I was six when it happened. My father and I were in New York on holiday. The sun was beaming down and the faint wind carried the smell of the East River and wafted it throughout the city. The streets were busy and full and the sound of traffic was a constant drone, broken up by the beeping of horns. What no one else saw but me was the unnatural blue lights that shone through the city they shone in the midday sun and seemed to bounce off the highest point of the empire state building. " Daddy!" I said in delight. " Look at the pretty lights!" He just laughed and started singing along with an old Led Zeppelin song on the radio. He loved Led Zeppelin. " I look like Jimmy Page." He always said. I always agreed with him, even though I had no idea who Jimmy Page was. The strangest thing about that day was that I was perfectly content, the sun was shining and I was happy. In fairy tales when something goes wrong, it's dark, the sky is stormy, everything is bleak and grey and the only things that can be seen are clouds and somber faces. That day wasn't like that. Then my father fell asleep. The car stalled and around us the whole city went silent. I cried and begged for my father to wake up but he remained silent and unresponsive. I pounded on the doors and windows but the car was locked and the doors jammed by the traffic on either side. For three days I was trapped in that car, half starving and dying of thirst.
When my dad woke up I should have been relieved, but my world was in chaos. We stumbled out of the car and were caught up in the throng of screaming people. Looking back, I don't think anyone really knew what was going on. They were just scared. I wish I didn't know, but I did. That day, I screamed as a giant made of storm clouds knocked down buildings with fists like wrecking balls. I saw a black haired boy lead a legion of the dead against the hordes of hell. I watched as a dark haired boy and a blonde girl crossed swords with a man with golden eyes. My father died that day.
I knew what I'd seen. Even as I was bounced around from foster home to foster home to waiting room to psych ward. I stuck to my story. I knew I wasn't crazy. I did… I think…
I didn't care if the whole world was against me on this. I knew what I'd seen.
The place where I am is white. White walls, white floor, white bed, white bedspread. There is even a vase of white roses on the bedside table. The only personal items in this room are a book of greek mythology sitting on my bedside table that used to belong to my father and the metal bracelet around my wrist. It is a simple chain with a metal plate attached to it. I run my fingers over the caduceus symbol and the words that read out
Amaris Thomson
Schizophrenia
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Along with a sequence of numbers that means nothing to me.
This is just the latest of many Psychiatric wards. I bounce around between them a lot but this one is particularly bad. The door clicks open and my nurse walks into the room. It has been a week and I still haven't bothered to learn her name. " Up you come dearie." she says, as if I am some geriatric old woman who can't even stand on her own.
I brush off her hand and shrug into the scrubs that she has brought for me to wear today.
When she goes to open the door for me I walk straight past her and make my way to the cafeteria where they serve dry toast and fruit loops and slimy boiled eggs are a delicacy.
The cafeteria is a gloomy place just row upon row of steel benches and gloomy faces.
I walk past rows of people to a table in the back of the room where a single girl sits. She has her head bent over a book the size of her torso, her blond pixie cut unbrushed, her lips moving silently forming words that only make sense to her. I pull out the chair across from her and place my bowl down. "Soggy weetbix and canned peaches past their expiration date." I announce like a gameshow host. "And here we have our special, a meat free, vegetarian option." I slide a glass of water towards her. Cynthia barley spares me a glance before looking back down at her book. "We're in that mood today huh?" I mutter to myself. Cynthia suffers from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. A person with bipolar disorder will switch between extreme excitement, or mania, and depression. Schizophrenia causes symptoms that are more severe than the symptoms of bipolar disorder. People with schizophrenia experience hallucinations and delusions.
The poor girl isn't really all there. I glance down at her reading material. "You remember that the nurse doesn't like you reading horoscopes, right?"
Cynthia looks up at me. "They're coming for you, you know." Her eyes are unfocused and dreamy. I raise my eyebrows. "Is that my horoscope? Check again, It's Cancer." She stays silent. "I mean Cancer, as in my Zodiac. I don't actually have cancer. As you can see, this isn't a hospital. It's a horror house for freaks and spooks." Cynthia meets my eyes. "They're coming for you." Is all she says. "They know where you are now. They know you exist." Before I can ask her what she means one of the nurses walks up behind Cynthia and slams her book closed. Cynthia doesn't even protest. She just pushes the book away from her and slumps, laying her head on her crossed arms. Somewhere, a bell rings and there's a rush of feet as all the children get up and make their way back to their wards for lessons. Cynthia and I are lucky we are some of the oldest kids so we get our own rooms, so we head down to the library. The day passes in a mind numbing blur. The same routine, the same old people. Nothing changes within these walls.
