Straight-jacket
Straight Jacket
Screams. Silence. Repeat.
For hours that seemed like years, the blond male had been repeating that damaging process. His vocal chords stripped raw, voice hoarse, as another ear piercing scream ripped it’s way through his throat, followed by a painful sob. The visions of his abusive father, the shadows that plagued him, and his past that haunted him were all in that small off-white room that imprisoned him. No matter what, he couldn’t escape it. The visions. The voices. The past. Black tears stained his cheeks as he was forced to watch, forced to listen, to everything he already knew. The memories of America came back ten fold. The flames of the past surrounded him, making it hard to breathe for him to breathe. Which caused him to whimper as he tried to get away. But it was in all vain. It always was.
His skin continuously went back and fourth between his normal pale to that ugly black whenever he screamed in agony. In torment. He was tired, so fucking tired. He wanted to sleep but the drugs that were in his system, and were continuously put in his system, made sure that it was impossible for him to sleep. The ‘hallucinations’, as the doctors insisted that they were, continued to taunt him, to insult him, to make threats and bring up the past he tried so hard to forget. He was exhausted but knew that even if he were to pass out, to finally sleep, he would just be met with the same torment in his dreams turned nightmares.
“Stop…" He shook his head at the shadows, tears still spilling.
Locked in a prison of scratchy material that matched the walls. Injected with drugs to keep him disoriented. Weakened from the lights that were on him. His concentration and energy was shot; he couldn’t even focus on one spot for more than a second before he saw the things he never wanted to see again. The faces, the bodies, the darkness; blood and flames. His head lolled from side to side as he silently cried as he begged for them to go away through bruised and chapped lips. He wanted them to leave. All of them. For his father to leave, for the shadows to disperse, for the dead to stay dead.
“GO AWAY!" He trashed, kicked, and pulled against the restraints, against the jacket. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME." Another scream ripped it’s way out as he curled into himself, using every ounce of his being, wishing, hoping, someone would help him.
He wasn’t even sure why he was locked up but he knew someone had reported him when he was yelling at the shadows, begging them to leave him alone. Everyone always thought he was strange or a bit crazy but it seemed that this time, someone thought he was insane. That he needed to be locked up. And that’s exactly what had happened. Taken in the middle of the day and driven off to some inhuman asylum that stripped him of his belongings and injected unknown liquids into his system before being thrown into the cell he was currently occupying. He wasn’t even sure how the drugs managed to affect him. His shadow person side usually brought him back to normalcy after a few minutes, even on high doses of drugs. So he figured it was some kind of drug made for those with inhuman parts about them. Whoever made it, L.Joe knew he was going to be even more cautious after this— if he manged to escape from here.
— — — — —
No one had realized that a petite female had seen the kidnapping from a distance. That she followed after them and had a general idea of what was going on. She wasn’t too close to the male, he had even left a bad impression on her but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying to help him if he needed help. And by the way he was fighting the men who took him, she knew he was in trouble. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to someone, despite not even knowing why he was taken in the first place. Or because of her own personal problems.
When she followed them to their location, it looked like any other hospital. Although she had a feeling otherwise. She was confused at first. Why had they taken him to a hospital after forcing him into their van? Wasn’t that counter productive? Still, she decided to enter it. Her questions would be answered eventually. Unsure of how to get to the male, she noticed they were in need of volunteers for their patients. A perfect disguise. She signed in under a fake name and they gave her an outfit followed by instructions and everything she needed to know. When they asked for a name, she gave them the fake one.
After they finally stopped pestering her, she realized she lost sight of the blond male and his kidnappers. Which caused her to feel disappointed in herself. As well as panicked. How could she lose him? It hadn’t even been that long since she last saw them! She hoped that nothing too bad had happened to the male while she was distracted. Hopefully it wouldn’t be so hard for find him. She looked around the place, hoping to find him but was only met with people who seemed normal, even though she knew they weren’t. Not with the way they looked at her.
All of this felt like a video game to her. She knew she had to be careful or else she would be at sake as well and that wasn’t the point of this ‘rescue’ mission. The first thing on her mind, after managing to blend in with the rest of the employees and go about what she was supposed to do, was to locate the male. Which meant having to find the security room that held the screens that monitored the hospital. Which was easier to find than she expected, since most of the employees were busy trying to keep their more physical patients at bay and sedated. To prevent them from causing too much ruckus.
The monitor room was empty when she entered it. So she rushed to the screens and observed them, looking for a familiar head of blond in hopes that he was okay. As she flashed through the screens as a quick pace, she cussed under her breath when the blond was still unable to be found. In a fit of anger, she slammed both fists down on the controls which caused every screen, but one, to turn to black. That one screen caught her attention. She gasped loudly as she realized who it was. Quickly jotting down the room number and directions, she moved to leave the room but was quickly met by the security officers. They glared daggers at her, piecing together the screens and unauthorized personnel. Before they could grab her for questioning, she was out the doors and running down the halls to the cell that held the blond male.
