I'll try not to kill everyone in this. I'm hoping that writing Alice's story instead of the one that's at school right now- the one that keeps shouting at me to write it this instant and not helping my mood- will calm me a little. Though this isn't a happy story right now, the suspense should distract me. Ok. Let's go.
My head hurt from the vision. Seeing was now hard on me, a result of the electrotherapy. Still, my fear of the man walking in my house, somewhat eager to kill my family, was strong enough to make me ignore the dull ache. I had to warn Robyn. He could warn my family. Like he had warned Willy? He hadn't. For all I knew, Willy could have already crashed and burned. No! I can't think like that. Right now I needed to warn Robyn about the man. But that man wouldn't listen to me.
I heard a loud, metallic rumble and a few screams. A girl was screaming and putting up a fight, but I doubted she was strong enough to slam her attacker against the wall with such fury.
"No! You're a monster! Get away from me! He's going to kill me!" Shirley shrieked a few cells down. "Please, Dr. Huckbee! Dr. Blanton! He's going to kill me!"
"How many times do I have to tell you, Shirley? Stay quiet, or I'll kill you this time. Your screaming has really got on my nerves, and your blood is growing thin and weak. Your life is almost over," Robyn whispered.
The two chased each other, hitting the metal door and slamming into the stone walls. The crashes grew louder and more frequent, and at last I heard her bones snap.
"Hold still, or I'll break more bones," Robyn whispered.
"Help me! It burns! It's burning again!"
Thirty seconds passed with only the sounds of her agonizing screams. At last he released her, and locked her alone in her cell again. I heard her sobs as he walked my way.
He slid the little window open and glared at me, his bright, crimson eyes, chilling me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? You will say nothing, or you'll end up just like her. I'm not scared enough to leave you foolishly alive. When I told you to trust me, I also meant cover for me, or you'll die a very slow, painful death," he threatened.
Two sets of footsteps echoed down the hall. The two other doctors walked our way, each step slow and relaxed despite the screaming, sobbing girl down the hall.
"Dr. Hamilton? Is Miss Brandon the one causing all the ruckus?" Dr. Blanton said.
"No, that would be Shirley. Poor girl had a bad dream again, I guess. She's been mumbling all night, but when I went to check on her she was sound asleep. Her screaming though disturbed Mary here, and I'm just calming her." I heard the two others leave. "I'll talk to you later."
Down the hall, Drs. Blanton and Huckbee tried unsuccessfully to calm Shirley.
"What's wrong dear?"
"Ass holes! He's going to kill me!"
"Watch your language, woman. Who's going to kill you? And how? You're safely guarded behind this door."
"Robyn. He came in and bit me! He likes to drink my blood, but he always leaves some so he can come back for more. He'll kill us all one day! He can't be trusted! He's a demon, a vampire!" She began screaming and crying uncontrollably.
I heard the door open with a loud groan, and Shirley tried to make a run for it. Her injured self made it nearly impossible for her to outrun the three doctors, but she gave it a try anyway.
"Oh, no you don't," Huckbee laughed as he struggled to shove her back inside. "My God. You're bruised. And your arm and leg. They look broken. Dr. Hamilton, do you know how this happened?"
"No. I couldn't keep Mary calm and check on this one, but it sounded like she was running into the walls. Probably trying to get away from her imaginary attacker. Her schizophrenia is getting worse. There's no more we can do for her. Perhaps…?"
"No, we can't do that. The city or state would sue us, no matter how inhumane it is to keep her like this. We don't have to money to save ourselves."
"Very well," Robyn sighed, but he didn't seem very upset about it. In fact, he seemed a little too pleased.
"Continue your shift down here, and Blanton and I will tape Shirley up. We'll return her in the morning."
I heard the poor girl moan and cry in pain a fear as the two day doctors helped her out into the open. The heavy door slammed shut behind her, and the three went upstairs to the doctors' suites and medical room. The last pair of footsteps came back my way.
Robyn didn't even bother with the little window. Instead he opened the door and came in my cell. For an old man he was quick and angry, his red eyes dangerous, and his cold grip felt strong enough to easily break my neck, like it was a pathetic toothpick in his hands.
"If you value your life you won't scream like that again. I'm not safe, but I alone decide if you live or die. You're a pretty girl that honestly doesn't belong here with these nutters. There's nothing I hate more than to watch a young girl rot away in places like this when they have every right to go back to their families. I'll give you another change, but next time, I'll feast on you! Now, what the hell is the matter with you?"
