The Asylum

Ephraim

I officially didn't like Mikael. he was so aggressive.
I turned around and looked at Ada.
"Are you OK?" I asked.
"I'll be fine." she answered, touching her shoulder lightly, but winced and pulled her hand back.
"And I don't believe you. Here..." I put one hand on her shoulder softly., "I cant heal, but I can ease the pain." I told her. "You feel cold for a sec, so don't get a shock."
I put my hand an Adas wound and left it there for a few seconds. Then let go.
"Thank you." Ada whispered.
I smiled, and grabbed Djs legs, whilst the guard, or I should say Oliver grabbed his arms.
"OK. Lets go. Yo! Mikael! Wait up!" Oliver called.

Ada

Ephraim turned away to deal with DJ or Oliver's body, I lost track of who was carrying who anymore. I felt myself blush once he wasn't looking anymore. It was an odd feeling...one I hadn't felt in a very long time.

I quickly dismissed it though, there were more important things to attend to. I eyed DJ suspicously as we walked. He was unconcious for now...but who knows what he would be like when he woke up. I was beginning to regret rescuing him.

DJ

The blackness overcame me, and everything was okay again. I was normal. I was me. The black suddenly changed to something else, though.

Heron came into my vision, screaming. Beautiful, helpless Heron. Unable to protect herself. And she was screaming...because she saw me. I caught my reflection in a mirror that appeared in the blackness. I was a monster. A monster who had surely harmed, maybe even killed, the harmless little Heron.

"What am I?" I said, but no sound came from my mouth.

"A monster." a voice echoed through the blackness. It was myself, my own thoughts, answering me. "You are a monster, who deserves to die for the sake of the world."

As the blackness overcame me again, washing away Heron and the mirror, I hoped to God that I would never wake up.

*Yeah, we'll leave DJ in weird unconciousness for a while until I figure out what to do with him.*

((Aw, poor DJ. I'm sure we can work something out...))

Oliver

A few hours of this passed. Everyone was getting tired, and no one was in particularly good spirits.

"Hey, there's the light again!" Oliver felt relieved. He'd been uneasy about the attitude the others were showing to DJ. There was obviously something very wrong with the poor guy; he hadn't been acting like that earlier. Maybe... maybe they could figure out a way to help him somehow.

Ada darted ahead to check out the source of the light. When she came back, her face was grim.

"It's from a grate in the ceiling. I don't know if we'd be able to get up there."

Ephraim frowned. "Maybe we should get some rest. We've been at it for a while."

Oliver nodded, and everyone gathered on a fairly clean slab of concrete by the sewer water. Mikael and Guff dumped the guard in his body rather unceremoniously by the wall.

"Be careful-!" Oliver started, but then he stopped. The familiar face twisted as the guard let out a groan. "She's waking up!"

Heron's eyes widened. "What do we do?"

Oliver ran a hand through his hair. "I... it depends. I'm not sure if she still has her powers or not." He suddenly remembered the gust of wind that had pushed DJ into the water earlier. Had that been him?

He and Ephraim set DJ down carefully before moving in on the guard.

**I think Erome shouldn't have her powers. :S She'd be pretty mad, as well as mad as in insane.

Heron

Oh. My. God.

The guard - she was moving. Oliver's fingers twitched and his mouth curved into a ferocious snarl. His shoulders jerked, rocking him slightly. Heron took a small step back. Getting struck by lightning was the last thing she wanted.

She tripped over something and fell back with a short gasp. Once on the bone-shatteringly hard concrete, she saw it was DJ's discarded body which she'd stumbled into.

The guard started to choke, like her windpipe was crushed. With a wince, Heron remembered a similar incident in the danger's ward, where one prisoner had attacked another and shattered their windpipe.

Heron had seen him die.

She reached out for something to comfort her; to reassure her she was not back there, watching the life slowly drain from the dying prisoner's eyes. She found someone's hand and squeezed hard, uncaring of who it was, until she thought it might have been Mikael.

