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]

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 avalanche. It took him a few moments to come back to his senses, but once he did, he tried to move, only to find that his head hurt too much to do so. Instead, he called out quietly, "...excuse me...? Someone...? If... it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience? Hello? ...please help me?"

[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--

"...You okay?"

Someone moved a book from the top of his head and Geoffrey groaned, trying to sit up again. A few dusty hardcovers slid off his back, thumping onto the floor and then he collapsed back onto the ground. It wasn't worth moving. Besides, his spectacles had gone somewhere and when he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything but fuzzy and out-of-focus tiles on the floor which only intensified the oncoming headache. "I believe I've lost my glasses somewhere...? If you would be so kind as to locate them for me? Black, round ones."

Another go at sitting up and he finally managed to get a good number of the books off him. At least now he could look around. Even if he couldn't see anything. "I...must have bumped the shelves somehow. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience."

[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 at what you've done, you naughty child. It was so...pretty. The way it glittered just a bit on his fingertip when the light caught it. The slightly metallic smell and the warmth and he could feel the corners of his lips starting to pull back into a grin. I'll make him bleed worse than this for hurting me-- No! No no no! The smile disappeared in a flash and Geoffrey felt mortified at his own thoughts. He quickly wiped his hand off on his sweats, furiously intent on erasing any evidence of that ugly, ugly blood off his hands. He couldn't see it! It didn't exist!

"Y-yes! Yes, I'll be just fine! Fine! I swear--" Oh Lord, it had left a little mark on his pants. He began scrubbing at the spot, brow furrowing as he concentrated. "P-please don't worry! It's nothing at all." It was going away! It was fading... Oh, thank God, it was fading. And he could feel his own heartbeat returning to normal. "...I'm sorry. I...have a problem with the sight of...that. Ah...Might I ask your name?" He sounded like a crazy rambling person. Wait, was he one? Oh crap, he might be one. "...I'm Geoffrey."

[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!"

They'd take him away if they knew the other one was still around. He was only here because Grell was good at pretending to be Geoffrey, so what would they do if they found out that Grell was still around? He'd have to go back to London and that awful other place and then the psycho would really come back out. Being near to where Red was buried in any capacity sent him into a fit and--

"...Kenny? It's..." A pleasure. Why wasn't he saying anything? Geoffrey slowly came to the realization that something was drumming against the inside of his skull. A steady, distracting beating - his headache. He's a liar. He threw those books at you. He's a danger. Kill him. Geoffrey shut his eyes again and brought his hands up to his ears, shaking his head. He'd been doing so much better today, but that bit of blood and the headache... It was throwing everything off track! "I need a bandage!" he suddenly blurted out. He needed Kenny to go away for a bit. Just to get him out of range, somewhere safe. "C-could you ask my nurse for one? She... She's used to me hurting myself by running into things."

[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.

He let out a small sigh and opened his eyes, lowering his hands slowly. His headache was worse, certainly, but the voice was gone. He'd gone back to sleep. As relieved as he was, Geoffrey completely missed the sound of Kenny coming back, which meant when the boy knelt beside him and handed him a bunch of bandages, the redhead jumped and clutched his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. Nervously, he reached out and took the bandages, setting them in his lap as he stammered out his gratitude. "I...should be fine. It's a small cut from the feel of it..."

And with fingers that were far too used to doing this sort of thing, Geoffrey picked out a smaller bandage and reached behind him, parting his hair before carefully sticking it in place. Some of his hair would get trapped, that was for certain, but it was a small price to pay. The others he put into his pocket, knowing he'd probably need them later. "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you." But at least Kenny was still with all his limbs. Geoffrey raised his eyes slightly and smiled faintly, trying his best to be friendly now that he wasn't having an episode. "I'm feeling much better now. It was very kind of you, to help me."

[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.

Which meant he could give Kenny a genuine smile as he took his hand and half-pushed and half-pulled himself to his feet. "I'll be fine, I'm sure. Just a bit of a bump."

