Sanity comes in a Pill

CHAPTER THREE: taxonomy

When I wake up I am covered in sweat and I feel a large amount of pressure on my body. I open my eyes and find myself looking down a metal tube. On the other side of the tube is Bebe’s shoulder blade. I’m very confused why I’m in this situation. Then events of yesterday come flooding back to me all at once. Oh right, my life is a mess right now I remember. At least I know I did not do anything I shouldn’t have with Bebe because we understand each other’s situations or things would be way worse right now. I assess my situation, Bebe has her arms wrapped around my waist and she is curled up on my legs. I realize most guys other than me would be felling pretty lucky right about now.

I cannot get out, but if I wake her up, she might flame up and burn my face. I look over at the clock: 8:35! Liam will be here soon! (He does an examination every other day) I am going to have to risk getting my face burnt. “Bebe?” I say gently shaking her. She doesn’t move. Okay plan B. On a mental count of three I jerk my body to the left and push her to the right. Just as I expected she flames up, but my face is safe as it is in the floor. She peeks over the bed and looks at me apologetically. "You need to go now! Liam will be here soon!" I yell at her. Bebe jumps out of the bed narrowly missing me. If I was not awake before i am now. I usher her out the door barely giving her time to put on her shoes. I close the door behind her, lean my back against it and take a deep breath. I clean up my room a bit trying to make it look like nothing happened. Minutes later Liam is here.

He looks pretty tired and his white lab coat is crinkled. We go over our daily routine with little talking. After he hands me a bag of medical supplies for Jared and goes over the instructions with me. "When you’re done I want the two of you to go to the dark room for breakfast," he informs me. I don't like this idea I spent a year eating my meals pretty much alone in there and I don't really want to be stuck there again, but I know it is not a suggestion. "Fine," reply coldly even though I know it’s probably not his fault. It still ticks me off he didn't find a way to change the verdict though. He notices my tone of voice and gives me a sympathetic look.

"I won't be able to stop by again tonight," he apologizes, " I’m basically going to be sleeping in my office till this is all figured out." "By the way," he adds, "you shouldn’t let Bebe spend the night here again. You never know who could be watching with this going on." Crap. Good thing it was him and not someone else who found out. Liam unceremonious leaves the room and I’m left alone with the bag of medical supplies. I take a deep breath head into the dark room.

When I reach Jared’s door I knock. There is no response as I expected. I start to push the door open, but it stops part way. That’s strange I think. I push a little harder, it pops in ward allowing me to see inside, and there’s Jared, groggily looking at me from a sitting position in the bed. “Where am I?” he asks. I blink at him for a moment. Not because it’s an odd question (I mean he was pretty much passed out the whole time so of course he is confused), but because of how he says it. He says it the way a normal teenage guy would if he woke up too early and not as a person who was violently ill the day before. I notice his skin has also lost the green tinge to it. “area 51,” I tell him.

Now it is his turn to blink at me. “I’m serious, it’s a secure location. It’s a place where people who are a bit different can be safe from the rest of the world.” I don’t think he believes me. “I was here yesterday,” I say holding up the bag, “I’m here to give you medical assistance and help you adjust I guess.” “Yesterday?” he questions c*****g his head to the side. Then his face drops into his hands. I’m shocked when he starts to cry. I realize he must remember what happened. I cross the room and try to place my hand on his shoulder. He flinches away. “DON’T TOUCH ME!!” he screams at me. This allows me to get my first glimpse of his extended canine teeth. They are red and swollen. They must hurt a lot, mine did too when I first got them. I let my hand drop to my side unsure of what to do.

I look around the room. Well what is left of it. The dresser is knocked over and has been relocated in front of the door, now in two pieces. The continents are scattered around the room, the sink is smashed, it’s everywhere. Good thing there wasn’t too much stuff in here. When I squint I can see scratch marks covering the walls. That’s not unsettling at all I think sarcastically. I look at Jared’s hands. There covered in dry blood and the bed is also as a result. Yup, not unsettling at all. Jared is still sobbing so I start to clean up the gosh offal mess. I start by picking up the clothing off the floor and refolding the pieces that aren’t wrecked. That doesn’t leave much. I bend down to pick up half a shirt. “Are they okay?” a quiet voice asks. I turn towards the bed. Jared has stopped sobbing. He repeats the question, this time with more detail “The people I hurt are they okay?” I don’t want to have to answer the question, but based on the info I’ve gathered so far no one else if going to answer it for him if I don’t. “There in critical care right now, but they will be okay,” I inform him. He sighs and looks a bit relieved. As I was telling him this I had made it back to the side of the bed. He looks me in the eyes. “I didn’t want to do it,” he says sadly, “I couldn’t control my body.”

