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Dick was stunned, there were actual other people stuck in here with him. Nurse Darrow placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to table where three men were talking quietly.
"Steven?" As soon as nurse Darrow announced her presence all the men at the table dropped their heads, avoiding eye contact with the woman.
"Yes Miss Darrow?" The man who replied had shaggy blond hair. He had small scars running up and down his arms, but that was hardly noticeable compared to his burn scars. The scars deform all of his left arm, his right hand and his left ear. It looked like he hadn't had a proper meal in years, along with all the other men in the room.
"This is Richard, he had a break thru the other day and is now able to interact with other patients. Care to introduce him to everyone?"
"Of course Miss Darrow"
Nurse Darrow rejoined Owen, the pair left the room closing the double doors with a click.
Steven looked up at Dick; his eyes are dark brown with dark bags under them.
"Take a seat Richard"
Dick reluctantly pulled out a chair and joined the trio at the table.
"As you heard I'm Steven, but you can call me Steve. What are you in for?"
"Um-"
"Steve, don't be a jackass! You can't just ask people why they are crazy!" A short man with light brown hair sitting next to Steve shouted. He didn't look crazy at all, nothing out of the ordinary about his appearance.
"Oh come on Chip! It's tradition, sharing stories; we are all in this together after all."
"Yea, but you're suppose to share first, not interrogate the newbie within the first 5 minutes."
Steve raised an eyebrow at the smaller man, "Fine," he hissed between his teeth.
"I'm Steve, I am a pyromaniac. I burnt down my office and my house once I found out my wife and my boss were having an affair,"
"You're forgetting something important about your story Steve," Chip grinned.
Steve shot a death glare at Chip and sighed before be continued, "My co-workers were in the building at the time and my family were also inside the house when I lite it."
Holy shit, Dick couldn't believe that someone would do that to their family. He only hoped that Steve didn't have …. had any children.
"Pretty dark shit right!" Chip laughed
"You're one to talk Chip!"
"Hey it wasn't my fault! It was Chad!"
"Chip has extreme bipolar disorder, he becomes extremely violent. He calls his violent side Chad. He attacked - "
"Hey! It's MY story!" Punching Steve's arm.
"Yes it's true I am bipolar. During one of my episodes I stabbed 4 people" Chip hung his head, avoiding eye contact with Dick. Dick could tell he was leaving something out.
"All for a parking spot at the mall, so don't get on his bad side Richard," joked Steve.
"Shut up! Yours is way worse! At least I didn't kill my family!"
"At least I had a family," turning away from the red faced man next to him.
"Anyway, this is Grant," gesturing to the man in sitting next to Dick. "He doesn't talk, so we don't know why he is in here, but he is cool."
Dick faced the man next to him; this man was huge, talker than Jason by far. The palms of his hands are easily larger than Dick's face. His face is worn and tired, sagging with age.
"The Spanish guy on the couch over there is Sammy, He thinks he is a vampire, killed 6 people by drinking their blood. And the other guy on the couch is Hayden, he has OCD, murdered his mailman for walking on his lawn –"
"So don't touch his shit," Chip so kindly added.
"No shit Sherlock! Ignore him," waving away Chip. " The red head playing solitaire he is here because he ate 5 people, his name is Eugene"
Dick stomach turned, these people were messes up.
"The black dude reading the book is Aaron, he really loved his wife. When she died in a car accident he tired to bring her back to life by putting her brain in a body he built. He got 8 different "donors" in order to make the perfect body."
"Needless to say it didn't work," giggled Chip
Steven rolled his eyes, "Last but not least is Pete, the guy in the straight jacket, he is a nymphomaniac, he kidnapped and rapped 11 different people before he was caught. Be careful around him."
"Yea, he will most defiantly be making moves on you," Chip eyed Dick.
A shiver traveled down Dick's spine, this just keeps getting better.
"Don't worry about it too much kid, he can't do much with that jacket on." Turning around to face Dick again. "Your turn."
Dick didn't really want to share his "story" but these guys seemed like the lesser of evils in this place and he wanted to stay on their good side.
"My name is Dick –"
"No shit" laughed Chip
"Dick probably isn't a good name to have while living with Pete, we'll just call you Richard."
"… Well I was told what I killed 9 men to avenge my parents murder, after I created a fancy world in my head to escape. I hit my head and woke up to all of this, or so I have been told."
"Oh you're that guy! Darrow has told us about you; they had to lock you away for everyone's safety! You must have been really loopy," Chip leaned in closer to Dick "So what happened in your dream world?"
"I was adopted by Bruce Wayne," Dick didn't trust these people; he wasn't about to tell them that he was Nightwing. The less they knew the better.
"Bruce Wayne really? That must have been an awesome dream!" grinned Chip.
"Do have any other family Richard?" Dick faced Steve. His dark eyes pierced Dick, he had a cloud of cold stone seriousness hanging over him.
"Um no, my parents died when I was eight, and I never knew my extended family."
"You have no friends, no sisters, no brothers?"
Brothers, Yes Dick had brothers he was sure of it.
"Well it depends on who you ask, Dr. Grove would say no I don't, why?"
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but none of the patients here have any family, nobody on the outside."
"Why does that matter?"
"No one to miss us"
Chip joined the conversation. Looking over his shoulder, checking to see who is in the room, he lowered his voice to make sure no one over heard them, "We have a theory that this is no ordinary mental hospital. We think the government runs it. An experimental Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane."
"So?"
"SO," snapped Steve "They are experimenting new ways to cure the insane mind, methods they can't normally use legally. "
Chip started to shake "They use us as their guinea pigs."
Steve placed a reassuring hand on Chips back, "So, no one comes looking for the guinea pigs if the experiments…. Fail."
