Hiroki was laying in the room. Laying on a padded floor, on his side, staring at his still hands. His eyes looked tired and dead as he blinked emptily. He rolled on his back, letting gravity comfortingly push him into the soft ground. All he yearned for was to be pushed farther and farther, somewhere past hell, past wonderland, to a world so upside down, it was only a mirror image of this one. Somewhere everything was the same, but the opposite. Switched around. Maybeh he'd have a job. Something that involves literature. He would have a best friend, someone other than Alice. Maybe he would even meet Nowaki. Somewhere nice...like a park. Maybe he would tutor him, because he was older. Through that they would come so very close. Maybe Nowaki would be his best friend. Or maybe he would become something more. He found comfort in the fact that somewhere, that world existed.
Hiroki didn't even notice the door open through the fog of his improbable thoughts. "Hiroki Kamijou?" A voice called from the door.
Hiroki swallowed thickly, he rolled his eyes to the door. A man with messy blonde hair and grey eyes stared at him from the threshold. Behind him were two buff, dark figures. Hiroki didn't give any word of acknowledgment. He just stared. Maybe they would leave him be.
"Hiroki. My name is Doctor Tsumori. I will be your new psychiatrist." He gave a phony smile.
"I don't need a new psychiatrist. I just got one." Hiroki frowned at the man, growing increasingly uncomfortable laying on the ground, open, vulnerable.
The man laughed, but his eyes didn't follow. They just seemed to stare. "Kusama-san isn't the best fit for you, we decided. You're a much too extreme case."
"Nowaki…" Hiroki trailed off, he stared as the ground, 'Nowaki is' and 'Nowaki was' struggled to escape his mouth. He wasn't quite sure what was meant to follow those words, "Nowaki is a good person."
"Indeed he is." Tsumori's sickly sweet voice hummed.
"I think I want to keep him. He's good for me."
"That's not your decision to make."
"Do I get to make any of my own decisions?" Hiroki hissed, "I'm a grown man!"
"If we had mad men deciding what went on around here what do you think would happen?"
Hiroki was taken aback, his face furled up in anger, "Excuse me?"
"If Nowaki is so good for you, tell me why only after a few meetings, you wound up in the high security unit?" Tsumori laughed.
Hiroki didn't say anything. What could he say? The room felt tight, the walls were closer, ceiling was shorter, his breaths were hotter.
"Nowaki is knew here," he began again, "Wouldn't you feel a bit bad about getting him , not only terminated from this facility, but getting his career totally ruined?" Hiroki's face was hot with shame, "It would all be your fault. His career would be ruined because his patient was to much for any average man to handle. Don't you feel guilty? Never took you for the psychopath type. Crazy, but not psychopathic. Certainly not on your diagnosis."
"You don't know anything about me."
"That's what you keep telling yourself." Tsumori stared at him with an empty grin, his eyes wide and accusing. This man made every particle in the room freeze. The white noise was deafening. The mere sound of life now turned evil, the hum of machinery down the hall, his own breathing, the dripping of a faucet somewhere. It felt like they were all coming for Hiroki and they were angry. Hiroki found himself desperately trying to convince his brain that, no this man did not know who he was. Who he really was. Every Thought in every dip and dark alley of his brain. But with the grey eyes that sizzled the room with attention, it was very hard.
Everything was different. How did it change? He didn't know. The only thing he knew was the ceiling was now lower, the walls were closer, his breaths were shorter, and Tsumori was no longer human. Something more. Something Less. Something smarter. Something ancient. Something evil. At least in his head.
"Hiroki… I'm not the bad guy! I promise you. We'll take good care of you down here. Now, let's go to the testing room shall we?" The greys were still burning.
"Testing room? What's the testing room? I want to stay here." Hiroki quivered, his eyes wide watching Tsumoris every move. The man was incredibly still.
Tsumori gritted his teeth and shrugged, "eh...the testing room. It's not a great foot to start off on...its not very fun. But once you get past that everything is a breeze!"
Hiroki continued to stare, he furrowed his brows, "What is th-"
A horrified scream echoed down the halls, thick and grotesque, pain dripping out of its pores Tsumori breathed deeply.
"That's the testing room."
