DAY 45: LIBRARY

[byname_bynature]

Even before he got sick, Sean had enjoyed reading. His teachers had always said that he read 'ahead of his age group', but he figured that was just because he read more than most kids his age did. He liked everything: fantasy, science fiction, biographies, journal articles... There was just something satisfying about holding a book--something

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[deadlyjuliet]

[ :| sorry, peter, Grell's not interested in your death peen]

Linda was such a lovely girl. Geoffrey just wished she could be happier. In a place like this, he could understand being...well, not happy, but still! She had such a pretty smile and she seemed so nice that it was a shame for her to be so upset. If only there had been something he could have done to help her...

But instead, he was here in the library after his nurse decided that his good behavior warranted a reward. Geoffrey liked books. He'd always enjoyed literature and research and just spending hours upon hours in the stacks. Of course, that had also gotten him in trouble after taking to reading up on-- Don't think about him. He'll come back. You don't want that."...oh look, fiction," he murmured absently to himself as he let the lure of harmless fantasy worlds drag him away from his thoughts. Going up to the first row of books, Geoffrey smiled faintly as he traced his fingers along the spines. Literature was such a lovely escape. He could pretend he was

[deadlyjuliet]

For some reason, Geoffrey had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him. But why would they? It wasn't like he was particularly interesting right now. He was just looking through the contents of a book. A book that he'd centered some of his delusions on.

...

Oh.

Glancing up, he tried to look for the nurse who might be coming over soon to take his precious book away, but to his surprise, he didn't see one. He looked the other way and still found no scary lady in a uniform looming over him. In fact, he couldn't quite see anyone at all. How...odd. Normally, when he had these sorts of feelings, there was someone there, watching him. Like the campus police or his doctors or--

Something rattled overhead and Geoffrey blinked, looking up in time to see - oh Holy God on Earth, BOOKS!!! Screaming, he leapt back out of the way, catching the corner of some paperback on to the top of his head, causing him to trip and fall as the other, heavier books rained down on top of him, burying him beneath them like snow in an

[deadlyjuliet]

Augh, his head hurt. No, it didn't just hurt. It was splitting apart from the inside and his brains were probably leaking out and ew that was a disgusting mental image. Worse, some small part of him rejoiced at it. The bloody demon in him still wasn't gone, just resting for some reason or another and if he saw blood today-- oh, God, what would he do? Would the bad one come out again? Would he go back to being

[deadlyjuliet]

With his glasses replaced, Geoffrey was able to sit up a bit more properly and he nodded slightly, not really sure what he was agreeing with or if he'd even been asked anything at all. But he had his glasses back and that was a blessing. He adjusted them slightly and then rubbed his head, leaning back slightly as he tried to regain his bearings. There was a young boy near him, and he seemed to be smiling at him. Ah, his rescuer? That would be...yes. That had to be right.

He seemed very sorry, too, so Geoffrey just smiled at him and shook his head. "Accidents happen," he conceded, even though he wasn't sure how anyone could trip on their own socks. He'd never even done that and he'd tripped on any manner of things before everything went wrong. Speaking of which... Geoffrey reached up and touched the back of his head and winced. That was a nasty bump and-- Oh, dear. He pulled his hand away and there it was - a small smear of red. Small enough to mean he wasn't bleeding much, but it was there.

Blood. On his hands. Look

[deadlyjuliet]

He's scared. He's scared and he's prey. Kill him now before he has a chan-- Geoffrey squeezed his eyes shut and tried to cut the voice out of his own head, but it wasn't working well. Between his headache and the realization that it hadn't been his own fault that the books had fallen on top of him, it was getting more and more difficult to silence the crazy psychopath in his head. He had to try though! He couldn't let him out!

Focus on the boy's words. He opened his eyes and chanced a scared glance at the teenager. The doctors had told him that focusing would help keep the other one at bay. But it didn't help any if the other person was focusing on him. When the stranger moved around to look at the cut on his head, Geoffrey shrank back, pressing himself up against the bookcase. "No! No, nurses! They-- I-I'll be fine. Just fine

[deadlyjuliet]

Kenny left and Geoffrey breathed a sigh of relief. If there wasn't anyone around him, he could try and shove the voice away without having to worry. If he made a mistake, the only one to get hurt would be him. And if he succeeded, he could go back to having a nice, normal conversation. He missed those. He missed... well, being himself. It was comforting to know that it was him in control and--

Not for long~ Geoffrey jumped and squeezed his eyes shut again, beating his hands lightly against the sides of his head. "Go away! Go away, go away! You're not here anymore! I'm better now!" As long as he stayed away from red things and blood, he was better! And other than his hair, he was doing so well! Quietly, Geoffrey began counting backwards from one hundred under his breath. And bit by bit, he felt his control coming back and the voice disappearing. He was better. Yes, he was better

[deadlyjuliet]

Kenny was such a nice boy. In fact, it was strange, ever since waking up, people had been so nice to him. Maybe it was because they were all crazy and they knew they had to stick together? But that couldn't be right. At the other asylum people had been fairly mean to him, or just ignored him. They didn't ignore the other one, but then he was rather hard to ignore. The stupid tosser. Geoffrey was so glad he was gone today

[deadlyjuliet]

Thank goodness Kenny wasn't angry at him for pointing out his mistake. Seeing the books go back in proper order made his heart glow a bit. He liked books. Books were safe. Unless they fell on your head, but that wasn't so much the book's fault as careless human reshelving mixing with clumsiness. All of them seemed to be going back rather nicely, so Geoffrey went back to looking at the spines. It was a shame there weren't more books, actually, but he knew that asylums had difficulty getting appropriate materials that wouldn't harm or trigger the patients somehow. Geoffrey smiled as he ran his fingers over the spine of a Dicken's novel and then froze dead in his tracks.

Kenny sounded awestruck and Geoffrey felt a twinge of fear sneak up his spine. What if Kenny thought he was a danger and started screaming for the nurses? Oh, he knew he shouldn't have said that! Damn it all to hell! "...y-yes? I-I mean, I'm better now! I really am. He's gone to sleep or something, I don't