Jeremy heard the words, but the room was fading in and out of focus. Sweat dripped from him, and his hands were sticky with vomit; thick strands sticking to his fingers as he opened and closed his hand.
“Blaming these monsters you claim to have seen. That is madness, Jeremy. You are the monster. The sooner you can admit that to yourself, allow yourself to understand what we already see, then we can work towards helping you.” The doctor leaned onto the table, clasping his hands and staring at Jeremy like a man begging for forgiveness. “Everybody can see it. I see it, the detective saw it. Your mother. She knows it, oh does she know what sort of wretch you are.” There was a snarl on the doctor’s face.
Jeremy cried. The tears were unstoppable. His body quivered as he snatched at his inhalations.
“Look around you, Jeremy. Look around for your monster.” The doctor stood and gestured around the room.
Jeremy did as he was asked, expecting it to be the end. They would claim him. The room was empty. There was nothing.
“No,” he stuttered. “It was here. I know it was.” Jeremy heard something snap, a clasp being released. The doctor had walked around the table and removed his restraints.
“Look, Jeremy. Look deeper. Leave the denial behind and tell me what you see,” the doctor whispered, crouching down close to Jeremy’s ears. There was pleasure in his tone. He was enjoying it.
Jeremy rose from the stool and stood in the room. His head swam, but he fought the urge to sleep. He saw something. He took a step forward and a figure came into view. He froze, then gasped. “He’s there,” Jeremy whispered.
“Look, Jeremy, open your eyes,” the doctor urged, his hands still clasped together.
Jeremy looked, and the face came clear. He screamed, for it was his own image that stared at him from the corner. “No, no, you’re lying. This is a trick,” Jeremy began, but the doctor was suddenly behind him, his demeanour changed. He held tight onto the back of Jeremy’s neck, holding his head immobile.
“Look, Jeremy.”
Jeremy stared at his image. A mirror hung on the wall behind him. “It’s a trick. He was here. I know he was. I didn’t kill my friend.” Jeremy felt himself sinking to the floor, unable to support himself any longer.
“It is a trick, yes. A trick of your own mind. Look, can’t you see the truth. It is here, right in front of you, Jeremy. Admit it, and then I can help you.” The doctor was whispering in Jeremy’s ear, his words almost a growl. To Jeremy it sounded as if the man was screaming at him.
“No!” Jeremy cried, sinking to his knees. Looking up at the mirror, tears stinging his eyes. Jeremy saw the doctor looking down at him. He saw the smile spread on the man’s face.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Jeremy. I really am. I think you need a little more time to consider the reality of your situation.” The doctor said nothing else, but turned and left the room. Jeremy was alone. The stench of his vomit polluted the air. His body trembled as he hauled himself back to his feet. That was when Jeremy saw it again; the monster staring back at him through the mirror.
Jeremy stumbled back, staring at the creature.
“No … I didn’t kill Simon. You did,” he screamed. His brain failed to comprehend what he was seeing. There were no more words that his mouth could utter. As the monster in the mirror moved. It lunged forwards and the glass shattered; slithers of razor sharp shrapnel blew into the room.
Hands clamped down on his shoulders and Jeremy felt an electric shock shoot through his body. He went stiff, and then collapsed as all of the strength melted from his body and he fell to the floor. He did not lose consciousness, but could no longer give his body the commands it needed in order to rise.
He was lifted roughly from the floor and dragged out of the room. The floor glistened as if it were paved with jewels as the broken shards of mirror caught the light. There was no sign of the creature, but Jeremy didn’t care. He couldn’t breathe, he could barely think. He didn’t kill his friend. There was no way he would kill Simon.
Jeremy found his thoughts slowly beginning to grow more cohesive. It was cooler in the hallway. It refreshed him like a cold shower on a hot day.
There was something different about the hallway. Jeremy looked up as he was manhandled back towards the elevator and presumably his room. He noticed that just before them the hallway seemed to branch off to the left. It was a corridor he had not seen before. Not that he had ever been in the state of mind to truly take in his surroundings, but it struck him as something he would have noticed. Jeremy was not the only person to recognize the issue, for the orderly tensed, and muttered something under his breath. Jeremy was stopped, spun around to face the wall, like a naughty child. He heard a swish-like sound behind him and the cooling movement of the air was cut off. Jeremy did not dare to turn around, but it didn’t matter. He knew what he had seen.