Misaki hated this. He really hated it. His skin was burning and he was desperately trying not to throw up again. He wanted water, he wanted a bath. Sometimes he didn't know how he could survive another minute. Sometimes he thought he just had to disappear, or maybe he would melt, or maybe he would just stop breathing because he could not last another minute in this sweltering room. He liked to think about the smell of rain in the morning, and how sometimes clouds looked like flying cities, and all the places he'll never see, and the taste of snow, and how during the spring, maybe everything was a spectacle just for him, but one would ever know because spring is not someone you can talk to-
But at times like this his mind was spent, and he toggled with much uglier thoughts. He didn't like to talk about those. He especially didn't like it when they manifested themselves into convincing hallucinations.
The door opened. Piercing light pooled into the dark room and Misaki hissed. He screamed as freezing water was dumped over his sweat covered body, chunks of ice burning his skin. Another splash, this time on his head. He coughed and hacked up the water that spilled into his lungs, desperately trying to wipe if from his eyes. He shivered helplessly.
Someone lifted him up from his armpits, he let out a yell as he was dragged down the hall.
"Your brothers coming, he's coming with a guest. We're gonna get you washed up." The man dragging him said, he couldn't tell which one though. Misaki was too busy hacking and struggling.
"Come on, get in there." They shoved him into the washing room, essentially it was a tiled room with a pressurized hose they would spray him down with. They ripped off his clothes, Misaki always felt so violated.
"Please! Please turn it down!" Misaki cried as tried to cover his body and face, and wipe his tears while the water beat him. It felt like it was ripping his skin off, in his mind he could see himself cowered against the corner of the room, crying alone as his skin blew off with the water, revealing red bloody flesh. "It hurts! It's hurts!"
"You're being dramatic, don't you think?" The guard turned off the hose, grabbing a towel and roughly scrubbing and drying Misaki's raw body. He started with the arms.
Misaki helplessly sniffled and sobbed as the guard painfully dried him, he took his other hand and wiped away his tears as he hiccuped.
"For god's sake!" The guard smacked the back of Misaki's head, he let out a shaky yelp, "Its more efficient this way! Stop crying, or you won't see your brother for a whole damn month!" The guard finished like normal, drying Misaki off and cursing at him for crying. He roughly dressed him in much brighter looking clothes, they were of course the same standard patient wear, just cleaner.
He dragged him out to the visitation room and just before opening the door, a voice came from behind them.
"Misaki," Misaki turned, Dr. Tsumori. There was another man with him, held by two guards. The same man who screamed 'Alice'. He glared at Tsumori, he must be brave. Misaki stared at the brave man.
"Not a word, remember? You were crying because of a hallucination." Tsumori said, the brave man was confused, but Misaki understood. The brave man didn't seem to belong here. His eyes were clear, he seemed to process what was around him. His eyes were clear, not foggy. He was present in the now, not in the past, future, or a hallucination. "Misaki do you understand?"
"Y-Yes." He whispered, he met the brave man's eyes, who's face contorted in confusion once he realized Misaki was staring. Tsumori smiled, waved, and continued on with the brave man. The guard loosened his grip on Misaki, ran fingers through his hair, checked his outfit, and nodded before opening the door. Takahiro sat with a man by his side, he had silver hair and beautiful violet eyes. Misaki decided he liked them.
"Misaki! Oh goodness. Your face is so red!" Takahiro cried, it was obvious he wanted a hug, but he wasn't allowed to touch Misaki.
"Hi Oniichan, just the hallucinations again." Misaki said softly, but he continued to glance at the man with the violet eyes, who stared at him shamelessly. The guard stayed close behind Misaki, staying silent.
"Oh...Well, How've you bee- oh, I should introduce you first. This is my best friend, Akihiko Usami, Usagi-San. Remember? I told you about him?" Takahiro asked.
Misaki nodded and smiled, quite happy to see a new face who wasn't considered crazy.
"Well, you know I told you he was an author? A good one too."
"Yes. I remember."
"Well...Misaki. He...wants to hear your real story, know the real you. It's a good chance to...be heard. He wants to know about your life, your life here...and maybe...write a book?"
"Life...here?"
The guards presence has never been so suffocating to Misaki.
A/N: hey guys sorry for the short chapter and literally taking like a year. It's mostly my procrastination, so don't be scared if I take forever to upload. I still love this story, more than I have in regards to any other story. I guess I do have an excuse because long story short I organized a March and now am the President of my non profit organization??? Crazy things happen in life I guess...I hope you all are doing well, I will try my best to upload sooner for all of you. Also I'm think of rewriting that absolutely SHIT zombie jjr fanfic I did a few years ago??? I promise you it wouldn't be as bad because oof, I still obsess over jjr zombie aus but that story was ass. Is that appealing to any of you? I don't want to talk too much, but leave a REVIEW and make sure to stay tuned!!
