( I awoke the next morning with a pounding headaches and to the sounds of Ross puking on the floor, Dr.Polanski enters the room giving me and Ross ginger ale) "Eat up boys, you had a "Fruitful Night" last night". (She gives me a cold look while placing a garbage can under Ross) "I don't feel good Reggie" (Ross says continuing to vomit into the trash can) "Ugh this sucks" (I moan in pain) "Thats what happens when you break hospital rules Reggie, luckily only me and a few orderlies knew what happened last night, and on account of your birthday we are giving you guys a break" (Dr.Polanski continues talking) "I understand its hard Reg, 20 years like this, you and your brother suffering god knows what even when your parents brought you here, they had beaten you, no ones gonna do that here, noone will see you as any different, not even me" (She then gets up from where she was sitting and walks out the door) "You two are on bedrest today and for last night's stunt you'll be eating your food and having free time in here the next few days" (She calls as the door shuts) "Ughh"! (I shout slapping Ross constantly "Owwww thats hurting me Reggie" (Ross cries using his hand to stop me from punching him) "Owwww that hurting me Reggie" (I mock him) "Why are you so stupid"? (I ask) "I didnt mean to get you caught, momma always says....." (Before he could finish I cut him off) "Momma dont care about us you pinhead, she abandoned us here, she thought we were freaks Father beat us we have no family). "But she says..." (Ross stutters about to cry) "She says nothing, who cares about her, obviously didnt care about us". (I turn my head away from him) "Are you gonna be mad forever Reggie"? (Ross asks whimpering like a puppy) "No" (I turn to him and hug him with my arm) "Just... be careful okay"? (Ross then becomes excited) "Yaaaay Reggie isn't mad" (Ross then holds me tight and squeezes) "Ross your gonna break our bones" (I choke) "Sorry Reggie, I'm just happy your not mad is all" (I move away from Ross) "Come on bud lets find something to do I guess". "Can we paint Reggie?" (Ross asks) "Sure buddy, anything you want" (I stare at Ross for the longest time....)
(Later on the day, Me and Ross stood by our window painting a picture of an open field, something I dreamed of, Me and Ross despite our problems have become quite talented, we could paint, play instruments do anything we wanted if Ross would agree with me, we only have one arm each for freedom so we kind of have to agree on something before we do anything). "Its beautiful Reggie can we paint ducks on the little river"? (Ross asks me) "Sure" (I say moving my arm to paint 3 little yellow ducks on the riverbank I made) "Its amazing Reggie, just like the one we used to see outside the window of Momma's" (Ross giggles with glee) "Listen I dont wanna hear about Momma's now focus Ross" (He moves his brush across the canvas and accidently ruining the painting) "Damn it Ross"! (I drop my brush and smack him in the back of the head) "I'm sorry Reggie" (Ross whimpers again, I breathe a sigh) "Its alright Ross we can fix it" (Ross's eyes light up) "We can"? (I shrug my shoulders) "Yes Ross". (I pick up my paintbrush from the floor and place it on the table next to the canvas) "We just gotta be more careful next time" (I say sucking my teeth annoyed, then out of nowhere Laney busts into our room) "Boys theres a new guy coming today, hes a doctor too, apparently butchered his patients, they are locking him in the solitary ward" (Me and Ross move toward her) "What"? (I ask) "Apparently he's butchered over 15 people, and wore their skin on his body like a suit" (Laney says with a disgusted look, we both went into the hallway to see an old man with gray hairs with a mask and a straightjacket on, seizing and squirming underneath it, he was escorted by 3 orderlies past Ross and I, he looked us both in the eyes, his eyes looked cold but calculating) "Magnificent" (He uttered to Ross and I as he was brought to his room and locked inside afterwards the orderlies disbanded) "Ewww he spoke to you" (Laney looks at me weirdly) "He's the doctor I read about in the newspaper yesterday" (I say shocked) "I wouldnt trust a thing that man says, hes not coming near me and he smells. (Laney grabs her nose running off) "Thats a bad man Reggie" (Ross becomes frightened) "Its okay Ross, hes not getting out" (As I try to reassure Ross, the man in his room starts to speak) "Hey Boys, come over here" (Ross once again becomes frightened) "Listen, I can help you", (The man continued speaking, I tried to walk over to where he was but Ross was holding me back) "I dont bite child, now get over here" (He continues talking as Me and Ross made our way over to where he was) "How exactly would you help us, your a murderer, a butcher"? (I ask the man) "I can help you be normal" (The man chuckles) "Ive performed surgery like the one you need, you can trust me" (He continues talking) "You have to get me out of here, they dont understand people like you and me" (I become enraged) "We are not the same, you and I". (The man starts to laugh) "I know what its like to be deformed, unloved, unwanted, just like you" (His words intrigued me). "How are you deformed"? (I ask) "Reggie stop talking to him" (Ross pleads), "Your brother holds you back from being happy doesn't he"? (The man questions, I fall silent and so does Ross) "I know what you want young man, and I'm prepared to give it to you, what I want in return is my freedom". (The man continues to squirm in his straight jacket) "Thats all you want"? (I ask) "Yes" (The man breathes heavily), "I will think over this, because you are a murderer" (I tell him) "Why are you even thinking of this Reggie, hes a liar, a fiend" (Ross cries, I dont respond to Ross and we walk away from the man when he calls to us) "Only one of you would survive it though" (My eyes grow wide in terror, "could I really make that choice, could I really silence my brother forever" I thought as we reentered our room to continue entertaining ourselves for the day.)
