The Insane; Story

Prologue


Reporters scurried about outside of the hospital, blocked from entering by two burly men. One brave soul shoved a microphone in the face of a particularly cross looking one, ???Do you know what Mr. and Mrs. Cowell plan on naming their son???? he questioned.

Behind his night-colored glasses, the man???s eyes narrowed and he pulled the microphone away from the other adult and tossed it to the side, where it broke as it collided with the concrete parking lot, ???No reporters will enter this building. My partner and I will not tolerate any questions,??? he snarled, sounding slightly robotic, as if he had practiced the words in front of a mirror numerous times.

Inside of the sterile building, a young woman screamed in pain. A large man held onto her hand and worry played in his hazel eyes, ???Carol, please. They???re getting ready. Don???t leave me!??? he pleaded, an edge of panic in his voice. Tears began to roll down the man???s leathery cheeks.

Carol looked at the man, her husband; sweat made her blonde hair cling to her forehead and blood stained the white sheets she lay on, ???R-robert,??? she coughed; exhaustion was quite clear in her voice. A tremor rolled through the woman???s body, ???So sorry,??? she managed to choke out before a nurse pushed Robert aside and the woman was transferred to another bed and rolled out of the room. Face contorted in pain and fear, the man slowly made his way out of the white-walled room and into the waiting room, where he collapsed into a straight-back chair and buried his face in his hands.

For five hours, he sat in that chair, wondering why everything had gone wrong. For five hours, he waited, lost in memories that only made him weaker. ???Cowell,??? a doctor stood in a doorway, holding a clipboard. The man looked up and slowly rose and made his way over to the robed man.

???P-please???she???s fine, right????

The doctor???s eyes darkened, ???I???m so sorry.???

The man???s blue eyes widened and he shook his head, lost in a world of denial as he closed his eyes, ???God damn it!??? he cursed over and over again, though the pain did not ebb away.

???Mr. Cowell, would you like to see your son????

Robert numbly nodded and the doctor led him down a small hallway to a nursery, where he pressed his face against the class and his eyes zoned in on a small, pink infant whose mouth was open in a scream. ???My son,??? he murmured.

???Yes, your son.???

Chapter One:
Robert Cowell Junior


It has never gotten easier. I never got to know her, but there is still pain in my heart. I see what the other kids have. They may lack money, but not even my father can buy me the love of a mother. I knelt beside the elaborate headstone that had been repaired countless times- Father would not allow anything less than perfection for Mother. Just like he only wanted perfection for, and from, me. I set down the bundle of roses I had bought and sat on my butt in the wet grass, staring at the words etched into stone. How could such wimple words tell the story of a person?
Who was I kidding? They can???t. I ran my fingers over the words before standing, ???Goodbye, Mother.??? My voice caught in my throat, but I forced the words out.

I was alone in the cemetery, so I wandered about the long, winding road. People were too damn lazy to walk in, so the road had been added a few years ago. In my opinion, the road tainted the place. The cemetery had been beautiful before, holding the bodies of those we loved. Too much had been destroyed so people didn???t have to exercise- God forbid the possibility of this nation slimming down.

I paused by an old tree; it was obviously dead. The tree???s naked branches swirled into the sky and its trunk was bent funny, as if it had once been forced to shift so it would not live in the shadow of another tree. I leaned against the trunk, sighing. Night was coming upon the town. The dying sun bled into the horizon. To me, though, night was the best part of the day. Especially now, since Father was in the middle of making another movie, he stayed up late at the set. Only the maid and butler were at home and they were too busy cleaning to notice my absence.

It had been easy for me to sneak out earlier after school ended. I laughed at the thought before walking out of the graveyard. Street lamps flicked on all around me so that most of the shadows were lost in the light. The street I walked was lined with houses, but I did not meet a car for five blocks. It was then that Father???s sleek, black vehicle came rushing at me. It stopped a few feet away and I could see Father, his face contorted with rage, through the windshield. For a moment, I considered running from him, but I knew that, when he caught me, he???d simply be in more of a rage.
With great reluctance, I climbed into the car???s leather passenger seat, ???Hello, Father,??? I attempted to sound charming as I put on my seatbelt.

He grumbled before driving forward, ???Don???t pull that innocent crud with me! How dare you sneak out of the house.???
???Why are you home so early, anyway????

???You do not ask the questions, Junior. You answer them,??? Father snarled, glancing over at me for a second, ???Your teacher, Mrs. Hart, called.???

Mrs. Hart, my darling English teacher. We both hated each other, actually, but why had she called father? ???What???d she say????
???You???re failing, for one, and you continuously act out in her class.???

???Maybe,??? I grumbled, narrowing my eyes. Truth be told, I was failing the class, but I certainly didn???t ???continuously act out??? in English. Once a day, I would do something, like throw a wad of paper, but that surely couldn???t be counted as acting out.

???This is unacceptable, Junior.???

???So? I think it is unacceptable for my only parent to be gone almost twenty four seven, but nobody seems to care.???

I had done the equivalent to slapping my father in the face.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel and his face began to turn red, ???You???re grounded!???
???I can handle that.???