Lights flickered above. Brown eyes stared straight up, watching. Noise rang in the ears of the man who laid on the couch, but no words were retrieved. “There is a faulty wire.” The tired voice of the man spoke. “There is something that makes the light ‘break’. Like with your life. Miss Myles.”
“My life is perfectly fine Jefferson.” The blonde older woman sitting on the chair beside him spoke.
Jefferson eyes trailed over glancing at her face. “Delusional. You are insane. Attempting you imagine your life as perfect is pitiful. You are stuck in this place with a bunch of ‘insane’ people, attempting to understand us. Yet, you are just the same. Tell me Miss Myles, have you ever murdered anyone in your mind?”
The woman shook her head causing Jefferson to laugh. “Again with the delusions. I thought of killing once. And I was frank about it when I told them. I didn’t commit an act, but I was sentenced to a life of solitude by my family. Those members caused a lot of issues for me. I have no self confidence, I’m discreet. Private and have some anxiety issues. I speak what ever comes to mind. I am perceived as insane. But perhaps it is not me who is insane…”
The woman blinked her eyes in disbelief for he was indeed a very smart man, that or what others said, a manipulator, a cunning master mind. “Jefferson. I do not want to kill anyone.”
“Not even those who have done harm to you. Or how about Mr. What was his name? Connors? The patient who got a way with touching you because he is deemed to be crazy, and a sex addict?”
“How did you..”
“People talk. I have good ears. An excellent observer. Now..” Jefferson narrowed his eyes. Shifting his position he sat up. His brown eyes stared straight into the eyes on the older woman. “Why not just kill him? No one will miss him. He has been here for such a long time… His family has forgotten about him… Why not just put him out of his misery and get your revenge?”
“I’m not a murderer.”
“Giving an excessive amount of pills to a patient is not called a murderer?” He raised an eyebrow.
“You needed your medication.”
“And if I had taken it I would have been killed!” In anger, Jefferson reached forward and pulled the woman of the chair and on top of him. “Tell me Miss Myles. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to see half of us dead? We are a pain. Bruise you. Scar your mind.”
Myles pulled herself from Jefferson and stood up. Straightening herself up, she headed for the door. “That will be enough for today.”
Jefferson smirked as he watched her leave his sight. Yet once she was gone a man in blue walked in. “Time to head back to your room.”
“Why? I want to wait for the fun.” Jefferson chuckled. Standing on his feet, the man walked over to the guard in blue and followed beside him. “A broken wire can alternate a light causing it to flicker and eventually burn out.” Jefferson whispered softly as he stared at Myles as he walked passed her.
A few weeks later….
“Have you heard? Another victim of the Mad Hatter.”
“Yes I did. Poor Miss Myles… She was such a good woman. You wouldn’t think she’d be sentence to prison for murder.” A nurse whispered to another nurse.
“Sometimes you never know. And she should have never gotten so close to him… Everyone who does ends up in disastrous consequences. He’s bad luck that Hatter.”
“Well let’s simply hope the new help will not fall for his antics. She should be here soon I believe. Oh shh… There he is.”
Jefferson walked into the community room. His eyes locked on to an empty table. Jefferson was not a social man, but he was a very detailed oriented one. Everyone and everything was placed where they always had. Mr. O’Hare a man with an obsession with rabbits sat at the table beside his, continuously drawing rabbits, if not he spoke about them, or acted like one and screwed the nurses who desired a sexual touch from a man with skills. Behind Mr. O’Hare’s table sat Dory. A short woman with a high pitched voice, her problem? She was an alcoholic. She was very close to O’Hare, watched him and studied him carefully. Mouse, was what Jefferson nicknamed her.
A sigh escaped his lips as Jefferson reached his table and sat down. His eyes scanned the room. Miss Ruby sat on the rocking chair coloring paper hearts red. She had an obsession with anything red. Scars could be seen on her arms from her nails that she constantly attempted to dig into her skin just to see the blood inside her.
The place was demented. Anyone here for a long time would go insane, that was the problem. Yet, the doctors believed it would help the patients become ‘normal’, but was anyone even normal? And what was normal? Jefferson didn’t know. “Have I too gone mad?” He questioned to himself.