(I kept thinking about that man's words the entire day, could what he said be true, could I really be separated from Ross, but even still would I kill my own brother?) "Reggie come on, were going back to our room" (Ross whined, we continued up the hall to our room when Dr. Polanski stopped us in the hallway) "Boys a word...." (I instantly knew what she was gonna tell us, she saw me and Ross talking to the psychopath) "Okay" (We said in unison, we then walked forward down the hall, and stepped into Dr.Polanski's office) "Why were you talking to our new patient, I get having friends but don't talk to that one, he's in solitary for a reason (She said) "He just said hi to me and Ross (I lied) "Wait" (Ross said). "What Ross"? (Dr.Polanski asked), "He was talking to Reggie and I about separating us, it scared me" (Ross whined again, I'm annoyed at this point, caught in a damn lie). "Reggie why did you lie to me"? (Dr.Polanski stared deep into the pit of my soul), "I....Hes locked up right, he cant do anything to us...can he" (I was nervous my face was glowing hot, I didnt want anyone to know I had seriously considered his offer). "Thats no excuse Reginald" (She said, i felt disgusted, "Did she really just call me by my full name" i thought). "It wont happen again" (I told her). "Good, now dinners almost ready so go and grab it then go into the common room" (Ross and I were shocked) "I thought we were secluded to our room" (I said) "Well you can go into your room if you want"? (She stared at me, we both start heading for the door) "Nope were good" (I said as me and Ross continued down the hallway toward the cafeteria, there we had pizza, a nice change from gross sloppy joes, for once i was hungry so i grabbed three slices and asked Ross for one "sometimes it isnt so bad with him", i thought). "This is good isnt it Reggie"? (Ross asks scarfing down food like he'll never eat again, i smile its not everyday you get to see someone be happy and for a moment i felt horrible that i had considered "The Butcher's" offer). "Ross, would you hate me if we got seperated"? (I ask) "Not by that evil monster" (Ross responded) "No, not him a real doctor" (I say) "We'll if itll make you happy, then yes" (Ross then fell silent, his long shaggy hair fell over his face) "Hey, Hey its okay" (I said) "Im not going anywhere" (I put my hand over his shoulder, "its weird really" (I thought) "all my life ive thought about seperating from him" (I shook my head and Ross smiled at me). "Lets go watch Tv bro" (I said and we both laughed and made our way to the common room, where we watched Tv until we fell asleep)
(We awoke hours later in a daze, sirens were blaring in the hospital, someone was escaping, me and Ross ran as fast as our legs could carry us, suddently a big hand grabbed us off the ground) "Come on boys, we are getting outta here" (the voice spoke, I looked up to see "Butcher" looking down on us and he ran fast down the hallway and turned right, he ran at such speed, Ross hollered) "Whats happening"! "Ross be calm" (I shouted as "Butcher" broke the doors that were holding us in, we then continued down a long corridor as doctors and security were running at us with lightning speed) "Boys is gonna be a hairy one" (He continues running putting us down so we can run as well) "We can still go back Reg"! (Ross shouts) "No, we are too far gone, Ross dont you see after 8 years we are free, 8 years Ross" (I scream at the top of our lungs) "FREEDOM"! (We continue running down the corridor as " Butcher" broke a man's neck and stabbed another to death, blood was everywhere) "What the Hell"?! "They probably had families" (I shouted at Butcher") "Come on kid, he almost caught us" (He responded) "I dont like this"! (Ross screamed as we broke the glass on the sliding doors of the hospital making our way to freedom).
(When we reached the outside it was black as night, everything looked different new, Me and Ross breathed the air into our lungs and ran around the corner) "Freedom Ross" "Freedom" (I repeat) "Wow Reggie, its so big out here" (Ross said, but before i could answer him "The Butcher" approaches us now in clear view, he did have a deformity his face looked twisted and gnarled, his eye was just an empty socket and his stood tall against me and Ross) "Are you gonna kill us now Butcher" (Ross squealed) "Nope a deals a deal, i just need to grab supplies" (The Butcher said) "I dont know if i wanna go through with it anymore" (I said) "Well suite yourself" (The Butcher said walking away) "Thats it"? (I questioned) "Nah ill be back around in case you change your mind, lots to do and so little time." (He then walked off into the distance, we had let a murderer go free, but it was worth it to taste the night air and to be free at last)