The halls of Minerva’s Mental Institution was a world of its own--deserted and cold--a labyrinth of halls and doors that can lead to anywhere. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered every once in a while, threatening to go out while the pale faces of the walls stared at the visitors like quiet sentinels. Tonight, Irune was accompanying her friend Abbi to visit a relative, a new member to the institution.

“Thanks for coming, Irune,” Abbi whispered as she swept a strand of blonde hair behind an ear. “Sorry to bother you, but this…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it--I wasn’t busy or anything,” Irune inserted, assuring the other female.

Unlike Abbi, Irune was dark with almond-shaped brown eyes and short, dark hair. A distinct contrast to Abbi’s pale skin, long, blonde hair and round blue eyes. While Irune was quiet, solitary, and introverted, Abbi was the exact opposite. However, when this incident happened, Abbi became withdrawn and sullen, making Irune worry.

The fact that a shroud of silence hung over them was not helping the situation.

“I’m sure she’s fine. It couldn’t possibly have gotten worse,” Irune started, trying to relieve their selves of the oppressive silence. “I mean, she just got here a few days ago…right?”

For a moment, Abbi said nothing as she began to hug herself.

“I don’t know. It’s just, I can’t understand… She’s been fine all this time but now. Now…”

Abbi stopped walking as she bowed her head, her eyes squeezed shut while Irune watched on, hands clasped in front of her. Without warning, Abbi bursted into tears, her hands covering her face. Biting on her lower lip, Irune stepped forward as she wrapped her arms about Abbi’s form, listening as her voice cracked.

“Now it’s like she’s a different person, not the grandmother I used to know! There were times when she’d just stare at her bedroom door and when…and when I asked…why…”

“Why…?” Irune trailed off, urging her friend to continue.

Abbi lifted her head as she stared at Irune’s face, shaking before she answered.

“She said he was coming--’ He’s coming to take me away. There’s nowhere to go.’… What the hell does that mean anyway? Irune…”

Irune shrugged helplessly as she kept hugging Abbi, patting her back occasionally as she waited for the tears to subside. Once Abbi calmed down a bit, she released her.

“Feel better now? We can come at another time.”

“No, I need to see her again,” Abbi interjected as she rubbed at her eyes. Irune fumbled with her purse before she found a tissue pack, handing it to her. “Thanks,” Abbi replied as she took one. After she blew her nose, Abbi gave a watery smile to Irune.

“I’m fine now.”

“All right…”

With just a few steps forward, the pair passed through the doors and walked down another hall for a good distance before they stopped at the second door to the left. After a couple of knocks from Abbi, a lock slid open on the other side of the door as it opened. A red-faced nurse with green eyes stared at the two women through an open space before she stepped away.

“Get in,” she stated brusquely.

Irune followed Abbi into a small room with the same color scheme of the whole building. White, blank walls and white floors gave a dull glow from the lights within; a bed sat against the far end of the room with sheets of the same color. Sitting at the edge of the mattress was Abbi’s grandmother, decked in the standard light blue gown of patients. Pale, blue eyes stared off into the distance while withered, translucent hands kept still on the woman’s lap. Her long, wispy white hair lay limp against her back, unkempt. Upon closer inspection, a leather strap encircled both wrists, chains wandering away from as they attached themselves to the walls.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Abbi hissed out when she saw this. “I don’t remember you guys telling me about this!”

“Is that so? Perhaps the notification didn’t reach you through mail…,” the nurse mumbled offhandedly. Irune watched on as she stood at the foot of the bed, noticing the nurse’s nametag. Abbi did the same before she spoke.

“Apparently not. Mind filling me in, Miss Denise?” Abbi glared at the nurse.

“Look at her,” Miss Denise stated as she looked over her shoulder, her thin lips becoming a straight line. Afterwards, she turned her back on the whole scene as she tucked a clipboard under her arm. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be heading out. My shift’s over…”

Without further ado, the nurse rushed out, bumping into Irune’s side before she slammed the door shut behind her. Irune gave a sharp sigh as she shook her head. Sure it was late, but wasn’t that a bit too much?

“Bitch,” Abbi muttered as she scowled at the door. “Who does she think she is, talking like that? I swear, people today…”

Irune shrugged as she looked back at her.

“Maybe it’s stress?” The response she received from Abbi was a snort before a gasp. “What?”

“Oh my God, look at her! Grandma, what happened?”

Curious, Irune went beside Abbi’s grandmother and peered at her. Red marks crisscrossed her face while a fresh bruise darkened the side of her neck. Abbi grasped her grandmother’s hands, turning them over to see other angry marks.

“Grandma?” The old woman didn’t answer Abbi but looked over at Irune.

“Evening…” Irune breathed out, unsure on how to speak with her. Abbi’s grandmother stared at her before her blue eyes hardened. The chains danced, then, as gnarled fingers wrapped around Irune’s wrist.

“You’re marked, child… The Right Hand comes for you, both of you… Just as he comes for me.” Nails began to pierce flesh making Irune wince.

