Lane I needed to look into Noah's past. We had no other information except for the death of his parents and a twin sister. That misfortune was enough reason to leave him where he is right now. I had requested Carrigan to compile whatever they knew about him and send me the file. It was delivered this morning but I wanted to speak to Noah myself first. When I stepped into his room, the poor guy was lying in his bed gazing at the murky ceiling. I closed the door and stood still for a while. His eyes were wide open, didn't even blink. I dragged a plastic chair with me to sit by the side of his bed. He was still hitched to the bed. We had never chained patients unless they become a threat to other people's lives. I can recall a murder from 8 years ago, which was similar to Noah's case. Mathew Rodrigo, a schizophreniac, was found in the backyard of a house a couple of blocks away from the hospital. He escaped that day and around thirty minutes later the police discovered him by the side

Olivia The aroma of freshly cooked scrambled eggs made me drool while I waited for the chicken sausage to get a brownish color so I could plate it for Tracy. She sat on the sofa, gazing at her laptop screen. I was curious to know what it was that caught her interest like that. It was nearly the time when Mary usually arrives and I leave for work. I placed the sausages on a plate. As I picked it up from the counter my eyes caught Tracy pressing her palm tightly against her chest. Seeing her struggle to draw in oxygen took my breath away. It felt as if something stuck in my throat. I threw the plate right where I stood and ran to her. She was on her knees now, shedding tears and still striving to breathe. My whole world was falling apart. Suddenly my brain went blank. We were lucky that Mary walked in. "Mary, help!", I wheezed. I picked her up and rushed into the parking to drive her to the hospital. Tracy was taken to the ICU. I didn't know what I would do without my baby. She is

Noah It had been over a month since Olivia yanked my heart out of my chest and chopped it into a million pieces. It still is divided into a million pieces that I have scattered now. I wasn't prepared to believe her. My mind wasn't ready to believe this atrocious truth. I just wanted to sleep. I didn't want to feel anything. I didn't want to feel this air engulfing me. This mushy bed, I was sitting on. The body my soul dwelled in. I just wanted to stop. Stop feeling everything. Every time I hear her words heat of anguish arises in my body and soul. The fury takes over. I couldn't control myself when it happened two weeks ago. I slammed the door shut pounding my head over it, expecting the physical pain to put an end to that agony inside of me. It didn't go away. I smacked the glass window with my bare hands until the shards of glass punctured my hand. It still didn't go away. It won't ever go away. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to hurt myself for believing she existed. I wanted t

NOW OLIVIA Tracy gazed at a band of white light over which sat a cluster of uncountable stars. As I ran my eyes down from the top, the dark blue tint altered into a dull purple. With descending height the hues kept on changing, from purple to a rose beige to the lightest shade of yellow. All of that sat over a dark tone of the blue-greyish background. The Milkyway band before our eyes walked as slow as a person stuck in quicksand. We were in a planetarium. They cast a Milkyway band over the ceiling, which appeared domed, tricking everyone’s eyes that it was real. I found it fascinating that humans were able to see what lies light years away. And the accurate projection of it was spectacular. It was one of the items on Tracy’s bucket list, to go stargazing. Even though doctors said that we could, I was paranoid. I didn’t want to risk her life by taking her more than a hundred miles away from the hospital to a star-gazing sight. Her condition has gotten worse as compared to the week

OLIVIA20 years ago“When your parents tell you to back off, you back off Olivia!” mom scolded me with one hand on her waist and the other holding her phone.“But--““I don’t want to hear any ifs and buts, young lady. What if someday your dad has to bear the consequences of your actions like this? Huh?” she interrupted.Alyssa gazed at us. I shot a glance at her. She was petrified. “I’m sorry.”The hand on her waist went down with a sigh. She dialed a number on the phone and walked into another room. Guilt engulfed me as mom’s words sauntered into my mind. I just wanted to be a good daughter. I wanted to protect him like he provided a shield for us. I knew my father was innocent. ****Mom had been strolling around the house, with the phone in one hand tapping her nails on it. Alyssa perched on the couch, peeling the skin on her lips, staring at mom. My stomach grumbled. But I was too stressed to eat something. “It’s okay girls. Don’t worry your dad will be alright.”Mom sat beside