A Collection of Stories

She could dance forever to the tune in her head. It numbed the pain she felt at the edge of her nerves. Her fingertips throbbed. Her toes could be pointed forever, smearing blood across blue tiles.

Why are you doing this? The voice inside questioned. She chuckled and shook her head.

“You know why. . . you know.”

The voice inside grew louder, shouting, This isn’t right. This isn’t you. I need you to put the knife down. I need you to relax and come with me.

“Come with you? Where would we go? It’s just you and me. Where would you take me?”

You’re in shock. You aren’t thinking straight. Focus on my voice. Put the knife down.

She was gripped with an overwhelming sense of betrayal when she realized that the voice wasn’t coming from within her, but from the man who stood down the hallway to her left.

Her entire body froze, the melody fleeing her mind. Her eyes turned towards the voice. She could pinpoint it to a blob a couple of meters away from her. She swung her knife in that direction. She hadn’t meant for it to appear threatening, but apparently, it did as the blob jumped back.

Careful.

She took a step closer to the man.

“Careful,” he repeated.

She blinked to try and clear her vision. The man was still a blob but she could hear him at least.

“Drop the knife. It’s going to be okay, but first, you need to put the knife down.”

“Put the knife down?”

“Yes. Trust me. You’ll feel better once it’s on the ground. Carefully, dear, yes. . . that’s it.”

She lowered herself from the tip of her toes to the ball of her knees. The knife touched the ground but didn’t leave her fingers.

“You’re doing great. Just a little more.”

Her eyes narrowed on the man’s face. She raced through her memories to find a match, but she didn’t recognize him.

“Let go, dear. Just let it fall.”

He had wrinkles under his lips and to the sides of his eyes. His hair was greying at the roots. The man wore a blue uniform with a name tag on the left side of his chest. The words were too small to read from where she sat.

“Come closer,” she whispered.

“I. . . can’t.” He chose the word carefully.

“Why not?”

“Well,” he gulped, “you have a knife, you see. I’m quite afraid of those.”

“This thing?” She asked and shrugged the arm she was using to hold the blade.

The man nodded.

“You’re afraid of it? But it’s just a thing.”

“I’m. . .” He cleared his throat. “I’m allergic. To metal. The type that knives are made of. So you see, it may not be scary to you, but it is to me.”

“Oh.” She let go and it clanged against the floor. “Is this better? Can I move over there now?”

“That would be good, yes. Slowly.”

She nodded and smiled. This man made sense. She liked this man. “Okay. I’m coming.” She crawled on all-fours at first, then wobbled to her feet. Once she was within touching distance of the man, he pointed the tip of a mop at her.

“Careful,” he murmured. “I-I don’t want to have an allergic reaction. You could still have traces of the knife on you. On your hands.”

She stared at the mop then looked at her hands. They were red. A pretty shade of red, like rose petals. She could see his name tag beyond her fingers. “I just want to read.” She reached towards the tag.

Her fingers smeared blood across its surface. She frowned as her eyes scanned the tag. “Seb. . . rion?”

“My name is Sebastian,” he corrected, eyes locked on her hands. The mop trembled in his hands.

“Why are you shaking, Sebastian?”

He gulped and lowered his mop, using the floor to sturdy his grip. “Well, because it’s late, dear. I’m feeling a little sleepy. Speaking of, you should be in your room. It isn’t safe for you to be out.”

“It’s not safe.” Her head tilted to the side. “Where can I find my room?”

“What’s your name?”

“Sarah.”

The man nodded. “Come with me, Sarah. I’ll help you find your room.”

“Okay.”

The man stepped to the side of the hallway. He placed his back to the wall. “You go first. I think you’re much braver than I am.”

“I am,” she murmured. Sebastian released a sigh of relief as Sarah made her way down the hall. He thanked whatever god might’ve blessed him that she was as cooperative as she was.

“That’s great, Sarah. You’re doing a great job.”

“Thank you.”

Sebastian glanced at the white walls. Red stains grew as Sarah leaned against them. She left smears, finger and hand prints, red, lots of red.

They stopped at the end of the hallway.

“Now what, Sebastian?”

“Take a seat,” he said and pointed to a bench. She slid against the wall to the bench and plopped down. He noticed her movements were growing stiff. “Sarah, I’ll be right back. I’m going to look in the records here to see where your room is.”

She didn’t respond even if she had heard him. He sighed and fetched the key off his belt for the office door. Sebastian had the room unlocked in a few seconds. He entered and shut the door behind him, locking it.

He flicked on the first light switch he saw, illuminating the middle of the large office. Sebastian marched around the wall of the first cubicle and seized the phone as soon as he saw it.

