Alex was floating in a dark void, with a single tapering light swirling around him. A constant noise of static was annoying him, and he swatted at the light. He could feel this was a dream, and wanted to wake up. The light weaved around his hand, and hung in front of him.

  “With madness comes power,” it whispered to him. Then the light faded away.

What a Terrible Night to Have a Much Less Useful Curse

  Julius woke up, and was surprised the ground was so soft. Looking around he realized everything was soft, the floor, walls, and ceiling. He could see a small slot in what might have been a door, and rushed over to it. He looked through the slot, and saw a gray sterile hall on the other side. He tried pounding on the door, but it was too soft to make much noise. The room seemed like one of those padded rooms they put crazy people in. “Hey!” He shouted. “I'm trapped!” There was no handle on this side of the door, and Julius kept yelling. Someone had to hear him.

  Eventually a man heard him, and came up to the slot in the door. “Hey, buddy, what's going on?” Julius asked.

  The man seemed surprised, and spoke into a radio. “Can someone call Dr. Pearson, patient 554 is having a lucid episode.” He looked at Julius. “Calm down sir. The doctor will come and have a talk with you.”

  “Where am I, what's happening?”

  “You're in the South-West Mental Hospital. Everything is fine, let's just keep calm.”

  “Look this has to be some sort of mistake. I'm not crazy, the world is crazy. How about you just let me out, and we can have a talk like to normal people,” Julius tried to convince the guy.

  “Look I don't know how I got here. If this is just some crazy coping mechanism you guys came up with. Where you live in an insane asylum, and say everyone else is mad, and actually the world is fine. That's pretty cool, I'm into it. I'm interested in how you're doing on food and power. But look if you guys kidnapped me, I want to know what happened to my brother. The guy who was with me, little shorter, would've had a couple concealed weapons. What did you do to him, is he here?” The orderly just turned away, ignoring him.

  Julius was in different clothes, and didn't have his derringer. He could probably get his hand through the slot though. “Hey guy I have to tell you a secret, it's important.” The orderly kept ignoring him. “Seriously, look I might be crazy. Before all this I had a lot of money, two hundred grand buried in a field. You help me get out of here, and half is yours.”

  The guy turned, and looked in at him. “Fat chance.”

  Now that bribery had failed, it was time for negotiation Julius decided. He got his hand through the window, and grabbed the man's face. He got a few fingers in his mouth, and his thumb over an eye. “You open this door, or I pop your eye like a fucking grape! You hear me!?” Julius shouted, right into the guy's ear.

  The orderly fumbled for a moment, then came up with a baton and smashed Julius' hand. Julius screamed, and let go. Before he could pull his hand back through, the orderly hit him again. Julius fell away from the door, and cradled his hand, feeling at his broken fingers. “You give any more trouble, and I'll be coming through that door,” The orderly threatened.

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  Julius sat there recovering until he heard highheels clicking in the hall. “How is he?” A female voice asked.

  “He hurt his hand, but I think he's still lucid,” the orderly answered.

  “Open the door.” As the door swung in, Julius saw a woman in her thirties in business casual wear. “How are you Julius?”

  “Okay,” he answered, a little hesitant.

  “Why don't we go to my office, and have chat.”

  He followed her through the halls to a wood paneled office. He considered making a break, but the orderly was right beside him. “Wait out here.” She told the orderly.

  “Are you sure he was violent-”

  “I'll be fine won't I Julius?”

  “Of course,” he answered smiling. She closed the door, and he sat across from her at a desk, scattered with papers. He was feeling more comfortable, this Dr. Pearson seemed reasonable.

  “Do you remember speaking with me before?” She asked.

  “No, I'm not sure why I'm here. Did you people kidnap me, where's Alex?”

  “That is a shame. I was hoping this time you would remember our sessions.”

  “Look, cards on the table, did the apocalypse happen?”

  “So you still are suffering from that delusion. Julius, two years ago you, and your brother, were in a car accident. He died, and you suffered head trauma. After a week in a coma you woke up psychotic, and since then have occasionally had lucid episodes like this one.”

  “No, that's impossible. It couldn't possibly have all been a delusion.”

  “The mind is a powerful thing. Dreams seem quite real until you wake up.”

  “I couldn't have made it all up everything I've seen.” Julius had to take that as a fact, you couldn't imagine the horrors he had witnessed. One time reality had gotten so thin he had tasted colors. Julius looked around, and saw his shadow was moving towards the overhead light. He pointed at it. “See it's real. This is just some trick. You guys are the crazy ones.”

  Dr. Pearson sighed and drew out a taser. “You're already starting to lose grip. We will have to attempt an alternative treatment while you still have some sanity.” She fired, and Julius tipped his chair backwards, dodging the prongs.

  “Look, you guys have to be running out of food? You saw all the rice I had in the cart. If you let me and my brother go, I can get you more, a reliable supply.” Dr. Pearson got up, slotting another cartridge into the taser. Julius crawled on the floor, trying to keep the desk between them.

  “This is reality Julius. Let go of your delusions, and accept it,” Dr. Pearson replied. The door flew open and the orderly came into the room brandishing his baton. They came at Julius from both directions, and he chose to head towards Dr. Pearson. It would be better to be tased than bludgeoned.

  He could feel himself being strapped to a chair when he regained consciousness. Dr. Pearson was only a few inches away, and he could see she had the same multicolored eyes Cthulhu had. He struggled, but all his limbs were restrained.

  “I have been developing a new technique I'm hopeful can help you. With a current of electricity applied through a wire, to specific areas of the brain. With it, we can achieve something so much more delicate than traditional lobotomy.” She held up a thin wire, and a spark came off the tip. She put the tip into his nose, and then the room grew dim. A line of light came out of a wall, curving around him, came to rest in front of his eyes. “With madness comes power,” it whispered. It hovered there, as everything seemed in slow motion. It could give him the power to escape, Julius knew that.

  He could also remember that phrase had been what the madman from that first town he visited had said. This all had to be some sort of dream. Julius hoped he was right, as he shut his eyes. The light stayed there whispering and Julius could feel the wire going deeper.