CHAPTER 006: White walls are closing in...

After dinner, old lady Baba handed Logan a key to his room. Apparently she had been renting the extra rooms in this house for a while, as she already had a co-habitation system worked out.

On the second floor of the house were three bedrooms and a bathroom. These bedrooms were occupied by the three ladies. On the third floor were two bedrooms, both unoccupied, and a bathroom. Logan would take one of these unoccupied rooms, segregating the genders between floors.

The first floor had no bedrooms, containing only a large living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a small smoking lounge. This floor thus functioned as a commons area. As for old lady Baba, herself; she stayed in the basement. They had even installed one of those sliding chairs to the staircase, upon which they were currently strapping her in.

"What do you want for breakfast, dearies?"

"Sleep in tomorrow, Baba. We kept you up late," Rock said while checking the straps.

"Aren't you sweet. Good night everyone,"

"Goodnight Baba,"

the three ladies responded as Logan looked on. They continued this back and forth for another minute as the chair slowly and loudly slid down the stair case. The old lady unbuckled herself, and was just about to walk out of view when she said

"Don't stay up too late having sex!"

"Baba!"

Scissors finally exclaimed before stomping up the stairs and holing up in her room. Logan enjoyed the scene quietly before retiring for the evening himself.

His bedroom was simple, with no closet nor attached bathroom. The furniture consisted of an armoire, night stand, queen sized bed, ironing board, waste basket, and a large painting of a Victorian gentleman, positioned to be directly in one's eye line while laying in the bed.

Logan opened his now soggy personal effects bag, retrieved his patient folder from it, and threw the rest in the waste basket. Reclining on the edge of the bed, he casually flipped through it. Most everything was redacted, with the exception of a cover page giving his basic information:

Patient #30126- Logan Carrello

Height- 5'10"/ Weight- 220 lb./ Hair- black/ Eye color- blue/ Sex- M/ Teeth fillings- none/ Scars- none/ Tattoos- 1 on right calf depicting ying-yang symbol. Artist unknown.../

Power: Somnambulist enhancement

Source: Psychic

Threat level: 006

Co-related illness: Bi-polar disorder (manic depressive), Sleep fighting

Treatment: Carbamazepine 200mg, twice daily; Quetiapine fumarate 500mg, once daily; imovane 12mg, taken before bed. Psychic calming meditation technique, to be performed daily. Follow-up appointments scheduled at 3 month interviews from date of release until further notice.

Prohibitions: Patient may not drive. Patient may not fly commercially. Patient may not leave the country without prior consent from assigned physician...

There was more information on the document following this, but it quickly descended into medical jargon so dense that Logan would need at least an hour of googling to make heads or tails of it.

"Man, this doctor sure is a quack. Hands down the worst misdiagnosis I've been given over the years," he said aloud while depositing the file into the night stand's drawer.

"I don't know about that. He got the bipolar part correct despite you tricking him on damn near everything else."

"A lucky guess, what test can even prove I have that?"

"Your human ones can't, but with the mind map technique I clearly can. The crack on your star port lens is as clear as day."

"And who's fault is that! I'm not the one who used a nose hair to force open my pineal gland!"

"Don't call me a nose hair; and you were the one who resonated, anyhow."

"Whatever, I am too tired to argue,"

Logan finally said with a huff before removing his shirt and crawling under the covers. Unfortunately, morning did not come easily for Logan. He found himself tossing and turning in bed.

He dreamed of white walls surrounding him. The comfortable queen bed replaced with a slab of metal bolted to the wall. He was wearing that detestable uniform again, so he immediately tore it off.

Time passed either slowly, quickly, or not at all. The white walls maintained their distance, but he could swear they were just biding time.

"I need to get out of here before they close in for the kill,"

he thought. Or at least, he think he did. At this point, he could not tell the difference between speaking and thinking. A bell 20 decibels too loud rang in the middle distance, giving Logan a headache. One of the walls parted, revealing an empty corridor.

Logan fled, searching the hall for any cameras. He found none, but that didn't mean they weren't there. The corridor eventually terminated into an open rec yard made entirely of concrete.

Logan entered the yard and curled into a corner, feeling a strange comfort from the lack of eyes on his back. But before he could enjoy himself, another inmate approached him.

He was sickly pale, and bone skinny. On his face was plastered a disgusting smile full of bloodlust.

"Come on, be a pal and kill me! I almost escaped last time you did..."

"Shut up. Leave me alone."

"If I bother you that much, why don't you snap my neck to release some tension. Or better yet, rip my heart out like you did last week."

"That was last week? It felt like 3 months ago."

"Oh, you poor thing. Those walls must be closing in by now; I can smell a tinge of fear on you."

"If I can kill a lunatic like you, why would walls be a problem?"

"Hehehe, you'll understand soon enough. Even if you someday leave this place, you'll never leave those walls. They follow you wherever you go."

"I said leave me alone."

"Kill me if you want peace and quiet so much. You have plenty of experience at it."

"You beg for death? Fine,"

Logan said, his eyes turbulent and his countenance similar to that of a demon. He stood up and threw a punch.

It looked like a regular punch, if not for the fact it was incomparably slow. The lunatic, seeing this, grinned even wider and spread his arms wide. But when the fist finally made contact, he immediately screeched in agony.

"You cad! You're really trying to kill me!"

"Day after day, you never shut up. I am tired, I want to sleep. Go away, make peace with the void..."

The fist, as well as the portion of the chest it made contact with, began to warp. They formed a spiral, which promptly began sucking out gallons of a viscous blue fluid from the now wailing lunatic.

"No no no, not my spirit! You bastard! Shameless scoundrel!"

The lunatic's nails grew into long claws, and his teeth turned jagged like a shark. He clawed at the arm punching him, but it was no use.

"I can't go out like this! I still have a score to settle!"

These were his last words before the lunatic passed out, collapsing to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Logan looked at his corpse, a look of consternation on his face.

"The guards should be here pummeling me by now... Why do I feel nails on my scalp?"

Logan's eyes suddenly flew open, and he threw out a glowing palm strike. The palm surged forward, its glow illuminating the darkness like headlights from an oncoming train. A thunderclap rang out through the room, followed immediately by Logan's laughter.

"I gotcha this time, you ornery nose hair! Didn't I tell you no more sleep training! Speak your excuse, lest I strike a second time! Muahahaha..."

BLARP!

His laughter was interrupted by the sound of breaking wind next to him. He turned to see his grand master snoring loudly.

"Jeez, he doesn't even need a bed; why's he hogging all the blankets..."

Meanwhile, in the basement, an ethereal old lady Baba tried to catch her breath. Her entire figure, clothes and all, were now tinged a bluish hue. In her chest, a palm shaped imprint could be seen rapidly healing.

"Lord, that kid is a monster. If I dodged a second later, I wouldn't be here! His fear is sooooo nutritious, though," she said while drooling.

"It's better than steak dinner, I can't give that up... Maybe I should do movie night again, that'll be much safer." she thought while slowly vanishing into the night.