I feel a wash of compassion for him having been in similar situations myself. “I understand,” I reply. On instinct, I touch the left side of my neck where my scars are located. His eyes go to the spot in shock. I open my mouth a bit, letting my fangs show. “Are you a vampire?!” he gawks. “Yah, I am.” His eyes get even wider and he drops his head in his hands again. “Wait does that make me…Nooooo, this can’t be happening!!” he yells and starts to rock back and forth. Dude I wish it wasn’t either because this is very uncomfortable I think. Its slightly better than the puking yesterday though.

I’ve finished cleaning up the room by the time he has settled down. It is still a disaster but at least the floor space is clear. I sit on the bed and start pulling things out of the medical bag. He looks at the items nervously. I hand him ajar with a thick green substance in it and some sanitary wipes. “Here, clean yourself up then put the cream on your cuts.” He hesitantly obeys. When he starts to wipe his hands, he winces a bit, but doesn’t say anything. I was told to do it for him, but why should I when he is fully capable to do it himself now? I throw a clean shirt at him. “Meet me outside,” I instruct him. Then I leave, not wanting or knowing how to make conversation with him. Once I’m out I see 2 food trays at the exit door. I pick them up, take them to one of the picnic tables, and wait for Jared.

It takes him forever to get out. When he finally does his movements are slow and cautious. “No one’s going to attack you,” I say to him rolling my eyes. He jumps about a meter in the air. Spaz. He regains his composure and walks normally the rest of the way to the table. I slide one of the trays over to him. “It is food,” I tell him when he makes no move towards it. “I know that,” he assures me, “but I’m not hungry.” Liam warned me this might happen. I glare at him, mostly because I want to get out of here and go for a run with Bebe.

“Eat it anyways.”

I can tell Jared wants to protest again, but he sits down and lifts the cover off the tray revealing an identical fruit covered tray to mine, minus the three little red pills I have. He picks up an apple and begins to nibble on it delicately. We eat in awkward silence for most of the meal.

I pop a pill in my mouth. “What are those?” Jared asks, gesturing towards the remaining pills. I hold the next one up between my fingers. Light from the celling shines on it casting a red glow on the table. “Sanity,” I reply simply.

He c***s his head to the side still confused. It makes him look a bit like a puppy. I sigh, why did I sign up for this? “It’s blood, so my cravings don’t go out of control and I go loopy,” I explain. His face turns green. “Oh,” he says, voice strained. “It’s not human,” I promise him. I really do not want him to throw up again. Jared looks a bit better now. What I said must have actually helped. Thank goodness. “You most likely will have to take them,” I inform him, “It gets easy to cope with over time also” Jared nods slowly in understanding.

“Well I’m going to go now,” I tell Jared, “have fun.” “What? Wait!” Jared yells after me, but I am already out the door.

******

“Liam saw what happened last night,” I tell Bebe. We are sitting on the top of the largest hill in the common room, in the shade of an oak tree. My knees are pulled up to my chest, it’s kind of cold up here. “Better him than someone else,” she says, “he’s like the only person here that would understand that nothing happened between us and also not report us. I do wish we could have illegal sleepovers under better circumstances though.” “Yah me too,” I agree. “Remember the time you snuck over when I was sick?” “Or the time you had to hide under my bed cause I had a physical,” she prompts. “That doctor was so mad!” I grinned. We used to sneak over to each other’s places all the time in my first years here. That is in until I was caught a second time (surprisingly last night was Bebe’s first time getting caught) and we were told if we did it again they would put private cameras back on us or separate us if they had to.

We both go silent again reveling in happy memories and listening to the hum of people in the distance. “How are you and Jared getting along?” she asks me after a bit. I look away from her. “Okay I guess,” I say, “I mean he is completely in confident and the first thing he did was puke on my shoes, but he is okay.” “Well it is only the first day. Remember how you felt when you changed,” she reminds me. “Yah it was pretty hard for a while. He is different than me though,” I omit. We fall into silence again, enjoying the artificial breeze.

