Nillium Neems

get better. I promise you that one."

  Higgins turned on his heel and left. I lay there, defeated, starting to feel weird from this new poison. I thought I was a mushroom after a while, growing out of the mattress and just searching for sunlight, yet always living in darkness. Mind you, that might not have been the drugs talking. I am crazy after all, and tend to think a lot of weird stuff.

  My limbs felt off and my brain a bit fuzzy, but after an hour or two it started to wear off. In all honesty, I would have quite enjoyed it if the pills had worked, since I’ve never been able to experience the sensation that people call ‘dreaming’. But of course, they didn’t. Now I just felt tired and angry.

  My anger only grew as I lay there, anger at my helpless nature. I decided to take it out on something, anyone, anything just to show that I wouldn’t put up with this any longer. I thought about my untrustworthy clock at first, but it was too high for me to reach. Beating up my Bible wouldn’t do any good either, for I suspected it would find a way to get back at me.

  Then I thought about Mousy. I leaned over the side of the bed to check beneath it, but he wasn’t there. The smug little rodent never is about when I need him!

  A lack of targets to let my rage out on only made me angrier, until I was on the verge of mindlessly banging on the door like some kind of lunatic. I actually was going to, leaping off the bed and running towards the door, raising a fist to begin. But I stopped as soon as I looked through the little window and saw the Hooded Man standing outside, leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

  Out of all of the inhabitants of my Home, he was the only one that I really, truly feared. I feared him so much that the mere sight of him sapped all of the anger from my soul and sent me fleeing back to the safety of my bed. I spent the rest of the day huddled under the covers so that he couldn’t see me. This has not been a pleasant day.

  Nil, out.

  Day 5

  Lockdown has finally been lifted. Yay. The wardens must have decided during the interval that all of us lucky patients needed a treat. Something to calm down our emotions before any more killings happened. Fat chance. I would kill the first monster that gave me the opportunity and that was that. Anyways, as our little treat, they decided to take us all out to the Yard.

  The asylum that I live in is basically shaped like a square, with the middle bit cut out, which is where the yard is located. And the Yard is huge, probably as big as a football field.

  We always look forward to spending some time in it, since other than a bunch of wardens to keep an eye on us we are pretty much left to ourselves. Some of my fondest memories are of wandering peacefully around the Yard. Not quite frolicking, but close.

  I did feel a bit weak today, not having eaten anything. But you wouldn’t either if you had bloody oatmeal and something weird with bugs in it as your only options. I just hope they don’t force me on one of this IV-drip things to keep me alive. I’d eat, if only they’d give me something edible. Maybe I’d find some mushrooms or something growing amidst the grass.

  I avoided the other patients. I rarely got along with them that well to begin with, and after everything else, I didn’t want to be taken by a Monster unawares. And yes, some of my fellow patients are Monsters too, though you usually can’t tell unless you’re up close.

  So I headed for The Tree and sat down on the grass beneath its canopy. We all call it ‘The Tree’ even the wardens. Primarily, because it’s the only tree in the Yard. But also and perhaps more so, because it had to have been a good three stories high! It reached the roof of the surrounding complex, not quite towering over Atrium Psychiatric Ward, but coming pretty darn close all the same.

  Most of the bottom branches had been hacked off of course, so that us patients couldn’t attempt to climb it. Not that we’d be able to anyways, since most of us are in pretty bad shape.

  I like to sit under the Tree when I’m out here, since the stars in its upper branches are so very beautiful, twinkling even in the bright light of day. Sometimes I wonder what it would look like at night, the stars the only source of light. Turning the Tree into a supernova of glowing wonder, something magical beyond words. I doubt I’ll ever get to see it though. They only let us out in the Yard during the day.

  I heard the shuffle of footsteps approaching, and woke from my ponderings to see Jeremy approaching, followed closely by Harold. I wouldn’t have minded Jeremy’s company much, but Harold freaked me out. Out of all the patients he was one of the few that I felt truly deserved to be here.

