Sara let out a heavy sigh as Benjamin got to her side, slowing to an easier pace for him and slowly came to a stop.
"I know it was a stupid thing to do." Sara admitted, "He's going to tell my Aunt and she's going to pull me aside and talk to me about it." She moved to cover her face with her hands for a moment and mumbled slightly.
"She needed to snap out of that... Self-hatred." Sara started, "I want to say I... Got to her, I just had this rush of... Anger, but not from... them, from myself, you know?" She asked as she looked to Benjamin with a frown.

Ray watched the two walk off and looked to Larry quietly.
"You'll tell on her?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Larry watched Sara leave silently before he looked towards Ray with an almost puzzled expression.
"I..." He started slightly, "What...?" He seemed confused, moving to hold his head with one of his hands. "What was she here for?"
Ray paused, "What do you mean?" She asked before she noticed a glimpse of shadow move down the hall and looked back to Larry. "You might have a headache, I suggest some water."

"It was... rash to go into that cell like that," Benjamin admitted, "but I think it helped. Ray had a different look in her eyes."
Them, that shadow he had seen? That thing that whispered to her. It was good she was able to feel her own anger for once but it was hard to imagine what it was like to live with an entity like that.

Luckily he didn't have. Being able to see things others couldn't was hard enough - that is what had gotten him here.

"Now what?" he asked. They had checked on Ray as they had intended, and although Ray wasn't quite herself yet, he didn't worry as much about her as before. He knew she'd get over the loss of her spirits eventually, and he'd help her to the best of his abilities.

Sara glanced back to Benjamin with a weak smile when he mentioned it might have helped, "You reckon? I'm glad." She said quietly, moving to look away and sigh, closing her eyes momentarily before she looked up to the ceiling.
"As for what to do now... I... I don't know. We could go check up on the girls? See how they're doing?" She asked with a small frown, suddenly remembering the two used-to-be spirits in the bedroom that they left alone.

Ray shivered as she felt something crawl down her spine as she went back to sitting in the middle of the room. She had suddenly calmed and the guard seemed to be dazed. She felt a tug on her mind, something she was used to with Ari, but this one felt... wrong.
B u r n. A voice whispered through her head. D e s t r o y.

"Let's do that," Benjamin agreed, followed by a sigh. "There is nothing else to do in this place. If people aren't insane when they get here, they will get it soon enough from boredom. You'd start talking to yourself for less."
That made him think of Simon, who had died. Had he been suffering from auditory illusions before getting here, or did it develop here? Or did he really have a connection with a different realm and had he truly heard people from there?

It saddened him to know Simon had died here, but that they had lied about it filled him with dread. Who would be next?

What time was it even? There were no clocks, and staff only gave the time when specifically asked. "Do you have a watch on you?" he asked.
It couldn't be late, somewhere between breakfast and lunch, but he had lost all sense of time already. He wasn't even completely sure at what time they had breakfast and lunch.

Sara smiled softly at Benjamin before it wavered, "Admittedly there's not a lot here, no." She sighed, "Much like Ray, I'm allowed some art supplies but nothing too... Fancy?" She said with a weak smile.
"If you ever want, I also have a little radio that plays some white noise; bird song, waves, all of that. It helps keep them down, and I often try painting when I need to calm down, so you're more than welcome to come join me for an art session?" She offered him, "Of course, only if you'd like. I don't want you to feel pressured."

At the question of having a watch she frowned slightly, "No, they don't allow me to have one." Sara said, "As I'm also counted as a 'patient', they don't like me knowing the time." She huffed a bit, flexing her fingers to make sure that she didn't flex them into a fist and get her anger bubbling. "Other staff members have them, as much as I hate to admit it, we could try and find Josh and ask?"

The walls of Vivians room quivered slightly as the candles lit started to flicker and a few of them blew out. A small orb of shadow floated within the white chalk circle and bubbled wildly, waiting for a command.

Ï'll definitely come and ask you about that radio with white noise once," Benjamin said. "Right now I don't need it. But the art session, I'd like to do that. I like drawing."
While it didn't feel right not knowing what time it was, he wasn't sure he wanted to run to Josh every time he wanted to know. "Let's check on Ray's ex-spirits first."

Vivian smiled when she saw the orb appear. "I have the perfect host for you," she said, opening a small vial of blood and pouring it into a bowl. Of course Benjamin had thought it was to check his blood for vitamin levels and such. Those results were easily falsified. She placed the bowl in the white circle. "This is his blood, you'll find him."

