Escape from Dracula

Chapter 1 - Meet Renfield

Picture of Renfield >>

Their footsteps echoed in the hallways, coming closer and closer, the noises bouncing off the walls. It fell silent. The voices outside began to whisper, then suddenly it stops. The door clicked, creaking open to reveal Bennett and Withers. Bennett was a tall man with broad shoulders, his greying hair reached his ears. Yet his signature feature was his piercing blue eyes that would scare off any patient. Withers was quite the opposite. He was a short man, with hunched shoulders, a pug nose and protruding stomach. His ginger moustache was slightly coloured with the tomato sauce leftover from lunch. Their eyes landed on the patient. Renfield lay in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth, hugging onto his knees whilst clutching a small wooden box. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be murmuring something but he spoke too quickly for the orderlies to make out a single word. His sandy blonde fringe swayed back and forth, his face crinkled like crumpled paper.

"Renfield!" Bennett boomed. Renfield remained rocking back and forth as though he was deaf, "You hear me, Renfield?"

"Open your eyes!" Withers demanded. Renfield stopped his swaying and sat still, his deathly white hands shook. He refused to open his eyes. It was too much, the walls, the lights and even his clothing were the exact same colour. It was blinding white! No matter where one looked.

"OPEN YOUR EYES!" With his sausage fingers, Withers forced Renfield's head up. Withers gasped hastily stepping back.

"Yo-your eyes!" He pointed at Renfield whose eyes had become red; blood red, as though it had just been freshly pricked from ones veins. Bennett groaned pushing in front of Withers.

"Renfield, if you do not behave you will not be having a visitor today!" Bennett growled, glaring at Withers, who remained shocked. Renfield's eyes instantly changed to its dark green as the word 'visitor' left Bennett's cracked lips.

"What visitor?" Renfield frowned.

"Not just any visitor, Renfield. A visitor of the female variety," Bennett spoke as Renfield's ears perked up in interest.

"A woman. A young woman." Withers regained his composure. Bennett rolled his eyes.

"Thank you Sherlock," Renfield replied sarcastically, shaking his head in annoyance. He had always liked Bennett much better. Withers glowered at Renfield as though he would burn to ash under his hot gaze. Renfield stood, walking towards the only window in the room. The view was nothing spectacular. It was the gardens, where patients sat on the old wooden stools. The bushes around them had not been trimmed and dead fruit lay flat under trees, all types of insects swarming around it. He sighed. The gardens may have been a wreck but it would never change the beauty of the sunset. Its warm orange glow, with a pink tinge as the sun lowered itself behind the mountains.

"The evening. It's beautiful don't you think?" Renfield traced the window where the sun had just been.

Wither's snorted, "It's like any other evening."

"No, it's not." He paused, thinking cautiously before he spoke as Bennett watched him curiously,

"To see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour."

"What are you going on about, Renfield?" Bennett studied him carefully, his eyes switching between him and the box in the corner.

"William Blake. A poet I was quoting one of his poems. I didn't expect you to have heard of him." Renfield turned to face the men.

"You expected right!" Withers huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and resting it on his stomach, "Load of nonsense, if you ask me."

"They said Blake was mad too. But he wasn't, much like myself. I have been cured."

"Cured, are you?" Withers asked, amusement clear on his face.

"I have applied to Doctor Seward for release." Renfield replied, a triumphant smile on his face unaware of how wrong he was.

***

A/N: HAS NOT BEEN EDITED

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