  Small in stature, only a little taller than me, he always walked in a slightly hunchbacked manner. His nearly bald head revealed every ugly pore on his skin, which constantly seemed to be lightly sweating

  The few times I had tried to talk to Harold he would never meet my eyes, staring past me instead, his own eyes shifting back and forth, as if watching things that weren’t there. Nut job. They shouldn’t let people like that near us innocent patients.

  "What do you want, Jeremy?" I asked, my words stopping him a few feet from me. Harold kept moving, walking right up to me and shoving an angry finger towards my face.

  "I. Saw. You." he said, accusingly.

  I raised an eyebrow in question, and glanced over at Jeremy, who gave me an apologetic shrug.

  "Saw me?" I asked. "You mean saw me standing over here by the Tree?"

  "I... S-saw you!" he repeated, more forcefully as if I’d been caught out in some great crime.

  I turned once more to Jeremy, hoping he could interpret.

  "Harold saw you... stab the guy in the breakfast hall," Jeremy almost whispered, as if afraid his words would provoke some kind of punishment.

  I got an awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. If he had told the doctors, then I would be moved to a much higher security section of Atrium. Probably treated with electroshock therapy too, or something worse. Much worse.

  "Harold," I spoke slowly, "does anyone know what you saw?"

  "I. Saw you. And. I’ll tell."

  Needless to say, the little maniac wasn’t being very helpful. So I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. His eyes roved wildly in every direction, looking at everything but me.

  "If you tell anyone," I growled at him, "I’ll make you regret it."

  "Hey, are you crazy!?" Jeremy shouted, horrified. Harold didn’t say a word, eyes still spinning like a top.

  I turned to Jeremy, the tattletale still fast in my grip.

  "Are you?" I said quietly.

  "Y-you killed someone, Nil. And now you’re threatening to kill Harold!"

  I glanced around worriedly for fear that a doctor or warden would see this little scene we were causing. Thankfully, not a one was even in sight. For all of their security measures within the walls of Atrium, they seemed to be unbelievably lax when it came to security in the Yard.

  So I repeated my question.

  "Are you crazy, Jeremy?"

  "Yes..." he said slowly, after a moment’s hesitation. "The doctors say I see things that aren’t really there. But they are giving me medicine to make it better."

  "It’s not medicine, Jeremy. It’s poison."

  The little man’s face went pale. It was not a pleasant sight and made him look more ill than usual.

  "But it’s helping me!" he wailed. "I don’t see so many things as I used to."

  "Then it’s poison. It’s lying to you, Jeremy. This whole place is lying to us." Harold was still doing the weird eye-thing. I seriously think he was having some kind of fit. I shook my head to clear such thoughts from my mind, and got back to focusing on Jeremy.

  "A few of the doctors are okay, but most of them are cruel. And they let Monsters walk amongst us, yet don’t do anything to stop them!"

  "Monsters?" said Jeremy, in a terrified whisper.

  "Yes, Monsters. They-" but before I could speak further, I felt a dark presence approaching. I’m sure my own face went
pale with fright, because I knew that presence, that foreboding, evil, aura. It was the Hooded Man...

  Jeremy turned and fled without another word, leaving me and Harold alone with the approaching horror. I dropped him to the ground, my hands suddenly shaky as an old woman's. Harold just lay there, unmoving save for those creepy, staring eyes. My legs felt like jelly and it took all of my courage to turn and face the oncoming horror.

  There he was. Tall, at least six feet, features concealed by a dark brown robe wrapped around him. A cowled hood draped over his face, hiding it completely. If he had wanted to, he could have passed for a monk or something at some remote monastery. The kind where pyscho cultists make human sacrifices before bedtime.

  I was screaming inside but couldn’t seem to move. His mere presence had me paralyzed with horror. So I stood helplessly as he walked towards me, a slight limp in his step, one of his hooks dragging on the ground behind him.

  Reaching forward with one of his pale, decayed hands, he placed it upon my forehead, whispering of death. Instantly I felt a cold chill run through me and I fell to the ground, shivering. I don’t remember anything after that until I awoke a day later in the infirmary, pale and sick. One of those darned IV-drips was attached to my arm. Sigh. Looks like the doctors managed to get one in me anyways.

  Nil, Out.

  Day 9

  I only just got back to my room. Lost a day after the Hooded Man attacked me, and then another two recovering