Luke's mind flashbacked to his first memories of the asylum, as he lay unconscious…

A shaggy looking teenager was brought into a small, secluded plain white room and left alone. He watched helplessly as the large metal door was pulled closed followed by a 'click' signaling that he was locked in.

 "But I'm not lying!" He shouted tears welling up in his bright blue-green eyes.

 "I'm not..." The tears fell onto the ground, he followed suit and sat down curling up into a ball on the cold, cold floor.

 "I'm not crazy..." He sobbed pulling his knees to his chest, "I'm not crazy..."

The memories fast-forwarded to a year later…

 Luke, hair cut short and sticking up in every direction, glared at the book he held in his hands. The only source of entertainment they'd give him were either Shakespearian books or books on Nature. Right now all he could get his hands on was a book on Plankton, least to say he was mad.

 The door to his room suddenly unlocked and a small boy with unruly shaggy hair was brought in.

Nikki stumbled into the new room; blinking from the heavy dosage of drugs they had him on. He stood there like a rabbit in the headlights, not seemingly able to move, even though he was scared of the boy in the room with him. He hadn't thought they'd put him in a room with someone else.

The nurses didn't say a word as they left the room and relocked the door. Luke sat the book down next to him and studied the boy.

 Nikki swayed and moved away from the strange boy with the intense glare. His limbs felt too heavy, and he sat down, next to his bed, on the other side of the room from the other boy. He looked up and around, confused, not sure if this wasn't some bizarre hallucination.

 "What's your name?" Luke spoke up raising an eyebrow.

Nikki looked confused, and tried out speech. "Dominik." he said somewhat slurred.

 "M' name's Luke." 'Got the kid on enough drugs...' Luke thought angrily glancing away from the boy.

 "Hi Luke." Nikki said softly. The drugs were starting to clear from his system, but his eyes remained slightly clouded. He looked round again. "Was I bad again?" He asked, tears slipping miserably down his young cheeks.

Luke turned back to the now crying boy and frowned, "I don't know, what ch'ya do?"

Nikki whimpered as he cried. "I didn't mean to be bad. I didn't want to go in the bath again, I'm afraid."

 "You're afraid of a bath?" Luke asked incredulously.

Nikki buried his head in his hands. "Mummy pushes my head under and I can't breathe." He sobbed, "I didn't mean to be a bad boy, but I'm scared."

Luke blinked, no wonder the kid was a wreck, "Hey now..." He said softly picking himself up off his bed, "I don't think you have to be scared anymore." He sat down next to Dominik, this kid didn't need to be here he needed to be at a more... saner/safer place.

Nikki jumped, his whole body shuddering. "Don't TOUCH me!" He screamed, scrabbling away from Luke. "Leave me alone, leave me alone..." he moaned, shaking in fear.

Luke sat stunned; he didn't do anything but rest his hand on the boy's shoulder.

 "Ok..." He said softly climbing to his feet, slowly he backed away and returned to his bed.

Nikki's voice rose back to a scream, and he continued to scream again and again until he had to stop and throw up. He curled up shaking, an absolute mess and shook his head violently, hands cradling it. "Leave me alone..." he started up again, sounding more broken this time.

Eyes wide, Luke watched with what felt like fear and pity clawing up his insides. The kid needed help, and bad. Help that this place couldn't, no wouldn't give to him.

Nikki, wide-eyed, looked up at Luke with wide desperate eyes, wet with forgotten tears. "Help.. " He begged, looking into the corner at something that wasn't there, then turning back, closing his eyes. "Please..."

Luke swallowed hard, not quite sure what to do he once again approached the boy. Carefully stepping around the mess of vomit he held out his hand to the boy.

 Nikki flinched back when Luke extended a hand, but, when he saw that nothing bad was going to come of it, he lunged into Luke, clawing at him, trying to hide himself. "Make it go away." he implored.

Luke stumbled back a few feet from the impact but held fast to the trembling boy in his arms.

 "I can't make it go away if I don't know what it is."

Nikki wept hard at that, holding Luke tighter, then suddenly stopping, the way rain in spring does. He sniffed and rested his head against Luke's chest, then stood back , rubbing his eyes. "Where are we?"

Confused at the sudden change Luke shrugged gaping at the boy.

 "Uh... We're at Sunny Field's Asylum." He said slowly.

Nikki nodded and went over to the empty bed, climbing onto it and sitting there, feet hanging off the edge and not touching the floor. "Is this your bed or mine?"

"Mine..." Luke frowned and tossed a newspaper over the mess Nikki had made.

 "So how old are you, Dominik?"

Nikki watched Luke listlessly. "I'm eight. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." Luke replied folding his arms over his chest.

 Nikki nodded, then moved to his bed, curling up fetal like on the covers and just laying there still. "How long have you been here for?"

Luke sighed running a hand through his hair, "Just a little over a year."

"Oh." Nikki said. "Why?"

"'Cause they think I'm crazy and have yet to realize that I'm not." Luke grumbled flopping down on his bed using his arms for a makeshift pillow.

"You're sure you're not crazy?" Nikki asked

Luke turned his head slightly, "Yea, I'm positive. They say I gotta condition called Lycanthrope, where I 'Think'," He pulled one of his arms out from under his head and made an air quote, "I'm a werewolf."

"I'm crazy." Nikki said blankly. "You don't deserve to be here."

"What..." Luke hesitated not sure if he wanted to finish his question, he decided he did, "what made you crazy?" He finished softly.

Nikki shrugged. "I was born this way?" He said, unsure of the answer himself.

"Do you want to be crazy?"

"I can't tell anymore." Nikki sighed.

"If you know you're crazy, then maybe you're not." Luke shrugged looking up at the ceiling.

"But I am." Nikki protested, suddenly getting upset again. " I am crazy. It won't stop." He clutched his head. "It won't leave me alone. " he reached out for Luke again.

Luke sat up and looked Dominik over warily, "What won't leave you alone? What do you keep seeing?"

Nikki bit his lip till it bled and said nothing, still sitting there with his arms out.

"Why are you doing that? Stop it!" Luke shouted, now panicking from the amount of blood running down Dominik's chin.

 Quickly he stood up and grabbed a couple of Kleenex's from a nearby stand, and sat down next to Dominik holding the tissues to his mouth.

Nikki whimpered and jerked his head back away from Luke, frightened. He still tried to worm his arms around Luke for a hug though.

"Hey, wait!" Luke frowned realizing the uselessness of his words for now his only clean white shirt was spotted with quickly drying blood.

 "You alright?" He sighed allowing Nikki to cling to him.

Nikki laughed bitterly and couldn't stop till tears ran down his face. "No..." he cried. "It won't be alright, ever again"

The room fell silent save for the uneven breathing coming from Dominik as he cried. Luke hesitantly combed his finger's through the boy's long black hair in an attempt to calm him.

 "Maybe... maybe some day it will." He said softly wishing beyond everything else he had ever wanted that he was right.

Nikki, soothed by Luke's fingers in his hair, began to doze off. "If you say so." he mumbled.

Luke nodded and for the first time in his life, he felt responsible for someone's life.