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Number 17



Her eyes Snapped open, icy cold sweat streamed down her face like a river. Her wrists were covered in dark red irritated bumps. she jerked her head to look at them and saw she was restricted by dark brown leather restraints. A black fog clouded her vision, it weakened her mind and she began spurting out random sentences of jibberish.







Around her were voices but ones she did not know, they said things to her that sounded unfamiliar.. Her head was pounding with a sharp beating pain that rendered her to think only in a Subjective reality.







There it was, the sound, like cars racing across a kitchen floor, what was it? She Thought, She wanted to know the sounds origin & yet it pained her to dwell on the thought. She tried to lose the restraints by using the force of her strength. As she did she was slightly tapped upside the head by what felt a lot like a baton.






"Stop it vanessa "said the voice. It was scratchy, deep, it sounded a lot like an old man. Not a kind one, a sinister one, he projected an angry tone that convinced her to keep her mouth Shut. Vanessa's spirit was broken by an immense dread. "You're too disconcerted my dear!" Her heart was on the verge of bursting out of her chest, the black fog dissolved and was replaced by beaming bright lights. It stung her eyes. She hid by turning her face away into the crook of her elbow.




She attempted to gaze at the lights again this time her eyes had developed a tolerance for them. She knew where she was or at least she had an idea, she jerked her head down and saw that she was dressed in a white hospital robe. Looking back up revealed the many crazed wide eyed men and women who roamed the area around her. The dragging sound began once more at a high pitched volume . She looked down and saw that the sound was from the wheelchair she was Strapped in. An unknown man pushed her slowly down what appeared to be a lobby of some kind. The floor was made up of black and white checkered tiles and if one paid close enough attention they could easily spot the splatters of stained blood upon each one. There were three black corduroy coaches in front of her. A man sat on it calmly Flipping through a dark Scarlet red covered book. The title was engraved with small golden cursive writing that proved too difficult for Vanessa to read. Her Wheelchair came to a halt close to a large rectangular maple wood desk, behind it sat a frail old woman. The wrinkles in her skin drooped as She moved, "what, number is this one ?" ." Number 17" said a voice above her. "She will be placed in room 213 on the second floor".









The woman Flashed Vanessa a drooping frown before the ride began again. The wheels made a Scraping noise that made her cringe. They rolled onto flooring of jagged shards of cement. They reached an elevator that appeared more like a rusted Prison cage and even the control Panel had red and blue wires that intertwined and were blocking a collection of aged white elevator buttons. "In we go 'my dear ?" The sound of the man's voice rendered her blood cold. The man seemed to go to great lengths to avoid Vanessa from seeing him.








The elevator rattled like an earthquake. She even heard him tripp a few steps forward. As they were elevated she saw grey cement walls that reminded her of tombstones. The elevator came to a sudden halt and the caged doors flew open and revealed a dimly lit grey hallway.







She sensed her ride was coming to an end. He pushed her further into dark halls and stopped by a yellow Painted cement door with a small rectangular window placed just above the handle. She saw him this time, he was wearing a black and white suit and wore a pair of circular glasses, his face was pale and instead of a beard he had grey stubble growing all the way up to his ears.







He glared at her with a stretched sinister grin . It showed his yellow


crooked teeth and Vanessa felt the urge to scream and cry. " whats wrong my dear, is everything dendy or did me waking you from your nap cause a disturbance in your mood". Vanessa remained silent, it took her great effort to contain herself during the situation. He opened the yellow door and immediately he rushed behind her and relieved his latient of the restraint that had been piercing through her flesh. He then Pushed her into the room and slammed the door behind her. He vanished the moment she twisted her neck to look at him.






The room was a cell, it had a couch and a bucket to do her business in. The rest of the room was constructed of cracked cement walls and flooring. She rose from the chair and fell immediately, her legs were numb and possessed a lavender skin color and the sensation of pins and needles pervaded throughout them . She heard faint laughter and saw two outlines of what appeared to be doctors. "Number 17 this is , what a pretty little thing, and our experiments will be conducted when ?" "Soon, very soon! they laughed, they screamed until laughter filled her ears. This creature will be fun, very fun indeed.













