Insanity

   You wake up sitting in a metal chair in a white room. You look at your surroundings. It is a simple room with no furniture, save the chair, which you are seated on. The light emitting from the walls suddenly dimmed then flickered leaving you in darkness for just a second. When they came back on, you noticed a man was standing in front of you. You jerk back in surprise.

   You examine the man more closely. His hands are behind his back, an eerie smile etched across his face and blood red eyes that stared into your soul. His black shirt and trousers fit well with his dark, unruly hair that looked as if he hadn’t washed it in years. He bends down at his waist so that he’s face-to-face with you.

   “Hello there.” He said. You shudder at his deep voice. You just sit there, terrified of this mystery man. You swallow hard. “Oh, shy are we?”

   You begin to shake. You muster up all the courage you have and say, “Who are you?” your voice barely a voice at all. He merely hums at your feeble attempt to speak and stands up straight. He begins to pace in front of you.

   “Do you know what happens when insanity makes a home inside the brain?” He looks at you. You begin breathing heavily. He stops pacing and turns to face you, expecting a reply. You shake your head quickly. “No? Let me show you” He reaches forward at amazing speed and grabs the arms of your chair to which your hands are now tied to. He drags you forward aggressively to the other end of the room. When he reaches it, he slams the chair hard on the ground causing you to shake even more. He pulls away from you slowly never letting his eyes leave yours. He runs his hand through his hair trying to fix it. “This is what happens,” he says in a breathy voice. He clicks his fingers and the room goes dark.

   An old style projector plays a diagram of the human brain in front of you, illuminating the room slightly. The man walks back into your field of view, this time with a pointer, “This is the brain,” he announces, hitting the wall hard with his pointer, “So pure and delicate at first, barely knowing the harsh world around it. But then,” his voice takes on a more sinister tone and the projector begins to falter, “It gets corrupted by madness,” the wall is now peeling and cracking, pieces of plaster falling off and turning to dust, “And deteriorates more and more.” The picture starts to crackle and flicker, “Leaving only a dead husk, rotting in its shell.” The projector fails completely and shuts off.

   Darkness welcomes you again until you notice a small light. No, two small lights coming from his eyes. “So I ask you again,” He growls at you sounding more like a monster. He tilts your chair back so your feet can’t touch the ground. You glance behind you to see that the ground just beyond the feet of your chair is no longer there but is instead replaced by a dark chasm, then back to him. His skin is now grey in colour, his eyes completely black, still glowing and his smile gone taken over by a snarl. “Do you know what happens when insanity makes a home inside the brain?” He shouts. Your vision glitches and becomes blurry. You shake uncontrollably now, preparing for death. He leans his head right down to yours and says, “You’re looking at him.” And lets go of the chair, sending you tumbling into the abyss.

*   *   *

   You hit the floor with a thud knocking the wind out of you. You reach forward, groping at the floor, struggling for air. He comes back, swaggering in front of you. He grabs your arms roughly and sits you up. Your breathing begins to come back to you leaving you wheezing and coughing. The man lifts you up and props you up on a wheelchair. He walks behind you and clicks his fingers as he did before and you find that your arms are enclosed in a straight jacket, fastened up tightly. You try to struggle free but you tire quickly and give up. 

   “Let’s take a walk.” The man says and pushes you slowly forwards. You enter a room with four prison cells, two on your right and two on your left. “Now, this is how our little arrangement will play out.” You look to the first cell on your left. A man sat huddled up in the corner rocking back and forth. “Every night when you are asleep, I will visit you,” the man in the cell to your right is scrabbling at the walls, muttering incoherently. “And you will participate in my tests.” Moving up the room, you see yet another man to the left crying on the floor and grabbing at his hair. He then sees you and runs up to the bars extending his arms out as far as they will go trying to reach you. You jump back in your chair and lean away from the man, your heart now racing in your chest. “And we will see how long your mental stability will last.” The man further up on the right is bashing his head against the back wall leaving a bigger crack every time his head meets the concrete. “These tests may not be pleasant so how about an easy one to begin with.”

   As you reach the end of the room, the man that had been pushing you along presses a code on the keypad in front of you and the door opens. It reveals a circular, glowing, white room, much like the one previous all the prison cells but this one feels different. He leads you into the middle of the room and spins you around to face the door. You don’t like the atmosphere of this room it feels off somehow. He walks back the entrance and turns to look at you.

   “Any questions?” He asks in a condescending manner. You think of what to ask him, mainly just to stall time. You don’t know what’s wrong but this room is beginning to make you panic.

   “What's your name?” You decide, trying to sound brave. A wicked grin stretches across his face, his crimson eyes gleaming.

   “I’m Insanity, but you can call me James.” He slams the door closed. Your heart begins to beat rapidly, your breathing becomes uneven. You look around the room frantically. You are locked inside the prison cell, alone. You yell for help, but no sound comes out of your mouth. You shout again, still nothing. Panic sets in. You scream and scream, willing noise to hit your ears. That is how you sit for what seems like hours. Left to your own demise inside this torture room.

*   *   *

   “Well done. You took that better than I expected.” You lift your head slightly at his voice. Your throat is red raw, your eyes sting from tears and exhaustion looms over you. “I think that’s enough for today, don’t you?” you hear him walk up behind you and you feel his hands on sides of you head. “It’s time to wake up.”

   You jolt right up in bed. Cold sweat forms on your forehead. You place your head in in your hands. Is it over? You think. You swing your legs out of your bed and walk to your bathroom. You turn the light on and look at yourself in the mirror. You begin to laugh lightly, happy that the nightmare is over. Your cup your hands under the tap and turn it on. You wash your face and look again in the mirror. He is standing right behind you. You scream and whip your body round. No one there. You turn back timidly to the mirror once more and notice writing scratched along the bottom left corner. See you in your nightmares.