Asylum

~1~

Time seems to slow down as I stare at the ceiling blankly, lying in bed. The lights from outside seem to shine through the gaps in the curtains, creating a dappled effect. The whistling sound of the wind through the windows creates a high whining, which seems to continue for eternity. The occasional car passes the house, with a rumbling that seems as deep as the endless void our souls fall into after death. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm sleep deprived.

There isn't really a reason I can't fall asleep. I just don't want to go to sleep. Something tells me that if I fall asleep, they would come back. My demons. They would come back, and whisper horrible things into my ears, and they were like tendrils, twisting, reaching into my mind, pulling my thoughts apart. It was torturous. I can't think of anybody who would enjoy this, and I'm less able to think of anyone who would enjoy doing this to people. When it happens, you seem to lose your grip on reality, sanity, you lose your grip on anything and everything. It's all figures with faces that you can't remember, faces that you can't even see properly. Faces that you know you loved before, but now.. They're gone.

The ceiling begins to darken even more than before, the lights from outside flickering, before dimming completely. My breathing becomes laboured, and a high pitched, static-like whine enters my ears, sending shivers down my spine. My hands tighten their grip on the thin blanket as a thick, almost black liquid begins dripping from the ceiling. Not blood, but something else. A few droplets spatter on my face, and run down the sides of my face, leaving a glistening trail. I can feel the sheets around me get soaked in the liquid as the dripping become like a heavy rain. I close my eyes, tight, for just a moment, and open them again, before trying to get up. Keyword: trying. My body seems to be paralyzed, held in place. I can still blink, move my eyes, breathe, but nothing else. An intense feeling of dread, panic, and fear enter my mind. My heart beats faster, and faster, and faster, my eyes dart around left and right. Panic is blowing up in my chest as the room begins to flood with a viscous black liquid. I can't see it flooding, but I can feel the bottom of my mattress become soaked. My thoughts become more scattered than before, overflowing like too much water in a sink. Tears begin to brim at my eyelids, unable to spill out, as it began to flow over my arms, and rise higher, higher, higher, before it submerged me completely.

Then silence.

I couldn't hear anything, not even my own heartbeat.

My body began rising off the bed, and I found I could move normally move again. A faint whisper began crawling into my ears, and I then realized: I need air.

I instantly begin trying to swim upward, to where I thought the surface was, but every time I got anywhere near the surface, the fluid began to rise up, faster and faster. My limbs were tiring out, my lungs were unable to breathe this stale air, but my brain kept telling me to go. I was afraid to open my mouth, but soon it was going to open to instinctively take a breath. My arms and legs kept trying to move, but the more I tried, the less they would move. I try to hold my breath, but with every passing second, I start to try less and less.The whisper became more piercing, intense, it was getting louder as I stopped trying to get to the surface, as I stopped breathing.

The last thing I remember was a harsh whisper, as my final breath escaped me:

"Pathetic."

My eyes open wide, glancing around in fear. My arms are pinned to my sides, and there's something covering my mouth. I can't move my legs, arms, I can't turn my neck, can't open my mouth. I can't do anything. A scream tries to escape my throat, but to no avail. A strangled cry escapes my throat instead, evoking more fear in me. The walls are white, the ceiling is white, and the floor is a dirty off-white. Hair fell in front of my face as I lurched forward, attempting to walk. I fall forward, my chin hitting the ground, possibly bruising it. From this angle, the walls looked padded... Then it hit me like a mental train, throwing my thoughts into unwarranted chaos.

I'm in an asylum.