Matthew's stomach grumbled, a hollow, persistent ache that made it harder to focus. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling of his sterile white room. His room, a sterile white box with no windows, offered no clues to the time. It could be midnight, or morning. He closed his eyes, his mind replaying the dream. The soft sun on his skin, the smell of wheat, the innocent laughter of the girl. It was a memory, he was sure of it, a fragment of a childhood he couldn't quite grasp. The vibrant green of his own eyes was a reflection of the green of the girl's.
A sudden, soft knock at the door broke the silence. Matthew's head snapped up. He hadn't heard a knock in what felt like an eternity. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked barefooted to the door. He takes a deep breath and pulled the door open.
Standing there was a girl with tanned skin and striking orange irises. Her black hair was pulled back in a slick ponytail, and she wore a plain gray shirt and pants with bright cyan rubber gloves. In her hands, she held a tray. On it sat a grilled cheese sandwich with scrambled eggs spilling out, a tall cup of lemonade, and two familiar blue pills.
"Jade?" Matthew's voice was a whisper, a mix of confusion and surprise. "What are you doing here?"
She shifted her weight, a nervous blush creeping up her cheeks. "I... I just thought you might be hungry," she said, her voice soft and shy. "So I brought you the morning meal."
A wide smile spread across Matthew's face. He reached out and took the tray, the warmth of the food a welcome feeling in his hands. "Thank you," he said sincerely, his voice filled with genuine gratitude.
Jade smile grew brighter. "Consider it a thank-you gift," she said. "For helping me yesterday."
Matthew's mind instantly replayed the memory, a brutal clip that tore through the quiet contentment he felt. The clean, sterile white of his room was replaced by the chaotic fluorescent lights of a cafeteria. The warmth of the tray in his hands was gone, replaced by the slick, hot stickiness of blood on his knuckles.
He was on top of a man, Seth, his body a dead weight beneath him. The man's face was a grotesque mess of fractured bone and torn flesh, the features completely disfigured. Yet Matthew kept going, his fist a piston, crashing into the ruin of a face over and over. Each blow was a thunderous echo in his ears, drowned out by the roaring crowd behind him. They weren't yelling in fear, but in excitement. Their cheers and shouts of "Kill him! Kill him!" were a chorus of encouragement. The rage felt good, a pure, white-hot fire that consumed everything else.
Matthew snapped out of the memory, his chest heaving as if he had run a marathon. The tray in his hands trembled, and he barely managed to keep it from crashing to the floor, he couldn't believe what he had just remembered. Jade was standing there, her smile slowly fading as she stared at him with concern. The memory had been so real, so vivid, and the sharp contrast to the gentle girl in front of him made his head spin.
"R-right... uhm..." he stammered, his gaze dropping from her face to the tray. His eyes fixed on the two blue pills, their small, circular shapes a familiar and unsettling sight. "Two pills?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Is one for noon?"
Jade's smile was completely gone now, replaced by a nervous frown. She shifted uncomfortably, her gaze flickering to the side before she answered."N-no. They're for now," she said hesitantly, her voice even softer than his. "You have to, uhm... take both at the same time."
"What? But..." A wave of confusion washed over Matthew. Suddenly, another memory slammed into him, unbidden and violent.
The sterile white of his room dissolved into a chaotic struggle. He was being dragged, by the same guards ordered by Dr. Sawyer, his arms held in a vice-like grip by two large, uniformed guards. He thrashed and yelled, but it was no use. The guards, their faces impassive, pinned him down on the bed. One of them held a palm to his chest, the other twisting his arms behind his back.
"Let go of me! What are you doing?!" Matthew screamed, his voice raw with panic.
The door to his room swung open and a woman in a white coat, her face obscured by a surgical mask, walked in. She held a syringe filled with a familiar blue liquid. A cold dread, a feeling he hadn't experienced since he was a child, washed over him.
"No. No, nooo!" he screamed, his head thrashing from side to side. The guard holding his head forced it back, exposing the veins on his neck.
The woman's hand, encased in a glove, reached for him. "Sssshh," she whispered, her voice a calm, detached hiss. "This will make you feel good."
As she drew the syringe closer, Matthew's frantic gaze darted around the room. That's when he saw it. Standing silently next to the woman, completely still, was a young child. Pale skin, soaked and dripping wet, with vacant, unblinking eyes. The boy wasn't smiling, wasn't crying. He just was.
