Streams of Consciousness

Asylum

        HERE LIES HUDSON GRAVES JR. That is what the stone said. I stared at it for a few moments. How could that be? Didn't the sick doctor say I was Hudson Graves Jr? I walked closer to the stone. I traced each letter with my finger, but it didn't seem to change the words. I felt lost once more. I left looking for answers, but so far, all the outside world had brought was more questions.

        "Hey! You aren't supposed to be in here!" a woman's voice said. I froze in my tracks.

        "I... I..." I stuttered, my heart racing, my body shaking with nervousness.

        "Oh! You must be one of the servants! Oh wow! What a pleasure! My name is Kenzie Kissenger, reporter and journalist! What is it like, living on the Hudson Graves memorial site?" the woman asked, pulling out a pen and paper. She looked at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.

        "Memorial site?" I asked.

        "Oh right! The servants are the ones that aren't told anything! I thought it was the maids, but you know how women LOVE gossip! I went to talk to them the other day and they all squealed like pigs! It was a goldmine! The network considered giving me an exclusive prime time deal, but then that one scientist created a new type of corn that would probably end hunger and cut me off. Damn world savers, am I right?" the woman said, firing her words off like a gun.

        "...uh huh..." I said.

        "ANYWAY! This entire estate, for miles and miles and miles, is Hudson Enterprises! A recreation of his favorite park, a hospital owned and managed for the betterment of humanity, this here Mausoleum, the main farmhouse, the servant headquarters! Alongside other buildings I haven't seen yet!" the woman chattered with excitement, pointing in the directions of each area.

        "...and what are you doing here?" I asked.

        "Investigating! Looking for dirt!" she responded.

        "Why don't you look at the ground...?" I asked with confusion.

        "Truly clueless! How wonderful! Wait till the boss hears about this! Oh I am SO getting promoted! Tell me more! What do you know? Or more importantly, what don't you?" she asked, writing frivolously with her pen.

        "Excuse me! Permitted guests are allowed on the premises only!" I heard another female voice say.

        "Oh no! Looks like security caught up with me! Look, here is my card, seek me out whenever you are free. I can grant you invisibility, as long as you have dirt that interests me! Remember the name, Kenzie Kissenger, some call me KK, and I am cray-cray!" she said, putting her notebook and pen up. Then she started to run, and slid past the guard.

        "Sorry about her! She comes around here every now and then, trying to stir things up. Channel 5 or something like that... so you must be new to all this stuff huh?" the voice said, and stepped up to me.

        "Janice!?" I exclaimed, bewildered.

       "...Who?" she asked me. I looked at her. She had the same red hair, the same green eyes, and the same scent. The only thing different was that this time I could see her face. Her lips were small and plump, blood red, shaped like an apple leaf taken from its stem. Her eyebrows were thin yet full, one raised and the other curved, a look of confusion plastered on her face with a slight smile. Her hair was long and flowing, a stream of red upon her shoulders.

        Her nose was small, and her eyelashes were long and dark. Her face was like the hide of a chital, with tiny orange spots strewn over it, and the occasional small red dot on her forehead and cheeks. She also had a drawing on her face, a small raindrop, or perhaps a teardrop. A tattoo, I think it was called. She was beautiful. Strange, and beautiful. This was truly who I saw in my dreams.