There was a picture on the wall in front of him. A Rorschach test, or at least an artist’s impression of one. Jeremy found a strange comfort in the image. He stared at it, and saw a demon. A giant horned beast, with a serpent emerging from its mouth. Jeremy squinted and realized that his first impression was wrong. The snake was not being swallowed by the demon, but being ejected. It was regurgitated from the demon’s gut, let loose into the world of broken minds and nightmares.
The orderly returned, his hand clamping on Jeremy’s shoulder, but something had changed. He didn’t jump. Jeremy allowed himself to be led back to his room, rather than being forced. He looked over his shoulder as they walked away, but the corridor was gone.
Once again, they took the stairs to the second floor. The elevator had a note taped to the door claiming it was out of order. It was the first time that Jeremy had paid full attention to the house, and as they came to the first floor, he noticed that it was dark. The windows had all been painted over, and not one light burned in the hallway or in any of the rooms. Jeremy’s initial thought was that the floor was abandoned, but as they started up to the second floor, he heard a groan call out from the darkness. Jeremy paused, wanting to turn, but a sharp shove from the orderly kept him moving.
On the second floor, Jeremy saw Karen standing by the door to her room. It was open, but she chose to remain against the wall, her arms folded across her chest. As they approached, Jeremy took the chance to look at the girl who had offered to rock his world the night before. Her short sleeved shirt revealed arms that were covered with bruises. To Jeremy they looked very much like fingerprints. She raised her head as they walked by. Her eyes seemed to light up when she saw Jeremy, and for a moment a glimmer of lucidity spread across her face. It was fleeting however, like the shadow of a cloud passing over on a summer day.
Jeremy thought she was beautiful, in spite of her bruises. Her right eye was swollen shut, and both her top and bottom lip had been split. They were puffy with blood making her whole mouth look purple.
“Hey, baby. You can leave him here. He wants a piece of Karen’s pussy. I taste so sweet I’ll make you sing. How about it?” She moved from the wall, following them as they continued on to Jeremy’s room. “I’ll suck your cock better than any of them. You can fuck my face until my lips bleed. I’ll swallow it all. Come on, baby.” Her voice spat the words without thinking. Her drug addled mind conjured them and threw them into the world. It wasn’t her talking, Jeremy refused to believe it. Regardless, he still found her to be beautiful.
“Not today, Karen. Get back to your room,” the orderly snapped. Striking out, he slapped her across the face and laughed as she fell to the floor. Jeremy tried to resist, but the strong man gave a forceful shove and Jeremy flew into his room. The door was locked before he managed to pull himself from the floor.
Jeremy sat in his room, and Karen was led back into hers. They both sat and wept in equal measure.
Chapter 7
“When can I see my parents?” Jeremy asked Nurse Anja as she laid his meal on the table that night. He had been alone all afternoon. Jeremy was nervous. He expected to see the sand monster
at every turn. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw it, his reflection. He heard the sound of breaking glass echoing on every heartbeat. In his heart, Jeremy knew that what they were suggesting he did was nonsense. Yet his mind was rapidly bending to the notion that it might just be the truth.
“I’m sorry, honey,” she replied, her voice had a melodious quality to it. It seemed almost too perfect. “Patients aren’t allowed to make any telephone calls. Your parents can visit though, if they want. They would just need to clear it with Doctor Marshall. He needs to sign off on all visitation requests.” Anja stood with her hands clasped before her. There was something in the way she spoke that made Jeremy pay attention. He knew he was probably imagining it, but she seemed to stress the fact that it was the doctor that needed to sign off on visitation requests. As if it were a strange regulation.
Maybe it means more than that. A voice spoke in Jeremy’s head.