I was terrified. This man admitted that he attacked Shirley- not that I didn't know that anyway. He threatened to kill me next! I wasn't sure about this vampire idea, but Robyn was defiantly a killer. Still, the other two didn't believe my visions and ignored them. To save my family I had to tell him. I took a deep breath and sat down in my favorite corner.
"I'll know if you decide to come after me. I knew you were going to attack Shirley. That's the only way I knew her name. I don't know why you do that to her, and I don't care. Just know that you can't hurt me, and I need your help. Did you warn someone about Willy's plane?"
"I sent an anonymous letter to the government about it, but I can't promise that they'll listen. You saw something else, didn't you? Something important this time?"
His eyes lit up in excitement and fear, his voice quivered, and his hands gingerly took mine, soothing them.
"A man is going to break into my house. He knows I'm here, and he's coming. I've never seen him before, and I don't know why he wants you. But he found out where I am and where you are. I don't understand."
"What? You saw someone looking for me? He was in your house? In your room I bet. What…what did he look like exactly. Don't leave out any details!"
I retold my vision with excruciating detail, and Robyn never lost interest. His eyes, never blinking, looked straight into mine, and urged me to continue. Several times he stopped breathing, and I felt his hands tremble once or twice. He never gave an explanation though.
"I'm sorry I've dragged you into this mess. He must have caught your scent from the clothes I took. Huckbee and Blanton would've burned them if I left them alone. They have no intention of ever letting you go, so if I free you, you'd have nothing left. I hid them in an abandon field outside of town. Listen to me closely. If you can escape, go here." He handed me a piece of scrap paper. "Run west until you can't see Biloxi anymore. A few miles out there will be a barn all by itself. In the hayloft under a bale of hay is your clothes and jewelry and even a few of your pictures. Next time I leave here I'll hide a fifty there, too. That should last you a long time if you use it wisely. How long do we have?"
I don't know for sure. I don't usually know when."
"His name is James. He's a tracker. More importantly to you, he's… dangerous like me, but much worse. He kills for sport, not survival. Now that you're in this, he'll want to kill you, too. You can feed him; I'm only sentenced to death because… well, let's just say I've caused him a bit of trouble with a coven or two. He and his fiery mate have probably destroyed them by now. But with covens that large, even he would need help. But you said he was alone. Laurent probably joined him, and he and Victoria must have stayed behind. On another game? Mary, I'm in your debt, and I will not let him kill you. Death from me would be a much kinder way to die than whatever James might have planned. Let me know if you figure when."
He left then and locked the door behind him. Once again, I was left alone in the blackness and cold. I couldn't sleep now knowing that I was being hunted. If I didn't rot here in this ridiculous cell, I'd die by James or by Robyn. I had three chances of death and zero chances of life. All this because I could see the future. I cried and thought about my cursed life all night, and when the faint morning glow snuck through the tiny cracks in the cell walls, Monica came and got me.
"It's time for another session," she said sweetly, like it was a special treat to be zapped almost to death.
I wasn't sure what was going half the time because of the electrotherapy. My mind always seemed a little sharper before, during, and after visions, but then it would sink back into confusion. Despite the sharpness of my mind around them, my visions were growing stranger. I was harder to see myself here especially when Robyn was around, and the vision of James had my head spinning all night and some of the next morning. The doctors had noticed that my vision-drawing were weaker, so they thought it might be working.
"Dr. Blanton is happy that your visions seem weaker. Dr. Hamilton is away today. It's so strange. I know he normally leaves very early in the morning, before sunrise, but last night he left in the middle of the night, saying something about he had some promise to fulfill before things were too late. Strange man, he is. Anyway, Dr. Blanton is taking advantage of the opportunity to experiment on you. We're going to double the voltage and time. He thinks maybe that could eliminate your visions all together! First we just need to cut your hair. Dr. Huckbee thinks that maybe it's shielding you from the full effect."
She held me still and gathered my long hair, and I felt a cold, sharp knife on the back of my neck. Even in my confusion, I knew to cry over my loss. I heard every hair break, and losing each strand was like losing every last thing I owned. Now I had nothing. I touched the top of my head, but Monica forced it back down as she shaved what was left. By the end of the cut, I had shorter hair than Willy had, but I could still run my little fingers through it, sort of.
I was used to the routine now, and lazily sat back in the torture chair as Monica strapped me in. I hated this, but I was so tired and groggy that I couldn't fight back. She left, and the electricity began electrocuting me.
