I silently crept out of my room, and into the hallway. It was nighttime, and I decided to comply with Alice's request. The recreation room was only down the stairs, but tonight it felt a mile away. Placing one foot in front of the other, I quietly walked down the hallway, catching my breath at every creak the floor made before continuing on again. It seemed like forever until I reached the stairwell. Sitting on the hand rail attached to the wall, I slid down it, so I wouldn't make noise on the stairs. I set my feet on the ground, and held back a gasp. The light from a guard's flashlight was approaching; and I had nowhere to hide. Bracing myself for the worst, I stood still, waiting for the guard to drag me to my room. The light turned sideways, revealing a feminine silhouette in the shadows. The beam lowered, and Alice was standing there, smirking. "You came. Let's go." she whispered. I fumed for a minute before trailing behind her. I seriously thought she was a guard. Walking past the Recreation Room, I raised an eyebrow. If we weren't meeting there, where the hell were we going? Alice led me down another hallway, and stopped in front of a door. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a key, inserting it in the door lock. "Where'd you get the key?" "I have my ways." she murmured, turning the key with a sharp click. She pushed open the door and tugged me inside, closing the door behind her. It was dark in the room, except for a burning candle in the center. I saw shadows of people flicker against the wall, and turned to see Kat and Daphne sitting in front of the candle. Alice sat with them, patting the floor next to her. I reluctantly sat down. "So, what am I doing here?" "This is initiation..." Kat murmured. "To see if you really belong here." Daphne finished. Alice picked up a shard of glass. My pulse quickened. It looked like the one I had the night I died. The memory of that made me quiver. "Don't worry. This happens to all new people." Alice said, mistaking my shaking for fear. She handed the glass to Kat, who slid it against her wrist, her blood slowly dripping to the floor. Daphne did the same, cutting a little deeper. Alice cut the deepest out of all of them; almost a deep enough cut to kill her. "If you are who you say you are, you'll cut deeper than me." Alice said, handing me the bloody glass. "Do you want me to die?" I asked, slightly bewildered. "You're already dead", she murmured. "Aren't all monsters dead?" She called me a monster. She. Called. Me. A. Monster. My hand grasped the glass, and I brought it to Alice's throat. The others gasped in worry. "Give me one good reason not to kill you." I growled. Alice simply smirked. "You can't kill someone who's dead." she laughed quietly. "...oh really, now?" I asked, giving her the deadliest smile ever. With one fluid motion, I sliced the glass over Alice's throat. Blood draining from her neck, she slumped over, choking on her own blood before she fell silent. "You look dead to me." I said, throwing the glass onto the wall. It shattered immediately. I turned to face Kat and Daphne, who were quivering where they sat, gaping at the dead Alice on the floor, a pool of blood forming where she lay. I glowered at them, pointing to her. "If you don't want to end up like her, you'll do what I say, when I say. Got it?" I hissed. They simply nodded, quickly standing to their feet. "Good. Now clean this mess up." I said, turning and leaving the room. From now on, I called the shots. I killed the horrible Alice. I easily replaced her. I was their leader.
