Chapter Text
The traffic was loud and bothersome around you, your hands firmly planted on the wheel of the car as you waited in the long row of cars. You knew that you would be on time, because you had left early to get past the worst of the queues on the road. Relieved that you did since other people made navigating the streets rather difficult at high traffic hours. Despite your rush, the traffic didn’t budge. Escaping just three minutes after waiting, the building sat away from the clusters of housing, apartments and people’s workplaces in the city. An exhilarated sigh escaped you when you saw the outline of the building in the distance. Finally, it’s been a while since you’ve been able to land a job, your last one was generally intolerable.
However, your new job was to rehabilitate the insane in an asylum. You shouldn't be as excited as you are, you know how bad these people must be to be placed in a facility built specifically to ‘fix’ them.
Rushing out of the car much like a dog at the beach, you approached the doorway into the psych ward. Neurological anomalies fascinated you, and perhaps this is the chance to experience those who suffer from them up close. The brutality-styled asylum thrummed with mystery, something to be discovered in every person there. Less than people now, their minds cracked and chipped down by its own ravines. Some of them would kill not for need, but for fun. Entering the door was a different world, you found yourself in a short corridor. You could somewhat see the space awaiting you up ahead, and it had the comfort level of a dentist's office and the aesthetic of an airport. The air reeked of chemicals, probably either to sedate the patients or to clean whatever mess they made. The walls were grey, the tiles on the floor were grey, the lights, everything. It made you feel the same way: grey and boring. There was an island, the receptionist desk, which was in the open space before three sets of doors. It was a slightly darker grey than the rest of the surroundings. Approaching it, you noticed that the walls were in fact moving, and a pair of eyes stared aloof at you. It was a man: pale, blonde, matching the atmosphere of the interior design with his full-moon glasses.
The man started to talk, waving his hand a little to get your attention.
“You are here for..”
He seemed to wait for you to finish his sentence.
“I.. was accepted for the job?” You did what he was implying, nervously smiling to make a good impression. He pointed lazily to the right, giving a nod of approval. You made your way through the set of wooden doors, looking around slightly. Most of the rooms here were labelled in dark red, there, the infirmary, here the meeting room. There was the break room and office ahead on either sides of the hallway, but at the very end, was a room with a black door with white letters that announced:
"Manager's office".
Even from here the commotion was so loud you couldn’t imagine the headache the people actually inside had, you didn’t even know what was going on. You couldn’t help but just freeze mid-step, intrigued by the chaos.
“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON DUTY YESTERDAY TO MAKE SURE THAT BASTARD DIDN’T GET OUT!” A voice too quiet for you to hear spoke in the available gap, but almost immediately got cut off “NOW ALL THAT’S ON THE NEWS IS REPORTS OF HIM BEING SIGHTED AROUND THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN! YOU HAD ONE. JOB. HOW DID YOU FAIL AT THAT?!” You didn’t recognise the feminine yet deep voice yelling at the top of their lungs, but you had a good guess at who it was. The manager. It was literally spelled out on the door, so there’s no use pointing out the obvious. However, you had regained control over your muscles, so you decided to make good use of it and knocked. The silence that followed afterwards was deafening.
“Who’s there? What do you want?” The voice asked. It was the one that had previously been losing their shit at some poor soul. You took in a deep breath, before you spoke up.
“It’s Y/n, the new hire.” You held in the last of your air that you had taken in, waiting for a response.
“..Very well, you may enter, Jeremy, you can leave your gear and tag on the receptionist desk, I don’t want to see you in this facility. Now leave.” The manager said, which was quickly followed by footsteps approaching the door. You barely had enough time to step out of the way before the door swung open and a tall, ginger-haired man walked out. He gave you enough space to slip into the room behind him, which you gladly took the opportunity. The room you were now in was quite the change, the walls were jet black with white filigree patterns at the corners and edges. Bonus, there was a red carpet! Though it looked as old as time and very obviously hadn’t been replaced, there was a well worn track where people had previously walked up to the dark wooden desk that had a woman sitting on a swivel chair taller than her. The red colour of the chair’s cushions brought out her figure clearly. She looked to be of African descent, maybe around 40 or so, with black and blue attire. She looked rather annoyed, but was slowly calming down.
“Y/n L/n, was it?” The ebony woman asked, her braided hair draped over her shoulders. Her sclera glowed against her skin and the dark colour palette of the room. Her dark brown eyes inspected you closely. You then noticed a sign on her desk, which read “ M. Adisa ”.
It was a moment before you realised she asked you a question, where you’d simply nod. Making your way to the desk, you felt rather anxious being under the full force of your new manager’s glare like the Eye of Sauron.
“Sorry about that, now, I hope you read the entire email we sent you. In most cases people don’t even open it, because we here have a… system of the sorts that we run with our new hires, it’s a last resort, really.” M. Adisa began, leaning onto the mahogany surface of the desk, lacing her fingers together as her gaze pierced through your skin.
