BRIAN BELMONT II

EPISODE II By Adriel Mohammed

With that the nurse was gone, changing forms on the clipboard she went to the next bed with a man who was standing near the open space between the two columns of beds looking like a soldier waiting for inspection. He had an almost empty stare but was very polite. Brian realized all the other patients were wearing old worn-out clothes and this gave all of them a faded hue instead of trying to revive the colour that the clothes once were, looked permanently brown and dirty, he saw them all as grey.

What made this character especially comical was that he tucked his worn-out polo into his oversized pants and tied what looked like either a very old canvas belt or what may have very well been a piece of rope to hold his clothes high on his waist. Despite his appearance when the nurse approached, he greeted her with a handshake and a smile not being phased for a second by his appearance. His eyes were dead, not like a depressed person, depressed people look sad instead this man seemed made of artificial emotional responses, his mouth didn't exactly smile and something about him was very off-putting despite his best attempts at gentility. 

Brian tried to eavesdrop but they had already slipped into the many pockets of conversation that he heard but couldn't discern. Instead, he focused his energy on what he could do as trying to make sense of where he was and why he was here was proving futile. 

He got out of bed, realizing he was clothed similarly to the other patients on the ward in a worn-out shirt and old worn jeans, "These clothes belonged to someone else years ago maybe." he thought to himself. The clock read 8:30 and his clothes already made Brian feel dirty so he decided to take the 'optional' shower. 

When he got to the bathroom there were two large male nurses inside, they told him there wasn't enough water for a shower instead brush his teeth and wash what he could using hand soap. 

BRIAN BELMONT II.I

Realizing them as male security guards disguised as nurses directed Brian and the other patients to brush their teeth and did their morning routines. Everything was communal, even the toilets as the stalls had no doors. Brian tried to remember anything about why he was at the hospital. He mentally made a list while washing his hands, after he was done washing his armpits with a damp hand lightly lathered in soap, he recited his list mentally; "I'm in some sort of hospital. It's in a valley of old buildings. The young nurse knew my name before me."I didn't know my name. My name is Brian. My name is Brian?"

The last item on the list Brian said in a whisper as it especially haunted him.

He was about to turn off the faucet when he wondered how long he'd been on the ward and when last did he take a bath. The guards left the bathroom as soon as the smell from the doorless toilet stalls began wafting to where they stood, Brian saw this as a good a time as any to steal a shower. 

He wet and lathered his hand again and this time he put his hand in his pants and took the opportunity to wash his penis as discreetly as possible while using a face basin next to four other persons without a nurse to keep an eye on things. 

He cared a lot less about what the other people thought about him at this moment as he wanted to feel clean even if the clothes he wore didn't allow it to come easily. He decided to refocus on his mental list; "I'm in the hospital. I'm in a valley. Find the young nurse. My name is Brian…. what? This time he didn't speak out loud. One of the male nurses stopped his thoughts with a command that echoed in the large bathroom making everyone stop in their tracks.

"Okay, time to go back!" The sound caused everyone to stop what they were doing and listen like a herd of sheep to the shepherd.

Preoccupied with his thoughts Brian shrugged off the command and replied, "Just finishing up I'll catch up alright" while rinsing off his hands

Holding his nose while speaking to Brian, the guard wanted nothing more than to get out of the shit shift as they call it, " I gone, hurry up."

Now alone with his thoughts, Brian tried to piece together the puzzle of his last name. He could barely see his penis under his pubic hair and knew he barely did any good with that damp hand he passed earlier. He restarted the ritual of his attempt at hygiene. Despite being at a face basin he dropped his pants mid-thigh so he could toss a handful of water onto his pubic area before he lathered it with soap. Looking at himself in the mirror he wondered out loud "How long has it been since I took a bath?". He unbuttoned his shirt and began lathering his bare chest with hand soap creating a system where he wet his skin first lathered with the soap then wiped himself clean and dry using the thin coarse toilet paper ignoring the shreds of damp lint on his chest that stuck to his chest hair. 

"Remember the list," he said to himself, scrubbing grime off of his forearms before wiping the soap and water off. The sound of him talking to himself bounced off the ceiling-high tiling in the empty bathroom giving the effect that he was speaking to someone; "Brian boy you in the hospital. Your name is Brian. But I don't know this hospital. Last name, what's my last name?"

