"I didn't mean to hurt her. Really, I didn't. I just…I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He whispered.
Everything in this place was white. He had forgotten that, and tended to think only his cell was white. He could now see everything in this place was white, the halls and the floor, the clothes everyone wore, even the sane people. He wondered then how the sane could tell difference between themselves and the mad. Even the doctor's room was white, with a white desk and red chairs. He would have guessed the entire world was white if not for the fact the doctor had a window and he could see the green grass of the outside park area.
He lowered his head away from the window and nearly curled up into a ball there in his chair as he raised his knees and put his hands together. He didn't want to look at all the doctors anymore. With the light from the outside he could only see their silhouettes and their glasses reflecting like large mechanical eyes. Their heads tilted in unison as if they were one large machine connected by wires under the floor. Their eyes reflecting like a Sentinel's eyes, never blinking never moving. He hated the doctors. He hated them. They never listened and they only stared at him with their horrible eyes.
He just wanted them to go away then, just leave him alone. He's been here many times. He gets the feeling he's one of the doctors' favorites here. He is kept away from other inmates of the Asylum all except Smith. But still he knows, the doctor likes him, the doctor is fascinated by him. The doctor sees him as a way to fame.
"It is all right, Mr. Anderson…" The main doctor begins to say.
"Neo."
"…Excuse me?"
"My name is…Neo."
Neo curled further closer into a ball as he said those words, somewhat embarrassed saying them. As if confirming to everyone there he was insane. That name, the name he knew was his own, how he wished he never knew that name. Oh but he knew he had to know it. He knew that it was his and it meant something great. Thomas, they told him his real name was Thomas. He hated that name more, so…plain. How many people were there in the world named Thomas? And how many Neo?
"…Yes of course, Neo. We know you meant no harm. We merely want to know why you did it. Why, Mr. Anderson?" The doctors tilted their heads.
Neo bit his lip and said nothing.
"Was it on impulse? Did she anger you in some way? We know she is new here, did you not like her? Do you miss the old nurse?
"I could never…be angry at her." Neo whispered to himself, in his own world.
"Excuse me?"
"She's so beautiful. The most…beautiful thing I have ever seen." He continued.
"Why, Mr. Anderson?"
"I love her…."
"Why, Mr. Anderson?"
"So…beautiful."
The doctors excused him, after all they had been talking for so long, and still nothing. Nothing, nothing like every time they talked to either the Anderson or Smith subject. And still the doctors were interested in them. Something…about their delusions. If not for these claims of a dream world and these martial arts acts they could pass as sane men in the real world. Odd if not, sane men. The doctors watched, tilting their heads like machines, and watched as Neo was taken away, and walking down the hall giving them one more glance then a cold shoulder.
-------
"Come along, Mr. Anderson." The guard gently gestured.
The guard tugged at Neo's arm gently, leading the way across the endless white hallways to his cell. Neo gave a weak smile to the guard, but soon returned to lowering his head to the ground, and watched as they passed the reflections of light on the floor.
"Hey now, don't act so glum." The guard said, smiling.
Neo hadn't really heard him. He has the amazing ability to leave this type of reality and drift off within his own mind, where the world became numb and everything dulled. He saw in black and white then and in two dimensions. The screaming of the truly mad somehow still rang in his ear and into his little world. The cries of the insane. People screaming out of pain, agony, or sometimes pure fear.
Smith often listens to the cries, he says he can tell the difference between them. And has named them by numbers and listed his favorites. His favorite of favorites is a woman, he says she cries in pure fear, which he can recognize so well. Neo sometimes wonders how he can recognize screaming, but never thinks too much of it.
"Hey, hey, what's it you like to be called? Neo?" The guard asked.
By the mention of his name, he was called back to this reality as his head snapped up and he looked at the guard. The guard gave an all-knowing grin.
"Yup, that's it isn't it? Well, Neo it is then! Come on Neo, don't act so sad. It wasn't your fault, you're sick, man. But you'll get better, you know. We all get better." The guard smiled.
"Sick?"
"Besides, Michelle is all right. I'm going to go visit her today. You should be happy you know. Lot of other crazies going around in the world without this. You get a home, and food! Pretty good food, right?" The guard laughed.
At first Neo said nothing, but the guard leaned in closer, patting him on the back.
"It's all right." Neo acknowledged.
"Plus you got John with you in there! Awesome, a roommate! You know, sometimes I think about acting crazy just to get in one of these places, instead of living in the rat hole I live in now. Of course, I mean really there aren't rats, it's just a saying, you know?"
"Smith."
"What?"
"His name is Smith." Neo nodded, and the guard smiled.
"Neo and Smith! Now that's got a nice ring to it!"
The guard laughed, patting Neo on the back again. The guard seemed like a nice man, very eccentric really. Perhaps too upbeat for Neo at the moment. The guard was a strong black man, though small in his own way. He had a great and genuine smile as he walked in a sort of upbeat way, as if it were kept up by a beat he was humming inside his head.
"What…what is your name?" Neo quietly asked.
"My name? Well…it's not as cool as Neo, I'll give you that, but weird still. My name is Tank."
"Tank?"
Neo snapped his head up.
"Yeah, dad was in the army you know, drove the tanks." Tank laughed.
Neo's mouth dropped open.
"Well here we are, Neo. Say hi to Smith for me."
Tank opened the door, and gently pushed Neo inside, laughing as he left. Neo stood next to the door peering out the little window watching as the man named Tank left. Neo still wanting to see the man even pressed his face onto the glass until it was fogged by his own breath.
"Tank…." He whispered.
"You were gone for a long time."