You didn’t remember getting a second email..
You’d just kind of sit there, before nodding. Trying to act like you knew what she was talking about but you would very much come to regret this later.
“Good, good, I don’t have to waste time explaining. Follow me now, Y/n.” She’d say, already having stood up. You had to rush to trail behind as this caught you off guard, with all sorts of worries starting to swirl in your head about what might happen next. She quickly swept through the door, past the receptionist desk and down the hallway on the left. You finally got to see what you had come here for.
The patients, though it was all in passing glances. Then ones that seemed to be the most sane of the bunch, though they would still give you looks of all kinds as you passed with your manager striding ahead of you.
You were kind of glad she was faster than you though, it meant you could get a good look at who might be your future patients. Well, those who still had hope for their minds. But it took a while to realise that your manager was leading you towards the sounds of maniacal murmurs and whispers, which was a little concerning, but hopefully it wouldn’t be anything you couldn’t handle, though it was interesting to get a good look at the more mentally corrupt patients who would stare back at you with either looks of glee, sadness or pure insanity. You walked for what felt like years, though probably only an hour or so. You’d see all kinds of patients as you passed, slowly getting used to the deranged expressions or soulless eyes that would greet you everywhere that you looked. Though, when you looked forward this time you would be greeted with large.. barricaded metal doors with two guards on either side. They took one look at M. Adisa before opening the doors, letting you both through.
The doors swung heavily back into place behind you, the sound echoing for a few seconds, before you were greeted with….. Silence. Eerie, empty silence. It was a little unsettling after being surrounded by lively and chaotic yet quiet patients in their cells, but here, you could only see three doors to patient rooms. They all had little sliders to see inside.Despite that, the two doors on the sides of the hallway were empty.. both being unlabelled and rusty from being obsolete. The remaining door at the very end of the hallway was in much different condition. There were scratches from fingernails at the edges where somebody could disappear inside, a distant memory of a patient being locked away, as well as marks of all sorts, a few small dents here and there, with the slider closed. The main focus was the label, “ 428-238 ”. M. Adisa would walk up to the door, strangely unbothered by the change in atmosphere. Gingerly following, you-
A sudden loud noise of something ramming the door greeted you.
You jumped back in surprise, while M. Adisa would only frown. You tried to calculate the size of the thing on the other side of the barrier. It would be large and weighted, much like a boulder but only made of flesh.
“Good to see you are awake, Mr. Velseb.” She’d muttered, her tone flat. Her face was as neutral as always. She’d reach up to pull the slider to the side, revealing a glass panel.. but right behind it were two wide eyes against pale skin. Now this was a truly crazed look, none of the other patients could ever beat the look of pure mania on the face of this patient behind the door. You couldn’t see much of their actual form, the only details you could make out were their bright blue irises– it was such an unnaturally bright blue, like electrified water from the ocean, or like a gem in a forbidden artefact. They would sweep their abnormal gaze over your manager and straight over to you.
“... Well I’m aaallllllllways awake, ma’am, not much around ‘ere to do, y’know? ” The patient answered from behind the door, his voice was incredibly deep, deeper than Adisa’s voice. It had a thick southern drawl, and it caught you a little off guard as you cautiously approached. Standing next to the manager, you tried to seem stoic, though most of your focus was on the fact this guy wouldn’t stop fucking staring at you.
“Considering you lost the privilege of actually getting enrichment two years ago, I would have expected you to know the basic system of punishment. Did your mother not teach you?” She’d retort, where the patient would flick his gaze over to the manager for a second, being silent for a brief moment before letting out a loud cackle.
“HA! Ye’re lucky this fuckin’ door is here im’ma way, otherwise I’d be beating you the same shades of black n’ blue as ye’re outfit.” He’d say, cackling even more.
Your manager promptly closed the slider.
The patient would let out an incoherent yell of annoyance when she did, before you’d hear the sound of metal being pummelled against metal, but Adisa didn’t even flinch, unlike you.
“...Good luck, Y/n, your test starts now, I will be back in five minutes to review the results.” Adisa would say, and before you knew it, her skeletal hand pushed open the door and thrust you into the cell of 428-238. The door slammed shut behind you, preventing you from leaving, without even thinking you backed against the door, trying to push yourself against- or rather- into the door as much as physically possible. The flight response of your monkey brain activated, the urge to hide and curl up clawing at your stomach.
Across the room from you, was a plus sized man that towered over you despite the fact that he was currently hunched over in pain. Leaning against the wall to support his head, which he seemed to have rammed into the metal door earlier. Fortunately, you could now examine his features easier than before, even in your terrified state. He had shaggy, spiky black hair, large eye bags that showed the edges of his eye sockets, but the rest of his face was concealed by a large and hefty metal muzzle over his mouth. His arms were currently restricted by a white straight jacket that had now turned grey just a few shades away from matching the walls.
The only noise left in the room now was his heavy panting as he recovered from whatever injury he inflicted upon himself.
