Paranoia Paranoia.

Everybody's coming to get me.

Just say you never met me.

Hear the voices in my head.



Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta



"Armadillomon'll save me! He's coming to save me from this place! He'll Armor Digivolve and he'll destroy this place!" Iori shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Right buddy. And I'm the Queen of England." a husky man said, as he walked by his cell.

"Your majesty!" Iori said falling to his knees, bowing. "I live but to serve you!"

"Right kid." the man said shaking his head, and walking away.

"I am Spiderman!" the man beside Iori shouted, as he jumped from his bed, and attempted to stick to the wall, but only bounced back. "My spider sense is tingling!"

"The Digimon Kaiser will kill you all if you don't let me out! Out... out... out..." Iori stuttered, as he began twitching. He ran over to his left side all, and began smashing his head on the rubber. He then let himself fall down, and he began laughing his head off.

"The squirrels! The squirrels are gonna take over the world! They will team up with the skunks and the sheep, and the only way to kill them, will be Paprika! We have to buy Paprika!" an elderly man with grey hair shouted. "Paprika I tell you!"

"I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy." Iori repeated to himself, before he stared at the ceiling, and burst out laughing again. "Crazy! I am crazy! I need caffeine! I need sugar!" he turned his head, to the person that was right in front of him, who was eating his supper.

"Paprika!" the man shouted, as Iori jumped up, and rushed over to the bars.

"Give me your sugar! I swear I'll kill you if you don't give me it! I will beat you all to death with my stick! I will feed your remains to my... AH! My stick! They took away my stick! Give me back my stick!" he screamed as a guard passed by him.

"Get back in area." he hissed at Iori, as he walked past him.

"I'll burn this place! I'll watch it go up in a bloody blaze of flames and tears! Nobody will be safe from my wrath! You hear me! I'll kill you!" Iori said pointing at the man.

"Get the sedative!" the guard said turning around, and whipping out his keys. "We have to restrain him! Get the jacket too!"

"No! Not the jacket! Not the jacket!" Iori screamed, as he darted away from the bars, and ran into a corner, holding his legs protectively. He started to rock back and fourth, back and forth, mumbling nonsensical babble. The guard then opened to doors, and a team of doctors rushed in, grabbing at his arms, forcing them into the straight jacket.

"Get away!" Iori cried. "I'm not crazy! I'm not crazy! Crazy... crazy... crazy..." he said twitching again.

"Get the medication ready." the doctor said, as a girl handed him a large needle, filled with a blue tinted drug. He injected it in Iori's side, and he instantly calmed down.

"I shouldn't be here!" he said as he started to cry. "I saved the world! I helped defeat the evil!"

"I am Spiderman!" the man said pointing a finger at himself. "Not you, me! I went to Spider School for 15 years!"

"Quiet Jamie!" the doctor said sighing.

"No!" the man said grumpily, as he continued to throw himself off the walls, still trying to stick to one of them.

"Please help me!" Iori begged. "I shouldn't be here! I'm normal! Normal... normal... normal..." he said, as his left eye began fluttering uncontrollably.

"Calm down." the doctor said, as he helped Iori up, and guided him to his bed. "Get some rest. We have therapy in the morning."

"Normal... normal... normal..." Iori chanted, before falling into sleep's grasp.

"What's wrong with him?" a nurse that was helping them asked. "He seems to be stable, but then something just sets him off! He's like a walking time bomb! Never know when he's gonna go!"

"Iori is a special case. In his matter, it wasn't his fault that he ended up like this. As a young boy, he was put under a lot of stress, and it eventually built up, and caused him to have a nervous breakdown, causing him to go insane." he explained.

"Can he be helped?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on if he wants to get batter or not."

"I sure hope he does. He has so much potential. I can tell." she sighed, as they both walked out of the wing.


Iori's POV


I was having a horrible nightmare. I dreamed the aliens had come, and sucked me up in their spaceship, making me one of their slaves. I had to dress up in a deep blue suit, and then they made me their king. Actually, it was a great dream. Much better than the one I had where my hand flew off my body and started to kill the people around me.