She didn't know why she was here, but she knew She wasn't getting out. She spent most of her time thinking. Sometimes when She did start thinking her thoughts would be interrupted by a loud scream. One Patient was not in the best


circumstances. He screamed too much and it didn't take long before a guard became fed up and severed his tongue with a switchblade. The patient had a hard time walking or saying anything after that. Often the guards stood outside of her cell just staring at her. They would make peculiar expressions at Vanessa and they did it frequently enough to where it unnerved her. It wasn't the guards or the psychotic noises that neighbouring inmates made that Frightened her, it was the walls. The walls spoke things to her. She would tell them to stop speaking but they persisted despite her furious demands. She was partnered with a boy the same age as her in her cell .He was tall and possessed light brown hair, his body would tremble every time he looked at her dark blue veins were buried under his sunken eyes. Vanessa walked slowly over and sat next to him, she placed her hand gently on his shoulder." You don't look so good, are you okay." The boy remained silent. The chances of getting through to him were very slim. A fat guard with a potbelly began to wander his way over towards the cell. He was tall, his Skin was dry and cracked.


The guard wore his uniform improperly,


The black cargo pants were worn without a belt. Because his fly was down, vanessa could easily see his

Smiley face pattern underwear. He didn't even wear a vest, it was very surprising to her. The guard glared at Vanessa and her new cell mate. His eyes looked like ghostly white clouds with a spot of black fog in the middle. He cracked his baton against the door well chuckling softly to himself. "What's wrong you two? Am I making it hard to sleep? '' Vanessa thought that she may be listening to this all night." Get over here you sack of shit!". The voice sounded more intelligent then the guards, she guessed it was his commander. The fat guard waddied his way to the voices direction continuing to giggle to himself. The vent above them seemed to release frigid air that made vanessa warm herself in her arms. Her cellmate who was sitting in the corner of the room buried his face in his hands and began to cry at a loud screeching tone. A guard strolled over. He was young and skinny, his uniform was small but even that size wasnt small enough to fit his frame.










"Shut up freak before I cut your fucking throat " The gaurd was angry, enraged that a patient would even dare to cry in front of him. The boy Put his hands tightly over his ears well, softly humming a sorrowful tune to himself. His Pallid complexion seemed to increase the darkness in his hair, which rendered his appearance to look uneven.

Vanessa rested on


the brown coach that was in the center of the room. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, through all the chaos that was going around her she could stIll hear the voices whisper. "Number 17 Vanessa" she understood that her name was Vanessa and also knew she was a 17 year old girl. Her background, her family what she was before entering this place was unknown to her. She hadn't slept most of the night due to the loud screams and moans of the neighboring patients . She was in the state of being half asleep.


she snapped back into reality. She was fully awake and found herself once again strapped to a wheelchair. She was being pushed towards a pitch black room. Once she was inside a bright blue light was turned on.It shined a vivid blue glow into her eyes, looking around the room she saw a female figure dressed in a brown skirt with a checkered beige flannel blazer.











"Vanessa, why is it that you think I brought You here today". The only thing visible on the woman was her clothing,her face and Skin remained hidden in the Shadows. vanessa did not speak to her until they Passed a moment of Silence." I don't even know why i'm here". The women Put down what looked like a clipboard and sank further into the cushioned chair. "My dear the reason you are dwelling in this hell hole is solely based on your lack of communication". Vanessa felt a sudden burst of rage overcome her."Fuck You! Bitch!", the woman leaned toward just enough so that she could see her dark chestnut brown eyes, "If I were you sweety I would be watching yourself constantly. You never know What sort of thing could happen to a girl like you"! Vanessa was on the verge of having a panic attack.She locked her eyes into Vanessa's forcing her to make eye contact with her. Your gonna be tortured in this place, doctor wayne is gonna make you scream in this place. You're in a hell hole Venessa and no one is gonna hear you cry. Prepare for an agonIzing death Sweetheart, because I assure you that one is coming your Way."























