Even after five years Marie still loathed the darkness of the five by five cell they had her locked in. She could take anything, anything but the deafening darkness that felt like it was going to swallow her body, mind and soul. The only thing she could do to keep from erupting into screams was curl herself as tight as ball in the corner and shut her eyes so tightly they hurt. If she couldn't see the things in the darkness they wouldn't be able to hurt her. They weren't real anyway. There was nothing but her in the tiny cell. No rats trying to gnaw her eyes out, no roaches scampering over her bare flesh and certainly no tentacle monsters waiting to ravage her. She was alone and if she could just ignore the tickle on her ankle, the scratching in the corner the faint smell of rotten eggs and the slight hint of copper on her tongue they'd be forced to leave her alone.
"YOU'RE NOT REAL!" She screamed. She'd meant to scream. Whatever sound she made was devoured whole by the darkness.
Forcing her way farther into the corner she started softly humming to herself knowing that the moment she could drown it all out it would be gone.
It didn't work. It never worked. This time wasn't any different. It always started the same way and it always ended the same way.
The worst part was knowing that she deserved so much worse for her crimes. She wasn't wrongly accused. She was a murderer and no amount of remorse was ever going to change what she'd done and worse the thing that came to visit her when she was alone had be right about everything. Marie tried to fight back against the tears leaking from her eyes but she couldn't. She could never stop herself from whimpering when he was close and ever since the first time he'd been inside her she was able to feel him twisting in her gut long before actually appeared. "Come out." She whimpered. The only response was her stomach twisting even tighter. "Please?"
The silence was complete now. No more scratching but it more than ever it was just heightening her other senses. It was like a hot wet towel was wrapped around her entire body cutting off her breath. Beads of sweat started forming on her brow dripping down onto her orange prison uniform.
Without light or sound it was impossible to know how long she spent paralyzed in the corner. It felt like hours as her feet started to go numb. It was sweltering in the tiny cell and the walls were starting to close in on her until she couldn't even so much as wriggle her toes without touching opposite wall. The jumpsuit was completely soaked through with sweat now clinging to her frame. Finally Marie couldn't take the soggy cloth against her skin any longer and ripped it away throwing it against the wall with a slick splatting noise before it came rest against her feet. Her bra and panties followed shortly after leaving her in only a pair of black socks. "Come out!" She hissed at the darkness.
"Hello Marie." The voice sounded like it was coming from inside her own skull and it was so deep she felt it more than she heard it. If she wasn't slick with sweat and terrified she would have found the baritone seductive instead of terrifying. "Locked in The Room again?" The voice asked then laughed. "Why won't you leave me alone?" Marie whispered searching desperately for the source of the voice and failing. She wouldn't see him until he was ready to be seen and sometimes he simply didn't want to be seen.
"You're just one of my favorites." A pair of golden eyes with narrow slits like a cat's or a viper's appeared in the air staring at her. She'd come to hate those eyes over the years, the way she could always feel them singing her flesh. The eyes had a faint glow, just enough that she could see his mouth filled with needle like teeth glistening with dripping saliva. "You taste just like strawberries." He hissed, a forklike tongue slithering between his fangs to flicker in the air.
"Please, just go." Marie begged. It wouldn't do her any good and part of her knew that but it didn't stop her from pleading with him. "Go away Asylum, please."
"Please, just go." He mocked her mimicking her voice perfectly. "Why would I do a thing like that?" There was a thunderous crack and suddenly there were in a new room and Marie was face to face with. . .herself.
Her doppelganger was dressed in a jet black pant suit. The coat was only buttoned enough to flatter her generous endowments. She was wearing a pair of stiletto heels. Black lipstick and eye shadow gave her a sinister glower but the most striking detail was her hands. They were red with blood. "It's delicious you know." The dark double sneered as she brought a single digit up to her mouth to sample it. "The blood of family is always the sweetest."
"Stop it." Marie whispered. As hard as Marie tried she couldn't manage to peel her eyes from her own form greedily sucking the blood from her fingers. One by one she went cleaning them until she was forced to lap at her palms but finally her hands were clean leaving just a slight smear on her cheeks. "Oh, but we're not even past the fun parts yet." Her double snapped her fingers and again the room was pitch black only this time it was freezing cold. "What fun would it be if I didn't get to the parts where your friends and family abandoned you one by one? They all claimed that they loved you and they forgave you. Did a single one of them actually mean it?" Marie wiped away her tears but she remained silent even as Asylum moved in closer to her, close enough that she could smell the death on his breath and feel the warmth of his body.
Marie managed to bring her eyes up to his and hold his golden gaze. "What do you want?" She snarled. He just smiled back at her. His pointy teeth looking of all things like a stretched out zipper in the dark.
"The same thing I always want. You know good and well there are people who deserve this far more than you do." Asylum purred. "Why not make someone who truly deserves to suffer?" The sound of a thud drew her attention to her left. There shouldn't have been enough room for anything to be there and she almost reached out. The only thing that stopped her was the already ever present doubt of her own sanity. What if she reached out and found she was still in that padded five by five cell? Worse what if she reached out and there wasn't?
"Help me." A voice called from the darkness. "Please help me." An audible click announced a spot light appeared illuminating a man. He was hanging upside down hands bound behind his back. He was a prime specimen if Marie ever saw one. Even in her fright it was difficult to ignore the broad muscular shoulders and finely sculpted abs. When she inhaled she could smell him and it was just how he used to smell fresh out of the shower. "Help."
"You don't want to help him do you Marie?" Asylum whispered as he extended a clawed hand to her. Almost in a trance she accepted his hand and rose to her feet. "You do remember what he did to you don't you?"
Her attention hadn't wandered to his face though despite his pathetic mewling for help. Right then her attention had moved to the flesh between his thighs. Even flaccid it was nice and thick and despite herself she let Asylum lead her closer. Asylum was still speaking but she couldn't make out the words. It didn't matter what he was saying or what the man was whimpering. The only thing that mattered was the time that had passed since the last time she'd been with a man.
As soon as the distance between the two of them was closed she leaned forward pressing her nose into his groin until her nostrils were surrounded by his pubic hair. Then she inhaled his intoxicating masculine aroma. It had been so long since Marie had been with a man and this one, this one was like something plucked from a fantasy. "Chris."