She opened her eyes quickly and relaxed. It was okay; it was only DJ, and he was out of it at the moment.

The guard wheezed. Then screamed.

Heron looked up to see her throw out Oliver's hands, aiming at Guff and Ephraim. But nothing happened. She turned her head and saw Mikael approaching. Her hair-raising scream swept shivers down Heron's back. Then the guard saw Oliver move in. Her scream cut off and she just stared at him. Heron wondered briefly what it was like to see your body staring calmly back at you, your mouth set in a grim line.

It couldn't have been nice.

The guard went mad. She thrashed around on the ground, her screams wordless and frightening. Heron thought she could have gone on in that fashion for ages, but Mikael stepped forwards and smacked her around the back of the head with something.

"Hey!" Olive stepped towards him, looking furious. "That's my body!"

"And she's in it. I'm just trying to get her to shut up."

"Well it worked," commented Ada.

Heron realised the guard was silent. Awake but silent. Her eyes were glazed over, like some of the patients when they were given high doses of drugs, and she just sort of slumped.

"Will she be okay?" Heron whispered, appalled.

"Who cares!" Mikael snorted angrily.

"Well, I-"

Mikael's glare silenced her, and she looked down at DJ, wishing she'd kept quiet. She bit her lip and squeezed his limp hand once more.

Oliver

Oliver glared at Mikael. "If you messed up my body, and I have to go the rest of my life with even more damage to my nervous system than I've already got-"

"What," came what was usually Oliver's voice, "did you do to me?" The guard's eyes were still a bit unfocused, but the rage in her words was unmistakable. "Why can't I use my powers? Why do you look like me?" She moved "her" arms as though she were attempting to get up.

"Don't bother," Oliver told the guard. "I switched bodies with you, and I haven't been able to walk for about a year now. Just relax, we aren't going to kill you."

Mikael frowned when he said this. Erome laughed mirthlessly. "I'd like to see you try."

He rolled his eyes and looked away. "I'm going to straighten the wheel on my chair. It should make getting her around easier." He wondered how long it would be until he could have his old body back. Granted, being able to walk and climb stairs was nice, but being a girl always weirded him out.

Ada

I moved out of the way of the confrontation between Oliver and the guard. Frankly, it freaked me out seeing them all switched around. I sat by Heron who was looking at DJ.

I ran a hand through his messy hair, trying to make it look a little nicer. "We'll figure out a way to help him." I said.

"What was he?" Heron whispered. I couldn't tell if it was a question or not until she looked at me and I could see it in her eyes.

"Well, he was a shapeshifter. And a very good one at that. But then they moved him from the dangers ward, and I never saw him again. Not until I found him on the testing floor. I remembered him, and had to help him. They must have tested too many things on him." I said, rambling a little.

"He never deserved something like this...no one does..."

"You're right."

I looked back to the group, and it seemed the conflict between Oliver and the guard had calmed down. People were spreading out a bit and laying down on the sewer floor. I had a feeling some of the group was getting tired of being around the other part so much.

I went and gathered some miscellanious items I knew would catch fire and built a small fire for everyone. The light faded from a grate in the cieling nearby so I guessed it to be night. I sighed and stared into the fire.

Fire had always been comforting for me. I could stare into it for hours and forget my problems. Now the only thing I could think about was how to help DJ. There had to be something to do, or else he would have rampaged all over the Asylum. They must have kept him tranquilized or something...something...

Don't die!!!!!!

Erome

Her eyes never left Peter's face. He would die. He had to die. If he were to-

"What are you looking at?" he spat.

"Peter," she rasped.

"I'm not Peter. I'm Mikael."

She frowned, confused. "You - you-"

"He's Mikael," said her body.

