The walls of the institution fell silent as the other occupants began to realize what events had just taken place. As they slowly moved closer to their cell’s doors to see the scene, the occupants cringed and gasped as they heard the tearing and cracking sounds coming from the open cell. As they looked closer, they realized the guard on the floor was headless, and began whispering to themselves in a panic, occasionally cackling or clapping. The ambient noise of the murmurs ceased as the open cell’s door slammed open against the wall, breaking off the overextended hinges. From the doorway the creature came, holding a very clean, stripped down skull in his over-sized hand, sadistically petting it with the back of his fingers as he walked onward. “Yes. Quiet you are now!”, he snarled with a maniacal grin of satisfaction. As he made his way down the hallway towards the stairs, one of the cells he passed whispered, “Free? Friend? Mean guard dead? Free? Help, friend?” The creature halted his advance, turning slowly to the cell door and walked to the window, whispering back “Nasty guard, weak guard, loud....guard...dead. Quiet now, see?” He lifted the skull to the window and continued, “You know others?” as he pointed at the other cells in the hallway. “Yes, know them. Yes. Good others!” The creature looked to his skull asking it, “Help others...? You hurt them! I help them help me leave!” He stood there for a moment, then made his way back to his cell, inspecting the broken mechanism that activated the lock on the door, and began unlocking the doors to the other cells. He had cracked four open when he heard voices approaching the stairwell, “He’s running late. Let’s go make sure he hasn’t beaten another one too badly again...” The footsteps began their ascent to the hallway, causing the creature to begin rushing the rest of the doors in a panic. He finished the last door’s mechanism and looked up to the flickering lights above, reaching up and crushing the bulbs in his hand until only the small, red light existed on each cell’s door. The hallway was now illuminated only from the stairwell, and a void of black at the far end. The two guards arrived at the top of the stairs, and cautiously entered the dark hallway murmuring, “Yo, Marv, you back there?” “He’s here... Some of him. He’s....quiet now...”, called a voice from the darkness. “Let him go you freak! Do it NOW or we will come in and MAKE you release him!” “He tried that...the noisy one... Quiet now... Come.” The guards drew their nightsticks and charged into the darkness. As soon as they got halfway down the corridor, the cell doors burst open, their inhabitants launching out, overwhelming and subduing the guards instantly. The quick moment of struggle passed, and the guards were picked up and held in place by the inhabitants of the cells. From the darkness the creature emerged once more, still petting his new trophy. He leaned his head down to the two guards, becoming only inches away from their faces, and gave them a large, toothy smile, cackling “Yes. Stop me...weak. Put them in cells and lock doors.” The mob did as ordered, shoving the guards in a cell together and locking the door behind them. One inhabitant turned to the creature, asking “Now what?” “Free. Go!” As soon as the words were spoken, the mob made for the stairs, then began fighting their way through the remaining guards to try and make their way to freedom. The creature smirked as his distraction was in perfect order, and slinked back to his cell, grabbing the undone straight jacket as a second trophy. Looking at it, he grinned and snidely spoke, “Contain me? Silly guards... Nothing can contain I. Too strong. Too smart.” He then made his way down the hallway once more to the guard’s cell. Looking into the window he lifted his long, bony fingers and waved to them, then put one to his nose and mouth, “Shhhh....quiet...” He turned once more and approached the far end of the hall, shrouded in black. With a quick push, he slammed the emergency exit door open, sounding the fire alarm and releasing the fire escape to the ground below. Calmly he trotted down the fire exit and strolled off into the darkness... “Finally... Quiet...”