Vanessa sat for many hours staring at the cement wall that had the words WELCOME TO HELL engraved in it. Her encounter with the strange woman had her constantly checking over her shoulder, her stomach was always upset and even though she ate on a regular basis she vomited constantly. She theorized it was some sort of stomach flu, perhaps an illness caused by the bacteria in the water. She came to a conclusion that it was none of those things and decided that the environment in which she was now living was enough to make her ill. The loud moans of patients, the repetitive angry voices of the guards, it was all too much for her to handle and increased her chances of having an anxiety attack. Her cell mate still refused to tell her what his name was, he was constantly whispering things to himself, certain songs and humming noises that made vanessa wanna claw out her ear drums.








Through the cement door she could see the doctor who had brought her to her cell a day ago. He stood proud and tall, his hands folded neatly on top of one another as he pressed his face firmly against the glass and extended a venomous grin, it was now stained in the memories of Vanessa's mind. Beside the doctor stood two security guards who were in possession of small firearms and a baton. They opened the door and Vanessa scrambled away from it, the guards rushed quickly in and tried to seize her. “ Come here you dumb bitch!” she jumped and rolled over the top of the couch until she landed flat. She bursted with speed out of her cell and ran down the endless halls of yellow cement doors. She spotted an emergency elevator. She sprinted to it and grasped her hands on its cage, she smashed the button several times until a hard crack made her vision turn to shrouded darkness.







3 hours later


The darkness faded away and a green light beamed in her eyes nearly blinding her. “ This one is a runner is she not?” “ I do not disagree with you doctor, to be fair you don't exactly arrive in inmates cells showing hospitality”. They smiled and nodded with pleasure to one another,these voices were simple echos, she had a hard time distinguishing the voices in reality and the ones in her head. “ Wake up Vanessa” said the voice, was it hers or from outside? A small chuckle followed soon after the voice. She felt the fingers of rubber gloves touching the moist skin of her cheeks. Her vision started clearing itself of the fog that was clouding it and she began to reach full concsiousness. In front of her stood the doctor, on both sides stood two young assistants. They were dressed in turquoise blue robes that were soaked with large bloody handprints. The blood was fresh and extra dark which meant that they had dealt with some business before acquiring vanessa.







She felt her heart trying to break through her chest and her eyes began to commit to tunnel vision as her whole body shook with horror. The female assistant gripped a long lengthy serrated blade and pressed it on her wrist. The other assistant took a large pair of red pliers and fitted them around the shape of vanessa's right wrist. The white tiled room around her had random puddles of blood, she prayed to god that hers doesn't join the collection, the assistants tightened their tools deeper around the skin of her flesh. Doctor Wayne retrieved a small black suitcase from a light brown leather satchel. He laid the suitcase flat on the table in front of him and clicked it open. Slowly he moved his eyes across the numerous pairs of scissors and knives that it possessed.











He selectively picked one, it was simple, just a pair of nail clippers. He placed them on one of her fingernails. “ Now, vanessa we don't mean you harm here but now that you've interrupted our work schedule and I'm afraid we have no choice”. He slowly peeled off her whole nail. She screeched to such an extent that her own screams seemed to bounce back to her in the room. He quickly placed it on her other fingernail, a faint clicking noise occurred as a large eruption of blood seeped from the absent place of the nail. “ Please stop, please!!!” he put it on the next one and tore it from her flesh like pulling a weed. “ Now , Vanessa darling, stop your crying. There is no need,” tears poured further down her cheeks, her fingers were shaking as she felt blood drip slowly onto the tiled floor.








He picked up a small iron rod that had an immensely pointy and sharp end and poked it into the flesh that was formerly covered by her nails. She gazed at the poker as it slowly sank deep, he laughed and screeched laughter as if the sounds of her screams were an uplifting song. “ Please stop it”, he disregarded her plea, he then tore the next nail more slowly more painfully. “ No one wants you, that's why you're here, and the pain can be your only fate to compensate for that. Would you like it if I sent you to the basement? We have lots of people who would love to meet you”. Vanessa didn't answer and instead rolled her eyes backwards hoping to cause herself to blackout. He smiled wider and put his forehead on her temple, “ do you believe in a higher power my dear?”.










