Punching him in the face has been a dream of mine since grade school when he first started bullying me, but he has never pushed me around, he just used words until today. I’ve been quiet and I’ve let him do what he wants, but it has reached it’s tipping point and he has taken it too far. He pushed me today and then when I was on the ground he kicked me. Me, fighting back, was in self defense and yet I was the one arrested. They dropped me on the doorstep of some old abandoned building and quickly drove off.

Now I’m sitting waiting for someone to see me so that I can ask where I am exactly. I hear a lock click on the door behind me and I jump off the stoop just as the door gets opened by an older looking woman, she jumps when she sees me standing in front of her. She takes in my appearance before choosing how to speak to me.

“What are you doing here? We are not a hospital.” She says in an annoyed tone. I sigh and drop my arms from my fighting stance.

“It seems there’s been a mistake. The police dropped me here. It didn’t look like this place was still open. I thought I could just sit here for a while and cool my head.” I explain. Her face softens as she takes in my appearance again.

“Yes, I suppose that’s fine. Just don’t go inside.” She warns me. I’m about to respond, but the doors burst open and two men are immediately holding my arms behind my back. I look up to see a man in a white lab coat looking down at me from the top of the stairs.

“Madame, stay away from this man, he’s dangerous. I was told that he tried to kill another man.” He tells her while keeping his eyes locked on mine. The guards shove me to my knees. I start trying to fight against them, but it’s futile, they are too strong.

“That man deserved the beating that I gave him, but I did not try to kill him. It was self defense.” I try to explain, but it falls on deaf ears as the man at the top of the stairs motions for the guards to bring me inside.

“Let’s take him inside and get him acquainted with his new home and friends.” He says as the guards start dragging me up the stairs. There is noise everywhere once I get inside the doors. I look around to see lots of people, some hitting their heads against the wall and some just walking around talking to themselves. There are nurses around keeping an eye on all of them. They all seem to be momentarily mesmerized by the new person being dragged into the building before they go back to whatever they were doing before.

“What is this place?” I ask the guards as they continue to drag me down quieter and quieter hallways all lined with doors. They don’t answer until they stop me at a huge metal door. One of them pulls out a small plastic card and scans it against the wall.There’s a metallic buzzing sound before the giant door slowly opens revealing another web of hallways. The guards push me through the door and lead me to the first hall which turns out to be a common room. There are two other people already in the room and they are completely occupied with their own activities. Everything in this room is aged, the couch is on its last leg, the walls are peeling, and it’s all dark even though the room is very well lit. The two people look nice at least.

“This,” the guard states making the girl at the table jump from her chair, “is your new home.” They push me into the room. “You two play nice. The doctor will be back for you later.” The guard sneers before walking away. I stand in the entrance with my fists clenched.

“You may as well relax.” The boy tells me as he stands from his perch on the window. He walks up to me with a small smile on his face. “My name is Xavier.” He says as he holds his hand out to me.

“Alex,” I reply while shaking his hand, “nice to meet you.” His smile gets wider.

“So, why are you here?” He questions me. I feel my face twist up in confusion.

“I don’t even know where I am.” I tell him. His eyes widen a bit before he looks thoughtful.

“How did you get here?” He asks.

“I got in a bad fight.” I explain. He just nods. “You aren’t surprised?” I ask him.

“No. They've considered you insane. Now they don’t care if it was self defense or whether you actually attacked the man.” He explains. I feel my eyes widen.

“What?!” I snap at him. He jumps at my anger and backs away a bit. The girl who had been reading is now standing in front of me with a scowl on her face.

“Please don’t ruin our peace.” She tells me. Her eyes look sad. I feel myself calm instantly.

“I’m sorry. What do you mean by insane? Where am I?” I ask again. She sighs and rubs her temples.

“You’re at the Greenborough Asylum on the Isolation ward. This is where they put people they deem to be too insane to interact with the other patients out there.” She explains pointing toward the door. An asylum, the police took me to an asylum. I feel my anger rising again and instead of taking my anger out on the girl, I turn and swing my fist into the wall, making a hole. I pull my fist out of the wall just as I get pinned to the ground by my arms. I look up to see three guards, two are holding my arms and one is standing over me with a nightstick then, everything goes black.

“Alex...Alex?” I hear a female voice calling my name. My head is pounding as I open my eyes.

“What happened?” I ask her. She smiles.

“They hit you really hard over the head because they thought you were going to start getting violent.” She explains.

“What did I do?” I ask her. She snickers before answering.

“You punched a hole through the brick wall.” She explains. I sigh and sit up a bit.

“Damn, I’m a bloody idiot. Why can’t I control my anger?” I ask myself. The girl puts her hand on my shoulder.

“It’s fine. That’s why they didn’t put you with the other inmates. Anyway, the doctor is coming to you since you probably shouldn’t walk right now.” She tells me. I nod and she starts walking out of the room.

“Wait,” I say and she turns around, “what is your name?” I ask. She smiles.

“Katherine,” she tells me before walking away. I lean back and close my eyes, what is such a pretty girl doing in a place like this. A knock sounds on the metal door and I open my eyes again to see the doctor standing in front of me.

“It seems that your first day has been eventful. Would you tell me why you decided to punch the wall?” He questions me while still standing a safe distance away.

“Katherine and Xavier were explaining everything to me and I didn’t like some of the things they were saying about what this place is so I got angry and instead of taking it out on the innocent people, I decided to take it out on the wall.” I explain. He nods and pulls out a folder and pulls up an old rolling stool. He pulls out a pen and starts taking notes.

“What’s your name?” He questions me.

“Alex.” I reply. He nods and takes down a few more notes.

“When did this anger form?” He questions me.

“I’ve always had this anger, but I was able to control it because my bully didn’t do anything but use words until that last day when he decided to push me to the ground and then kick me. I don’t fight unless a person hits me first.” I explain. He just nods and takes down a few notes before looking back up at me.

“According to the police report you were sitting on top of the man and punching him repeatedly in the face. They had to physically drag you away because their words were not reaching you. What do you remember?” He asks me. I think hard about it.

“I just remember getting punched and kicked a few times before I started throwing my own punches at the guy. I was only thinking about self defense.” I tell him. He just nods. He doesn’t believe me. “I don’t think you should just assume that you know what my mind is like.” I tell him. He looks up at me with a smile.

“I’m a doctor in an asylum. I know how your mind works, probably even better than you know how your brain works.” He says with a hint of arrogance.

“Well, I’m a 19  year old kid who got in a fight. It’s not so uncommon that I need to be here.” I argue and he glares at me.

“You will be staying here until we get to the bottom of your anger problems.” He says in a grave voice that leaves no room for argument. I sigh and lean back on the cot as the doctor stands up to leave. “I will be meeting with you once a month and you will be doing therapy once a week until we uncover the deeper issues.” He tells me. I just nod and relax back down into the bed and pull the blanket over myself. Too much has happened today and I need to rest.

Next Chapter: The Artist