Anomalously Black

Chapter 5

It's so dark. My legs feel extremely weak, and it's getting harder and harder to breathe. I squint my eyes in attempt to see at least a little bit. Despite my tired legs and my mind telling me to stay still, I blindly walk forward. As I'm walking my foot hits another snag, and I fall to the floor. I already know what's in front of me, and I don't want to look at it. I close my eyes tightly. Laughter fills the room, and a mocking voice follows. "Are you afraid?" I nod my head yes, and there is laughter again. I feel someone stroking the back of my hair, and a sickeningly sweet voice whispers in my ear. "You should be." I open my eyes, and light fills the room. The first thing that I see is the knife in my hand, covered in blood.

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I jump out of the bed, my chest heaving up and down. Panicked, I look down at my hands. No blood. I nervously run my hand through my hair, and sigh. Just a dream. But it felt incredibly real. I take a glance at the small digital clock that sits on the tall dresser next to my bed, and see that it's 5:00. The first morning rays of sunlight creeps through the curtains on the window in my room.

It's no wonder that I'm up this early. Back in the asylum, Dr.Sullivan made all of the patients wake up as soon as the sun had risen. He said that it was to "make sure that we use all of the day to recover."

Instead of climbing back on the bed, I sink down to the floor in front of it, throwing my head back to rest on the mattress. I can't sleep and I don't know what to do until one of my brothers wake up. I allow my head to sink back into the soft mattress of my new bed. It's not as hard and uncomfortable as my old bed. I can tell that the sheets had been recently washed because they smell like lavender and something that I can't quite place. It doesn't smell like days of filth like my old bed did. Back in the asylum, it was a privilege to get your sheets washed. Another form of punishment was forcing us to sleep in dirty sheets and clothes. Whenever they made me do that I would just strip and sleep on the floor. I hate messiness and the feeling of dirt. Of course, if Dr.Sullivan found me naked and sleeping on the floor, he would get a bucket of ice cold water and have the bald man throw it on me. The intense coldness was worth it though.

Eventually, I hear footsteps walking down the hallway, and stop in front of the door to my room. The door opens, and Jason walks in. His hair is messy, and he is rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Once he's fully awake, he notices that I'm sitting on the floor in front of the bed, and walks inside of my room, not bothering to ask for permission.

"Oh you're awake already? I thought that you would've slept in." I continue staring at him, not replying. He shuffles awkwardly, then gives me a kind smile. "Well since you're up so early, would you mind help me make breakfast?" I nod and stand up, grabbing my notebook and pen from inside of my backpack. Together, we walk downstairs and into the large kitchen. Jason opens the cabinet, taking out pots and pans. He turns the stove on, and suddenly turns to me. "How does bacon, eggs, and grits sound?"

I stare at him weirdly before writing something down in my notebook, then show it to him. "What's grits?"

"You don't remember what grits are?" He asked shocked. I shake my head no, and he looks at me in disbelief. "Seriously? We used to have them all the time! Mo-" he cuts himself off, not finishing his sentence. He looks down sadly, then returns to cooking the strange food.

I watch Jason as he cooks, and I can't help the sadness that comes over me. I can't help but feel like I upset somehow. Even if it was something as silly as food, I can't erase the image of his sunken face. Alex walks into the kitchen, looking exactly like Jason except for the fact that his mop of hair is black. He notices Jason's sad form and immediately walks over to him. "Hey Jay, you okay?" Jason nods, and whispers something into Alex's ear that I can't hear. Alex nods, and glances over at me sadly. I scoff, and sit down at the round table in the big kitchen.