“You hang in there, honey.” Anja looked at Jeremy and held his gaze. “Everything will be all right. I’ll look after you,” she spoke, adding a similarly strange level of expression on her promise to help. Jeremy smiled at her, a gesture that was returned before she walked away. Jeremy didn’t say anything. He was lost in her eyes; they were the most vivid shade of emerald he had ever seen. They could not have been natural, but Jeremy didn’t care. He looked into them and the pain went away, the murmuring voices inside his head fell silent. It was the best sensation in the world.
Anja made to leave, but she stopped by the door. Leaning out, she inspected the hallway, before turning back towards Jeremy. “Don’t drink the juice. Drink the water,” she whispered, her words hurried, still fearful of being overhead.
Jeremy heard the words and nodded. Not sure what it meant, but agreeing nonetheless.
“What about the girl?” he called after Anja as she walked out of his room.
“What girl?” she asked, turning to face him, her face set with worry.
“Karen, the girl across the hall. Is she going to be all right too? Are you going to look after her?” he asked, partly to test if Anja was genuine in her concern and partly because he wanted to save Karen. He had seen the look in her eyes. The pain and suffering induced by the drugs she was doubtlessly forced to take. “I think she needs saving more than I do,” he added. Jeremy liked Nurse Anja and had a feeling that she was the only person he could trust in the building.
“Karen. She is a troubled girl,” Anja spoke, moving back into the room, pulling the door behind her, but not fully closing it. “She has some real problems that run very deep. She needs help for addictions.” Nurse Anja lowered her voice. “But this is not the place to be to get it. Don’t worry. I will do my best to help her too.” She flashed Jeremy a smile. “I cannot help everybody. For many it is already too late. But you, you need to keep resisting them. You are strong. I can feel it.” She stopped, her words falling dead in her mouth. Turning sharply, Anja left the room and hurried down the corridor at a pace that was close to a jog.
Anja’s comment about drinking the water did not make any sense to Jeremy, not until some ten minutes later when he turned his attention to the tray of food she had brought him.
The meal was cold, not that it made any difference in terms of taste. As always, the plate was filled with boiled potatoes, vegetables, and a gravy covered slab of unidentifiable meat. The gravy had congealed to a thick brown jelly. Jeremy wasn’t hungry to begin with, but the sight of the food turned his stomach even more. The way the meat sat on the plate made him think of dog food. He was thirsty though, and his attention was pulled to the glass of orange juice that came with every meal. He reached out for it and that was when Anja’s voice called out inside his head. Drink the water. Pausing, Jeremy saw the short glass of water. It was not on the tray, but standing on the table beside it.
Caught in two minds, Jeremy decided that he would trust Anja. There was something about her that seemed more genuine. She had spoken to him, she did not look at him as if he was a monster. In the situation he was in, Jeremy needed something to hold onto, and Anja was it.
Drink the water, the voice echoed through Jeremy’s mind.
Grabbing the glass, Jeremy raised it to his lips. His hands were shaking. The liquid was cold, and it hurt deep in Jeremy’s temples as he drank it down with a greed he did not know he possessed.
His throat burned as he gulped it down, draining the glass without spilling a drop.
Jeremy understood in an instant that he was right to have trusted Anja. No sooner had he drunk the water, his head cleared. A haze that he had never truly knew had descended, burned away. It was as if he was seeing everything around him for the first time. The looked at the room, the run down, dirty place that it was. The walls were damp with mould, the flooring was bubbled and curling at the edges, and his bed gave off a stale odour that seemed to consume the entire room.
Looking around, the other thing that Jeremy noticed was that Anja had not fully closed the door. It was pulled shut, but the latch had not engaged. He could get out.
It’s a trap, he told himself as he stared at the door. The memories of his days in the institute were there, but still clouded by the haze his conscious mind had seen lifted. He could pull out bits, and that was more than enough for Jeremy to understand that things were afoot in the building that should not have been. It´s a trap … or a test, he repeated to himself.
Jeremy moved towards the door, sweat dripped from his forehead as he gave it a gentle push, bracing himself for capture.
There was nothing.
He breathed a sigh of relief. He paused however, the idea of exploration was a nice one, but a new, stronger curiosity had taken hold of his mind. Turning, Jeremy stared at the plate of food and the glass of orange juice that Anja had brought him.
