Blue skies, red clouds, constant shining sun, void of darkness.

Bright... Everything was always bright.

Birds sang with words. An absurdity that she learned to accept.

The tree above her moved its leafy branch to give her shade. She looked up at it and gave her gratitude. Eyes opened from its trunk and smiled at her as she shifted her gaze to a grazing white deer. She never knew white deer existed. But in their world, she learned to expect the unexpected. The grass changed color, and the moon produced a twin, casting crimson hues, but there was never darkness. The sun would set before her eyes, but its glowing light remains.

The moon rose but bathed in eternal sunshine. The landscape changed sporadically. Sometimes she's on top of a mountain or plateau, floating in an ocean, or bathing in a desert. It never mattered to her what form the world took because it made her happy.

Every time she was allowed to enter the door that led to her little piece of heaven, she took it. She allowed herself to be consumed by it, struggling to keep in her heart a tad bit of joy and freedom before her screaming monster arrived home. Before the acrid smell of burning flesh, cold touches, and an endless whisper of sweet, but dreadful promises. Its words always forced shivers down her spine, devouring her senses, until there was nothing left to do but succumb.

She closed her eyes and took in the sweet scent of nature. She smiled and then ran a finger to her hair that ran from head to foot. She tried cutting them once but found them at the same length when she awoke the next day. She kept cutting, they kept growing until she lost the will and left it as it was. Besides, her monster liked it that way, long and shiny, which it never failed to whisper in her ear.

Amid her reverie, her piece of heaven suddenly erupted in a blaze of fire. The ground began to shake and break, shooting hot molten lava and purple ashes into the sky. She feared not though because never once did those anomalies touch her, they would recede once nearing her presence. In an instant, the sky turned crimson blood and the animals disappeared. The tree above her retracted its comforting shade and its leaves turned brown then fell one after the other.

She knew what was coming, so her smile faded. Her soft gaze turned into fear, and finally, the figure appeared before her. It held out its shadow-like arm and she took it because fighting was futile, running was a dream, and escape was nothing but a distant memory.

How long had it kept her she can't remember, she'd lost count of the days, for sometimes she would black out and miss the twenty-four-hour count. Even her name was lost in time. It called her princess, and she responded every time.

It led her out of her destructed heaven, back to their small and dark cabin near the sea. She loved the sea, but the sea breeze near her cabin never gave her the comfort she longed for. It reeked of death from all the floating carcasses of decapitated animals that turned the sea foam into a blackish floating substance that crashed and coated the entirety of the shore.

She walked, she talked, she hugged it. It always hugged her back. Though her companion hid its face behind its dark shadowy mask, she knew, in its twisted way that it cared, and it cried invisible tears for her.

She could never leave, for she is its possession. Always was and always will be.

"Don't linger," it whispered as it led her inside her chamber, locking the door from the outside, leaving her once more in an endless paradise of amber and midnight hue.
***

Dr. Zackary Salvador had his fair share of crazy. He devoted hours and hours of his time to mentally challenged patients. He had seen them at their worst, at their best, and their scariest. But none prepared him for the spectacle behind the monitor. He watched her sit motionless, feet dangling beside the bed, palms resting on her leg. There was a foreboding in the way she sat. As motionless as she was, her eyes showed the internal battle that consumed her from within. Doctor Mori had instructed Zackary to keep his gaze intently on the woman's eyes. How dramatically her emerald orbs changed in seconds. It's as if her soul was permeating behind those viridian holes. Happy one second, then wide with fear, before abruptly turning glazed.

The young doctor frowned. There was nothing truly scary or odd about her, except for the uncanny feeling her gaze coerced. It made Zackary feel a foreign pressure on his chest and a tightening in his heart, which he for once, never felt before. It baffled him. When he felt like he had enough, Zackary descended the steps of the third floor, his grip tightening on the thick folder that Dr. Mori had given him. He was instructed to observe the girl before reading her profile. It should have been the other way around, but Dr. Mori insisted and so he obliged. He didn't know what to expect from the patient the old doctor asked him to visit, but he decided to plow on if it was meant to cultivate his aptitude.

