Lord Loss (The Demonata #1)(9)

"Demons," I mutter, my first utterance since my soul-wrenching cry.

His face lights up and he snaps forward. More questions. Quicker than before. Louder. More urgent. Amidst the babble, I hear him ask, "Did you see them?"

"Yes," I croak. "Demons."

He frowns. Asks something else. I tune out. The world flames at the edges. A ball of madness condenses around me, trapping me, devouring me, cutting off all but the nightmares.

A different room. Different officers. More demanding than the last one. Not as gentle. Asking questions loudly, facing me directly, holding my head up until our eyes meet and they have my attention. One holds up a photograph - red, a body torn down the middle.

"Gret," I moan.

"I know it's hard," an officer says, sympathy mixed with impatience, "but did you see who killed her?"

"Demons," I sigh.

"Demons don't exist, Grubbs," the officer growls. "You're old enough to know that. Look, I know it's hard," he repeats himself, "but you have to focus. You have to help us find the people who did this."

"You're our only witness, Grubbs," his colleague murmurs. "You saw them. Nobody else did. We know you don't want to think about it right now, but you have to. For your parents. For Gret."

The other cop waves the photo in my face again. "Give us something - anything!" he pleads. "How many were there? Did you see their faces or were they wearing masks? How much of it did you witness? Can you..."

Fading. Bye-bye officers. Hello horror.

Screaming. Deafening cries. Looking around, wondering who's making such a racket and why they aren't being silenced. Then I realise it's me screaming.

In a white room. Hands bound by a tight white jacket. I've never seen a real one before, but I know what it is - a straitjacket.

I focus on making the screams stop and they slowly die away to a whimper. I don't know how long I've been roaring, but my throat's dry and painful, as though I've been testing its limits for weeks without pause.

There's a hard plastic mug set in a holder on a small table to my left. A straw sticks out of it, I ease my lips around the head of the straw and swallow. Flat Coke. It hurts going down, but after a couple of mouthfuls it's wonderful.

Refreshed, I study my cell. Padded walls. Dim lights. A steel door with a strong plastic panel in the upper half, instead of glass.

I stumble to the panel and stare out. Can't see much - the area beyond is dark, so the plastic's mostly reflective. I study my face in the makeshift mirror. My eyes aren't my own - bloodshot, wild, rimmed with black circles. Lips bitten to tatters. Scratches on my face - self-inflicted. Hair cut short, tighter than I'd like. A large purple bruise on my forehead.

A face pops up close on the other side of the glass. I fall backwards with fright. The door opens and a large, smiling woman enters. "It's OK," she says softly. "My name's Leah. I've been looking after you."

"Wh-wh... where am I?" I gasp.

"Someplace safe," she replies. She bends and touches the bruise on my forehead with two soft, gentle fingers. "You've been through hell, but you're OK now. It's all uphill from here. Now that you've snapped out of your delirium, we can work on..."

I lose track of what Leah's saying. Behind her, in the doorway, I imagine a pair of demons -  Vein and Artery. The sane part of me knows they aren't real, just visions, but that part of me has no control over my senses any more. Backing up against one of the padded walls, I stare blankly at the make-believe demons as they dance around my cell, making crude gestures and mimed threats.

Leah goes on talking. The imaginary Vein and Artery go on dancing. I slip back into the shell of my nightmares - almost gratefully.

In and out. Quiet moments of reality. Sudden flashes of insanity and terror.

I'm being held in an institute for people with problems - that's all any of my nurses will tell me. No names. No mingling with the other patients. White rooms. Nurses - Leah, Kelly, Tim, Aleta, Emilia and others, all nice, all concerned, all unable to coax me back from my nightmares when they strike. Doctors with names which I don't bother memorising. They examine me at regular intervals. Make notes. Ask questions.

What did you see?

What did the killers look like?

Why do you insist on calling them demons?

You know demons aren't real. Who are the real killers?

One of them asks if I committed the murders. She's a grey-haired, sharp-eyed woman. Not as kindly as the rest. The 'bad doctor' to their 'good doctors'. She presses me harder as the days slip by. Challenges me. Shows me photos which make me cry.

I start calling her Doctor Slaughter, but only to myself, not out loud. When she comes with her questions and cold eyes, I open myself to the nightmares - always hovering on the edges, eager to embrace me - and lose myself to the real world. After a few of these intentional fade-outs, they obviously decide to abandon the shock tactics and that's the last I see of Doctor Slaughter.

Time dragging or disappearing into nightmares. No ordinary time. No lazy afternoons or quiet mornings. The murders impossible to forget. Grief and fear tainting my every waking and sleeping moment.

Routines are important, according to my doctors and nurses, who wish to put a stop to my nightmarish withdrawals. They're trying to get me back to real time. They surround me with clocks. Make me wear two watches. Stress the times at which I'm to eat and bathe, exercise and sleep.