It hurts to know that you belong here pt.7

"Deuce, do you know where the guys might be?" Danny asked once they had stopped to catch their breath. "I - um, maybe. J's where he should be, same with Johnny. In their ward. The others, I don't know. The voices would normally tell me, but they're going away. Danny, I'm scared. The voices, they have been with me for so long." "Do you remember? Do you remember who you were?" Deuce closed his eyes as he concentrated. "No. Wait. There's something. I hear voices. And not the ones I hear all the time. They keep calling me Aron." Deuce let out a gasp of realization as his eyes flew open. "I remember." He whispered. "I'm Aron. The voices always had told me I was Deuce. Danny, am I crazy?" Danny smiled as he rubbed circles on Deuce's lower back. "No, you're not. Now let's go find the others, ok?" "O-ok." Deuce said shyly as the continued their search.

When they arrived at the ward, they could hear someone slapping somebody. Johnny was laying on the floor, his nightmare continually hitting him as he called him names. "Get up and fight, you pussy! You're just a scared little bitch! Can't call for mommy, that fucking whore is dead!" "No, no, no. Just leave me alone daddy!" Johnny sobbed as his nightmare hit him once more. "You're weak! You're pathetic! I should kill you, you little shit!" "Face your fear! Don't let your nightmare defeat you!" Danny called, drawing their attention. "You think this worthless pile of shit can defeat me? Ha! I'd like to see him try!" "Remember Johnny! remember who you were!" And Johnny appeared to. Because in a flash, he was on his feet, throwing a fist in the man's jaw. "I remember! I remember everything now! You killed mommy, so I killed you! You fucking bastard" The man's confidence turned to fear. "No... No! No! NO!" The man cried out as Johnny hit him over and over, his anger taking over. "My name is George! You took away my normal life! So I took yours!!" The man screamed in pain as Johnny landed a foot in the man's head. He then pulled a slab of cement from the ground and brought it down on the man's head, silencing him for good. "I killed you. I ended up here. I killed you....." Johnny whispered before breaking down into hysterical sobbing. Danny wrapped his arms around him, helping him to his feet. "Thanks, for everything." Johnny said, looking the smaller man in the eye. "All I did was guide you toward the truth. You did the rest. Now, let's go find your boyfriend, ok?"

J was sitting on his bed, his face buried in his hands, trying to rid himself of the spirits that surrounded him. It wasn't working, and you could see that he was shaking from crying so much. Johnny walked right through the spirits and sat next to his lover. "j, you can't hide from them. You have to face your past. It's the only thing that can help you." J looked through teary eyes at his love. He tried to speak, but he could not. He looked pleadingly at him. Johnny's face grew serious. "Are you sure?" J nodded and revealed a knife from under his pillow, along with some gauze and a bottle of alcohol. He chugged half the bottle through one of the attachments before he laid down on the bed. Danny and Deuce walked up, holding one of J's hands each. They knew what was about to happen. J winced as his lover cut the tender flesh of his face, re-creating his mouth. He coughed up blood as strips of flesh were removed, and then Johnny covered the edges with the gauze. "I know what I've done. I'm so sorry, I will never be able to make it up to all of you." J managed to say through the pain. The spirits seemed to understand, and faded out of the room. Johnny kissed J on the cheek, not wanting to hurt him. "You did good." "But, what I did to all those people..." "You've suffered enough. Not, let's get out of here and find the others."

They couldn't believe what they were seeing when the walked into Curly's room. It appeared to be on fire, with wax-like substance dripping from the walls. Curly was in the middle of the room, surrounded by the charred corpses. Through the roar of the fire, they could hear him screaming. "I'm sorry! It was an accident! I knocked the candle off my bedside table! Oh, God, forgive me! I'm a sinner! Mother, father, I have damned my soul, as I have torched yours." The corpses each placed a hand on him, scorching his clothes. He cried out in pain as they each hugged him, whispering something in his ear. They then turned to ash as the room extinguished itself, the only evidence of the event was Curly's smouldering clothes.  "Are you ok?" Danny asked from his position across the room. "Yes, now that the truth is revealed. Tell me, could you still care for a sinner like me?" "Yeah, because we are all sinners in this God-forsaken place."

Charlie's room was next. He was sitting in the middle of it, cuddling Sarah. They seemed to in their own little world as they whispered to each other. She had flesh and organs to cover her once bare bones. Her skin was as pale as porcelain, and she had silky, long, blonde hair. She wore a crème coloured dress, which was ruined with stains of crimson. A bloody knife lay near them, a sharp contrast to the loving scene. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were an intruder. Could you ever forgive me?" He smile was sweet, and her teeth sparkled like diamonds. "Yes, I know that it was an accident. Now let me rest eternally in your memory. Live your life with your beau, I want you too be happy, my love. Set me free." A tear fell onto her perfect face as he closed her eyes. "Sleep peacefully, my dove. Let your wings carry you to a better place." He laid her body on the ground, and within seconds it had faded away into nothing. He turned to face his friends, and his lover. He hugged each of them, and kissed Curly. He then turned to face Danny. "You are a saint disguised as a sinner. Never have I come to terms with her murder. But now that you arrived in our own little Hell, the pain is gone. Thank you." "I don't know if I'm a saint, but you're welcome either way. Come, the end is not here. But it's close."

As they neared Funny's room, they heard a loud 'bang'! They rushed inside, only to see Funny holding a smoking gun, and a man falling to the floor. "JACK!" Funny screamed, rushing to the fallen man. "D-Dylan." The man said before he coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Oh my God, I didn't see you, and-" "Shh. I-it's alright. It was an a-accident." "I don't want to lose you." Funny whispered. "Let me go. It's better that way." "But-" "Please." The man looked at Funny with pleading eyes. Funny cried as he felt his husband slip away. Danny walked over and placed a hand on his beau's shoulder. Funny pulled him down and into his arms. "It's ok. It was an accident. You gotta move on. I'll help you." Danny placed a small kiss on Funny's cheek, and that seemed to calm him down. "You still love me? Even though I murdered my husband?" "Yes, now let's stand up. We still have to finish this story. And my chapter is next."

As they exited Funnny's room, the came face-to-face with a little girl and her mother. "Daddy!" The girl said excitedly. "Hey, Scarlet, Theresa." Danny greeted his family. "Do you remember what you did, Daniel?" His wife asked. Danny let out a shuttered breath as the memories came flooding back to him. "Yes. I stopped taking my medication, and I thought you were not my family." He then started to cry as his family walked up to him. "I know, it's all right. I should have kept an eye on you." "No, it was my fault for not taking them!" Danny cried, not wanting his wife to shoulder all the blame. Again. "Darling a kiss, kiss me I'm leaving." His wife whispered. He gave a tender one on the lips, before picking up his daughter. "I love you Daddy!" "I love you too sweetie. Now, be a good girl for mommy, ok?" "Ok!" He handed his daughter to his wife, and they faded into the light. Danny shed a few more tears as he watched his family leave. So, I had ruined my own life, as well as theirs, Danny thought to himself as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What happens now?" Curly asked as they all stood there. "Well, we should find the doctors. We need to end this nightmare. Once and for all." Danny said, his confidence growing. "We couldn't agree more." They all turned around at that comment. Standing not even ten feet away were all five doctors.