legally her first name.
"And... the new guy." the nurse said, looking at the 23 year old with black hair.
"What's your name, sir?"
Justin hesitantly let it out. "J-Justin Dark."
"Alright." the nurse said, adding him to the roster. "Is your last name really Dark?"
This was the first time someone's ever asked that question. Usually, everyone accepted his odd last name. But this nerdy-looking hospital staff was one of the few to ever ask that question.
"Yeah, I know it's a bit odd, but that is my last name. Nobody's really questioned it."
The staff nodded. "Okay. My name is David Joiner. I'll be your tech for today."
"H-Hey." he said, kind of nervous seeing a new face like this.
"Are you okay? I heard you had went into cardiac arrest last night." David asked.
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine."
"Well, alright. You should still bring it up to your doctor once you meet him."
I wonder if he's going to be as sleazy as Beckman was.
"Alright, everyone. We're heading down to the cafeteria. I want a single-file line. No fighting, no yelling, and no starting a riot, SCOTTIE!"
The large man grunted, not happy that David was targeting him when explaining the rules.
Once they got down to the cafeteria, they got their breakfast trays, which consisted of the mediocre eggs and bacon accompanied by a piece of toast and a small carton of orange juice.
JD sat next to Lillian and across from Sarah and Zoey. He was in an unfamiliar place, so it was a little comforting having a few of his allies there with him, It gave him a sense of familiarity in a completely foreign environment.
"So, have you spoken to Ashley lately?" the goth asked, wondering if he had spoken to her cousin ever since they basically split up.
"Y-Yeah. I saw her at my Halloween party over a week ago."
"You had a Halloween party and didn't invite me? That blows."
He knew she was being sarcastic this time, as he didn't know she was in Blackwing Asylum to begin with. Ashley had neglected to tell him she was here, if she even knew at all.
"So, can you tell me more about these other people?" he asked, referring to the other patients.
"Of course. Morris, your current roommate, is a schizophrenic man who used to be a barber. He's of Dominican descent and has a problem of verbal stimming."
Well that was pretty obvious.
"Cassie's a stinky, meany, poo poo head!" the weeb exclaimed.
He looked at Zoey, wanting a better explanation as to why Sarah felt that way.
"Suki used to share a room with Cassie, who bullied her. She's a Satanist, presumably a member of the Blackwing Church of Satanism."
"Like, I think that's cool though." Lillian interrupted, kind of in to the whole Satanic cult thing.
"Anyway, she's here for homicidal tendencies. It's rumored she threatened to shoot up a high school at some point, though never went through with it."
Holy fuck. So, we're in here with a homicidal maniac? Damn, not sure how I feel about that. Even Lillian's never threatened to shoot up a school, despite dropping out as soon as she could.
"Mel is a former clown who unfortunately took a weird turn throwing, from what I've gathered, pineapples at a kid's birthday party. He was admitted into here for it."
"Pineapples?" JD asked, thinking that was pretty insane and odd.
"Yes, pineapples."
Okay, so I have a schizophrenic barber, a school shooter, and now a fucking clown in here. God, I wonder who else is like this?
"What about that fat guy over there?" he said, sort of pointing at Scott.
"Scott? Scott is a fucking madman!" the goth stated, being vague.
Of course, he turned to Zoey to see what that meant exactly.
"Scott Grossman is a mentally disabled man on the surface. However, from what my readings have informed me, he's a serial killer who is overpowered when going into the garbage. I've had visions of the destruction he may cause if he gets his hands on a black trash bag."
He tilted his head, wondering what a man like that could possibly do with something as simple as a black trash bag.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say he wears it as a suit and becomes an entity known as "The Trash Man."
Oh my god.. So now we have a man who thinks he's a super villain in a movie? God, what a fucking wacko.
"Right."
"Senpai-Clyde is a big hunky Korean, though he doesn't say much." the weeb stated.
"Yes, ever since he was admitted back in June, before me and Lillian ever showed up, he's been mostly silent. It is rumored he only speaks to the doctor about why he's here and nobody else."
This was pretty mysterious, to say the least. This Korean obviously had some sort of social anxiety or something related to it.
"Alright. Well, I don't need an introduction for you three, so that's fine and dandy." he said, now familiar with everyone he was sharing the wing with.
"Aw! But I love introducing myself. Konicihwa, I'm Suki. I'm 20 and I like anime, and manga, and cosplay, and HENTAI!"
"Sarah, I swear to God, please be quiet." he said, starting to get a bit annoyed with the weeb's constant babble about Japanese culture.
"Lips are sealed, Senpai. MMHMM!" she said, doing a zipper hand movement across her lips.
Ugh, is it me, or is she even more annoying than before?
They all ate their breakfast. The way they made those eggs would make Tiffany very upset. They were awful.
He still couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted to know what was going on. Was she actually leaving him? Or was he here because Beckman wanted him to? Unfortunately, he didn't have his phone and this hospital was so old-fashioned that they didn't even have a telephone to call his friends or even family. The only option was to write letters. It definitely felt like a place straight out of the 1950's.
Mom doesn't even know I'm in here... I might keep it that way, as this isn't a situation for her to be involved with. This is my mess to clean up.
He was eventually going to be seen by his doctor, who he had no idea what their name was yet. But he knew one thing: He couldn't trust anyone, not even himself. So, trusting another sleazy doctor was definitely off the table.