She turned her head towards it and managed a faint smile. "He's Peter and you're Erome." As her eyes flickered between Peter and her body, Erome became aware of something else. The dark, dingy background faded, replaced by the green of grass and bushes, the shimmering blue of a lake. "Erome better watch out... Rebecca, don't let him show you anything. Don't let him..." her eyes fluttered shut as she fainted.

Heron

She abandoned DJ's comforting presence, slowly, quietly making her way towards the guard. Everyone was asleep, aside from Ada who was staring into the fire, looking like she was in some kind of trance.

Heron sank down next to Oliver's body and reached out to shake his shoulder. She didn't even make contact. His eyes snapped open just as her hand lowered. Heron gasped and lurched backwards.

She almost woke the others. They stirred, but Ada didn't even blink.

"W-who are you?" the guard whispered. "W-what's happening..?"

"What's your name?" Heron breathed.

The guard frowned sleepily. "M-my name..." A moment passed before Heron heard, "E-Ero-Rebecca ... no... Erome.. Re..." A heartbeat passed before she settled for, "Erome."

"You look familiar, like ... I knew you..."

"No one knows me."

"I think I..."

"No one knows me."

Heron frowned. "How old are-"

Someone grabbed her by her arm and heaved her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" shouted Mikael. "No one goes near her! No one looks at her! And no one has a pleasant conversation with her!"

Heron shrank away from his red, angry face, frightened. Ada appeared like Heron's guardian angel. "Mikael!"

"No one-"

"Wait!" Oliver hissed, sitting up. "Can you hear that?"

There was a pause. Silence stretched on.

"Hear wha-"

"Listen!"

The faint sound reached them at last. A repetitive thud, gradually growing in volume. Heron felt a pang of terror as she realised what it was. From the fear in the others' eyes, it was clear they understood what that sound was.

Footsteps.

Hundreds of them.

Um...okay...I know I've like TOTALLY fallen out of this... But I think I know a way to bring myself back in, if it's okay

Aylen-

My head started to clear up a bit and I looked out into the darkness that stretched on endlessly before me. I blinked a couple times and finally, the silhouette of a dingy, cluttered cellar began to form. I sat up and a splitting pain shot through my head. I grabbed it in agony and felt a huge bump on my forehead.

"Perfect," I muttered.

"What was that?!" A voice shouted.

I looked around quickly and something else - something much more frightening - appeared in front of me. Dozens and dozens of guards were also in the cellar. I gasped as they caught sight of me and closed in. A quiet growl escaped my throat.

"I don't think so," I whispered.

They dove at me and grabbed at my arms and legs. I sent lashes of flames and whips of vines and blasts of wind and waves of water at them. It took a lot of energy - most of which I didn't have. With one of the lashes of flames, I noticed an open hatch in the floor.

I fell into a tunnel and ran. I didn't know where it led, or what - or who - would be there. I just ran. How or why I had been separated from the group, I didn't know, but I was, and now I was in this tunnel and running.

After awhile, I made out a light. I stopped short and gasped. It was a mixture of relief and fear. But it didn't surpass the fear that came from the sounds of the guards that were chasing me. I glanced behind me and saw them coming. I sent a strong gust of wind at them and kept running. As I got closer, I heard shouting, and then it got really quiet.

Just before I was able to see who was there, I tripped over something, be it my own feet or something in my path. I skidded forward a little ways before I came to a painful stop on the concrete.

"Aylen!!" Someone shouted.

---

Hope it's okay ^^

~Rayne

Ada

"Aylen!" I shouted, looking to see her lying on the cement floor.

"Hey guys," she said.

Before I could welcome her back into the group, Oliver started pulling people backwards and shouting.

"We need to get out of here, now!" he shouted.

Aylen glanced back behind her and scrambled up to stand with us. "Yeah...that's kind of my fault. Sorry," she said.

"Sorry's not doing much good," Mikael snapped.

I glared at him. "Go get Oliver's body or something useful like that, Mikael."

I turned back to Aylen. "He didn't mean it. We're all just a bit on edge."