Sarah tapped her feet on the ground and started humming again.

Enough of that.

Sarah stopped tapping her feet.

No. Enough humming. Listen to me, Sarah.

“But if I stop humming then I can hear you again. I don’t want that. You’re nothing but trouble.”

You’re a sick person, Sarah. You get yourself into trouble. I’m here to help you get better.

“No!” She clasped her hands over her ears. “You make me do bad things!”

You can’t trust Sebastian. He’s in the office, Sarah. He isn’t taking you to your room. He’s going to get you in trouble. I bet he’s calling someone right now.

“Stop it. He’s nice. He said he was going to help.”

He’s a liar, just like that man at your work. You remember your work, right Sarah? That place you used to go to before you got locked up in here. That’s where we met. You said you would help me, Sarah. You promised me that you would kill all the liars.

“Liars are bad,” Sarah said, her eyes growing dull. She turned her head up and down the hall. No one was in sight. The mop leaned against the wall. Sarah dragged herself across the hall and took the mop in her hands.

Sebastian heard glass shatter and nearly dropped the office phone. He brought it back to his lips and murmured, “She’s coming. I-I’m going to hide.”

Sarah reeled back then drove the mop forward with all her might. It pierced the window on the office door.

Sebastian dropped to the floor and crawled beneath the desk. The space was cramped but concealing. Sebastian tucked into a ball and pressed himself against the back wall. His joints ached, and only got worse as he flinched from each crack against the window.

Sarah reached through the window and unlocked the door, snagging her forearm on a piece of glass. She hissed and stared at the fresh wound. It didn’t matter to her. It was merely more red. Sarah pushed open the door and shuffled into the room, a damaged mop as her weapon.

Sebastian could hear her stumble into desks and chairs, sending papers and louder items to the floor. He held his breath when the head of his mop appeared at the feet of the chair in front of him. The white braids had been stained crimson.

He didn’t dare breathe until Sarah’s feet vanished into another cubicle.

Sebastian kept his eyes locked on the carpet in case Sarah’s feet returned. He kept his ears tuned for sirens. The police should get there soon. Security even sooner.

He heard the office door creak. Was Sarah leaving? Sebastian stayed still for another minute.

Sure enough, sirens appeared in the distance, growing louder with each beat of his heart. Sebastian stuck his head out from beneath the desk and glanced around. No sign of Sarah. He crawled out slowly, stopping every inch to glance around the room.

Once he had cleared the desk, he struggled to his feet, knees protesting. Sebastian turned the corner and came face to face with a woman.

Sebastian covered his head with his arms, expecting a mop to come cracking down on him any second.

“Hands in the air!”

Sebastian’s arms trembled as he raised them. He took a closer look at the woman and recognized her security outfit. Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief.

“Were you the one who placed the call?”

Sebastian nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

“Cops’re outside.” She lowered her weapon. Sebastian hadn’t noticed what it was. “The patient has been safely detained. Come with me.”

Sebastian stepped closer to her. “They didn’t shoot the girl, did they? She’s sick. I’m sure she didn’t mean to. . . hurt anybody.”

“She’s alive,” the woman replied, turning towards the door. “She’s unconscious. I don’t know much more than that. I was just told to go look for you. You gave us just the right amount of detail to find you. You were brave, given the circumstances.”

“I just hid under the desk, ma’am,” Sebastian replied, shrugging softly. He limped to ease the strain on his right knee. “Not so much brave as I was trained for difficult situations. You’re the ones who do your jobs really well.”

“If that was the case, she never would have gotten out in the first place.”

“Oh.” Sebastian lowered his head. “No, I supposed not, ma’am.”

She stopped to observe the door once she and Sebastian were out in the hallway. “I can’t imagine how she got out at all. I can, however, imagine the month-long investigation headed our way first thing tomorrow morning. Fortunately, no one was killed. The man she attacked is going to have a rough battle in the hospital, but he’ll live.”

“Thank goodness for that.” Sebastian shook his head and continued down the hallway. He knew the way out front, so he left the woman behind. Sebastian wasn’t eager to review the damage Sarah had caused anyway.

Once Sebastian was outside, he was sat in an ambulance and asked a dozen questions. Eventually, the police officers were shoed off by the paramedics to ‘reduce the amount of shock and stress Sebastian was going through’. The warden appeared, with more worry-lines on her face than Sebastian had ever seen.

“Thank god you’re not hurt, Sebastian,” she gasped. “I came as soon as I got the call. I’ll take over from here, all right? You can head home if they’re done with you. Get some rest.”

He could only respond with a nod. Sebastian closed his eyes and let his breath mingle with the evening air.