Vanessa was on the verge of slipping away and whispered “ No I believe not”. The doctors saw that she would soon be unconscious and ordered the guards to take her back to her cell. The whole journey seemed blank to her. She was tapping in and out with reality and soon found herself lying on the cement floor with her fingers screaming with pain. She wakes and sees her cellmate where he always is, except this time something is different,his ear. A large white bandage soaked the blood around his earlobe; he cupped his hand around it and cried softly to himself. Vanessa walked over to him with her fingers dangling like drooping flowers, she sat next to him up against the freezing cold cement wall. “ What happened?” she asked, he said nothing as a response and continued to sit crying, “ who did this to you?”. He didn't speak , she stared for a long while hoping he would acknowledge her. Out of all the times guards had threatened him then the one time he sat silently, they cut his ear off.





“ Look at what they did to me” he didn't turn his head to look or to gaze at her but simply sat fixed on the wall in front of him whimpering. She laid on the cold floor and felt the feeling pervade throughout her bones causing her to shiver. She wrapped her arms tighter around her body. She wanted to have a conversation with the voices she heard earlier or at least thought she heard. They spoke to her with a certain calmness that offered her comfort. “ Are you there?” she heard the male voice speak but did not know who it was. “ I'm here” said Vanessa, “ that was a terrible thing that happened to you, I'm sorry”. Vanessa started to cry, the tears were cold and it was hard to produce them. The lack of food and water did not help the situation; it increased the amount of physical and mental pain that she now had to cope with. “ Who are you exactly?” the voice did not respond , yet she could hear its faint breaths.




“ You must have a difficult time coming to terms with reality, this place it's not what you think it is you could easily die here”. Vanessa began to cry again, this time she curled up into a ball and stared at the crackling yellow light on the ceiling. “ Im sorry vanessa I didn't mean to upset you”. She didn't talk to her voice, she didn't want to talk to anybody. They already proved that they could torture her, do whatever they please, the haunting sounds of the guards screaming of other patients lashing out was a fear of its own. The problem was with the vents ,if another patient wanted to cut your throat in the middle of the night it wouldn't take much effort. Every cell had a vent, all you had to do was unscrew the bolts and you climb right through to the next person's room. That fear was left hanging above her head, she was constantly thinking about it. Was she going crazy? She already had a voice spouting words in her ear, but it was normal she hadn't spoken to anyone friendly in a long time. “ Vanessa, I need you to stay focused, if you can't get outta here you will never have a life outside of this place”. Vanessa cried harder this and unfortunately caught a patrolling guard's attention, “ Shut up seventeen I hear another cry out of you I will bleed you out in the courtyard!!”. “ Please do that to me” she thought ,at least she would get fresh air and not be trapped rotting away in a damp frigid cement hell hole.






“ Vanessa jesus christ! Listen to me, don't worry about these guards were gonna get outta here okay”. “ How exactly do you think we will manage escaping a place that is massive plus its polluted with guards and staff”. She started to move towards the only piece of furniture that was in the room and for once tried to have a restful sleep. Her eyes became heavy to carry and despite how painful the nerves in her fingers were she still was able to pass away into the dream world. “ You have to understand this won't be easy, we're going to go through hell before we can reach an escape”. Vanessa knew the voices' words were true, she wondered how much more suffering she could handle. She has only been in the asylum for a couple of days and already got her fingernails ripped from her flesh.







It made it more and more uncomfortable to sleep as the thoughts of what else would occur in her future entered her mind. She heard a voice again, but this one was not from her head, “ sleep well dove,” it sounded like one of the patients next to her. “ sleep very well, little dove” the voice sounded similar to a demon, it was crazed and wild, the type of person who does the devil's deeds. “ I'm gonna slit your throat soon little dove”, she heard loud banging coming from the vent, as if someone was crawling through it.


























