Distant Connections- Chapter 1

                                           Chapter 1: Insane

"No! Get out of my head!  Get out of my head!" The frantic screams could be heard even through the padded walls and down the hall.
"How old's that one?" The security guard asked the white-haired doctor accompanying himself down to that very cell.
"Only about 16, poor girl, " He answered with sympathy, moving his glasses up on his beaked nose. "Been here only a day, too."  The guard shook his head sady as they continued down the hall.
"It's obvious why she ended up in an insane asylum though."
"Mhmm," The doctor mumbled as he checked the chart.  The teen-aged girl had for some mysterious reason, started screaming the same thing in the middle of class, as she had been since she arrived.  Stopping in front of cell 121, the guard sifted through his keys, finding the right one and unlocked the door.  The girl's screams had finally faded into sobs as she kneeled on the floor clutching her blonde matted hair.
"Araidne?" The doctor spoke up, addressing the distraught girl in the middle of the floor.  She look up, peering with her piercing blue eyes, through her tangled hair at him.
"Help me," She whispered, "Make him go away, tell him I can't help him.  Get me out of here." Her eyes were pleading with him as she spoke so softly.
"I'm sorry, but I can't Araidne," He said soothingly, looking down at her tear-streaked face.
"No, I didn't think you could.  You can't hear him, can you?  Hear him begging me, pleading for me to help him.  You can't hear his screams, " As she finished describing what plagued her, she would burst out laughing, while she went to stand to her full height.  She was actually quite tall for her age, so made a bit of an imposing figure.
"What's so funny?" He asked, a little peevishly.
"What's your name, doctor?"
"Doctor McAmser, why?" His tone seemed to show that he was getting irritated by this girl.
"Well, Doctor McAmser, what is so funny, is that I expected you to be able to help me, " She giggled, a high pitched, edgy type of sound, "Only HE can help me or so he says."
"Who is he?" McAmser asked as he started recording with the tape recorder in his pocket. Araidne would notice this, as well as almost everything else in the building.  But she didn't care. She went on, undoubtably insance by everyone's standards.
"The person in my head, Doctor.  The one that asks me to help him," Stepping forward she would grab him by the front of his coat, "Do you know how it is? Do you?"  Then seeing him frown she would let go and walked to the other side of the room.
"No, you don't, do you? That's why you're here with all of the power, instead of in one of these cells screaming your brains out."
"Do you know how weird that sounds?" He would ask, as if testing her.
"Oh, yes, I do.  But here's a question for you doctor.  Have you ever been tortured?" As she spoke she would turn around, leaning against the wall as she gazed unwaveringly into his eyes.
"No, I haven't," He answered shortly, as he was truly becoming ruffled.
"When he gets tortured, his screams torture me," Her words were just above a whisper as she smiled at him.  The doctor shivered, even in his coat.  He decided to stay away from that topic for now.
"So what made you start screaming out in class like you did?"
"I already told you, that it's his screams, his pleading, crying.  THAT is what has driven me here,"  Her response was so matter-of-fact, it was almost like she wasn't discussing something that had made a total mess of her.
"Well, Araidne, these voices in your head are just imaginary- not real," Doctor McAmser replied to her, speaking in a condescending manner, as if she was a demented child.
"VOICE," She corrected him, while raising an eyebrow at him.
"Ok, voice.  Don't worry it's not real. He can't hurt you," His tone still suggesting that he felt she was demented or something like that.  It would cause her to burst out laughing.
"There's no need to talk to me like that. I may be considered mentally unhinged, but I'm not stupid, or demented.  Oh, and he is real- that's what worries me," She smiled, a knowing smile, "Trust me."
"Um, ok.  I guess that's enough for today. Good night Araidne," He was puzzled by this girl, getting mixed ideas about her level of sanity.  And that frightened him, for never in all his years as a psychiatrist in the asylum had he come across a situation like this.
"Good night doctor," She turned around away from him, sighing lightly.  He closed the door swearing he must have been crazy to choose to work in asylums. Meanwhile Araidne went and settled herself in a corner, closing her eyes.
'I heard it all,' The voice rang clearly in her head.
"What do you want?" She asked in a strained whisper, although relieved he wasn't screaming.
'Help, like you do.'
"But I don't know what to do, least of all who you are, and where you are."
'First then, I'll start with introductions.  My name is Dairon.  And you are?'
"You're in my mind and you don't know my name?" She asked increduously, throughly surprised at this point.
'I noticed. This is not a common occurence, I assure you. First time for me too. And please, don't ask why.  I don't know...'
"Okay... Very weird.  My name is Araidne.  Nice to-um, meet you Dairon."
'Nice to meet you too.'
"Am I going insane?" Finally unable to deal with the weirdness of it, she had to blurt out the question, closing her eyes tightly.
'No, at least I don't believe so.  And I'm not sure where I am or how you could help me.  I just know you can.'
"Like that's any help," Muttering under her breath, she would open her eyes, and frowned at the wall across from her.
'I know and I'm sorry. You can possibly figure out what direction I'm in from where you are, I believe.  All you have to do is think about me, and you should have a good general area.  At least it's worked for me to you...'
She would try thinking about this person that had found his way into her head.  The one that screamed in pain most of the day, the one named Dairon.  Closing her eyes again she'd try to relax slightly, and suddenly she had it! She felt herself being pulled towards a certain direction.
"Wow!" She breathed softly, "You can do that?"
'Yes.'  
Suddenly a thought occured to Araidne that would sober her and biting down on her lip she decided to broach the subject.
"Why were you screaming?" She asked softly, cluthing her knees to her chest.
'I don't want to think about it.' As he spoke, she could tell by his voice that he would have visibly paled.
"You must.  Your screams toture me, and I feel I have the right to know," She insisted.
'Okay... your right.  I'm being tortured physically... and mentally.  By something called a psychic lashing.'
"What's that?  Why are you being tortured?  And how is it you can contact me?"  Even though this conversation had been going on for a short while, the oddity of it still hadn't worn off.  It was all hard to deal with.
'I don't know exactly, and I just seem to be able to.'
"Well, anyways.  Since I can find out where you are now, don't you agree that we've spent enough time talking?"  Araidne asked, a mischievious smile on her lips as she stood up.  Perhaps there was a part of this situation she could actually enjoy on some level...