Warnings: slash/shounen ai, boy X boy relationships, most likely language, possible yaoi in later chapters.

CRAPPY SUMMARRY

Cadence Swift has never been normal, someone extraordinary yes, but when images of death and decay haunt his dreams and eventually drip into his conscious state, there is nothing the doctors can do for the schizophrenic teenager, or is there?

PROLOGUE

Normal.it was a term Cadence hadn't heard in quite some time. He had never understood the word, he only knew he wasn't. He never had been and never would be, because it wasn't normal to wake up every night screaming. It wasn't normal to look in the mirror and see a world so twisted from within the reflection that it was enough to make him claw at his eyes to rid himself of such visions. It wasn't normal to see a perfectly safe world as something so frightening he'd rather be dead. No nothing was normal for Cadence Swift. He supposed it had been once, in fact Cadence had been born with a somewhat extraordinary mind, but one day everything changed. He had been a perfectly sane boy, completely calm and collected, bright and intelligent. The doctors said it must have been his overdeveloped mind that eventually lead him to become what he was now. Even he didn't know.

He had been four when the visions began, tearing at him from within the dream realm, visions of blood and suffering, pain and death, much more than any four year old could handle, even one as intelligible as the child prodigy. Faces of people he had never met, would never meet, flashed before his eyes with twisted looks of all consuming pain. They shared it with him. Not at first mind you. At first it was just the images that caused him to awaken clawing at sheets and down filled pillows sweating so heavily that his soft feathery brown hair practically melted to his forehead, but over time the images became more vivid. He'd smell the vile scent of decay and watch as once life filled eyes glazed over as the victim's spirit drifted from the glassy orbs. He'd feel the knife as it slid in between ribs with a sickening tearing sound, or suffocate on the strong hands that dug deeply into his neck. Needless to say by age six the doctors had concluded his case was hopeless and had permanently placed him within a facility for the paranoid and schizophrenic. He was a genius gone clinically insane.

It had been twelve years since the incident, and try as they might the doctors had been unable to do anything for him. Most of them were somewhat uncomfortable being near him, afraid his strange paranoia would lead to his all too common irrational bouts of violence, and would draw straws or place bets and dares in a childish manner to determine whose turn it was to feed him, treating him like the animal they made him out to be. They had long since given up treating him but law stated they weren't allowed to put him out of his misery. So instead they waited, hoping a day would come when he would finally manage to kill himself, rid the world of his twisted mind. In truth, it was they who were twisted, not understanding the truth behind the visions that plagued the poor boy. Cadence wasn't just another schizophrenic teenager with a destroyed mind from over usage of hallucination-inducing drugs. He was the only one that knew he was anything more. The faces he saw, the screams he heard, they were coming from real people.

The doctors at the asylum had long ago quit letting Cadence watch the news, knowing it would cause only more violence from his tiny half starved frame. A murder would be reported; a twelve-year-old girl went missing. Suspicions pointed to a kidnapping by the father and he knew the truth. His green eyes would flash with realization and he'd hear the screams all over again. She had been raped and killed, and the body would be found in three days, next to the father, gun still in his lifeless hands after putting a bullet in his own brain. If the visions weren't bad enough, what was truly bringing him beyond what his weak mind could handle was the truth behind them. Every face he saw belonged to someone and there was nothing he could do. He was a watcher, sharing their pain, the result of some cruel twist of fate. He was, twisted.

"Cadence?" He jumped, nearly tumbling to the floor from his standing position. There wasn't really anything for him to do in the room except scream but for the time being the visions that so often plagued him had temporarily subsided. It was amazing how different of a person he was in moments like these, just as calm and 'normal' as he had been years ago before they began. Doctor Eves seemed nervous, his tausled blonde hair falling over his face as he offered him the safest meal they could think of. No utensils; not even a plate, just a sandwich. About all he could do would be choke on it. "Are you feeling any better today?" the young doctor asked nonchalantly. Cadence didn't bother responding. He knew that it was just the man's way of pretending to be a doctor when they were all so frightened of him. He did want help, to escape the tortures that manifested themselves in the darkest parts of his brain, but he didn't expect any of them would ever be able to help him. They didn't even believe him when he tried to tell them what he was seeing was more than pure insanity. He wasn't insane, not really, and he knew it, but he was in so much pain that he almost preferred being locked away where it was safe from the creatures that tormented him now not only in dreams, but in the reflections of mirrors and polished surfaces as well. "You were screaming again this morning. Care to talk about it?"

His pale somewhat lifeless features twisted into a half-hearted smile as he caught the doctor's eyes in a discomforting gaze. "Mr. Eves, I've concluded that attempting to share my pain with doctors such as you is little more than pointless. If there is nothing you can do for me I'd prefer to spend these few blissful moments of peace alone." Stormy gray eyes widened some and pink fleshy lips dropped open slightly as if some breakthrough had just occurred and shocked him. He was a new doctor and it was only his second visit to the clinically insane teen. Perhaps they hadn't informed him of the high intelligence that dwelled behind often- frightened eyes. Cadence didn't really care though so he turned his back on him, cross-legged as he brought the sandwich to his mouth, savoring the flavor to tuna fish. Nothing spectacular but at least it was food and he often found himself without an appetite. Dr. Eves reached out his hand in a friendly gesture, ready to place it on a fragile shoulder when everything changed.

The room flooded with the sound of an unbearable scream, one that wasn't coming from either of the people sitting in the sealed prison. The doctor nearly panicked, wrapping his arms around the frightened boy as the noise drilled into his head in painful medley. He thought he had finally been freed of his torture, and when he saw the agony on Cadence's face he understood. He wasn't alone, not the only one. And now he had to find a way to end it once more for himself, but also for the boy wrapped in his arms. It was hell to live only to see other's die, and he knew there had to be a way to end it all. "Cadence, you aren't crazy."

He could still see the image of the car twisting out of control after colliding with a tiny escort. The drunken girl didn't even have time to react after realizing she had drifted over that yellow line that marked the separation in the center of the road, coming face to face with the much smaller vehicle. The mother in the other car didn't feel much pain, dying relatively quickly from the shards of glass that slashed into her neck, thoroughly succeeding in slitting her life-giving artery. The youngest of the children however, a disadvantaged five year old, was forced to suffer, screaming out as he watched his family perish around him and dealt with the stabbing pain of twisted metal and the broken bones of his sister slicing into his appendages. He didn't die, but he wanted to, and it was that scream that was filling the room and torturing both the doctor and the patient. And when it all faded finally, Cadence retraced the words that had seemed so unimportant to him during the torture of the horrendous images and even then he didn't believe he had really heard them. "Cadence, you aren't crazy."

TBC

Ummmm its just a random idea that just came out, and is the product of free writing. I suppose the mental institution setting and seeing things normal people cant see is inspired by Oistin Lier written by Cinead Born Of Fire author of The Minstrel Boy. WHOO! GO READ BOTH! THEY ARE WONDERFUL! I guess it's dedicated to you sweetie and sorry its so short.

P.S. PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME IF THIS SUCKS OR IF YOU WANT MORE! Feel free to give me ideas and stuff too coz like I said its just free writing and I'm not at all sure what I have planned.