Walking. Alone. That massive gathering of the crazies had come close to letting the ghouls loose again. They had been scrambling and tumbling around my frame, causing my heart to race and life blood to surge. It was all I could do not to let them burst free and drag me back under. I needed some time to myself, for I was close to the proverbial edge. Toppling over that cliff was not an option, not ever.

The shrieks of the abhorrent ones were still resounding in my ears, making my cranium ache and plead for a break. Since regaining governance over my own consciousness, I had been left a wreck, a paranoid wretch of who I once was before. I was constantly keeping guard over my own thoughts, my own think tank. I hadn’t slept a wink since, for that was when they’d creep up on me and take everything I held dear.

As I wearily trudged my way forward, not paying any attention to where I was going, my pools were struggling to stay open, as fatigue washed over me and threatened to cloak me with its lethargic cloak. I stumbled, which brought me back into reality. I gave myself a big shake and decided to push on, trying to evade the darkness that beckoned me.

Slumber was even less of an option now than it had been a few days ago. With the fearsome ones lurking so close to the surface, they only needed to slightest excuse to tip me down the rabbit hole. Would they always be there? Would I permanently be looking over my shoulder in panic? Would I be forever living in fear of losing everything to those that I hated? That had been spawned from one of the worst time of my life? It didn’t seem fair, it didn’t seem just.

As much as it pained me, I had to remove myself from the mesmerising one, the crowned beauty I had stumbled upon in the threshold. I had taken her home, into the clutch of the insane; they would look after her now. They were safer than I could be right now, they would protect her whereas I could not. I couldn’t bear the idea of her seeing that repugnant side of myself.

Eliminating myself from her eyesight had been easier than facing up to the fact that I truly belonged to the Asylum, no matter how much I hated the idea of belonging with the mentally unstable. It didn’t matter to me that she had agreed to join us and our cause. It didn’t matter that it meant that she held darkness too, that she too was also crazy. That would require rational thought, and that was severely lacking in my dial right now.

All of a sudden, a ghoul leapt from its slumber and CRACKED itself against the side of my dial, causing me to shriek in pain and panic. They were growing stronger, they were feeding on my paranoia. The paranoia caused by them. It was always going to be a catch twenty two.

They were screeching now, pounding, tumbling in a mess around my entire frame, causing me to quiver my carcass violently, and toss my cranium in pain. Eventually the pain took over, causing me to sink to my knees, sobbing and begging them to leave me alone…