It was late afternoon, with shadows turning dappled green through the leaves of the many trees. Though the oasis was far away from just about everything, he didn’t really care. Having wings made getting there easy. Of course, it wasn’t a real oasis. A real oasis would be a slice of lush life in the middle of a desert wasteland, and he couldn’t create life out of nothing. No, this oasis was situated down in a sort of valley, surrounded by high walls of mountains. He only called it The Oasis, because that was what it was, his oasis away from people, humans specifically.

He had taken great care growing certain trees and plants that would suit his needs. Right now he was seated in an especially large maple tree, and nearby was an apple tree that had supplied his snack. The lake had already been there, it had just needed to be cleansed. Though the oasis wasn’t devoid of life, it was usually fairly quiet, except for the random bird call. Basically, it was the closest thing he had to ‘home.’

As a breeze shuffled the leaves above him, he made sure it didn’t disturb the pages of the book he read. A few days ago he had flown into one of his regular libraries. Not that he had a library card, but no one stopped him when he left the building with books tucked under his arm. At least the workers didn’t stare as much as they had when he first started going. His book choices had been random, but now he read complete collection of Edgar Allen Poe’s works. They certainly had dark overtones. Something about that appealed to him. So far he especially liked “The Masque of the Red Death.” Served those humans right for being so smug. They thought they could escape death, but no one could, not really.

He munched the last of his apple, letting the core fall when he was done. A peaceful end to the day, if he could just get rid of this headache.

~~~~*~~~~

“Wake up.”

Knuckles dug into Sam’s temple painfully, bringing tears to his eyes.

“Huh…wha…” His sleep addled brain wasn’t making any sense of what was going on.

“I said wake up. Don’t make me say it again.”

It took a moment for Sam to recognize the voice as Max’s, which meant the knuckles belonged to Max as well. But that still didn’t make any sense. It wouldn’t be the first time the orderly had been rough, but usually Koji woke up in plenty of time to make sure that they were both dressed before medication.

“I...I’m up.” Sam muttered.

“Then get out of bed. Med time. Don’t make me wait on you, I’m not in the mood.”

Sam rubbed the side of his head as he sat up. Koji’s bed was suspiciously empty.

“Where’s Koji?” Sam asked.

“Never mind that, take your pills.”

Sam looked up at Max, then back at the empty bed. The sheets were thrown back, and he could remember Koji getting into bed the night before. A glance to the open bathroom door told him that Koji wasn’t there either. The bedroom doors were locked during the night. The only way Koji could be anywhere other than their room would be if someone came and got him sometime during the night. If that had happened, Sam hadn’t heard it.

“Come on, get it over with,” Max shoved the cup of pills towards Sam.

“No,” Sam had a bad feeling. “Not ‘til y’ tell me where Koji is.”

“That’s none of your business. Take the pills or I shove them down your throat.”

This time Sam decided it was worth the fight. No way was he doing anything Max said until he knew where Koji was. He didn’t know if he would make it, but he had to try.

Sam rolled off the opposite side of the bed, falling to the floor before scrambling underneath the bed. It was a tight fit, but he managed to make it across to a spot where Max wasn’t standing. With bare hands and feet slapping the tile floor, Sam stumbled into an awkward standing position in order to barrel out the door. He almost made it too. Before his hand closed on the doorknob, he was caught. Max grabbed the collar of Sam’s pj’s, yanking him backwards. It was done with enough force to choke him and knock him off his feet.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Max snarled.

Hardly able to gasp out breath, Sam didn’t answer. Max spun Sam around. Letting go of the collar of Sam’s pj’s, Max pinched Sam’s cheeks to get him to open his mouth. It hurt like hell. Despite the pain, Sam still tried to keep his mouth shut.

“C’mon y’ little ass.” Max grunted.

Sam grabbed Max by the wrist, still struggling for control. Max just pressed harder, trying to yank Sam’s jaw down. The orderly was bigger than Sam, and stronger too it seemed. Sam felt his mouth opened against his will. As soon as that happened, Max threw the pills in with so much force that they flew down Sam’s throat, choking him. Tears sprang to his eyes. After that, Max dropped Sam. Sam’s legs gave out on him and he crumpled to the floor coughing. Despite the pain and confusion, Sam could swear he smelled something strange. It was almost like something rotten.

“Son of a bitch,” Max hissed.

Sam glanced up at the orderly. Max was holding his wrist where Sam had been grabbing him. Unable to see well through his watery eyes, Sam couldn’t tell what was wrong. He didn’t think he had been able to hold on that tightly. Surely he hadn’t caused the bigger man any damage.

“Y’ re gonna pay for that…” Suddenly Max backhanded Sam across the face, hard enough to send him skidding across the room. Sam tasted blood. Was the pounding in his head or Max’s feet on the floor?

“Max! What do you think you are doing?” Through the fog, Sam didn’t immediately recognize the voice.

“Look at this. Look what he did to me.”

Sam tried to pull himself up. Unable to do that, he slid into a position so he could see the door. Apparently the voice had belonged to Dr Brown. She was huddled close to Max. Sam couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it seemed important. And then suddenly he heard Dr Brown say…

“And all because he didn’t know where Koji was? How interesting.”

“Oh yeah, real interesting. But look at my arm.”

“You’ll heal. Go see to the other patients. I’ll clean up here.”

The sound of Dr Brown’s shoes on the tile was very loud. Sam just didn’t have the energy to try to get away from her as she crouched down next to him.

“Oh dear. Samuel I’m very sorry for what happened. I’ll see to it that he’s reprimanded for this.”

Funny, she hadn’t looked very angry a few seconds ago. It sure hadn’t looked like she was reprimanding Max.

“Come now, let’s get you up.”

Though he didn’t want to even touch her, Sam had no choice but to let Dr Brown help him to his feet. She sat him on the edge of his bed.

“Wait here a moment.”

While she disappeared into the bathroom he shared with Koji, Sam stared at the empty bed.

“Here we are,” Dr Brown said at her return. She had a cold wet cloth in her hands. Gently she cleaned the blood from the corner of Sam’s mouth.

“Koji…?” Sam croaked. His throat was raw from choking.

“Had to be moved to the infirmary during the night. You slept right through it. Quite the sound sleeper”

Sam frowned. Why hadn’t Max just told him that? It would have made things a lot easier on both of them.

Dr Brown moved from Sam’s face to his hand. Sam didn’t remember hurting his hand, but there sure was a lot of what looked like blood on it. No, it didn’t really look like blood. It looked more like burnt skin or something, but his hand didn’t hurt.

“What…what’s that?” Sam asked.

“Hmmmm? Oh, just dirt from when you fell, I imagine.”

Yeah, that made sense. It could have happened when he scrambled under the bed. But should it be on both his hands?

“There,” Dr Brown said, standing up. “All clean. You feel alright Samuel?”

Honestly? He hurt. Max had been pretty rough, but somehow he didn’t think there was much point in telling Dr Brown that.

“I’m okay,” Sam hesitated. “Y’ think I could see Koji?”

“I don’t know Samuel. I think we should let him rest.”

Sam frowned, then just sucked it up. “Please?”

“Very well. But let’s wait until after breakfast, alright?”

Sam nodded. That sounded fair enough. He could wait until after breakfast.