There were just way to many interesting people around me! There was a Kleptomaniac next to me, and I could swear he was taking my pillows, but I really had no proof. Then there was the person, Jamie, who thought the squirrels and sheep, and barnyard animals were going to overthrow the government, and the only way to kill them, was to throw Paprika at them.

There were a few people with multiple personalities. Most of them were nice, and sometimes they could be cruel. On top of me was a cannibal that kept biting off his own skin for food. I felt bad for him, but mostly the doctors that had to treat him.

I don't know why, but at times, this place was the best. No matter how crazy, or messed up you thought you were, there was always someone there, that outshone all the others. The sad thing is, most of the people here, are perfectly normal. They just did one thing that ended up screwing them over in the future. Others, like me, were sent here, just so we 'won't hurt anyone.' like I could hurt anyone, even if I wanted to. But the sad thing, is, I did hurt someone.

I hurt her, and she ended up losing her life. All because of me, a small girl had to die. I really didn't want to hurt her. I honestly didn't. But she kept screaming at me. I begged her to stop, but she wouldn't. She just wouldn't stop screaming. I tried everything I could. I really did! But then, something told me to grab my Kendo sword. A voice inside me told me to use it to make her shut up.

The voice just took over my body, and before I knew it, the screaming had stopped. There was no noise at all. That's when I knew something was wrong. Every time there's silence, something is wrong. I've learnt that. The voice in my head told me so. 'Never trust anybody but me.' he told me. There was a loud clicking sound, which I recognized as the steel bars swinging open. My doctor had come in for our weekly session.

"How are you doing today Iori?" he said warmly. I knew it was a cover. I knew, he knew I knew he thought I was a freak. They all think I'm a freak. But I can't help it.

"Fine. And so is Ian." I replied as I swatted away a nonexistent fly.

"Who's Ian?" he said opening his book, and taking out a pen. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"Ian is the person in my mind." I said sitting up. "Every day, he walks around my head, and tells me to do things." I said, as I traced a path around my skull. "But I can stop him now! All I do is this!" I said judo chopping myself in the forehead. "He can't get by that way!" I said proudly, as I kept my hand positioned on my head.

"Iori, Ian doesn't exist."

"He does! He does exist!" I said jumping up. "He told me he's real, and I believe him!"

"It's good to know you trust people Iori, but trust me. Ian is a figment of your imagination. Just like, uh," he said flipping back a few pages. "Armadillomon."

"No!" I shouted. "Armadillomon is real! He's in the Digiworld, waiting for me to go back!"

"Iori." the doctor said getting up, obviously losing his cool attitude. "He isn't real. Ian isn't real. None of these things exist!"

"They do! I can prove it! It... it... it..." I said, as my eye began to quiver again. I grabbed it with my hands.

"Iori, I think we need to double your medication." the doctor said, coming to a conclusion. "It would benefit you for the better." with that, he got up, and began to walk away.

"No!" I screamed, as I ran after him. "Please. Nobody believes me here. Nobody ever believes me! Please! Just say you do!" He locked the cell, before he answered anything. He was being cautious, and I didn't blame him.

"Iori, I believe, that you believe." was all he answered. I sat back in my bed, wondering how I could have gotten to this point. I mean. I had a lot. Friends that cared about me. A family that loved me. But, within an instant, everything halted. I lost the family I loved. My friends stopped contact with me.

Hell, it was only a matter of time before I snapped. Better sooner than later. Who knows what type of damage I could have done. I only wish I could escape from here, and apologize to Miya. I ruined her life, and I wanted more than anything, to just go and beg for forgiveness.

Life was short. I knew that now. I've grown up so much since I've been stuck in this hospital. Almost like I grew up finally. But the things that went on here. God. It was just so unbearable. The piercing screams in the middle of the night, from the patients. The loud hollering from the ones that have sever psychological problems. But the saddest thing is the tears shed by the people, wrongfully accused.

