Escaping the Psycho's Grasp novel Chapter 6

Half an hour later, Dr. Jason arrived.

After hearing the whole story, he gave the kid's dad a weary look. "Why did you have to poke the demon?"

He ticked off my past offenses on his fingers.

"Got bumped into by someone, he chased three guys with a machete until they were foaming at the mouth and bedridden for a month."

"He had the only private room in the entire institution. Nobody dared to share a room with him. There was this tough guy with bipolar disorder who tried, but after a week, he became very afraid of people. Big bad wolf turned into a little bunny rabbit."

The doctor sighed. "He got admitted because he got into an argument and nearly gouged the guy's eye out with a spoon."

The kid's dad's eyes widened in terror. He stammered, "H-He tried to gouge someone's eye out? And he didn't go to jail?"

"He was eight years old at the time."

The officer looked at me, his gaze sharp. "Give him a psych test, I doubt he's fit to be discharged.”

The doctor rolled his eyes and slowly pulled out his tablet, bringing up the test questions.

"What's the point? He memorized the entire test bank. He'll probably score higher than a normal person." He muttered this under his breath, but I heard him loud and clear.

The kid's dad was frantically scrolling through news articles about mentally ill people getting away with murder. His legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed onto the chair, trembling.

I finished the hundred questions in under three minutes.

If it wasn't for the slow internet connection, I could have done it in one.

The results showed that I was a kind, gentle, emotionally stable individual with a strong aversion to violence.

"This guy's a good person?" The kid's dad's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "He nearly turned me into mincemeat a few hours ago! What kind of good person does that?"

He didn't know on the day I was discharged, the head of the Crestview Mental Institution personally escorted me out and even hired a band to celebrate finally being rid of me.

The entire staff, doctors and nurses alike, lined up at the entrance, waving goodbye.

They gave me money, and helped me find a job. They only had one request:

"Please don't ever come back."

"Yep, perfectly normal." The doctor lied through his teeth. "Look at him, all his features are in the right place. He has two eyes, not more, not less. Definitely a normal guy."

He quickly packed up his bag. "Gotta go, my gas stove's about to explode. Call me if you need anything... Actually, don't."

The officer pondered for a moment, then said to me, "Since you've been discharged, try to live a normal life. Stay out of trouble."

He turned to the kid's dad. "If anything happens, call the police. We'll be there as soon as possible. Hope we can arrive in time to save you."

But was it any use?

Nope!

While he was writing his essay, I'd seen his ID on the table. It had his home address...

So, no rush. I have all the time in the world to play with him.

I went to the pharmacy to buy sleeping pills, but the pharmacist wouldn't sell them to me without a doctor's prescription.

Then I went to the supermarket to buy a machete, but because I had bloodstains on my clothes, the cashier called security.

What kind of world is this?

Why is it so hard to kill someone?

I called the doctor and asked him to get me some sleeping pills.

He was wary. "What do you need those for?"

I said, "I'm going to drug them, dismember their bodies, stuff them into suitcases, and dump them in the river."

He was horrified. "You can't do that!"