Sara gave a small smile to Ben's words with a small nod, "Of course. Let's go check on them, and then we'll relax with some paper." She smiled, maybe she'd draw something for Marc? Oh, and she could show Ben the little plush that Marc got her.
Worry clouded her mind as she worried about the spirits, had someone found them? Were they going to be okay? "They're in Rays room, yeah?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

The Orb wavered at the sight of blood, a pair of clawed arms stretched out and slammed into the ground by the bowl, shaking the entire room and causing the blood to splash around the chalk. A rumble came from the orb as the lights flickered aggressively as the chalk slowly spread with the blood that was spilt; the runes glowing as the orb seemed to tremble before a large, black mouth with jaggered teeth appear from the orb and turned into a large grin.

"That's where they last were," Benjamin said, walking in that direction. "I don't think they had plans on leaving. And Dia can pretend to do a room search if a nurse enters; she has a staff badge now. Thanks to whathisname. Josh." He still wasn't sure how he felt about that guy; he seemed to know things about Dia and he didn't like it that someone here knew her better than he did. He sighed when he admitted to himself he might be a tad jealous on their shared history while he was just beginning to be a part of her life. That made him wonder when he had started to feel so strongly about being part of Dia's life.
He thought about this as he walked towards Ray's room.

---

"I thought you'd like it," Vivian said. "Go on then, find your new host."
She thought back to the last time she had done this; her precious niece had been a good target. But she did need some people with actual illnesses too, ever since Simon had died she didn't have anyone to test medication against auditory hallucinations on anymore, and that was a profitable business to be in. She sat down at her computer to see if she could get her hands on a few more patients.

Sara nodded at Benjamins' words, "You're also not a fan of him, huh?" She asked with a small smile as they headed towards Ray's room. "I'm not sure what it is but it feels weird to be around him." She shuddered slightly before she looked around as they finally got to the room.
She knocked three times, hearing quick scrambles from inside before she paused and knocked twice more before opening the door.
"It's just us." Sara started as she stepped inside.

Dia straightened up as she saw Sara walk in with Benjamin following behind, "Ari put the chair down." She said as the other former-spirit slowly moved to place the chair that was in the room, back on the floor.
"How is she?" Ari asked, "Is she okay?"
"Ari calm down, they've just gotten back." Dia said quietly as she placed a hand on the shoulder of Ari and gave a small smile. Dia looked over towards Benjamin and her eyes seemed to light up at the sight of him. "Benjamin how are you?"

---

The demon rumbled, moving quickly before suddenly disappearing into the shadows; causing the dark aura in the room slowly dissipated.
The Demon bubbled through the shadows and hesitated at the isolation area; feeling the draw of something darker for a moment. "Whatss thiss?" They hissed quietly as they watched over Ray as the darkness bubbled around them.
"This is my body. Leave." A larger, more rumbly voice echoed from the shadows, the shadows twisting and revealing a large set of three red eyes.
The Demon winced at the sight of the other beast before backing away and heading back towards where Benjamin was.

Benjamin turned to Dia when she greeted him and instantly smiled. "Great, under circumstances." He turned to face Ari. "Ray is... struggling to be honest. There was a lot of anger and self-loathing in her, but that is probably due to her losing spirits that were a part of her for a long time. She will need to come to terms with that."

He sat down on the bed, unsure how he could help Ray. He wasn't trained to deal with things like that, the people working here were. But... he didn't trust them; it didn't look like they were really trying to help the people get better here. All they really wanted was that people would swallow their pills and be quiet.

Dia smiled as Benjamin said he was okay, only for it to fade at the sound of Ray being unhappy. "Oh." She started with a small frown as she looked over towards Ari; knowing she'd be worried.
Ari frowned, moving her eyes away from Sara and Benjamin and moving to sit down on the chair she was sitting down. Dia watched her with a small sigh and moved over to her companion and gently placed her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, It'll be okay." She said quietly.

"Is it... my fault?" Ari asked quietly, not looking up before Dia moved to hug her gently.
"It's not you." Dia replied in the same, soft tone. She pulled away and gently kissed Ari on the forehead before she moved to sit by Benjamin on the bed, moving to put her hand against his. "She'll be fine, We kept back some bad memories."

Sara leaned against the wall as the other three spoke together. She closed her eyes with a small sigh, trying to focus on the good things that were happening. Strangely, she couldn't feel the bubbling darkness that her spirit would normally give her.

A cold chill trembled up Benjamins' spine as Dia spoke to him, a low, echoing laugh seemed to drift through his mind.

Benjamin watched Dia hug Ari before sitting next to him and putting her hand against his. It was just a simple touch, but it elevated his spirit. Maybe this place wasn't too bad, as he got to meet her.