...
I wake in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. My throat is raw. My hair is a rats nest of pale black, almost grey around my head and my peach coloured nightgown is tangled around my legs. My whole world is silent. The wind is the only sound as it swishes in and out of the cracked open window like the ocean tide. For a few seconds I sit in silence and when nothing else happens I lay back on my side and bury my head in my palm. Outside a bird trills a shrill warning call. It's almost like a scream and then it cut off abruptly, its echo fading into the night. A growling sounds from the corner of my room. I bolt upright. In the corner of the small space shines a pair of glowing eyes reflecting the light of the moon. I scream.
I jump out of bed and rush toward the door. The creature stalks out of the shadows. I pound on the door, panic racing through my head, to no avail. They lock the doors from the outside each night. I can't even flip on the lights because there is no light switch. They're designed to automatically shut off at 8:30. I curse and pull on the door handle with all my might. The monster snarls behind me. I turn, dread a heavy blanket smothering all the air. Screaming again seems pointless but I do it anyway. The monster has the face of a human and the body of a giant gold cat. A lion. Its huge paws thud against the thinly carpeted floor and its razorblade claws leave gouges in the fabric. Unfortunately, I recognise it from my book of greek mythology, it's a sphinx. This should be impossible. I know that no one is coming to the rescue. The patients here scream in their sleep often enough that the staff won't think anything of it. Just as the monster crouches to spring a silvery light emits from behind me and the door falls open. I tumble into the corridor. Scrambling to my feet I slam the door shut just as the creature crashes against the other side of it. Drawing the bolt shut I tear off down the corridor.
As I run toward the front door I contemplate the possibility that I am making this all up in my head. Schizophrenia and all that. I burst out the front doors into the cool night air of the front grounds. I look around desperately for an escape but stone walls. A quiet voice behind me says, "I told you they would come for you." I whirl to find Cynthia sitting cross legged on the stoop. "They came and now you have to leave." An unearthly howl echoes from inside the building. The sphinx is out of its cage. Cynthia jumps to her feet. She grabs me by the hand and together we race around the perimeter of the wall. When I look behind me I see the monster racing to catch up. Cynthia pushes aside a curtain of ivy to reveal a hole in the bricks of the wall. Just as the sphinx pounces on us she pushes me through and ducks after me. We roll out of the way as the sphinx's paw protrudes out of the gap. Claws reaching. Fortunately the wall is too high for the sphinx to jump over. We know this because we can hear it throwing its body at the stones repeatedly. "Cynthia!" I tug on her sleeve. " We have to go." She doesn't move. "Cynthia!" I grab her shoulders and turn her around. Blood drips from a gash on her forehead. I gasp and she collapses into my arms. I hold her up, my hands fluttering around her face. "W-what do you want me to do." Her voice is weak. "We keep going." She rises unsteadily to her feet. " I know a place not far from here, on the coast of the Long Island Sound. A place for people like us." She sounds distant. I'm hoping that her tone of voice is for the place and not the amount of blood she has lost. "And I know a way to get there.
We walk for half an hour through marshlands then trees until we start seeing lights and eventually we trek along the edge of a highway into a city. We walk for five more minutes with Cynthia gripping my neck and directing me. The blood on her face and my t-shirt has begun to dry. We turn left into a street and come to face an old oak door with an old fashioned knocker. Without hesitating, Cynthia lifts a weak hand, picks up the knocker and drops it. I can't find the strength in me to protest. A few minutes pass and then the door is opened by a boy my age. He is lanky and wears a dark blue hoodie thrown on over pale blue and checkered white pyjama pants. He has curly black hair and eyes the colour of hazelnut chocolate. "Can I help-" He sees the two of us and his voice dies away. "By the gods!" He ushers us inside. " Uh- Hi, I'm Harley. Can I help you?"
He coughs nervously. " I'm Cynthia," Cynthia says in a near whisper, " and this is Amaris. We are Half-bloods, just like you."
A/N: Hey guys. Hope you liked it. Just saying, I probably won't continue unless I have some reviews. Please feel free to do so. Tell me what you think. Any monsters you want added in. If it's complete crap (I certainly hope it isn't.)