As always, my mind battled with the urge of shutting down. My body lost all control of itself, and I shaking, freezing, gagging, and screaming all at once. No one paid any attention to the nearly dying girl though. The pain and shock continued, always growing stronger and more unbearable by the second, and still time slowly drug on. After what seemed like an eternity, I lost my vision, and my limbs fell still. But the electricity still raged through my body.
My mind was black and empty, imagining voices and fake scenes. I saw lighting and heard laughter and singing. I felt cold and tingly and very buoyant as my mind imagined me drifting through a happy, insane, mental reality. The singing was obnoxious and so welcoming to my fried brain, and the lighting was striking inches away from me, the heat burning my skin. I loved it! Something real was willing to be near me, and someone was willing to sing to me! I loved this bizarre, insane world, and I never wanted to leave. Maybe that's why the stupid bitch woke me up.
"Oh my God! Doctor! I think she's dead!" the invisible witch shouted. It was so loud, but bubbly, like she was talking under water. But I didn't see any water; I didn't feel any. How weird.
"I'm stopping it!" shouted a man. He sounded weird, too. I hated him more because he was killing my happy world. I wished that the lightning would strike him. "Check her heart. If she dies, we'll be sued!"
I sort of felt soft, feminine hands un-cuff me and take of my metal crown. I wasn't the queen of this world anymore, and then it began to fade into nothingness. I felt cold tears fall from my eyes.
"She's alive," the woman said. "She's crying. What now?"
"Take her back to her cell. She won't have visions anymore. I don't think she can do anything anymore. Here. Put this on her wrist, and the next time the state asylum director comes, we'll have him take her. They have the right to dispose of useless things like her," said the man. His voice was growing clearer, but I still couldn't see him.
It felt like I was flying! I was floating in the air so fast that I was scared to open my eyes. I figured that must be the only reason why I couldn't see. I could hear just fine now, so the controlled lightning must not have hurt me after all. I hadn't even finished evaluating myself when I fell to the cold, hard, stony ground. I heard a metallic groan and a few locks click. I tried to crawl towards the sound, not daring to look where I fell, and heard someone taping the edges of the door.
I opened my eyes and closed them again, wondering if I had really opened them or if the lighting stole my sight. I could still see funny images in my head, though. Maybe I fell in a bottomless pit!
I don't know how long I stayed down there, but I know it was always cold and dark no matter what I did. When I was strong enough to move again, I found something papery and strong wrapped around my right wrist. It itched a lot, but I couldn't break it loose. It was made out of the same material as the stack of something in a corner. And why was there a dirty stick there, too? I couldn't make sense of this strange pit.
I saw the strangest things once in a while. I saw a young girl learning how to climb a tree from a window, and then I saw a handsome boy learning how to fly. I think I wanted to be sad when I saw him, but I never could figure out why. I didn't know these people, but I saw their lives once when I dreamed. My head hurt when I saw them when I was awake or when the dream was very real, but at least I could see those dreams. Other real dreams were very blurry, almost impossible to see, and they hurt me so much!
My head hurts so bad I want to cry, but the tears never come when I see like this. I have to squint to see what is going on, but I still can't see that well.
There's a man coming in the building. I've never seen this place before, but a hidden part of me is scared of it and the strange man. He's very handsome though from what I can tell. He's on a mission, and doesn't want to give up. He jumps upstairs in one leap and chokes two men and a young woman very quickly. He is moving so fast I can't see him. I only know what he has done because I see the three dead bodies laying limply on the floor.
There's a noise downstairs, like metal keys rattling. We hear a door opening, and a low voiced man is whispering to someone.
"Mary! Mary, wake up, wake up! God, wake up, you damn girl! James is here! The others are going to die, but I can't let you go. Fuck! Mary Alice Brandon, wake your fucking self up now!"
We can't hear the girl move though. Instead, the man moves the girl and shoves some paper at her. The man beside me is now gone and downstairs by the sound of it.
"Robyn," he laughs. He says something else, but it's too low and quick for me to hear.
My eyes hurt from straining so hard, but I couldn't stop seeing everything no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.
The man attacks the man called Robyn, but Robyn is fast. With the dead girl in his arms he runs outside the building.
I am forced to attempted to keep pace with the man called James, and it hurts to stay near him.
We see Robyn bite the girl. Her blood makes James go crazy. He fights the urge to kill her, and after a few seconds he realizes that Robyn is gone. We run after the criminal, and James trapped him inside a steel closet. He pulls out a match and sets the building on fire. We run out quickly to find the girl, but it is too late.