“Boo!” Bebe and I both jump about a mile, Bebe even flares up a bit. “Gosh Liam! I almost burned you!” Bebe scolds him, dusting ash off herself. Liam cheekily grins at her. “Totally worth it.”

“What brings Mr.Busy here?” I ask. Bebe rolls her eyes, “What a clever name you came up with.” Liam and I both ignore her comment. “The cameras in the dark room stopped showing video,” he tells us “I need you to go watch Jared till we fix them.” I sigh, there goes my day. I leave him alone for an hour and something bad has to happen! Sensing my frustration Bebe poke me in the side making me squirm. “Maybe I could come with you,” she suggests. “No,” me and Liam say at the same time. “He is to unstable right now,” Liam says. I nod my head. “Fine,” she huffs, “but you can’t hide him from me forever!” Unfortunately, I know this is true, but you had better believe I’m going to try my hardest to prolong it for as long as possible. I grudgingly follow Liam down the hill.

When I open the door to the dark room, I’m surprised to see Jared curled up against the cold cement wall. He did not even flinch when I opened the door. “Jared?” I poke him with my foot, no reaction besides what sounds like a weak moaning. I notice the green hue has returned to his skin. I suppose I should take him to his room. I feel leaving him here could most likely tick off the doctors. I sigh and crouch down so I can pick him up. I reach under him and touch a warm substance. Disgusted I pull my hand out. It is covered in blood.

My stomach clenches. I’m suddenly starving and all I need is…the smell hits my nose and instantly I’m flung out of the trance. It’s a sour and poisonous stench, unlike the bitter sweet smell I’m used too. Its repulsive. I hold my breath and reach under him again. This time I don’t recoil, but boy is it hard not to. Jared’s body leaves a red stain on the wall. Not sure how I’m going to wash that off. Once I have him safely in his room. I page Liam using the intercom located by the exit door.

Shortly after he shows with a bag of medical supplies. “What happened?” He asks. “I don’t know yet,” I reply, “Have you got the camera’s working yet?” “No not yet, maintenance is working on the problem as we speak.” “Can’t we just sedate Jared and you can patch him up instead of me?” “No, we tested it on a blood sample we got from him and it had no effect!” Liam exclaims. I can see why this is such a big deal. I for one can be sedated so I know if something goes wrong I can be stopped, but if Jared cannot be sedated that’s really weird and could also cause a lot of problems later on based on the behavior he has displayed so far.

I return to Jared’s side. He is awake now and blinking at me as if he doesn’t know where he is or who I am. “Where am I?” he asks. That is just great.

“Jared you’re hurt,” I explain to him, “I’m just going to patch you up.” He must remember what is going on now because he nods and rolls away from me so I can see his left side. I gag when I see the wound. It’s a bloody mess of shredded flesh. “What happened?” I ask Jared. “I don’t know,” he replies, “I remember you leaving then I started to feel weird and I don’t remember anything after that.”

“What do you mean by ‘weird’?” I wonder. “I don’t know, kind of like something was crawling under my skin,” Jared tells me. Very weird indeed. I clean the blood off Jared’s wound. I think it needs stitches, but I am not skilled in that form of art so a whole bunch of gauze will have to do since no one else can come near him yet. Jared does not move the whole time I’m fixing him up. When I am done, I go and grab him a new shirt from his broken dresser. “Can I just leave this shirt on?” Jared asks. Ummm…why? “No, it’s going to stink if you leave it on,” I say. I hand him the clean shirt. He stares at me with his big puppy dog eyes. “Can you at least look away?” Oh, he does not want me to see his scars I realize. “How do you think you got into the shirt your wearing?” I ask. He looks at me confused for a moment, then his eyes widen and his face turns bright red. “Ahhh,” he screams and covers himself with the blankets on the bed. So childish, but slightly cute I omit. “You have no reason to be embarrassed,” I assure him. He does not say anything. I turn to leave and I hear him whisper; “But no one is supposed to know.” I pause for a moment, but I do not know what to say to Jared’s comment revealing that not all the cuts have been recent. All I can do is walk out of the room with one more thing on my mind to worry about.