Ducking between staffs, citizens and patients who all gave her weird looks, she tried her best to find the location. For a fact, she know it was in the lower levels. Of course it was. People always kept their secrets hidden beneath the ground. So she quickly ran for the stairs, only to discover it only lead so far down. Another cuss under her breath and she went for the elevators, hoping that the monitors were still black. She did hit the controls pretty hard, if the pain that still lingered in her palms was anything to go off of. The elevator dinged and opened, showing no one. Which was one sigh of relief as she entered and quickly closed the doors by pushing the button. Making sure no one else could enter. She hit the down button to the lowest floor and waited patiently, keeping her finger on the button to make sure the elevator wouldn’t open on unexpectedly.
— — — — —
The shadow slid down the wall he leaned on as he continued to let out broken sobs and whimpers. For the second time in his life, he seriously wanted to die. For things to be over. He wanted everything to end, even though his heart broke when he thought about his friends and family. Leaving them would be too painful but staying in this hell was just as painful. It was like being torn in half. He just wanted to sleep over everything else. When, and if, he got out of this, he was going to sleep for a few days to recover. He wasn’t going to tell anyone else that this had happened, because he didn’t want them to seek revenge in his favour.
He tried to calm himself and his nerves as he started to feel the drugs wear off and lose their effect on him. Taking in large shaky breaths, that broke every now and then due to a hiccup or a whimper, he tried to focus on getting out of the jacket first. He knew the doctors would be back soon with another round of injections and needles, so he had to be quick before that happened. He bit down harshly on his bottom lip, trying to ignore the taunts of the shadows, his father and the reminders of the past as he focused on one spot in the room. A small patch of black that stains the ground. His tears probably caused that stain but he didn’t care.
Pain shot through his body as he tried to pulled against the straight jacket’s restraints, begging them to weaken so he could escape. His strength was enhanced due to the dim lights, although it wasn’t at his full capacity. It was probably due to the drugs as well. A few clicks echoed and he could finally move his arms freely. L.Joe straightened and stretched them, trying to get he feelings back in his fingers. He snaked his hands up his arms and pulled off all the needles that were forced into his skin. After they were all out, he yelled angrily and threw them against the walls, causing his human blood to splatter against it. He felt better already. Something about those needles had weakened him and it was probably their placement.
The shadow quickly undid the rest of the restraints as he freed himself from the material prison. His arms were bloody and torso bare, exposing the scars on his torso and back. Since he didn’t want to be left like that, he quickly shortened the sleeves on the jacket and put it back on. It would make for an okay jacket fashion wise, but he would probably discard it after he was out.
The bolt sounded and L.Joe’s heart dropped as anger overcame his senses.
— — — — —
On the opposite side, was the petite female who was currently trying to break into the prison-like room that was bolted shut by an electronic lock. She tried to use her knowledge that she picked up on games to override the lock— and surprisingly, it worked. The bolt clicked loudly, signalling the door was unlocked. She slammed the door open and looked around but before anything could be processed the door slammed shut as something rammed into her side, knocking her off guard.
A loud gasp rang through the plain room that was now painted in splatters of red. She was pressed up harshly against the wall by a shadow of black. Nails dug into her neck painfully. It was the blond, as could be seen by his hair and short stature. His eyes shone a bright, blinding white as his skin was visibly black as the void. His bared his fangs at her, snarling as he barked threats. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
"S-stop—" she gasped out, clawing at his wrists, "I-I’m here to help—”
Just by her voice alone, L.Joe realize that it wasn’t the doctors that entered the room. He removed his hand quickly, like he had touched lava and gasped loudly. His colour and featured returning to normal almost instantly. At the same time, the female had fell to the ground, coughing as she tried to inhale the much needed oxygen that was taken from her by the impact from the blond.
"I’m so sorry…" he looked at her with sad eyes, falling to his knees so he could look at her better. He noticed that there was already a bruise forming on her neck, which made his stomach flip in guilt.
When she looked at him, she only felt pity for the male. He looked miserable. Like he hadn’t slept in decades— centuries even. His face and collar were stained black, although she didn’t get why. Maybe it had something to do with what she witnessed not even a few minutes ago. “It’s fine…” She breathed out quickly, still trying to catch her breath.
The female looked around the room and furrowed her brows at the sight of the black and red stains that contrasted against the off-white walls. She was about to question him before she realized that it would be better if she didn’t. No one had to know. This was going to stay between the two of them. Sworn to secrecy, she was.
A few moments passed between the two before the door’s heavy bolt sounded again. Panic set in as L.Joe stood up and began to break the lights in the room with his bare hands. The lights burned against his flesh but he would recover by the time the two of them were somewhere safe. She looked at him with curious but confused eyes, wondering how he was fine with doing that. The blond grabbed the female in the now dark, wincing slightly at the pain from the burns on his hands, and held her close. He dragged her to one of the corners and started to use his shadow manipulation, letting them both sink into the ground.
She let out a startled noise but was quickly shushed by L.Joe as he pulled her into the darkness. Just as the room lit up from the light and the doctors walked in. What they did after learning of the dark room, will remain a mystery.
— — — — —
L.Joe and the female landed in the middle of L.Joe’s apartment, which freaked out the female but any questions she had were silenced by the look L.Joe gave her. “I know this… is going to sound weird and that you have a lot of questions, but not now. Just.— Go home. And forget this happened.” The blond showed her to the door and opened it for her. “Act like it never happened…” When she stood outside his door, he turned around and closed the door, leaving her there, clueless, curious and alone.
