Beneath the walls of Ceder Mills...

The brittle stone walls of Ceder Mills, mental institution faded in color with old age. The yard keeper, a plump older man with balding grey hair, an eerie smile surround by tight lips that never seemed to leave his pale face and an Irish accent that could barely be understood, attempted to dress up the yard. Flowers somehow refused to grow, and the tree in front of the old hospital was dead it's branches twisting like broken bones. The grass never seemed to be green and felt even more like straw around this time of year. The only sign of life were the vines that grew up the front on the hideous building.1

It was twelve o' clock at night and I had the graveyard shift, as usual. I was the newest nurse on the staff and I had to earn my way up to daylight hours. As I stepped inside the old building, Bertha also a nurse was leaving just as I was coming in. She was a older woman and held her brown curls with grey streaks was held at the top of her head in a loose bun, so loose in fact that the hair around her bun drooped a little and almost reached her ears. I could hear her heals clicking louder and louder and she finally reached me.2

"Hello dear." She smiled brushing a loose grey hair from her face with a hand covered in a loose fitting leather glove. 3

"Hi Bertha." I answered, I wanted to meet her eyes but I was distracted by the sound of her long brown jacket sweeping over the floor as her knees caved in a little.4

"My knee has been bothering me lately." She said awkwardly, we exchanged quick smiles before I was on my way to the front desk. My uniform along with everything else in the building was white. White walls, hard cold white tile floors. And my soft white sneakers as they brushed the tile and made my steps quiet. So quiet that I startled Alex as I approached the front desk. He jumped a little and then smiled, embarrassed. Alex was tall and a little bit heavy. Not to much. He had a strong build. He had warm brown eyes and shaggy brown hair. His skin was slightly tanned, but it didn't look rough like some darker skin, it looked smooth and soft.5

"Boo." I said smiling taking my seat next to him behind the old wobbly desk. "You're a little jumpy tonight."6

"Yeah, it's this new guy." He said looking down and shaking his head. "He creeps me out."7

"What new guy?" I asked curiously. For better or for worse I am always the last to know things around here.8

"This guy he's a transfer from Holly Banks." He said shivering.9

"Holly banks? The gifted child academy?" I asked surprised.10

"That's the one." He said shaking his head up and down and widening his eyes. He leaned in towards me and lowered his voice. "I am not supposed to tell you this but..." He said placing his hand under his chin and resting his elbow on the desk.11

"But what?" I asked captivated by the way he led this conversation, leaving me dangling on the end of his words.12

"BUT...they moved him here because he stabbed his teacher, and a few of his classmates. They had him over in the children's wing, but they had to move him because he was threatening the children and biting them. He's like a prodigy or something." He said lifting his head of his hands and standing back to wait for my reaction.13

"No way." I said nervously.14

"Want to bet?" He asked playfully.15

"I'm not the gambling type." I said practically.16

"All right 17