There was a bit of dried blood under Chris’s nose but he didn’t notice it. He’d ripped his feeding tube out earlier that morning and was a bit woozy from the blood loss. He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out who she was, but then he remembered her - during the storm he’d seen her. “It’s okay,” He shrugged, leaning back in his seat and stretching out a bit. “You’re welcome. Uh - what was your name again? Sorry, I - I forgot.” He couldn’t even remember if she’d told him her name, he just kind of assumed.
"I'm Dawn," she replied. The meds had calmed her down for sure. They'd knocked her out after an hour as well, but she figured it would happen anyway. Plus, with all the guards telling her to go back to bed, she knew she'd end up sleeping at least. Luckily for her, it was only one night's sleep. She paused, then pointed to her own nose, noticing a bit of blood on his. "Are...you okay?"
“shows made for children can hardly count as something, when we’re talking about entertainment,” he says. oli wipes a hand over his face, attempting to look bit more awake, a bit less like a zombie. but, it didn’t work, the same exhausted expression on his face. he shakes his head a bit, “you know, in a place full of troubled and disturbed people, you think they would work a bit harder to give us something. would make it easier for them, don’t you think?” he got more privilages in prison.
She shrugged, pretending she hadn't been caught being thoroughly engrossed in an episode of Blue's Clues just a few days ago. "Guess they don't wanna give people...ideas or something? They've gotta block channels for a reason, it can't just be random." She hoped she was right, that there actually was a reason, but sometimes it was difficult for Dawn to know exactly what reason was, so she could only guess.
“You probably do if you’ve seen a television recently.” The bodies that had been found after Joy-Ann’s arrest had all been mangled and disgusting, and she’d been hit with multiple counts of first degree murder. Not only that, but some of her living victims had even taken the stand against her. That had done her in. “Anyway,” She turned her hand over, looking at her fingernails. “I’m Joy-Ann. And you are?”
"I don't watch tv a lot," Dawn admitted. Sure she watched it sometimes, but she refused to watch the news, which is what she figured the woman was referencing. She didn't like knowing what was going on in the world around them. It made her anxious. "I'm Dawn. It's nice to meet you."
oli felt like he was someone else, with all the medication he had been given. ultimately, he had brought it upon himself. he didn’t remember what comment the nurse had made, but he did know it sparked his anger. one moment, they were talking, the next he was being held down by guards. he was surprised when he had woken up in his own room, since he was sure he was going to be in solitary. obviously, they trusted the sedatives they had given him, as they should. an hour later, he was still feeling it’s effects, groggily keeping his head up as he scrolled through the television menu. oli groans, tossing the remote to the other side of the couch, letting his eyes close. “why even have a televison if they block basically every fucking channel,” he asks no one in particular, hardly with it enough to even figure out if there was anyone to respond to him.
Dawn was relaxed back in the chair in the main room, staring off into space, when she heard someone next to her speak. She shrugged slightly. "Cause it makes us at least have something. But people are really picky about how much they let us see. I dunno though." She looked over at him. He had to be new. He looked so tired. The medication always did that to new patients, Dawn herself included. Or maybe she didn’t recognize him, which was always possible.
Joy-Ann wasn’t in a mood to play nice today. She usually didn’t get along too well with other patients; the claws came out pretty often and it took two or three guards to get her settled down. Sitting outside by the little pond, the woman’s head snapped up when she felt someone was watching her. “Do you mind?” Her brows raised, head tilting to the side a bit. “It’s rude to stare, didn’t your mother teach you that?”
Dawn loved the pond. She rarely got a chance to go look at it and sit by it, and even more rarely got a chance to see it alone. Today was another day of not being alone. But this was with someone she wasn't sure if she recognized. She must've been from a different level?
Dawn jumped slightly when the woman snapped at her. "Sorry! Just...just was trying to see if I knew you..."
Chris was sat in his usual spot, where he could almost always be found. At this point in his stay at Saint Dymphna, he’d become predictable; if he wasn’t in his bedroom, one could most likely find him either in front of the television or outside in the sun. Today he’d chosen to stay inside, though, and didn’t much like it when his attention was pulled from the television up to the girl that had spoken to him. “Ummm… Hi? Can I help you?”