I was leaning against the wall, my arms crossed. Everyone was outside for roll call. Jason sent me a smile from across the hallway. Kat and Daphne stood next to me, blank expressions on their faces. A guard made his way down the line, checking names off of a clipboard. He reached Alice's door, and stopped, looking confused. Taking a key from his pocket, he unlocked the door and poked his head inside. "Alice? Hm... has anyone seen Alice?" I shot a look to Kat and Daphne, who trembled when they glanced at me. Kat looked to the floor and spoke. "I saw her last night before I went to bed..." "Yeah, me t-to. She looked upset." Daphne said quietly. The guard looked at both of them. "Did she tell you if she was going anywhere?" "She didn't say." Kat quickly responded. The guard frantically took out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it, lightly jogging down the hallway. Conversation started up when he disappeared down the corridor. "Alice is never missing at role call." a girl said. The guy next to her paled at that, and suspiciously looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him, turning to Kat and Daphne. "You got rid of everything, right?" "...y-yeah, we did." they said in unison. "Got rid of what?" I looked over and saw the guy that stared at me before. His blonde hair matched Alice's in color, but it didn't have the pink streaks. It was cut medium-short, surfer style, and his bangs swept across his pale blue eyes. "We were cleaning our rooms." I said, narrowing my eyes. "And who are you?" "I'm Alex, Alice's boyfriend." he said defensively. "Huh. Well I'm sure your girlfriend will turn up." I said dismissively. Alex opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Jason stood there, smiling. But his eyes went cold as he looked at Alex. "Hey Jason." "Hey Rose. I see you've met Alex." I shrugged and looped my arm around Jason's, looking directly at Alex. He came forward half a step, a determined look on his face. "I...I think you had something to do with Alice." "Really? And what makes you think that?" I retorted. "You got in a fight with her yesterday, and you're new. New patients always cause problems"- I stalked up to him, my eyes level with his. Alex looked bewildered as I glared at him, with the iciest look I could muster. "Look. I didn't do anything to your girlfriend. So you can take your accusations and shove them up your"- I was interrupted by a scream of one of the patients. We all turned to see guards carrying Alice up the stairs on a blanket, and to the infirmary. "Alice! ALICE!!" Alex screamed, rushing away from us. He followed the guards, crying over Alice's body. Jason shook his head sadly. "I knew the girl was suicidal, but, sheesh. Cutting her own throat?" "Yeah. It's a shame." I murmured, smirking down at the scene.
Crossing the hallway, I knocked on the door across from mine. It had the words "Patient 223" on it. Jason's number. He opened the door slightly, and after seeing it was me, he stepped back to let me inside. Jason shut the door and turned to me, smiling. "Hey." I said awkwardly. "Hi." he responded, smirking at me. "I wanted to see what your room was like. But everything's identical in this place." I sighed, hopping up to sit on his desk. "Not much we can do about that, since we're in an asylum." he snorted. I glanced to my right, and saw a sketchbook sitting neatly on the desk. I picked it up, poised to open it. "Do you mind if I look?" "Not at all." I flipped open the sketchbook. Inside, there were multiple sketches of items around the room. As I got deeper into the book, there were drawings of rooms, and portraits of people. I recognized Kat, Daphne, Alice, Alex, and the other patients. Turning to the last page, I saw a drawing of me. It looked lifelike, as if I'd spring to existence from the page. I paused, looking up at Jason. "How'd you draw this? I never posed for you." "Photographic memory." "It's beautiful." I said, closing the sketchbook. "Like you?" he said, tracing my jawbone with his finger. His touch sent a spark through my skin, and I shivered. Jason was so much like Matthew, it hurt me to see him. Because I knew he wasn't the real thing. Jason leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, his hand tracing down to the small of my back. I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Matthew..." I whispered. Jason suddenly pulled back, his eyes cold. Had I seriously made the same mistake? Two times? "Alright. Who the hell is Matthew?" "He's... he's nobody." "You've called me by his name twice." he said icily. "Alright. He was the one I loved before I got sent here. You look just like him." I snapped. Jason's eyes softened a little. "Rose"- "And every time you kiss me, you remind me of him. How things were before I was sent to this prison. Before I went crazy." I said, tears streaming down my face. Jason reached out to me, but I backed away to the door, shaking my head. My hand reached the door handle, and I wrapped my fingers around it. "...I-I'm sorry." I said, my voice trembling in sorrow. I flung the door open, and rushed out of the room. "Rose!" Jason called. Racing down the hallway, I rounded a corner and ended up right in front of Dr. Hathoway's office. Did I dare tell her about Matthew and I? She might not let him visit ever again. I sighed, opening the door. That was a chance I was willing to take.