When Zackary stepped out of the main building, the sky was already bathed in red and orange hues that signaled the dawn of night. The garden was fully lighted and filled with the silhouette of humans and nature. His watch showed six pm. He decided to spend some time inside the cafeteria and grab something to eat for dinner, but after he saw the number of people inside, he resolved to take his food and have it in his room.

Just as he turned to enter the second building, he was reminded of the metal bars that he and Damien went through in the morning. Remembering that the big guy locked it before they left, he internally cursed himself for forgetting to ask for a spare key. He walked back to the cafeteria and searched for Damien, but the big guy was nowhere to be seen. Zackary decided to ask one of the lounging nurses if they had seen him, but he ended up empty-handed.

Feeling dejected, he decided to sit inside the cafeteria after seeing that most had vacated their chairs and gone outside. Zackary debated with himself as he absent-mindedly toyed with the plate of pasta in front of him. Just then, a high-pitched laugh caught his attention. Turning his head, he noticed that the laughter came from from the nurse with black stockings. He felt prejudiced against the woman, and in normal circumstance would have not bothered himself with her, but lacking the resolve for his current problem, he decided to get up and walk towards her. She must have seen him coming in her direction because she shifted her gaze and positioned herself to welcome him.

"Hello," Zackary said as he conjured a sweet smile. He stretched out his hand and the nurse took it. She smiled. "I believe I haven't had the opportunity to give you my name," she said to him as she shook his hand.

"I'm Bertha but you can call me bee." instantly, the two women seated beside Bertha giggled and she threw them an angry look. Their giggling soon died and Zackary smirked at how easily she reprimanded them with just a glare. Bertha must be someone with authority, Zackary thought to himself. She then returned her attention to him and asked if there was anything he needed, so he passively informed her of his problem.

A few minutes later, Zackary was finally within the confines of his room. Luckily, he spoke with Bertha and the other girls. They informed him that not all employees lived within the hospital dorm. Only him, Bertha, Damien, Delfin, and occasionally, some nurses, who were too worn out to drive back home stayed inside the compound. Additionally, Zackary also found out about the road, which to his dismay, Damien so selfishly deviated from, when the big man accompanied him to the hospital.

He toyed with the master key that Bertha happily gave him earlier. According to the aforementioned woman, the key was compatible with almost all the gates and rooms in their dorm and hospital. He flipped it into the air and it landed on his bed—near the file he threw earlier. Instantly, his attention was caught by the 13-inch-thick file that Dr. Mori had given him.

Debating whether to open it at that moment or later, Zackary decided on the latter. He took a shower first and finished his nightly routine of facial cleansers and cream before laying himself on the bed. He took the file, opened the first page, and there, smiling innocently was a woman with emerald eyes, pinkish complexion, and midnight hair that cradled her heart-shaped face.

Zackary couldn't help it when his breath hitched. The woman in the photo was nothing like the broken image behind the monitor earlier. No, the woman in the photo looked ethereal and goddess-like. He knew it was a hundred sorts of crazy to even admire a psychotic patient, but God, she was gorgeous. It has been a long time since he admired a woman. But just as the moment came, it passed in the blink of an eye. He shook his head and turned to the next page.
It was general information about the patient which contained the following,

Name
Genelyn Calderon
Age: 18 (Time of admission)
The patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

#Admitted upon the request of Honorable Judge Patricia De Guzman
Case:
Four counts of Murder.

Zackary frowned upon reading the latter. Dr. Mori did not mention anything about the girl being a criminal. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before flipping to the next page, not bothering to read the remaining information below the ones he had read and when his sight fell on the photos stapled on the next page, Zackary dropped the folder and ran to the bathroom puking out his dinner.