"Just wanted to say I was here...didn't want to make it look like I was sneaking up on you." She shrugged slightly. It had happened before-- she tended to walk quietly, and people had accused her of sneaking up on them. Sometimes they just yelled at her, but she'd gotten really close to being hit before. So she knew she had to make her presence known. She paused, then her eyes widened when she recognized who she was talking to. "Oh-- and thank you for...during the blackout." She lowered her voice, not wanting to say 'thank you for the meds' too loudly.
Today was his day OFF and honestly, he was enjoying it. He had poured himself a martini and was going through files when someone walking passed his open door caught his attention. Taking a quick sip of his drink, he set it down on his desk and followed after the girl. It was late and if the quiet corridors was anything to go by, she should have been on her floor, preparing for bed. “Mr. Stevens, return back to your room.” He was usually nice – he still was – but he had LOW tolerance for rule breakers. “Ms. Iron’s, shouldn’t you be on your level preparing for bed?”
She blinked a few times at the doctor, then tilted her head. "Wait...what time...?" She realized she hadn't even seen the time. She looked around but didn't see any windows. It couldn't be that late, could it be? Or had parts of the day gone by without her realizing it?
Dawn tiptoed through the halls, cuddling her notebook to her chest. It was a good day for writing, in her eyes, so she wanted to find a quiet place to rest and write. As she rounded the corner to the main area, she found one other person sitting there. She stopped short for a second, then waved. She didn’t want to startle them. “Hi...”
“They don’t attack you either.” Xander was clearly not so sympathetic, instead he was just annoyed by it all. “You’re completely fine, just making noise for no reason.”
"All noise happens for a reason. You're just not hearing the right things." She grimaced, looking angered for the first time in a while. She stepped forward and slapped the book out of his hand.
“Do you? H-How long have you been here? If you don’t m-mind my asking..” CJ asked awkwardly, looking away a moment. “Oh um… I’m looking f-for somewhere that’s not t-too crowded. Or somewhere no one really goes?”
“Not too long,” She shook her head. “A few weeks. But...somewhere quiet...well, usually the dining area is empty at this hour. Y’need me to show you where?” She smiled. They seemed nice. Finally, someone who might like her.
The girl cowers into a corner, frightened and emotional and doing everything that would tell a normal person to ease up and leave her alone before she cracks, but Saskia wouldn’t be Saskia if she didn’t try to push the girl to break. Still, even with her little improv dance, it was hard to focus on just what the girl was talking about. Eyes turned from narrowing in wickedness to narrowing in confusion, the girl’s ranting and raving making Saskia’s face contort until she filled stood up straight. “ Holy shit, you really are fucking batshit, eh?”
Like a gentle push of a light switch, Saskia’s mood changed, no longer wanting to play her little game and frankly all but forgetting what she was doing, anyway. With a sigh, she stretched her arms above her head and looked around. “ Sorry to break it to ya, sweet peach, but you’re family’s not comin’ for ya. They’re probably dead or on a beach somewhere trying to forget all about that one crazy kid they dropped on her head or whatever. So congrats, you’re stuck here like the rest of us. Welcome to hell.”
Dawn stared up at the woman, clearly dazed and confused. "No...no my family loves me..." Her voice had dropped to calm and quiet within a millisecond. "They're going to come back for me soon...as soon as I get better." She shrunk into herself, eyes sad and droopy. Her lip quivered, and it was clear she was not only starting to retreat back to her quiet self, but wasn't happy about whatever she was feeling or thinking.
Her hands lay folded across her chest. Her breathing was slow, but consistent and relaxed. Her blankets were curled up around her. The rest of her was motionless. Dawn was asleep.
She looked so peaceful, so, so peaceful, as comfortable as one could be. A young woman, restful, asleep, cozy, safe. But Dawn wasn’t asleep.
Her head was awake. Wide, wide awake. She could feel each and every one of her limbs moving in time with her breathing, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t move them. No matter how hard she tried, her limbs wouldn’t move.
This wasn’t how it went for her, not usually. When her brain woke up, her body woke up too. It was just a matter of how long. And this wasn’t that tiny bit of sleep paralysis she’d experience just as she was waking up. Because that went away after a few seconds. She would get up, find out what day it was, and go on with her life.
But Dawn could feel the time passing. She could feel the hours go by, and she was asleep, so beautifully asleep, but also very, very, very awake.
She could hear herself scream, but only in her head. Let me out. Let me out, please! I want to wake up. I want to be me again. Don’t let me live like this!