At this point you were sitting on the floor leaning up against the cold metal door, trying to keep as much distance between you and this patient that you knew nothing about except for what you presumed was his last name, Velseb.
You’d watch as the man lazily looked up, confused about the door opening, before his head would snap towards your direction. The half of his face that you could see abruptly lit up in excitement, or murderous intent. You couldn’t tell, but you could definitely tell that now he was stepping towards you, his large form already looming from across the room, even with him multiple steps away, you felt like you were being smothered in the cramped space. His eerie cyan eyes staring down at you from afar.
You couldn’t breathe, you felt like your lungs had pulled themselves into the tightest shape they could manage and refused to inhale any air as you stared back up at the massive patient across from you. He would be silent now, pausing for a moment just to observe your shape. His eyes widened even more to seemingly pinpointing every weak point of your body. Technically, that was your whole body, but even then, neither of you made a sound. You’d just stare at each other, which only gave more nightmare fuel to your already anxious state. He’d be still for what felt like years, before he’d start walking closer to you, his gaze remaining locked on yours, but you didn’t bother keeping your eyes open to watch, hearing his footsteps was enough, they were heavy, even against the concrete of the dilapidated room. His footsteps soon stopped, you could feel his shadow merging with yours, trapping you against the metal door that once separated you from this deranged patient, who was breathing loudly above you. More than five minutes had passed in the small room, but you didn’t hear the door being unlocked, or footsteps from outside. You were left here to shiver on the floor-
Something was nudging against your leg, causing your eyes to fly open.
It was his foot. He was nudging you with his foot, before he noticed that you we looking at him.
“ Finally, didn’t think anybody was rattlin’ around in that head of yer’s. ” He’d say, chuckling to himself, but all you could do was stare.
He seemed massive now that you were literally trapped between him and the door. Likely because you were sitting on the floor, and that part didn’t really help, but you also didn’t want to be anywhere near the eye level of this man. His unnaturally minty blue eyes seemed to glow in the faint shadows cast across the half of his deranged face. It added another layer of insanity to his massive character. After a while, he’d frown down at your tiny form.
“ Not the chatty type, eh? ” He’d ask, tilting his head down a little more so that he wasn’t staring at the wall mostly.
Even if you wanted to speak, your anxiety was holding your voice box hostage. You instead just nodded, which he seemed to be satisfied with. He backed off a little, giving you enough space to breathe.
“..why’dya decide to work ‘ere?” He’d ask quietly, his eyes locked on your still face. You just shrugged. “Not many people are brave enough to be in the same buildin’ as me.” He’d muse, his body shaking slightly as he’d chuckle under his breath.
“..yeah, I understand why to some degree..” You’d murmur, to which he’d let out a small “HA!”, before going back to staring at you with his uncanny eyes. They seemed to make the room feel more and more like a miniature cavern made of marble.
He would be quiet, staring at you from the nearest corner of his cell. Until the door would open just a crack, but it was enough to trigger a major response from the patient. You would be knocked over as 428-238 rammed himself into the door fullforce, causing the same loud crashing noise to ring out from before. This time, the door went flying backwards and your manager was knocked down onto the floor. Shouting echoed throughout the halls as the guards outside burst in, charging at the loose patient. They quickly threw him against the door and restrained him, before two other guards would enter the room. One went over to assist with holding the large man down, who at this point would be growling deeply. The other guard approached you.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt? He normally does this when his cell is opened.” The guard would mumble, bombarding you with questions while speaking rather quietly. You were barely able to catch onto what they had said because you also mumbled, and were quite good at translating mumbling.
The patient would continue to struggle in the hold of the guards, but after a good few seconds, a quiet gunshot would sound out. 428-238 would let out a pained grunt, before stiffly falling over much like a felled tree. You heard a meaty schlap as he collided with the cold floor. You would slowly step out, getting out of the way of the guards who were now dragging the unconscious patient back into their cell. They struggled a little due to his massive size, but managed to slam the door shut and lock it. It left you to just sit there on the floor as the guards and M. Adisa conversed briefly, mostly about adding that to the patients’ reports. But as soon as the guards left, your manager’s attention was drawn to you. Immediately scanning you with her eyes, before writing down a note on her clipboard. This confused you, but you shrugged it off.
Until she interrupted your thoughts by clearing her throat to get your attention.
“It appears that.. Mr. Velseb hasn’t injured you, correct?” She asked, her tone more implying that this was more of a weighted question. You found yourself nodding again. She took another note, her pen being the only sound remaining in the moment of quiet.
“Already that is a better start to most encounters, now, what did he say? ” She’d ask, looking up from their clipboard again. Her eyes increasingly seemed like endless holes the more she stared at you. “Any threats or disturbing facts?”
“..no, nothing much really, some small talk, mostly just staring..” You began, but quickly silenced yourself as her expression intensified.
“..well, Y/n, seems like you’ll be more important than we initially expected.” Your manager would say, and you soon found yourself walking back down the hallway to her office.
You should have checked your emails.