The needle, long and thin, pierced the skin on his neck. He felt the cold sting as the plunger pressed down. As he breathed, he thought to himself "What... the fuck?" As his eyes remained on the child, his mind trying to process what he is seeing.
The woman's thumb pressed down on the plunger. A sharp, burning sting flared in his neck as the cold blue liquid rushed into his veins. His vision blurred, the room swaying and spinning. The guards' faces became distorted, and the ghostly boy seemed to shimmer and dissolve. The screams in his throat became muffled groans as his body went limp, his consciousness fading into a heavy, impenetrable darkness.
Matthew shook his head, snapping out of the memory as his confusion morphed into a sick dread. "But... I've injected, i should be taking one pill like everybody else." he pressed. "Why should i be taking two?"
Jade looked away, her gaze flickering to the surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling. "I don't know," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "They just... told me to give you two. It's what the doctor prescribed."
His eyes widened in a silent realization. He wasn't on a simple medication schedule anymore. This was a change. This was a test. A punishment. He thought back to Dr. Sawyer's accusations in the other room, his anger and fear. They had changed something. They were trying to control him. A silent rage began to simmer beneath the surface, a familiar, terrifying feeling that he fought to keep down.
Matthew dropped the tray on the floor. He took a single step back and pointed to the door without looking away from Jade. "I'm not taking them," he said, his voice flat and dangerous.
Jade's head snapped up, her eyes wide with fear. The tray hit the floor with a clatter, the grilled cheese sandwich and scrambled eggs a messy pile on the sterile tiles. The blue pills rolled away, coming to a stop near the open door.
"Tch... Matthew, you have to," Jade's voice was a plea, her eyes wide with fear.
"Why?!" He snapped, his voice rising.
"BECAUSE YOU'LL DIE, MATTHEW!" she screamed back, the force of her voice making him recoil.
The shout hung in the air, a final, shattering note. Matthew stared at her, his mind reeling. I'll... die? The words echoed in his head, a nonsensical jumble. "What?" he whispered, the anger draining from him, replaced by a deep, cold confusion.
Jade's shoulders slumped, the fire in her eyes extinguished by a weary sadness. "Dr. Sawyer asked everyone in the cafeteria what happened," she said, her voice trembling. "He pulled me aside and asked what I saw. I told him... everything." Her gaze dropped to the floor, as if she couldn't bear to look at him. "He told me you were suffering from a mental illness... well everyone is, in this place but yours... if you didn't take your pills, it would get worse. It would lead to... to certain death."
A thick silence fell between them. The only sound was the faint hum of the room's ventilation and their heavy breathing. The words hung in the air, heavy and dark.
"No... No, he's lying," Matthew said, the words a shaky, disbelieving whisper. He reached out and grabbed her arms, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her forearms. His own hands trembled. "Jade, you have to listen to me. He's lying. I'm not sick. I'm not dying!" He looked into her eyes, pleading with her to believe him. "Nothing is killing me."
Jade looked at him, not with the sympathy she had a moment ago, but with a growing terror. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Her gaze drifted from his face to his hands, and her eyes widened in a silent plea.
"You're hurting me," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
The words shocked him out of his frantic state. Matthew looked down at his own hands, his knuckles white as they dug into her skin. He let go as if her arms were on fire, taking a step back and holding his hands out in front of him, staring at them in horror. "I'm so sorry, Jade. I didn't... I didn't mean to..."
Jade took another step back, her eyes fixed on his hands. A new, more profound fear had replaced the terror. It was a fear that didn't just see a patient, but something else entirely. She stared at him, her voice barely above a whisper. "Did you enjoy it?"
Matthew looked at her, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What?"
"Did you enjoy hurting Seth?" Jade's voice was a plea, a trembling question that cut through the silence. A single tear tracked a clean path through the dirt on her cheek.
Matthew's shoulders slumped, his gaze dropping to the floor. The rage and confusion drained out of him, leaving a hollow ache in their place. "I... No," he said, his voice flat.
A new tear fell from Jade's eye, a fresh silver line on her face. Her head shook slowly. "You're lying."
"What?" Matthew's head snapped up, a jolt of disbelief and hurt coursing through him. He couldn't believe she would say that.
"Dr. Sawyer," she began, her voice cracking, "he showed me the footage. I saw it, Matthew. I saw the excitement in your eyes. And how you kept going... everyone else was begging you to stop, but you didn't."
