Ink Me Insane (Book One)

Twenty Four

Fire was said to have the power to cleanse. Could anything ever burn hot enough or deep enough to decimate the hate and pain the asylum had accrued over the years? Then again this was no ordinary fire threatening to break loose and run wild through the halls. Rene side-glanced at the giant black dragon as they made progress despite the fact she was fighting the pain from her injuries. Everything pounded and ached with each step. Her skin pulled and plucked painfully around her stomach, black and scabbed. At the very least, she was no longer bleeding from anywhere. The two of them were heading towards, where she believed; Danny and Declan had made their escape. It was still so unsure though. Karo had become quiet once they began moving. It was, well awkward. Then again what did one say to a dragon that used to be a tattoo on their arm and a voice in their head? Nice weather? How have you been? Small talk somehow just didn't seem appropriate.

The smell of fire was thick in the air. A lingering fragrance that coated the air so thoroughly, Rene was tempted to double take or run from it. She had yet to see an actual fire and assumed that was a purposeful choice of Karo. It was odd. This black dragon certainly was a bearer of destruction and yet he brought a level of order to it that was conflicting. Still, she supposed it was better than having the whole place burn down around them. She definitely wanted this place fired extra crispy, but her friends being burned with it went against the plan. Ah, logic and madness combined to form a bit of controlled chaos. That balance the dragons were so fond of certainly made things more complicated. She hummed softly clipping out a tone to the pattering of her feet against the cement. If she shut her eyes it would be as though she was wandering alone through the darkness, even Karo's wings were a silent deadliness. It was the brewing of the storm waiting to be unleashed. He was a predator stalking his prey in the night. The poor prey would be unaware of the danger until it was too late. It was like having an imaginary friend almost, maybe exactly...she needed to ignore that treacherous path until later. She wondered if this was how Danny felt, always second guessing himself about whether the things he experienced were real. Rene tumbled through the corners of her mind to pull up the conversation about it.

In scratching the surface terms, as Danny described it, schizophrenia was a diagnose for someone who's mental disorder can affect their behavior, thought process, perception and what they feel. While symptoms vary, the publicly recognized stigmas are misconceptions of split personalities and violent tendencies. Rene learned quickly how mythical these assumptions were. Danny himself was a wonderful caring person, and while he did admit to acting unlike himself during particularly intense episodes he was always inherently himself. Danny had what was known as positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms were categorized as those that were psychotic behaviors not see in healthy people, some of which did directly associate with the potential for disconnection with reality. He experienced hallucinations, auditory and visual, and issues with thought and movement disorder. It was complex, complicated, and admittedly scary to Rene. Because while Danny himself was never dangerous, the struggles he went through were terrifying.

Danny never went deep into the details of what he personally experienced day to day. He'd just laugh it off and skirt the issue after repetition of the general. Maybe he didn't want them to worry, maybe he was ashamed, but whatever the reason he fought silently against what he only described as the unseen. Anyone who interacted with him probably wouldn't notice, the difference between him and a 'normal', sometimes Rene herself had trouble remembering why he was here. Danny was a genius, incredibly talented with electronics and said he even used to be a piano prodigy. He would still tap at invisible keys occasionally when lost in thought. He didn't seem chemically imbalanced, yet like recognizes like. Rene occasionally saw it. The battle in his eyes as his mind warred against itself. There is no cure for schizophrenia. A person can recovery from it and its symptoms but it will remain with them for the rest of their lives. It was them and it wasn't, just like anything it was a part them but not all of them.