“Is everything alright, sir?” a voice asked, but I didn’t look up. I flinched intensely as I slapped the person’s hand away when they touched my shoulder as I backed up further on the bench. “What have you taken? Rush? Bifrost? Miasma?” they asked.

            “None of this is real…none of this is real, I’ve finally gone mad…that’s right, I’ve finally broken my hold on reality.” I muttered to myself, gripping so hard on my head, that I wasn’t even sure if my gloves were enough to avoid my nails biting into my skin.

            I heard that person say something in a language I didn’t know before my entire body went ridged, my body went stiff as my back rose up, so I was sitting up, there were these bright white bands wrapped mid-way down my arms to right above my elbows, around my thighs and knees. The person standing ahead of me was in some sort of police uniform, but it wasn’t navy like it should be, but a dark, rich evergreen color, the figure didn’t have human legs, instead having the legs of a lion, large paws held in leather wrapped boots, a long scorpion tail hung behind them and a pair of wings were on their back.

            “Officer White, checking in on that 10-32, suspicious person. Does not appear to be on any kind of illegal substance, does not also appear to be a fresh Seer” they said, as they looked me dead in the eye. “Requesting permission to take person to the hospital for proper identification, possible magic tampering…maybe a hex or something” they said into this ornate shield broach on their chest which flashed before they softly nodded as if something was said back, “Hey, let’s go somewhere safe…get you looked at” they said, obviously trying to calm me down or something, but they were using that sickly tone of voice that people use when someone’s drunk, high or a very young child. It was patronizing and while this was not the first time, I’ve been talked to by the police for my general disposition being a bit scary to others due to the fact that I’m extremely twitchy and other reasons.

            “I just want to go home” I whispered

            “And we’ll get you home after the doctors look at you.” They said as the bands faded around me with a flick of their hand.

            I was half-escorted, half-dragged through the park to what looked like a squad car, but in white and dark green, not black, and white. They put me in the back of course and as they drove off, this as I said, was not a new occurrence. There’s multiple similar calls been made about me, back home outside of Portland, in Portland and it’s happened a few times in Seattle as well.

            They drove up to this…absurdly huge complex, three large silvery white buildings that were each probably fifty plus stories tall, all with these mirror faced walls that reflected the lights and rainy sky of the world around them, forming this fanned out shape: the first building being flat and parallel to the street with the other two branching outwards at an angle from the short sides of the flat building, a huge glowing red cross was near the top of the central building and there appeared to be things moving overtop it.

            Maybe an hour or so later, I was sitting on a hospital bed…in strangely comfortable scrubs of a dark purple color, no IV or anything, but a police officer was standing outside the room.

            “Let’s see” a figure in a lab coat said grabbing the clipboard from at the foot of the bed. “No magical record, not a Seer either…” they said, “Fully clean tox scan too” they whispered as if that confused them. “You are Edward Linh, correct?” they asked, I nodded.

            “Why…why am I here?” I whispered

            “Someone was concerned as to why you were acting like you were” the doctor said, “Are you sure you didn’t take anything?”

            “I took medicine for years and it did nothing; over two fucking decades I’ve been assaulted by horrible things…and they can’t fucking find anything wrong with me. Just let me be with whatever mental breakdown psychosis I’m feeling right now that’s making all of this up. I just want to be rid of them!” I snapped, holding my head again, the voices still hadn’t stopped, my entire body was shaking and twitching as I felt my heart lurch into my throat, the unstoppable feeling of wanting to run rising up in my body.

            The person in the lab coat put the clipboard back before stepping out of the room, I could see them talking to the officer outside, I couldn’t hear what they were saying either. They vanished down the hall as I sat there.

            “Release…me…” a voice whispered at the back of my head.

            “Shut up!” I snapped at the voice

            “Help…us…” another voice whispered

            “Leave me alone!”

            “We need…you…”

            The voices had been happening faster, louder, and clearer sense I found myself in this strange delusion. I winced as I dropped my head forward, my head pounding as if it was in a tight vice as I closed my eyes, flashes went through my head; car accidents, the drone of heart monitors stalling out, the sudden tightening of rope, gun shots or other sounds all poking past a choir of discordant screams, people screaming for release, for help or other things like that. All so loudly that the sounds around me were entirely muffled and I couldn’t even hear my own heartbeat or anything, the edges of my vision swam as I forced my eyes to open, but flashes of images, quick millisecond scenes flashed past as if I was being forced through a tunnel of them as I sprang out of bed, scrambling back on the floor to the far corner as I pulled my knees up to my chest, burying my head against my knees as I wrapped my arms around my head and arms as I begged, pleaded, cried…and I screamed, for them to stop, to leave me alone.

Due to the lack of gloves, the habit I have of tapping my fingers on whatever surface my fingers were on turned to all, but clawing at the tile below me, the dry…raw and red skin of my hands cracked and oozed blood from raking my nails along the tiles in intervals of six as I started rocking side to side or front to back in matching intervals of six, trying to force the voices and images from my mind, but they wouldn’t vanish. They took the band off my wrist, so I resorted to my old habit…of picking at my skin. This was the strongest they have ever shown themselves: the voices so loud they were all, but screaming in my ears, I could nearly feel icy cold hands grabbing at my arms or person, the flashes of images and scenes flying by at such a speed that I was all, but tunnel-visioned on a spot of the floor that my vision focused further and further on.

“Mister Linh!” a voice shouted as the door burst open, but I couldn’t focus or even comprehend that someone was there.

I gasped sharply inwards as this feeling of being suddenly being plunged into freezing cold water washed over me, my vision darkened at the edges as the darkness went further and further inwards before the darkness consumed my vision and…I fell unconscious.