“Grandma, stop… What do you think you’re doing?” Abbi’s voice started to increase in volume, panic spiking her words. Her grandmother narrowed her eyes before she struck--the chains rattled once more as she scratched at Abbi’s face with her free hand, her nails showing traces of dried blood. Abbi fell back as she grasped her cheek; warm blood seeped through new wounds. A mixture of annoyance and impatience appeared on the woman’s wrinkled face before she brought her attention back to Irune.

“Do you understand? There’s no where to go…”

Irune tried to keep a steady gaze on her while she kept her balance; with Abbi’s grandmother gripping her arm, Irune had to lean over, a hand settled on the bed for support. Mustering as much composure as she can, Irune tried to persuade the other to lose her hold.

“Grandma, I don’t…but I have time. We have time, “she added as she watched Abbi at the corner of her eyes. “Let’s get comfortable and talk--”

“No! No, no, no!” the grandmother cried out. The stern persona was broken as a mask of fear and alarm flashed onto her face.

“He comes! Listen to me--he wants us all!” The old woman was shrieking now, her mouth stretching out in a long ‘o’. Before Irune could utter another question, the door slammed open as members of Minerva rushed in. White coats flared around Irune as two large men in dark uniform surrounded the old woman.

“BUT YOU! HE WANTS YOU THE MOST! THE LOST ONES!” Abbi’s grandmother screamed. The fingers went away from Irune’s arm as one of the nurses held her down. Another leaned against the woman’s legs as she started to kick in frenzy. A doctor appeared at Irune’s side while another staff member knelt down by Abbi, examining the cuts on her face.

“I’m sorry about this--let me take a look at that--”

“No, I’m fine,” Irune answered shakily.

The doctor was a skeptic but decided to leave it at that--Abbi’s grandmother was still thrashing on the bed.

“If you say so. You may leave now miss. As for your friend…”

Realizing that she forgot about Abbi, Irune searched her out, only to find her companion led out the door. As the door closed behind her, Abbi collapsed, causing her attendants to act. Muffled orders went through the air as footsteps rushed off; a room was being prepared while attendants whisked Abbi away.

“I’m afraid that we have to keep her, just in case, “the doctor supplied, answering the unspoken question that lingered in Irune’s head, “What with the shock and all.”

“I see…” Irune peeked over at Abbi’s grandmother, only to find her eyes half-closed. A nurse held up a syringe at the light before he nodded to himself. With a low grunt, the male nurses left, leaving both Irune and the doctor with the grandmother.

The doctor coughed politely. “Well, I see no reason for you to stay any longer--”

“Understood.” Standing at the side of the bed, Irune gazed down at the woman that gave her the small gashes in her arm before she turned away.

After the scenario at Minerva’s, Irune rushed home just as the sky opened, releasing a downpour that developed throughout the visit at the institution. Fresh from a quick shower and dry clothes, Irune grabbed a book from the coffee table in the living area and settled onto a couch. After three claps of thunder, however, Irune decided that her reading could wait as she placed it on her lap, closed. Large fists of water were pounding against the window as thunder cracked over the apartment, a natural phenomena that left Irune in a slight daze. The wild rhythm that bashed against her window, the deafening cry of the storm--she could not decide which of these elements made her lie against the sofa with her eyes shut.

Flashes of earlier events played through her head just as lightning drowned the room in a blinding shade of white. White…

The book tumbled onto the floor as Irune stood up, a hand clenched into a fist. Seconds ticked by as she stood, brown eyes lost in a white room as they watched Abbi’s grandmother transform into a complete stranger. From being the old woman that would give womanly advices, she transformed into something else. A wrinkled sack of flesh set upon a skeletal rack with thin arms and claw-like hands with sharp digits that pierced skin. Like a puppet, Abbi’s grandmother jerkily approached Irune with an outstretched hand, her fingers splayed out as they began to fall on her wrist.

Thunder cried out, setting the apartment in a slight tremor as it tore Irune away from her thoughts, the palms of her hands moist as the wounds on her arm protested in pain.

“Ah…” Irune bent down to retrieve the fallen novel, a frown on her face. “What was I thinking? I can’t read…Not with too much here.”

The spine of the book tapped against Irune’s forehead as she sighed. The image of Abbi’s face contorted in horror bloomed before her mind’s eye, making Irune sag to the floor, the book clutched against her chest. Staring across the coffee table, Irune found the clock that sat on a Birchwood shelf, small black hands pointing the time: 4:15 AM.

She needed to sleep then, but to waltz into Morpheus’ arms would be hard to achieve. The drama at the mental institution was still fresh, the reality of it all still raw leaving Irune open and vulnerable. If she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to dream, surely she would end up in the room once more. She would hear the screams, the chains again, and then she would see--

Arms wrapped them selves around Irune’s knees as she rocked back and forth on the floor, her face pressed against her legs as she squeezed her eyes shut. No, the realm of dreams will not distract her now, not with that damn room brightly lit in her mind.

“Then again, there’s always something else that will remind me,” Irune muttered as she brought her arm up before her eyes.

Small, red mouths grinned back at her, ugly marks that won't heal any time soon.