Insanity is its Own Reward

                                                             Part II Red

  I never was a fan of hospitals, especially not hospitals that are noisy, like this one. The hospital waiting room is large and various ponies wait like me. Most of them read magazines, or weep to themselves. What a depressing place, nopony belongs here. Especially not my friend. I frown and look at the linoleum floor at my hooves. How could this happen? My friend, gone mad, and all I can do is hope she is getting better. I wish I could do more, I wish I could at least talk to her. But the doctors claim she is dangerous, I know she's not. I know Eve would never hurt me, or anypony for that matter.

  Suddenly an image of that early morning comes to me. I had been trying to stumble home, drunk off my flank from the tavern. But when I got there, she was holding a shard of glass and blood was all over her hooves. I tried talking her into dropping the glass, but it was as if she didn't know me, like I was some kind of...monster. I was stabbed three times before the guards came to help me, I was drenched in my own blood, and Eve's blood. The last thing I saw was that pool of blood, and the look of fear and hate on Eve's face, like a caged animal. She longed for freedom with those eyes, freedom from something, and freedom from herself.

  "Red Flare?" A voice calls.

  I don't say anything but I still walk to the nurse that stands near a white door. "Please follow me sir," She says to me with a smile. I don't smile back, I never understood why people do certain things to convey emotions. She leads me down a white hallway with a mirror showing the parking lot and various buildings. But on the other side are various metal bars locking the "patients" out, but some try to grab at me with their hooves. This seems more like a prison than a hospital.

  "Mr. Flare?" The calls to me,

  "Yes?" I ask, feeling annoyed.

  "Mr. Turner is right through this door." She says, smiling once again.

  "Ah...ok." I say, trotting past her and through the wooden door. The nurse says nothing then leaves, closing the door behind her. This office looks nice, its mostly made of pure wood and a few paintings of a beige pony with an hourglass for a cutie mark hang from the red walls. In the center of the room sits a small wooden desk...the same design as Eve's.

  "Hello Mr. Flare!" A stallion's voice calls from the desk, "Please take a seat dear friend," He says motioning to the chair facing his desk.

I take a seat and stare at him, waiting for him to say something. But I think I may be making him feel uneasy, I can tell by his fake smile and the way he scratches his brown mane. "Ahem, I don't believe I've introduced myself, my name is Time Turner," He laughs, "but my friends call me Dr. Whooves, so please tell me what I can do for you." He finishes.

  Where do I begin? Is Eve OK? What is her prognosis? Are they treating her correctly? Is she fed and watered twenty four seven? My mind reels with questions but I decide to ask the basic question first, "Is...Eve OK?" I ask feeling the emotion of worry which puts my stomach into a tight, uncomfortable knot.

  Time Turner swallows, and I can see his adams apple bob around in his throat, "Well Mr. Flare before I can tell you anything you must first see an image of her MRI (magnetic resonance image) and her CT scan." (computed tomography)

  I nod, I hope that her scan looks fine. Even though I have no clue what I am hoping to see and what I am hoping not to see. Time Turner dismisses me and begins typing on his computer. Right after he turns it and I see seven images of Eve's brain. I look at the image's feeling confused and Time Turner must notice because, "Mr. Flare as you can see on these images there is a lot of neural activity in her frontal lobe, hippocampus, and her temporal lobes, which is causing her distorted perception on reality. So we have been medicating her with antipsychotics and attempting to give her therapy sessions, daily of course. But sadly they have been of no use, she rambles on that we are trying to keep her here in order to save her for "the hooded one" even our greatest therapists haven't been able to make her see the truth." He sighs and puts his hoof to his mouth, and then he looks outside.

  I'm worried. For Eve and for myself, if Eve never recovers then she will never be the same again. Then the only way I can ever remember her by is the distant memory of the tavern. That was the last time I saw her before she lost her mind. Time Turner must notice my pensive state, "I know this is hard for you to take in, and I don't blame you. She is your friend and you care for her, your a great stallion Mr. Flare. You are the only pony who bothered to check up on her."

  I feel a twitch at my eyebrow, no visitors? But, "What do you mean I'm the only one that checked on her?"

  "I mean what I said, nopony else has come to visit her and your the only one so far. This makes it much harder on the patient Mr. Flare, it makes her think that nopony cares for her," He puts his hoof on my shoulder, "but you came." He smiles.

  "Can. Can I...see her?" I blurt out subconsciously.

  He shakes his head, "I don't know Mr. Flare I might be putting you in danger, these ponies are-"

  SLAM!

  I get out of my chair and slam my hoof on his desk, "Listen here Mr. Turner. You may think that Eve is just a way for you to...study. But she is much more than that!" I begin shouting, "She's my friend, not some animal you can leave behind bars like the others I just came across!" I point to the door, where through some glass on the door you can see various hooves flailing about, "I have to see her, its something I have to do," I sigh attempting to recoup myself, "You know that." I finish by taking my hoof off of his desk.

