Page 5 of Straightjacket

“Are you still hearing him, Silas?” Doctor Thorne questions, his pen hovering over whatever paper lays on his clipboard. He’s dying to pick me apart; I can see it in the way he looks at me. He failed the first time, and now he’s ready to do it all over again.

I bite the inside of my mouth before answering. “Hearing who? If you’re hearing things Doctor, maybe we should switch places?” I say, a cocky smirk pulling at my lips.

Thorne clicks the top of his pen a couple of times and suddenly, it’s the only thing I can focus on. Click click click. I can feel my jaw tightening, and I’ve never wanted to snap something more.

“You know who I’m talking about. The voice,” he takes his thumb off the pen and points it towards me. “The one who speaks to you. Is he here now?”

“There is no voice,” I state, “and even if there was, he isn’t going to tell me where the fuck Iris is. You’re going to do that.” I look at Thorne with a hard stare, he knows full well the only thing that’s stopping me from skinning him and turning him into a wetsuit is the handcuffs, and the hole in my stomach.

Thorne has me exactly where he wants me. Where he can poke and prod at me like an exotic animal trapped in a cage at the circus, but I refuse to give him the answers he craves, the answers that he thinks I have. I can see it in his dead eyes; he wants to pin me down like a dead spider and prop my limbs into place so that he can get a better look at me.

For once, there’s a sicker monster than me in the room.

Silence hangs heavily around us like a weighted blanket. Doctor Thorne sighs and places his pen down. “All you have to do is behave, and little Iris will be perfectly fine.” His words are thick, covered in black tar and I hate the idea of my little demon’s name on his tongue. He doesn’t deserve to say her name. No one does.

The metal beneath my hands groans with how tight I’m holding onto it. “If you touch her, or anyone else in this fucking looney bin touches her, I will slaughter each and every one of you. I’ve done it before, don’t think I won’t do it again.”

Thorne chuckles, forcing a scowl on my face.

“I didn’t realise I’d made a joke?”

“Oh no, no joke at all my boy. I know exactly what you’re capable of.” His eyes shine like a proud father and it makes my skin crawl. “You’re capable of so many things, Silas, and it’s my job to find out exactly what those things are. What makes you tick, what goes on inside that brain on yours.” He smiles like a Cheshire cat, a twinkle in his eye as his slimy gaze roams over my exposed skin.

I want to throw up. To claw my fucking skin off. Thorne doesn’t even have to be that close to me, for me to be able to feel his dirty hands all over my body.

What would my little demon think of me if she knew? If she found out what this man did to me all those years ago.

I keep my eyes low, avoiding his face. “Tell me where she is.”

“She’s... alive.”

“That isn’t what I asked, Thorne. Where is she?” I demand.

“She’s here, and she’s alive. That’s all you need to know for now.”

I can feel the blood in my veins beginning to boil. My black soul is screaming out for her; it can’t cope without her. This distance between us is slowly killing me and Thorne knows that. She’s my weakness and he’ll do everything in his power to abuse that.

That’s the thing with Doctor Thorne, he’s an abuser. He takes and takes until you have nothing left to give. He claims that his techniques work to cure the mentally insane, but I fear he’s only made me worse.

I was his favourite toy, his favourite patient. Thorne was fascinated by me from the moment I walked through the door.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I try to shove away the painful memories. They linger like ghosts from the past, waiting in the dark corners of my mind, ready to eat me alive.

“Iris doesn’t need to be here. You have me.” I say, my throat drying up as the words come out. It’d kill me, completely rip me to shreds to let Thorne keep me here but at least then she’d be safe. Away from me and my ghosts.

“You’re right,” Thorne states. “I do have you; I always have but you see, Silas. Iris is your weakness, your broken link and without her, how will I get what I want?”

There's darkness in his eyes, a glint of evil festering in the background and I’m struggling to get a read on him. His mask stays firmly locked in place.

“You can have what you want, as long as you let her go.” I speak the offer with finality, a figurative nail slamming into the lid of my coffin.

Thorne ponders on my words for a moment; I can see the cogs spinning in his mind. He’s probably questioning if just having me here will benefit him, because the good doctor does nothing if it doesn’t benefit him.

Don’t do this, Silas.

My brows furrow at the voice, because deep down I know he’s right. I’d never survive without my little demon, but I know I’d rather be dead if any harm comes to her because of me, so this is the right thing to do. I have to give myself up, hand over my own broken sanity to save her.

After a short moment of silence, Thorne speaks, like he’s finally finished thinking of his answer after weighing up his options.