Reaching down, he started to stack the books in order, happy to be able to help in at least some way or another. They were all scrambled up and it was a bit difficult, but-- "Oh! That one goes on the other side. Alphabetical order and all." As soon as the words left his mouth, Geoffrey winced a little. It wasn't his place to chide someone on how they put books back! Stupid! "I-I mean, well... Yes. I've been here awhile, I suppose. I don't...remember very well. I wasn't myself when I came here. B-but I am now! It's... a nice feeling. To be normal again. Somewhat normal, at least."

Right, back to stacking. Nice, neat ordered stacks. Geoffrey collected his thoughts again and tried to reset that little conversational fiasco without fidgeting with the book spines so they lined up perfectly. "I used to be at a different asylum, but they moved me here about... oh..." He paused, amazed at his own progress. "A week, give or take. What of you, Kenny? It's a shame to see someone so young here..."

[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--"

Oh bloody hell. Geoffrey buried his face in his hands, mortified at his own mistake. Just ignore it. Move on with the conversation. Everyone here was crazy, right? That's why they were in this Institute in the first place. He wasn't the only one to be having delusions or hearing voices or pretending to be someone else, so why was it so embarrassing? Geoffrey sighed and lowered his hands, trying not to bite his lower lip. His teeth were still sharp from when stupid Grell had filed them down. He wanted to ignore the question, but he knew he shouldn't. Be honest. Be honest with yourself and him. That's how people built trust, right?

"Let me start over. Yes, I was in another asylum. They moved me here for good behavior-" Even though that had been a lie. "-out of London. They said it'd help me remember myself, to be away from home and all the bad influences. And it worked! I am myself." Geoffrey smiled faintly and then deflated again, fingers fidgeting with the edge of his shirt. "...mostly."

Yeah, great, he probably sounded even more daft than before. He sighed and pulled a book idly off the shelf, flipped through the pages and then replaced it. "It's such a shame to have so many young people here. To think that there are so many unfortunates who are minors... I worry about the way the world is goin--" Wait a minute. Did Kenny just mention going out at night? Geoffrey turned to him horrified, covering his gaping mouth with one hand. "Y-you must be joking. Go out at night? The doors are locked! And even if they weren't, it's dangerous! You could get caught by the night watchmen or scolded or fall down the stairs in the dark!"

[deadlyjuliet]

Geoffrey really didn't want to talk about Grell. Talking about him would bring him back and that? Was like inviting the devil to dinner, handing him a knife, and turning your back on him. In other words, A Very Stupid Thing To Do. And Geoffrey might be a bit slow sometimes, but he wasn't stupid.

Which was why he just kept staring at Kenny as he insisted that the doors opened at night. And that Doctor Landel was insane. And...monsters? Never making it back to the buses? Well, it seemed someone wasn't better even if Geoffrey was. It seemed horribly ironic for Geoffrey to be taking pity on another crazy person, but it seemed that Kenny had the short end of the stick now. To be that far gone that he'd make up things about his own asylum? Poor, poor Kenny...

Although that injury did look nasty. Maybe he'd been bitten by a shark before coming here. Or by someone who had teeth like Geoffrey-- Oh God, he hoped he hadn't bitten him while he was still under the other one's influence. That might explain the "oops, my socks tripped me and nearly killed you" greeting. Wait. What if Kenny was trying to kill him?! Oh God, he was trapped with two psychopaths now!

"...um..." Geoffrey shifted slightly, trying to put a little more distance between himself and Kenny, without looking too obvious about it. "I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest what you're talking about. I've heard that people have those sorts of..." Don't say delusions. Don't say delusions. "...ideas, but they're all in our heads. He likes to think it's real, but he's crazy and I've almost gotten rid of him. I haven't left my room as far as I know and even then, I should like to think if the doors did unlock, I'd have enough sense not to do something so foolish as wander about at night."

Geoffrey paused and sighed. "And the buses broke down. I remember that clearly. He made up some story about there being zombies and everyone starting raving about it. Lord, it was such a mess." And embarrassing now that he thought about it with his own clear head. "Honestly, to think those zed creatures would ever show up... Someone must have read far too many horror stories as a child to come up with that."