'It's dark. Don't walk into the dark. Stay away. Don't you fear death?'

'No.'

'I see you. I see your inside. I see your deepest fear, How far will you run?'

'Go away.'

'The red. The blood. The stab and the pain. So many nails without a coffin.'

'No. Go away.'

'But we are you. What will you do without us? Die. Die on the plastic bed, under the red light—bled, and rotten.'

'No, please. Please. Please leave.'

'Tell us, what you would do—if you couldn't die. Who will take care of you then?'

'No...No... Please.'

It was dark. Streets of that ruined city were lost in the shadows. No yellow lamp flickered that night across the sides of the empty street.

It was the fear. The fear of an unknown that walked under the cover of darkness. Those who walked beside it never returned. It was even more threatening for Alice.

Alice who once had it all. Her soul, her mind, and her body—all belonged to her and her only.

Now she couldn't sleep even when she had no consciousness. Even when she laid there, on the empty street, in the dark—like a corpse. She saw no light, but only dark. Blood and gore. Even her dreams were filled with them.

She could have died there, in that cold but then there were voices around her. They were people with sane eyes. They saw the light, they saw yellow lamps across the street but no evil. One of them was perhaps a friend from the past.

'ALICE.'

'Take her home.'

'Do you know her?'

'Yes, I am her friend. Her mother must be looking for her.'

She heard the voices, but couldn't know whether it was from her inside or from someone real. She wanted to move, but no, she wouldn't be allowed to die if she moved. They said she had to be still, still like a corpse and she will be granted death.

She was taken away, carried away, to her home where her mother must been waiting. But her world was different, different from the normal eyes. And her vision wasn't comforting, not by any means.

It was a white building with people in white clothes around her.

'No please.'

'Please let me... go. Please... not again. Let me die. Please. I beg you.'

But no one listened or cared. They had axes from butcher's shop and rusted knives. They twisted a curved scissor inside Alice's stomach and let it rest there. But she didn't cry in pain—she only begged, begged for death in her fear.

They stamped nails across her palms and put rot meat of pigs inside her mouth so that she wouldn't cry out and resist.

She needed this cure, Alice needed this cure. Only this agony of bleeding and dying could cure her.

They tore apart her body and put kerosene across her intestine. But she couldn't die. No. It was the cure. The only cure.

They put lumps of rot meat across her face and covered her nose so that she couldn't breathe. Yes, it was a part of the cure. She had to suffer. Yes, she must suffer.

But then they left, they all left. Something had happened outside, or someone had called them. They had to leave the treatment in between. They had to leave Alice on the plastic bed.

She laid there with her body torn apart, and nails stamped all across her body. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. And she was to die. She was to die if they didn't return in a moment. She could die, yes she could finally die.

STOP. It must not happen. She must not die.

'ALICE.'

And then the pain faded away, with her sane eyes showing faces of her loved ones. It was the blue paint of her bedroom and it smelled familiar. Her eyes and ears were the curse but still, not all her senses had failed her.

She fainted in peace, but her agony will return, for certain. She had no choice, but to cry, cry in fear. Fear for her sufferings that will end only after her death.

**

Anaesthesia awareness is a potential complication occurring during general anaesthesia where the intended state of complete unconsciousness is not maintained throughout the whole procedure. It can occur either because of failure to deliver sufficient aesthetic medication to the patient's body or because of individual patient factors that mean the patient is resistant to what would normally be an adequate dose of anaesthetic medication. [Source—Wikipedia]

At fifteen, Alice discovered that she suffered from mental psychosis. Some suggested that a surgery could help it cure but the worse happened during the surgery. Her different parts of the brain weren't completely asleep, and she remained partially woken during the whole surgery.

That changed her completely and destroyed her mental health beyond repair. Wherever she went, or whatever she did, she never found peace again.

She will have nightmares of a live operation happening across her body for the rest of her life, and she will always feel that unbearable pain of mutation and twisting of her veins inside her body till her death.

Her psychosis wasn't cured as well, it will always remain with her. She will always hear voices that existed only for her.

**********************

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. I would appreicate your vote or comment.

SOME MORE EXPLAINATION, read only if you have questions after finishing the chapter - 

Italics is Alice's POV, and the normal ones are from normal third person POV. The first sequence of dialogues is happening inside her mind because she is suffering from mental psychosis. She passes out on a street because of exhaustion and being constantly feared and threatened by something that exists only inside her mind. Then there is POV shift, people gather around her on the street and one of her friends takes her to home. On her way, she hallucinates being taken to a hospital (the white building). Once she reaches home and is asleep, she starts having nightmares of a failed operation happened on her years ago.She has those nightmares because of the trauma that incident caused on her years ago, where she remained half woken during the whole surgery.She hears these voices and has these nightmares on a daily basis.When she is unable to breathe, she screams out and is being woken by her mother at the end. There she feels comfort for a small moment.

It's a different story than my normal ones. Also if you have any questions left over after reading, then simply comment; I will explain.

Mental illness is an extremely sensitive subject and still largely unexplored. I discoverd some very interesting facts while researchign the topic for this story. This sickness can be brutal, a living hell for its patients if they aren't helped and treated properly. 

Happy reading. Also you can check out other stories on my account.