The Guy from the Insane Asylum

Chapter 10

If you enjoy this chapter, pretty please leave a vote on it. Thank you very much :)

"Life is so ironic, it takes sadness to know what happiness is, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence." —Unknown.

Chapter 10

Zach ran back to Bethany and quickly used the keys to get inside the room she was locked in. Bethany stumbled out of the room and fell to her knees. She very sloppily fixated herself as she slid against a gray stoned wall. "Thank you," she mumbled as her hand crawled over to her chest. She clutched the fabric over her heart and could feel how fast it was beating.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he neared next to her.

Bethany turned her head and her cheek was against the cold concrete wall. She nodded slightly. Zachary watched her as she tried to go back to breathing normally.

Bethany was extremely claustrophobic. If she ever felt like she wasn't able to move, or if she felt crowded in, panic started to settle within her. It always took her a while to come back to reality and lower her heart rate.

"I'm claustrophobic too," Zach admitted. "That's why my room is bigger than most the ones here." He didn't bother to ask how she'd end up in a patients room. The asylums clothing gave her away. "It never gets easier, if I'm honest. But you get used to it, and then if you're lucky you find a coping mechanism that helps."

Beth listened, still slightly freaked out by what had just happened to her. How was she supposed to come back tomorrow and pretend none of it happened?

Zachary hated seeing her that way, panicking. Various times, he would try to reach for her hand but he'd always end up pulling it back to his side. He wasn't sure how'd she react to his touch.

In the middle of her breathing-concentration, Bethany noticed Zach trying to help her. Normally, her brother was the one that reached for her hand to try and calm her down. It always helped to be able to feel someone next to her, and she always did that by holding their hand.

Ignoring all her instincts that told her not to touch Zachary, she shakily reached out for his hand that was resting against his thigh.

Their fingers slowly intertwined. Bethany's gaze was focused on their hands, while Zach's was focused on her but he felt and memorized all the movements of her hand and fingers as they were against his skin. He had so many thoughts going through his head, they were rampaging like crazy. His chest suddenly began to rise and fall at an irregular speed. Bethany was feeling a lot better then.

"We should go," Bethany said aloud. "I need to get out of these clothes." She'd much rather freeze then get locked up in a room again.

She stood up, and let go of Zach's hand. Not wanting to be in the sweater that got her in all this trouble, she reached down at the hem of it to pull it off her body. When she had taken it off, Zachary was up and standing, staring at her. They were freakishly close, and taken aback from their proximity, Bethany stumbled backwards. Zach's arm reached out to wrap around the side of her body to keep her from falling. Instinct kicked in, and Bethany wrapped her arms around Zachary's neck.

Beth raised her gaze and met Zach's. The second their eyes locked, the lights alining the corridor sizzled and blew out their fuses; it was pitch black and the screams from the patients roared all at once.