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Chapter One: Another Life

Quiet, almost unheard footsteps echoed down the dimly lit hallway growing nearer and nearer.

The fading light outside the small fogged windows fell on the wall in patches of pale yellow.

The steps grow louder, quicker, more urgent as they continue up the hall. As if they're running away from something... or someone.

Distant pants for breath can be heard from the steps, as quick and hurried as they are. As the steps get closer, the slap of skin on tile can be heard and the faint sound of scraping accompanies the labored breathing.

The light on the wall shrinks and fades until it's almost no longer; the steps grow faster and the scraping disappears. The silhouette of a young man emerges from the darkness, the shape fast approaching from the depths of which it came.

The pounding of the man's feet against the ground was the only sound in the otherwise silent hall. As he grew closer, a glint could be seen coming from his hand. He sped up when the last of the pale light disappeared through the window.

As he raced past, the ragged curtains hanging beside the cracking window ruffled and blew faintly in the breeze. Dust danced in the air before settling on the dirt covered floor.

The man skidded to a stop before a towering set of white painted metal doors. Flecks of white dotted the floor and walls. He reached forward and gripped the handle, a thud sounding as he dropped what he had been holding. A thin blade shone in the flickering lights beside the man's feet.

Hauling open the door, a screeching sounded through the silence. The man slipped in and made his way to the floor-to-ceiling windows the adorned the far wall.

The last of the day's light could be seen retreating behind the tree tops.

A tapping could be heard in the hall but the man didn't move from gazing out the windows as a nurse dressed in white appeared in the doorway.

The woman looked at the man with sad eyes. "Miss Rory," she whispered, "it's time to take your meds.

The girl tilted her head back and looked over her shoulder, her short-cropped brown tipped blonde hair falling behind her ear from the movement. Green eyes looked at the woman from behind long bangs. They were dulled, her eyes, as if she had felt such indescribable pain that had never seemed to leave.

She shuffled around, her bare feet causing dust to rise from the floor, only to fall a moment later. Her hair fell back in her face, hiding the green orbs. Her lips parted as if she was going to say something. But no sound could be heard.

"Miss Rory?" The nurse asked. "Come with me please, it's time for your meds." The nurse's voice shook at the end, her eyes growing wide at the look the girl was giving her.

Awkwardly clearing her throat, the woman quickly turned and started back down the hall, not waiting to see if the girl was following.

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Alex's POV

Alex Rory sat in a moldy, plastic chair in one of the many white rooms that made up the hell hole she had been living in for the past few years. She lifted a hand to brush her hair out of her eyes again, a scowl on her face as she grew impatient.

According to the old clock on the wall, one of the few things allowed in the institute, the nurse was supposed to have been back already. She knew her meds weren't needed, but every time she would refuse to take them, she'd be strapped down and locked away for days.

She didn't mind the silence so much as the uncomfortableness of being held down.

With nothing to do, and no one to talk to, Alex wandered the silent halls of Blackwater Mental Health Institute in her free time. Which ended up being all of her time.

She had explored every nook and cranny of the hospital--as the nurses liked to call it--and could make her way around in the dark, which she often did despite the curfew.

Most of her time she could be found in front of a window or in the rafters of the cafeteria, and the rest of the time she was wandering. Some of the other patients thought she was ghost with the way you could never hear her coming and she could only be seen from afar. Alex didn't mind what they thought, but she blamed it on the white clothes she was given.

Everyone who was not staff had the same outfit: a pair of white pants with no pockets and a draw string, a white long sleeved shirt that was always too big, and if they were lucky, a white jacket that did nothing to keep out the cold.

All of the staff had the same outfit, but depending on their station, were different colors. Nurse's wore white, doctors wore a pale blue, janitors wore green, and everyone else wore a beige.

The only exception were the guards who wore black police uniforms with extra "protection" hanging off their belts. Things like flashlights, batons, tasers, pepper spray, guns and various needles could be seen being used on any of the residents at any time. The guards thought they had all of the power and no one was brave enough to stop them.

Alex stood from her perch on the chair, her patience run thin. The guard lounging in the chair behind the nurse's desk glanced up from the book he was reading.

"Sit down," he said, his voice monotonous.

Alex just looked at him, her green eyes boring into his skin until he began to fidget. After another moment she turned and walked straight out of the room, not caring that she'd be in trouble again.

The thing about living in a building surrounded by white walls and people who were crazier than you, is that you stop caring about what happens. So Alex just continued on her way, looking for something to explore.

The sound of a door slamming against the wall made her stop. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the guard fuming in the doorway. When his eyes fell on her, he glared and opened his mouth to shout. Taking that as her cue, Alex bolted down the hall and into the dark. She could hear the man running after her, spewing curses and other profanities.

When she got to a crossroad in the hall, she looked over her shoulder to see the guard right behind her. Her eyes widened and she turned slightly, narrowly missing the baton swung at her.

The man swung again and she wasn't fast enough. The baton collided with her shoulder and the sound of bones cracking could be heard as time stood still. And then it was like her life was being fast forward. She fell to the ground with a thump and the guard was on her. He slammed the baton into her back and side and head over and over. Blood pooled under her body as she curled into a fetal position, trying to make herself as small as possible.

Stopping the assault on her, the man grabbed the front of her now blood soaked shirt and hauled her into the air. "You need to learn your fucking lesson girl," he snarled, his foul breath all she could smell as it washed over her face. He threw her against the wall and she felt her bones snap. Her limp body crumbled to the floor and lay still.

The guard sneered, "Maybe you'll know not to disobey me next time." He spat at her and walked away back down the hall.

She lay on the floor for what felt like hours, relishing in the pain that radiated through her. Not caring that curfew had been called or that she had missed the sunset again.

After what felt like eternity, she slowly lifted her sore arms and pushed herself off of the ground. Leaning heavily on the stone wall, she limped down the hall, into the depths of the dark, leaving bloody footprints trailing behind her.

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