"Damn it, Robyn! It's already spread too far!"
He picks her up and violently throws her into the top story of the burning building. Then he leaves.
At last some relief comes, and my mind can swirl back into the comforting darkness. The last thing I hear is, "Friday the thirteenth wasn't lucky for anyone. How I hate black marks on perfect records. Damn you, girl, my first escaped meal!"
I screamed. Soon a deep voiced man spoke through a wall.
"Mary! What have you seen?"
"My head hurts!" I screamed as I cried. "James is going to kill Robyn on the thirteenth! Robyn is going to kill a girl with short, black hair! Why does my head hurt? It's so dark!" I couldn't talk anymore. Instead I just cried until all the tears were gone.
More time passed, but I still didn't know how long this time had been. It was dark all the time, and no one ever came to see me except to slide some food and water trough a slot at the bottom of the door. Finally one night something exciting happened.
I woke up hungry, I had skipped my dinner and was searching for it in the dark when I heard someone shuffling around the hallway.
"Shirley, eat this," a low voice said sadly from somewhere far away. "Malcolm, you need to eat this, too. David, this will make you forget about the Great War. This will take you home to your brother."
"My brother's dead," David replied.
"I know. Rose, this will cure your fits. Please eat it now, and try not to make a big fuss about it. I'm sorry about all the wounds I cause you. I never wanted to hurt you, but your blood keeps calling me! Take it now!"
Then I heard someone jump upstairs. Three people dropped to the floor, and someone ran downstairs. I heard two men talk to each other, but the lack of food and no sunlight in who knows how long had me drained.
Someone opened my cell, and the faint light was the brightest thing I'd seen in I don't remember how long. The little light burned my eyes, and I shut them tight. Two icy hands grabbed me and shook me.
"Mary! Wake up, wake up!" the deep voice commanded. My mouth was too dry to speak. My head was pounding from trying to See around the strange man. I was slipping in and out of conciseness. "God, wake up, you damn girl! James is here! The others are going to die, but I can't let you go." He said some more, but I couldn't hear him anymore. I felt him jab me with a broken wire. The jolt of electricity brought me back to the world, but my mind was still dead around the strange man. Shirley must have been right about him so long ago: These were dangerous men, vampires! It was the only thing that made sense in this bizarre, real-world.
"Robyn," laughs a new man.
They must have talked for a while, but I couldn't hear them because they spoke so soft or I was out again. It could have been a combination of the two.
Later I hear them start fighting. They hit the walls and growl like evil beasts. After every hit to the walls, I heard the stone crumble like hail.
So badly I wanted to go home and be with people who actually cared for me. I felt the confusion of the real world collide with the sharpness of the need-to-be-seen vision inside my head, but the strange men's presence prevented me from Seeing anything and gave me the most monstrous headache I could remember every having.
A loud, screeching, metallic groan sent shivers down me as Robyn pulled the door off its hedges and scooped me up in his arms. We were flying faster than ever, and I felt free for the first time since I'd been in this hell. But the man, James, followed us.
I was thrown down on the dusty ground, dawn's bright light burning my eyes like the electric shock Robyn gave me. I cringed into a ball, and Robyn bent over me, blocking the light from my eyes. God, he was beautiful! I knew I was gone then. What I saw was as crazy as the funny singing voice I heard after the shocks.
The white skinned man was now sparkly like he was made of thousands of perfect diamonds, but his skin still felt so smooth and cold. The sunlight bounced off him, causing each "diamond" to shine bright white, pink, blue, purple, and yellow, almost like refracted light in a prism, but so much prettier. Even his eternally black eyes seemed beautiful in the sunlight. His perfection held my full attention, and at first, I didn't notice that he bit me.
Then I felt the searing pain! I tried to scream out, but my mouth was too dry to do anything. Through the spreading fire I felt his cold hands calm me, and they poked me with the broken wires. The electricity was stronger than before, and enough to knock me out.
My headache was dulled, the fire was just a nuisance, and the electricity was just a hard, painful part of life I had long ago given up on fighting. I simply accepted the pain, and let my head fall back to my imaginary world.
Still through my own world, I heard and felt what was going on around my body. The men had started fighting again, and soon I realized that they must have left me here alone to die. Minutes ticked by in my little world, and a new, strange man, James I assumed, picked me up, cursing everything as he threw me towards hot flames.
The fire and crackling wood and melting stone were so loud I didn't hear anything else. I was out, and not even my imaginary world could save me from the loud darkness that had taken me now.
Mary Died, but Who Survived?