She had been very specific in telling him to drink the water, about ignoring the juice. Yet she never mentioned anything about the food.
Walking across the small room, Jeremy grabbed the juice and brought it to his nose. He sniffed. It smelled fine to him. Thinking for a moment, Jeremy walked over to the toilet and poured the bright orange liquid into the bowl. He gasped and felt an avalanche of cold sweat run down his spine when he saw the water turn a deep shade of blue the moment the juice broke the surface.
Jeremy flushed the toilet, watching the blue liquid get washed away. He knew that his actions would not result in any positive consequences for him, but Jeremy made himself a promise. He would do everything in his power to find a way to keep his mind clear. Escape or no escape, he refused to let them take his mind.
Returning his attention to the door, Jeremy knew that escape was impossible, but he also knew that exploration was a must. He needed to look at the institute, to understand where he really was.
Jeremy pushed open the door, and peered out into the hallway. He saw no obvious sign of a security camera, but was not foolish enough to believe that it meant he was safe. They could have been watching him from anywhere. Stepping out from his room, Jeremy pushed the door closed, leaving just enough room for his fingertips to slide around and pull it open again.
The first thing that Jeremy noticed was that the smell which hung in his room continued to exist in the hallway. It was a stale stench, one that could be tasted with every taken breath. It reminded Jeremy of his trainer shoes at the end of the school year. Stained with sweat, they reeked of his exertions.
Jeremy moved slowly, still fearful of the consequences should he be caught. There were no alarms however, no sound of rushing feet charging up the stairs towards him. Jeremy ventured further from his room and found his confidence grow.
Turning left, heading deeper into the hallway, Jeremy did his best to absorb every detail. From the dirty floor to the cracks that ran down the walls. He could hear the echoing drip-drip of water falling to the floor. The air was damp and cool. There was no heating in the hallway, nor in the rooms, at least not in Jeremy’s.
There were several rooms on either side of the corridor. Three on each
side, staggered in their placement. The first two rooms that Jeremy stopped at were locked and the flaps in the door were sealed shut. Whatever was inside was not to be seen.
The third room he came to, however, had the hatch not only unlocked but open. Peering in, Jeremy was not surprised to see that the room was identical to his own. The room was occupied, but it was all too apparent that communication would be impossible. The man, Jeremy assumed the occupant was male without any justification – was strapped to the bed, with his limbs tied one to a corner.
The light in the room was too poor to afford Jeremy any answers, only to stimulate more questions.
The next room he looked at was the same, the occupant, undeniably a woman this time, lay in the same prone position.
Moving further down to the end of the hallway, Jeremy found one final room. He looked inside but the light was out, making it impossible to see much of anything. He tried the door, expecting it to be futile, as the previous had been. He gasped in surprise when the handle clicked and the door opened.
It’s a trick, Jeremy thought. The last room at the end of the dark hallway. Don´t be a fool, he chided himself, but before he knew what he had done, Jeremy entered the room.
There was a new stench in the room, or rather the existing sweet aroma that filled everything seemed even stronger here, as if this were somehow the source of it all. One look at the figure strapped to the bed was enough to convince Jeremy that was very likely.
Even in the dark light the damage to the body was clear.
Jeremy tried the lights but nothing worked. He stepped closer to the bed and peered down at the man that lay upon it.
His body was near skeletal, it had withered away to nothing. The skin nothing but a loose fitting covering over the bones. It sank down over each piece of the skeleton; sagging between the ribs, even between the bones in the man’s forearms.
His torso was covered in long, thin bruises that ran horizontal over his chest. They were uniform in size and thickness. It looked to Jeremy like marks left behind from restraints. There was a tattoo etched amateurishly onto his skin, covering the shoulder. EC-III. The letter were distended, showing how much the body had changed since its initial addition. The smell the man gave off was putrid, but what scared Jeremy most was than in spite of his condition, the man’s chest still rose and fell at a steady, albeit weak rate. Jeremy’s stomach began to churn. He needed to get out of the room, the odour was cloying; the sickeningly sweet smell of meat on the turn, preparing itself for decay.
Evil Beneath Us Page 7