Red sat anxiously on the flat surface of his bed. Though he had been there a few days already, the hospital ‘staff’ have failed to provide him with a proper mattress. He sighed, pushing his body back against the cold wall and pulling his knees to his chest. He missed the outside; he missed the freedom of being able to roam around on his own. It was bad enough that he no longer had a place in his family, but now he was stripped of his place in society. Sure, people considered him a useless nuisance, but he was a [i]harmless[/i] useless nuisance. Red ran his fingers through his hair and threw head back against the wall repeatedly. In his dark little space, the voices echoed, all of them speaking frantically in his head. He thought they would stop. He thought the people here might know what was wrong with him and help silence the voices. He was wrong. They didn’t want to help him. They didn’t care about the voices. They only wanted to help themselves. He couldn’t blame them, however. As inhumane as they were treating him, he could only think they were acting out of fear. And why shouldn’t they? A boy who could hear voices sounded like someone who should be locked up in a mental institution. For all they know, one of the voices could tell him to do something unspeakable and he may act upon it. For all they know, he was a danger to society, to himself. But, he’d learn soon enough that was but half true. They feared him, and those like him, but not for the safety of society. No, it was much simpler than that. They feared out of vanity. Someone like him doesn’t belong in their perfect little word. They didn’t look at him in fear but rather in disgust. They did not want to help him or to silence the voices. They wanted to silence [i]him[/i]. The more the voices cried out, the more Red rocked his head back.

“Conrad!” a young, feminine voice boomed in his ear. He ignored it and continued bashing the back of his head on the wall. “Conrad, stop that!” the voice pleaded. 

Feeling lightheaded, he obliged. Red ran a hand across the back of his head and felt a warm, sticky substance. He brought his hand to his face and noticed the crimson on his fingertips. An amused huff escaped him. 

“You’re bleeding,” the female voice noticed, its tone now less frantic but still concerned. “Tell the doctors—”

“They’re not doctors!” he exclaimed, throwing his palm down on the cold metal surface of the flat bedframe, and turning his head sharply toward the voice. A frightened young girl stood at the end of the bed, her hands holding each other against her chest. She seemed as though she were a grayish blue mass of mist hovering just above the ground. She had clear features of a young girl, her hair flowing and ‘evaporating’ at the tips. “They’re more like handlers.”

The girl let up a half-hearted smile and sat on the bed beside Red, causing him to return his hand to his lap. A small smear of blood from his fingers was left where she sat. “I know, Conrad,” she started. “But I can’t do anything to help you right now and that makes me really….it just makes me sad, okay?” She reached her hand under his chin and used an amount of energy to turn his head to face her. “Right now, the only one who can keep you safe is yourself. I’ll always be here to watch out for you but there’s only so much I can do as I am now. As…as I am for now on, I guess.” Her voice turned almost hopeless as she spoke the last few words.

“They won’t [b]shut up[/b], Kari!” Red screamed, his voice cracking in a mix of laughter and frustration. “MAKE THEM STOP!” 

A loud [i]bang[/i] drew his attention to the door of his cell. A guard hand wacked a baton against the door, cuffs in hand. 

“Get up, freak,” he demanded. He unlocked the door, walking toward Red and another guard stood on the other side, the barrel of his gun trained on Red. The one with the cuffs slapped them on his wrist and pulled him to his feet. He noticed the blood and let out a sigh. “We ain’t wasting any more medical resources on that so next time use your head before you end up being another body to burn.” Red kept his head down, trying to balance between dulling out the voices and his anger from the guards remarks. As he was being led out, the armed guard spoke up.

“Careful with this one. He was just brought it and already sent a few guys home with broken noses. Kid wouldn’t stay still.” 

The guard who had cuffed him nodded and pushed Red forward as he led him out into the courtyard.