Neo turns to see Smith lying in the center of the floor in direct view of the door. He sits with his legs crossed and with an unexpressed face.
"Three hours forty-six minutes." Smith finished.
"That long?"
Neo walks over to Smith and looks up for a moment at the camera before sitting next to him. Smith's expression slightly changes as he looks over at Neo and lowers his head. He smiles almost.
"I'm glad you're back." Smith says.
"Me too."
"What did they do?"
"Ask me a lot of questions."
"Did they hypnotize you?"
"No…I don't think so."
"Good. I hate it when they do that."
"They never believe us anyway…just think that it's what we believe and not the truth."
Smith turns his head.
"But it is true, right?" Neo asks. "All of it?"
"Yes, of course it is!" Smith snaps.
Neo slightly lowers his head from being yelled at, but nods.
"Okay. I believe you."
Smith frowns and turns his back to Neo, and Neo frowns from the rejection of his lack of belief. Neo nudges Smith in the back and leans over to him on his knees
"I believe." Neo says.
"You were gone for so long…."
Smith slightly turns his head towards Neo. But the mad man looses balance and falls onto Smith and then slides off and onto his back next to Smith. Neo frowns at his little clumsy act, but looks up at Smith from the ground.
"I've been thinking." Neo says. "That's the first time I've been taken out of this room in a really long time."
"Five months." Smith clarifies.
"Really? That long?" Neo frowns. "Well, that only proves my point. I mean…I don't know how long we've been here in all, but…"
Smith looks down at him and begins to open his mouth to tell him, but Neo shakes his head.
"No! Don't tell me, please. We've been here a long time…and, well in the eyes of the doctors we haven't gotten any saner…"
"We are sane." Smith says angrily.
"I know! But to them, to everybody…" Neo trails off. "We don't know a lot about ourselves either, and we're not learning a lot by staying inside here."
Smith turns away from Neo on the ground and looks to the wall.
"We know enough." Smith says.
"What do we know? Names that have no faces? Faces that have no names? Events with no concept of how they relate to each other or when they happened? A dream world, this dream world? Rain?"
Smith still says nothing and turns his back, and Neo lifts himself up, and nudges him.
"We know people and places, we just…don't know where we fit into the whole thing, the bigger picture. How did we affect all of that? …Smith?" Neo continued.
"What if…some things we don't want to remember?"
Neo is thrown back by the comment for a moment. He couldn't imagine after all this time Smith having regrets now. They always tried to remember that's all they did, that's what kept them from really going insane. That's all they did. Try to remember the people that they cared for and cared for them. What they did to it all. Who they were, what their purpose was. These questions fueled them, how could Smith be afraid of the answers? Or maybe…he always was.
"Smith?"
Neo crawled closer to Smith.
"It is the question that drives us." Smith interrupted. "What do you propose we do, Mr. Anderson?"
"…Act like they act? Act…sane? Then they'll let us out, and we can…we can look for answers." Neo said timidly.
It wasn't like Neo to speak up with an idea, he left such things to Smith. But it's been years, and nothing new. Dreams, that's all that's happened. Neo lowered his head but kept crawling towards Smith.
"Sounds excellent." Smith smiled. "That means no hurting the attendants."
"…I didn't mean to hurt her. Really…I just thought…if I kissed her maybe she'd remember. I didn't mean to hurt her…" Neo looked away. "I love her."
"You love Trinity."
"Hey, did we ever know a man named Tank?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh…"
That's when Neo's face met Smith's foot, and Neo was thrown back to the floor.
Smith jumped up in a fighting stance, as Neo looked up from the ground, opening his mouth and trying to correct his jaw.
"Fighting calms us down." Smith explained.
Neo nodded, as he slowly rose, but Smith rammed into him before he could fully rise. Neo taken back fell to the floor to rise faster and jump back from Smith, running to the other side of the wall, jumping off it, and landing on Smith's head.
-------
Aaron in his white uniform strolled around the mad house, humming something that sounded like a Green Day song. It was him trying to seem younger, to get this lovely co-worker to notice him. He didn't know if it was working yet, but he'd give it a try. He was going to go with Tank to visit Michelle at her apartment. She wasn't that beat up, and would return to work soon. But this time Aaron slowly stopped at the room that held Thomas A. Anderson, and Jonathon Smith. He peered into the window, making sure it was safe. The two were in their little corners, sitting across from each other as usual. Aaron strode in.
"Hello, boys, today's not time for a show is it?" Aaron said, making his way to Neo.
"Hello Aaron." Neo said brightfully.
"Huh? No Morpheus today?"
"Well it isn't your name is it?"
"Well no, but I was getting used to it. I like it."
"I do too." Neo nodded.
Aaron looked over to Smith who watched them with a neautral stare, as if he were just bored and watching the two. He didn't move and neither did Neo. Neo just smiled at him, and opened his mouth ready for some yummy red pills that Aaron slid down his throat.
"Morpheus, God of Dreams, son of Orpheus, God of Sleep." Smith whispered.
"Aaron…" Neo said quietly.
"Yes, Neo?"
"…I didn't mean to hurt her."
-------
Next Chapter: Who are They?
Well, I meant this story only to be a One-shot. But you guys wanted more. This did get me thinking on where to lead the story. Now, I didn't want to continue the story, but the idea just kept nagging me and nagging me, to the point I could see clearly the climax and the end as I always can see the end way before I can see the beginning. Anyway, I've decided to go ahead with it. Of course, if it starts to suck, I'll stop and delete all the additional chapters.
Next chapter you'll get to see who else resides in the Asylum….
Like a boy as alert as a Mouse, and the insane leader of the French Mafia….