"Okay, we really need to be leaving now," Ephraim said as he and Oliver picked up DJ.

With one quick glance around our temprorary home, I turned to follow the group. I hoped at least this time we would get out of the sewer.

*sorry i haven't posted for a few pages now :s but i thought this was a really great storybook - or at least had potential - so am trying to get it going again. here goes*

Mackenzie Guff
Mackenzie had scarpered so quickly when the guards had exploded into the tunnel that he didn't notice the tunnel-floor grdually sloping up towards him till it reached its peak, suddenly depositing him in a barren field who's loose dirt was already bone-dried by the fierce sun that now looked down on Mackenzie as the boy came to an abrupt halt, staring in wonder at how fast any trace of the storm had vanished. Like we need to he thought as he slowly opened his eyes from the near-closed squinting position they had occupied since he had left the tunnel.
In all likelihood Mac would have stood there comprehending his situation till the hundreds of guards, at that moment struggling with the dark and their heavy uniforms through the tight confines of the tunnel, caught up with him and returned him to the place he had so rapidly escaped from had it not been for the hard jab in the back Mikael gave him as he exited the tunnel just ahead of the rest of the escapees. With a shake of his head not far removed from the kind someone roughly woken from a deep sleep would display, Mackenzie slowly regained use of his muscles and, much more quickly, set off in a sprint after Mikael, his frantic mind not really worrying about the safety of the others at that moment (though it would later come to regret this decision).

*sorry for sum of the overly-posh language i used but im now studying Tess of the D'Urbervilles in english so i think it's kind of seeping through...

also sorry that not much happens, it was more in a hope of attracting attention to the storybook again*

Oliver

Oliver helped Ephraim carry DJ to where Mikael and Guff were standing. "I need to go get my body," he said quickly before sprinting back. He passed Ada and Aylen going the other way as he ran. They opened their mouths but he shook his head. "No, keep going! I'm going to get the guard!"

He darted back into the tunnel. He spotted his body on the floor, fidgeting as the guard heard her comrades barreling towards them. Oliver grabbed Erome under the arms and picked her up as best as he could.

"Let go of me!" she shouted, trying to push him away.

Suddenly he felt something cold and hard press into his back. He froze, recognizing it as a gun barrel.

"Switch back," came a low, forbidding voice.

Oliver gulped and slowly brought his fingers to his body's hand. The next thing he knew, he had been dropped on the floor. Several guards, including the one he'd switched bodies with, were standing over him.

Ada

The sound of the guards following lost a few decibels as Aylen and I ran. I glanced back to see half the group stopped around Oliver and the guard woman.

"Oliver!" I shouted. "We have to help him!"

Aylen grabbed my arm and kept me moving. "He's a smart guy, he'll be fine. We need to think about the rest of the group."

I reluctantly went ahead and met the group in the field outside of the tunnel. "Where to now?" I asked.

DJ

Something happened. I didn't know what, but something did, and it brought me back to reality. I groaned and opened my eyes, squinting into the sun. Hadn't we been in a dark tunnel?

"Watch out!" Mikael shouted and suddenly was on top of me. "Don't you dare make a move. I'll kill you right here."

Sharp pain cut into my wrists and I realised my arms and legs were bound. "Get offa me!" I gasped for air, Mikael was crushing my windpipe.

"Mikael let the guy breathe," Ephraim said.

Mikael let up but still stood over me, watching me. Oh God, it wasn't just a dream.

"Listen, I know I freaked out. But I'm okay now, promise." I said.

No one seemed to believe me. It was okay, I almost didn't believe myself. I met Heron's eyes in the group.

"At least untie my legs, then you don't have to carry me anymore." I begged.

I like how you described everything very well. You did not make any mistake I could find except for one.

arya wrote:"They were all wearing the same I noticed."
It would sound better if you wrote: I noticed they were saying the same

All the information made a lot of sense. You should keep writing.

O.o

Just to let you know, I'm still in the game and will post later.