Matthew's head began to pound, a frantic drumbeat that drowned out her words. He shook his head, a sickening lurch of confusion in his stomach. "Wait, what?" His mind reeled, sifting through the chaotic, violent images of the memory. The cheers. The roar of the crowd. Was that it? The ringing in his ears intensified, a high-pitched whine that blotted out everything. He could see her mouth moving, saying something, but all he could hear was the ringing, and the panicked voice in his head questioning what he truly remembered.
"You're not even listening to me!" Jade's voice rose, cutting through the ringing and snapping Matthew back to the present.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes wide and pleading. "I just... my head is..."
Jade's expression shifted. The fear remained, but now it was tinged with a desperate pity. She took another step back, her eyes flicking nervously between him and the discarded pills on the floor. "Please, Matthew. Just... take them. For me. For your wellbeing." She reached for a fallen pill, her hand trembling. "I promise, they will make you and I fine again."
Matthew's gaze followed her hand to the pills, then up to the desperate plea in her eyes. His heart, which had been a frantic drumbeat, now slowed to a heavy, painful thud. He looked from the pills to Jade, a dawning realization spreading across his face.
He looked down at the pills, then back at her. Her hand was now extended, palm up, with the pills resting in the center. She grabbed his hand and placed the pills onto his palm. He felt the roughness of her rubber gloves as they made contact with his skin.
"They can help you, Matthew. You just have to believe that they do," she said. He stared at the two pills, then looked up at her and shook his head.
Jade took off one of her rubber gloves and placed her palm on his cheek. The soft warmth of her skin made his heart beat faster. "Please take them," she whispered, her voice a soft, fragile plea. "For me. For your wellbeing. I promise they will make you and I fine again."
Matthew looked at her, at the raw emotion on her face, and his resolve began to crumble. He didn't want to lose her trust. He didn't want her to be afraid of him. He gave a reluctant nod. "Okay."
A relieved smile spread across Jade's face. It was a beautiful, genuine smile that made his breath catch in his throat. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. The touch was a quick, light pressure, and then she pulled away, the warmth lingering on his skin.
"I hope you enjoy your day," she said, her voice filled with a gentle sweetness. She turned and walked out of the room.
Matthew touched the spot where her lips had been, watching her until she disappeared from view. "You too," he whispered to the empty doorway.
He looked down at the two small blue pills in his hand. They looked so innocent, so harmless. He glanced up at the tiny camera in the corner of the ceiling. He didn't need to see the red light to know it was on. He brought the pills to his mouth, his jaw set in a determined line, and swallowed them both instantly. Then, he knelt and began to pick up the spilled food and the tray. He put the sandwich back together and picked up the now empty cup.
In the surveillance room, the operator behind the desk watched as Matthew cleaned up the mess. He picked up his walkie-talkie. "Sir, he's taken the pills," he said, his voice flat. He put the device back on the desk and watched as Matthew walked into his room and shut the door.
Matthew sighed, a heavy, tired sound that held all the weight of the last few minutes. The door clicked shut, and he was alone again, the silence of the sterile room suddenly deafening. He stared at the spot where Jade had been, the lingering warmth of her kiss on his cheek feeling both comforting and deeply unsettling. The pills were in his stomach, a cold, hard lump of betrayal and desperate hope. He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture. What had he done? What was he giving up?
Shutting the door behind him, Matthew turned to the door and leaned forward, his forehead against the door with his eyes shut as he recalls the scared expression on Jade's face, the questionable cheers from the cafeteria when he brutally beat Seth, and finally the words of Doctor Sawyer himself, "How many more people were going to get hurt?" "Why... Why did i stop?" He asks himself before turning around and that's when he saw him.
Standing in the center of the room, a few feet from the mess on the floor, was a boy. He had pale skin and was dripping wet, as if he had just emerged from a pool. His eyes were vacant and unblinking, fixed on Matthew. It was the same boy from yesterday, the one who had stood silently as the syringe was brought to his neck.
A cold, primal terror seized Matthew. His throat tightened, and he took a shaky step back. The boy didn't move. He didn't blink. He just stood there, dripping water onto the sterile white floor.
Then, the boy opened his mouth and spoke, his voice a clear, high-pitched whisper that cut through the silence like a knife.
"Will... Will you be my friend?"
Matthew's mouth opened, a gasp of confusion and terror escaping him. His eyes widened, and he stared at the apparition, his mind scrambling to make sense of what he was seeing.
What... the fuck? He thought, the words a frantic scream in his head.