She wanted to move, wanted to do anything to make somebody realize she was here, and awake, and not asleep or dead or anything that might make somebody--
Somebody was in the room. She heard footsteps. Slowly walking towards her bed. She tried to move, to squirm, but nothing, nothing was happening. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted at least one tear to escape out of her eye to make the person wake her up. Maybe it was a nurse, or a guard coming in to check on her. Maybe they’d shake her awake.
Somebody placed their hand on top of her face. They held it there for a few seconds.
Please wake me up. Shake me awake. I want to get up. I want to get up so very very bad. I’ll do anything. Please.
The hand lifted up slowly. Dawn could feel it hovering above her face.
Two sharp claws plunged into her eyes, digging deep into her skull.
Eternal darkness. The voice said, the voice that wasn’t hers but was also purely hers. Eternal slumber in the waking world.
Dawn wanted to scream. She could feel pain, so, so, so much pain. But there was no motion. Only comfortable blankets and pillows and looking so peaceful, so, so peaceful, as comfortable as one could be.
It was interesting, to say the least, being stuck in Red level with those who where also told they were just too dangerous. Interesting in away that so, so far, it seemed like there where two kinds of people here. Although, Ozzie had only been around for a few days, so, maybe he was wrong. But it seemed like, on Red level, you had the those who were loud with there insanity, and those who were quite about it. Osborn liked to think that he was more quite. In fact he was pretty sure that most people didn’t think he’d be red level until they saw his guard following close behind. Either that or they knew his face from the news.
For most, his actions in killing his uncle after years of abuse seemed perfectly reasonable. Keeping him alive for five days while pulling off fingers and toes, popping out eyes, and ripping up teeth didn’t seem quite as reasonable. Which was actually really funny coming from most people. Most people had no idea what sorts of things Ozzie had done in those days. He wasn’t much for sharing details but the truth was far stranger. He’d made global news, not that it really mattered. His uncle was dead, Jamie (his brother) was safe, and he was here. Life went on.
Sitting in the cafeteria, Ozzie picked at his food. Slowly pushed around while watching someone across the hallway. He hadn’t meant to stair but it just happened. Hyper focusing was one thing he slipped into easily. Of course when eye contact was made, he turned his head quickly and pushed his hair out of his face. Shrug it off. His knee bounced under the table and he quickly scooped some food into his mouth before looking back at whoever he’d just made eye contact with. Hopefully they were more of the quite sort of crazy than then loud sort.
Dawn sat by herself in the cafeteria, kicking her feet back and forth, back and forth, back and forth underneath the table. For the first time in a while, she was in a good mood. Her stories were nice, the voices hadn't been bothering her, she didn't have a migraine, and her sleep had been regular. She aimed for another bit of salad, then looked up.
Was this person...staring at her? After a brief moment, there was eye contact, then he looked away. She tilted her head slightly. Who was this? When he looked back up, she waved a bit. Maybe he was nice. She could never tell in this place, but it was worth a try.
Xander had been doing nothing, really. the day was like every other, at least to him. It was quiet, muttering among patients of those talking among each other. There wasn’t much going on, that was until he heard some screaming. He looked up from his book page. “Can you take your mental breakdown elsewhere?”
Dawn's head whipped around to face the other person who'd broken her concentration. "You don't get it, do you? None of you will understand what it's like." Her body began to tremble. She took two steps towards the man with the book. "They don't attack you."
Had emotions been a common theme for Saskia, she would have felt bad for the girl. She was obviously panicked, frantic and scared, and even though in the deepest reaches of her mind Saskia knew she shouldn't toy with people in delicate states just to break them, she still couldn’t help herself.
“Who cares if I don’t know how? You wont have it anymore, and that’s all that matters. You’ll be alone – all alone with no one and nothing.” She smirked. “ They talk to me, you know – they told me they don’t want you here anymore. They’re gonna kick you out of this place and leave you out in the cold all defenseless… “ The staff of course, told her no such thing, but Saskia was purely feeding off the terror on the girl’s sweet face. “ I think they hate you. I think they want you to die. “
No. No that couldn't be right. Why would the staff tell her and not Dawn? Unless she wasn't talking about the staff. Did she hear Dawn's voices too? Were the voices even Dawn's to begin with? These questions flashed through her head. By this point, Dawn could feel a migraine creeping in. She could see the edges of her vision blur. But she had to fight back.
"Then let them try! They can't kill me here! They'll be ruined! My family will come back-- they know my gift! My family will take it from you, and they'll save me!"