  Time Turner looks at his desk and sighs to himself. He reaches into a drawer in his desk and pulls out a walkie talkie. "Um Bulk? Would you mind escorting a red unicorn stallion to ward A room 5 please?" I hear a incomprehensible response, the only thing I can hear is a loud "YEAH!" followed by the walkie talkie turning off. "Please wait a moment Mr. Flare." I nod. After a while a large white pegasus comes in. His appearance scares me, the pegasus is large, and I mean VERY large. His hooves are buff, various veins poke out of his many muscles. His eyes are small and red, they look like they could be cruel, yet they carry a certain kindness with him.

  "Mr. Flare this is Bulk Biceps, please follow him and he will take you straight to Ms. Star." He gives us both a curt nod, and I follow Bulk back to the door.

                                                                                                         ***

  This part of the hospital is well lit, many white light bulbs hang from the ceiling and blur my vision. Well maybe its too lit for my tastes. Around me are various white doors, that match the equally white walls. The hallway is quite narrow and the doors have a tiny glass window shaped like a little square. A few of the rooms inhabitants bang on the door, or snarl at me and Bulk through the window. This whole place makes me feel uneasy, it feels wrong the way they seem to treat these ponies like animals.

  "We're here." Bulk mutters, he points to a door. It looks vacant. "Mr. Flare you're sure your up for this?"

  I cant turn back now, "Yes I'm sure."

  Bulk proceeds to take out a small silver key and inserts it into the lock. He looks at me again, questioning my judgment. I nod, he unlocks it. And with a small click *the door opens. The room is completely padded and colored white. There are no windows looking at the outside world, no form of entertainment, no...no nothing. The only thing is a small white bed, with a pink pony sleeping in it. I go into the room but Bulk stops me. "If she's sleeping I can't let you in." He says in a commanding tone.*

"I won't wake her." I tell Bulk.

"You'd better not," He says with a grin, "Hey just take this," He throws me a walkie talkie and I catch it with my hoof, "just press the button and tell me when your ready," He says smiling. I nod and I enter the room while Bulk locks me in the room with a possibly homicidal version of my friend.

***

She sleeps soundly for a long time. Her breathing is steady and unchanging until she wakes up. I feel my face light up and I begin to feel the sensation of joy. I don't approach her just yet instead I watch her, making sure she doesn't wake and attempt to attack me again. But I also stay ready to help her, just in case she falls, or wakes up feeling startled. She begins to get out of her bed but I see that she cannot move out of her bed. The most she can do is put her hooves over her bedside. She doesn't seem bothered by this though, she just looks at her hoof that is chained to the leg of her bed and mutters, "Trapped."

"Eve." I utter her name quietly.

She turns her head quickly and looks at me with her teal eyes. At first she looks angry, and I brace myself for a psychotic break down. But her expression turns to one of relief, "Red...Red, please help me." She begs me pointing to her chain.

I want to comfort her, tell her that I can. That I can end her suffering, but I cant. And with that thought my eyes begin to feel wet, "I...I cant Eve. I wish I could but...but I just cant. But I can talk to you, if you want." I tell her.

She looks at the padded floor and points to a spot on the bed next to her. I slowly take the spot next to her and we both stare at the padded wall in front of us. It must be boring, just staying in a padded white room twenty four hours a day seven days a week. "Why did this happen Red?" Eve asks me, and feel her hoof on my shoulder, "Why? Why? I...I'm scared Red." She whispers to me, I can feel her breath on my face.

"I...I don't know Eve, it...it just happened but I know you didn't mean to attack me but-"

"I never attacked you Red," She turns me to face her, "Your just like the rest of these ponies, saying that I did things I didn't do," her eyes begin to turn red, "I thought you were my friend Red...I would never hurt you."

I know you wouldn't ever hurt anypony Eve but...I even have the scars to prove it. I want to show them to her, just hoping that maybe that could get her back to reality. "I know you wouldn't Eve your not that kind of mare."

"Then why did you accuse me of something I never did?" She asks me.

"I...I don't know," I lie to her, "I haven't slept much...heh," I throw in a fake laugh to make my lie more believable.

She smiles, "Oh. Well you should get on that then. You need your sleep if your going to make more spells."

I smile, its nice to know that she still cares for me, "Yeah, yeah I know but I just needed to visit you." I tell her.

This time Eve doesn't smile, at first her teal eyes scan the room quickly like she's being hunted. And then she brings her muzzle to my ear, "Listen Red I need your help, these ponies are keeping me here to have me ready for...him...so please speak quietly there may be microphones or-"

I cant bear to see hear like this so I stop her, "Eve, Eve please there's no need for that, your fine nopony is watching you. I assure you that-"

She shoves me away from her and backs away from me, and she attempts to get off of the bed, only to be stopped by the chain. Her eyes widen with fear and the dark circles under her eyes become prominent. "HELP! HELP! SOMEPONY HELP! HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE! HELP PLEASE!" I attempt to approach her but she sticks her hoof out at me, "HELP I'M BEING ATTACKED! PLEASE!" She screams for help but nopony comes.

"Eve please I-"

"PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screams and tears begin flowing down her cheeks. I too want to cry, but I have to stay strong for her and for myself.

Soon the door opens and Bulk Biceps stands at the door, "C'mon time to go kid." Bulk says to me, ignoring Eve's cry's for help. We both leave the room, Eve's screams slowly subsiding as we go down the hall. And as we trot down the hall I can feel myself screaming as well, begging for my friend to alright.