A cold chill went up his spine and he shuddered slightly. He tilted his head when he heard something resembling a low laugh, but it didn't sound like anyone in this room. Maybe it had happened somewhere outside? Some of the other patients had creepy laughs. He glanced around, not feeling entirely at ease, but that feeling faded when he looked at Dia again.

"How can we help Ray when she gets out of isolation again?" he asked the others, who all knew her better than he did.

"You can't..." A voice rumbled through Benjamins' mind as soon as he asked the question.

Sara sighed and closed her eyes, thinking a bit more before she started to speak.
"I can only say we'll just have to support her." She started, Dia giving a small nod while Ari watched quietly, "She might be angry at us, especially Ari and Dia, so possibly we just keep away from her for a bit?"

"I say we escape." Ari suddenly said, Dia sighing slightly.
"We're already planning on that." Dia replied softly.
"We need to plan it faster." Ari said angrily, "No more mucking around, more focusing on how to get out of here."

What... what was that? That wasn't his own voice. Benjamin looked around as Dia and Ari were discussing escape - a plan he agreed with - but there wasn't anyone in the room that wasn't supposed to be there. That voice had to come from somewhere. "Did any of you hear a voice that doesn't belong here?" he asked, just to make sure.

It didn't feel right, that voice. Seeing things others couldn't was normal to him. Hearing them, not so much. Maybe he had imagined it, or it had come from outside. Either option was good for him. He preferred not to think about other explanations for that voice he had heard.

Ari and Dia paused their squabble as Benjamin moved to speak, they both looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"No? Are you okay?" Ari asked, Dia moving quickly to sit beside Benjamin and moved the back of her hand to his forehead.
"Your temperature is okay, so you're not hearing things from a fever..." Dia asked quietly, Ari laughing quietly.
"God, you're such a princess." Ari said, getting a sneer from the other former-spirit.

Sara watched Benjamin carefully, her arms wrapped around herself. She had a look in her eyes as if she saw something, but as soon as he looked to her she looked away and said nothing.
Surely she hadn't heard it too? Being linked to a demon for so long... Did that make her able to sense others? She shook off the feeling and looked to Benjamin. "No." She lied, more to herself than to him. "All I could hear is these two sisters arguing." She faked a small smile.

"I... feel fine," Benjamin said as Ari asked if he was okay. Dia ruling out the fever was kind, but unnecessary as he could feel he didn't have a fever. He decided not to think about it at the time.

"Anyway," he said. "I'm down for escaping this place. I haven't been here for a long time, but this place is evil. The fact there are no visiting hours is a major red flag. The group sessions I visited have nothing to do with getting better and everything with admitting we're ill, that's all they want. And people disappearing is another major red flag. We need to get out before one of us will "disappear"."

"We also need to help Ray." Ari started with a frown, "She deserves to be saved from here too."
Dia looked away from Benjamin towards Ari as she spoke and hesitated with a nod before she looked towards Sara. "Surely we have a way to get out of here?"

Sara shuddered at the idea of people disappearing, closing her eyes as she tried to focus on things around her so she didn't panic. She wrapped her arms around her chest as she breathed in slowly.
"Ray'll be, okay right?" Ari asked after a moment, looking towards Sara, "She'll get out of the isolation rooms?"

"Of course," Benjamin agreed. "We need to get Ray out as well." That went without saying, Ray was part of their group and he wouldn't leave her behind. She was a friend after all, the first he had made.
He turned to Ari. "How long has she been in isolation before? When I was here for a few days, she had just gotten out. But she had been there for a while, hadn't she?"

He didn't want to think about being locked up in such a cel for a long period of time. That was something he'd have to avoid at all costs.

Dia fell silent at the mention of Ray being locked up, she looked at the floor and didn't look to Ari.
Ari frowned and moved to rub the back of her head, "Define.... before." Ari said softly, trying to dance around the question.

"An entire month has been her longest stay." Sara suddenly said, "At least if you don't count her trips back directly after getting out in the past. If we're counting those possibly Three months." Sara sighed and closed her eyes, gripping the bridge of her nose.
"Ari doesn't like talking about it, admittedly, but that was one of the first times she was in there." Sara explained as Ari flinched and almost curled up where she sat.
"Those were dark times." Dia said quietly, "She's never been the best patient here. With what she's been through, not with just us but her birth family... I don't blame her."

A month, Benjamin could barely imagine being locked up in such a small place for such a long time. He rubbed his arms as he tried to imagine it. It didn't help that he then realized he was locked up as well, his prison was a lot bigger than the cel within the prison, but there were walls he simply couldn't go beyond. It brought a feeling of uneasiness that he tried to shake off by not thinking about it.

"So... can we get her out? Or..." he paused as he thought about it. "Will escaping increase her time if she's caught?"