The whole world around her was a thick black cloud . Even the strongest trees and oceans were covered in the depths of its fog, through the blackness she could see something. The darkness was thick, she squinted her eyes trying to receive a full image. It was tall and dark, possessed sad grey eyes that sank so deep there must have been holes in the back of its head. She awoke, her heart racing, her skin was pouring in muggy sweat, her eyes flickered constantly trying to make sense of where she was. She was disappointed to awake back into the asylum, she would have preferred staying in the nightmare no matter how horrifying it evolved. “ Are you there little dove?”. Vanessa did not speak, she was stunned from the nightmare and now paralyzed in fear. The neighbouring patient threatened to climb through her room and kill her but changed his mind once he heard the stamping of guards walk through.





“ I will leave you for now little dove, don't make me regret this….. The words echoed in her mind, constantly filling her with dread. Morning must have been on the rise, she saw other patients slowly getting up from the cement floors that they laid on. The air smelled of dust and at times was hard to breath through, Vanessa had woken feeling drowsy and with difficulty breathing. The wheeze she possessed sounded like a stuffed teddy bear. She wanted to call for her doctor but she knew certainly that she would receive another hellish enocunter. The constant darkness made the place more depressing than it already was, a lot of time she could hear patients crying viciously in the night, sometimes loud grunting noises, she seemed to know what those were but didn't like explaining the thought to herself. The cement wall had blood streaks running down it, her male cell mate had dragged his nails until they came clean off.









February 1rst 1964

Dear diary, I write this knowing that you will hold no judgement upon me. I worked my first shift at Wayne asylum today. As much as I wanted to be a guard I would have much rather gone back to shit shoveling if I had known the horrors that this place contained. My girlfriend Lisa is suspecting that I am hiding something from her, the truth being that I am but I only conceal it from her to keep her safe. I was strolling down the halls today and saw a female patient in her cell, she appeared with purplish skin and her eyes were fixed on the small window in front of her. . I opened the door wide, its hinges were like an orange rust, when I did observe the state she was in I vomited several times. The room was filled with shit, she was bathing in it, and for some reason some of it even stuck to the fucking ceiling. It said in the job description that guards are simply to perform security matters and security matters only. Does this doctor Wayne know about this? Im stupid to even ask that question ofcourse he does, why else would she be in a room full of fecis.




The guards even rumor about the asylum sending men to peoples houses and kidnapping them and erasing their memory. It's one wild theory but it's not enough to make me quit this job. I need the money, the only problem with me is I keep getting assigned the night shift, constantly I'm sent to the basement and I have to say that it's not much better than upstairs . Actually i'm quite positive that downstairs is worse, the patients down there look almost like lifeless zombies they are aggressive though. Me and Joe were down there just doing the shift then all of the sudden he was attacked by a tall lean pale man, during the process the patient ran away with a chunk of his neck and Joe had to be sent to the hospital. I later found out he died two days later from complications.










Vanessa


Darkness was shrouding everything, Vanessa laid on the couch holding herself in her arms. It was quiet, all the patients had ceased their cries and moans for the sake of one night without power. Vanessa begins to hear footsteps coming towards her direction of the cell. “ Who is it ?” nothing but the deadest of silence, “ get away from my cell I will kill you”. She knew it was a patient and after many moments the silence became insufferable to bear. Out of nowhere a loud knock shook the door, Vanessa was petrified, her skin was shivering and her hands trembled as the noise of the knocking increased.



“ Please “ she whispered these words softly to herself knowing they would do her no good. She tried to sink into the coach, hopefully far enough that she would stay hidden. She was panicking, were the guards not seeing this? where were they? The door creaked slowly open. Amidst all the blackness that covered the room she could see him, his eyes were red just like in the nightmare, his hair wild and crazed. In his hand he gripped tightly a gleaming silver scalpel, one that possessed a large trace of hair and blood upon it. He grinned very wide, as he did blood seeped from his mouth and dripped out on to the floor. He giggled to himself well spinning the scalpel around his fingers. Vanessa looked at the male patient and saw something, he leaned up against the wall his hand placed over his chest. She knew he was dead, the figure holding the scalpel walked slowly forward humming the tune of a nursery rhyme “ hello little dove”.




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