It's gonna take me forever to forget the looks on their faces. The grief and misery. Maybe it's the loneliness. Nobody ever comes to visit you when you're in the nut house. They think it's a disease that they can catch or something. So we're always alone. The feeling of alone is probably why the people kill themselves.

I've lost too many friends. Way too many. It seems that every day, they're carting out another person, that just escaped the sad reality they called their lives. And I can't blame them. Who can?

Some of them just have a disability. Like this guy in cell block G, he had this gift, that enabled him to predict when there would be storms. The bones in his body seemed to be in tuned with mother nature, and every time there would be some sort of disturbance in the atmospheric something, he would become crippled. All the bones in his small body would cave in, and he would basically be a living pile of flesh.

Or another, who could hear the wind. It got to the point, that every time a breeze would blow by, he'd pass out from pain. There are so many more. Each one having their own story to tell, but they never had an audience to listen.

The doctors here were medical school flunkies. They had no clue how we felt, but they acted as if they did. And the diplomas on their wall only backed them up. It was hell. This place, is hell. Each of us, is stuck in this building. The label insane, plastered on their heads.

You wanna know what I find funny though? I can think normally. Each and every thought is clear, and sane. But when I speak, it's crazy talk. The words coming out of my lips, aren't the one's I'm thinking. They never are.

That's why I'm still here. I have to overcome that problem, before I can be set free. And I know it won't be easy. Nothing in life ever is. But I have to do it. If not for me, then for everyone in here. I want them to be proud of me, because they're my new family. "Iori." a voice called out to me, breaking me away from my thoughts.

"Yeah." I muttered, as I began to scratch at my bed sheets. I swear I could see a beetle on it, but whenever I touched the cool sheets, it would disappear.

"It's me." the voice spoke again. This time, it registered, and my head swung around. It wasn't one in my head. It was an actual person.

"Miyako..." I gasped, as I jumped from my bed, and rolled under it, not wanting her to see me.

"Iori." she whispered, as she sniffled. I could tell she was crying. Probably because she realized, the young boy that used to bake her brownies, is now the same on locked up in a padded cell.

"I am Spiderman!" the man called out again, as he smashed off the cushioning, and fell on the ground. He began rolling around, jumping up at times.

"What do you want? Want... want... want..." I demanded.

"To see you." she sobbed. "I had to see you again."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend." she stated.

"Why?"

"Because we've been through so much together."

"Why?"

"Iori stop that!" she said a little frustrated.

"Why?"

"Iori please!" she begged. I rolled back, from underneath my bed, slightly covered in dust. I looked at her. I mean. I really looked at her. It must have been at least two years. The minimum.

She had only gotten prettier. Her eyes were bloodshot and red, but the beautiful amber glow still shone brightly. "You wanna see my new friend?" I said holding up a dust bunny. "His name is Steve."

"Iori, it's a piece of dust." Miyako said, as I dropped it.

"I know." I said solemnly. "Miya, I'm sorry." I said, finally getting my chance. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you."

"I can't blame you." she said grabbing my hand. "You had no control over what you did."

"But I did. I killed her! I took her away from this world! You should hate me!"

"I can't hate you. No matter what happens, I could never hate you. You still are my best friend."

"Do you really mean it?"

"You know I do." she said smiling at me. "But please, for me. Try and get better."

"You know I will." I said smiling at her.

"Ms, you have to go now. Visiting hours are over." the guard said, as he took her by the arm, and gently pulled her away from me.

"Bye Iori." she whispered, before leaving.

"Goodbye Miyako. I promise you. I'll be better soon." and I had every intention of sticking to that promise. I would do everything in my God given power to get better again. Just so she would be proud of me.


EPILOGUE


Iori did end up breaking through the barrier, that was keeping him trapped in the Institution. He was released, and after that, he disappeared. Miyako never heard from him again, but she still knew he was out there. Living the rest of his life.

MORAL: People with mental or physical disabilities, are still people. You shouldn't make fun of them, or treat them differently. They are just like you and me, only, they have a handicap, which causes them to act differently.

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