Institutionalized

Prince of sleep (Flight 6 to the 3rd power)

   "Well it started when I was around eight I suppose," I began. "Me and my family had just moved from Newcastle to Londons West End and the money had just started going to mum and dads heads. You see, my gran died, leaving my father with sixteen million pounds and a wide streach of land in Ireland. We moved to London coz ol' dad thought it might be more beneficial to us." Malin nodded. "He was a selfish bastard, and so was my mother. They always hated me... I wasn't like my sibblings. I had imaginary friends and played in the woods and always got into some sort of trounle along the way."

   Anyway, I was playing outside in the 'estate's' front garden when he appeared," I got shivers just thinking about it. "He was a shadow figure that appeared to me out of nowhere. It just appeared and walked up to me. And when he spoke, it was like comfort. He asked me questions. He was kind to me, and acted like my friend, which no one had ever done before."

   "What did he ask?" Malin asked with intense eyes.

   "How old I was, what I liked to do, My favourite colour, stuff like that." I replied. "He said his name was Ameer and that's all. I told my parents about the shadow appearing, but they said I was imagining things," I paused, looking back at the memory."and then he appeared a few months later on my birthday." I looked up at him and continued. "I was playing outside again, my parents had forgotten it was my ninth, even though i was the youngest. Anyway, I was wondering abput like I always did when he appeared again. Still a wandering shadow figure, except this time, he had real eyes. Red, gleaming cat-like eyes staring at me with intensity so great it scared me. I asked him who he was and he seemed to smile as he growled 'I'm your worst nightmare." The memory hit me like a ton of bricks. i stopped talking and went into a maniatical fit again. Screaming and flailing my arms about, Malin walked over and held me like he did earlier. I slowed and stopped, him still cradling me in his arms as he whispered in my right ear- "Continue, and I'll hold you." My breath shuttered, and with a deep breath and a lowered voice, I continued.

   "He lunged at me in a shadowey blur of black air. Next thing I knew, He managed to grab me, but dropped me just as fast, as if he had been burned. He said something about me getting stronger... and he glared at me. Big rred eyes eyeing me with pure hatered. I ran back screaming to my parents, but all they did was lock me in my room until morning. For a week from then on, I saw Ameer everywhere: dark alleys, shop windows, outside, and espesially in my dreams. He was my nightmare every night, and each time I would wake up screaming until finally my parents brought me to a psycologist. I talked to him for a few days until we found him in a paper saying he was driven mad and commited suicide." I began shaking again and he held me tighter. I liked the comfort. "So I went to a different psycologist, and the article repeated, except this time, instead of hanging himself, he was found in his car at the botton of a river just outside Yorkshire. And that's when my parents lost it. They went to a specialist who automatically reccomended this place," I looked up and 'round the dingy padded walls. "The brocure was muh nicer than the reality of a  cell. I've grown up here, the occasional window sighting here and there. I've had countless doctors come in and out, all calling me a helpless nut ase. None of them have ever managed to get anything out of me..." I looke at him, our eyes only inches apart.I just noticed he had t aken his coat off, his bare arms holding  me. it would be so easy to give in, I thought... just as he gave me a nervous smile, squeezed me round the soulders, and stood up.

   "Well, thank you Griff. You've given me a lot to think about," He grabbed his coat and shrugged it on. "I'll be back sometime," he looked at me straight in the eyes and smirked a very mischevious smile. "Very, very soon. Sleep tight." and he began to walk out just as a white coat opened up my ell door. Just before he left, he poked his head in. "oh, and one more thing:" I looked up at him. "It's a full moon tonite. Wonderful time for a flight," and with a wink, he left. I fell to my side and cried myself to sleep.