Between scrubbing his skin sore, his voice vibrating the echoing bathroom with his panic, Brain's migraine returned stronger than before. "AH!" he shrieked in pain. The sensation alone was enough to wind him, his skull was on fire. 

"My name is Brian."

"Brian…."

"Brian…"

"What is wrong with me"

He panted while scouring the bare bathroom for something that could help him. 

There was a bucket hidden behind a sink half-filled with water dripping from the faulty line above. The bucket was probably once white but now it just looked black and green from the mildew of the damp crevice of the bathroom. 

In one motion he threw out the old water and filled the bucket in the sink. His skull was a ticking time bomb. His hands were shaking now. He threw water from the bucket on the back of his head while he leaned over the sink. Making sure the water would run over the rest of his head. The water hit the sink and flew right back at him soaking his body and the floor around.

"Shit!"

A waterfall of water hit his stomach soaking him, realizing his penis was still out and his pants mid-thigh, Just as he realized his predicament his brain felt like it was being squeezed with a vice grip, the veins on the temple of his head protruding in protest. His left knee gave way with the pain. Part of him was relieved as he gave up his focus as he allowed himself to fall. He trembled and dropped the paint bucket which was already being filled again. The bucket clattered and echoed all through the bathroom with water sloshing all around Brian. He screamed as loud as he could in an attempt to scare away the pain. He screamed so loud it rivalled the might of the migraine. So loud the two large nurses came rushing into the bathroom. 

"What the hell you doing man!!!"

They rushed toward the patient while he writhed in pain, despite wearing rubber soles one of the men slipped and lost his balance for a moment, the entire floor was wet and slippery with hand soap and water.

"It's a migraine, I need some tablets"

The male nurses propped his body by the armpits, the sloshing sound evidence of how soaking wet he was. Penis exposed, toilet paper lint littering his chest, Brain could do nothing but try to stay awake. 

"I'm Brain, I have this migraine and I can't do anything because of it, that's why I'm in the hospital"

The nurse who slipped earlier despite his strong physical appearance turned his head to one side and gave Brian a look of pity like he knew the pain Brain felt. While one nurse held him up the other fixed his clothes and pulled up his pants. 

Disgusted by both his helplessness and slowly realizing the dampness of his clothes Brian resigned himself to his faith of being carried almost bodily back to the ward out front. The pain in his skull still at an unbearable high he could barely stay conscious. When he was brought to the nurses' station in the centre of the ward Brian was shocked to see the clock overhead, "How is it 11:30!?" Brian blurted out despite being almost debilitated by the migraine. 

Had he been in the bathroom for three hours? Why did it seem like five minutes had passed? What is this migraine? 

"What is this migraine?" he mumbled.

"What's that?" The nurse that woke him up emerged from the office/breakroom/pharmacy tucked away behind the nurses' desk. 

"He was in the bathroom screaming and spilling water everywhere trying to bathe, he must have stayed back since morning." The male nurses holding him up reported so impersonally Brain almost didn't feel the embarrassment of realizing what happened and how he was found in the bathroom. 

"What migraine?" The female nurse directly addressed Brian seemingly ignoring the report by the man. She stared directly at him even though Brian could barely keep his eyes open.

"I've had a really painful migraine since I woke up" He replied like a child being scolded.

"You don't have anything on your record because you missed morning rounds with the doctors so you'll have to wait until 2 but I'll give you something to help until the doctor prescribes something at 2."

She walked to the back and brought back three tablets in a small plastic cup. The two male nurses stopped supporting Brain's weight. When he stood his legs felt weak and his knees threatened to give way at any moment. He swallowed the tablets while the nurse took out what he figured was his form from earlier today. While filling out a box on the paper she said, "Go change by your bed, you can pull the curtains but one of them has to watch you ma-…...make sure you're okay" she stuttered before finishing.

While walking back onto the ward he thought out loud to himself, "What kinda' hospital is this?" Just then a particularly anxious man blurted out, "Hospital?! This is a MADHOUSE! You in St. Ann's ahahah!" 

BRIAN BELMONT II.II

Ripping the rug from under Brian the man hustled away with unusual pomp leaving no room for further questions. Thinking about the unusual routine of his morning Brian realized the man may be telling the truth; the one window to the room was barred, there was one exit in and out and even though he hadn't been near it he could tell it was guarded and now there was this massive nurse on the same side of his privacy curtain while he changed out of his sopping wet clothes. 

"Having a rough day today huh?" The man with the rope for a belt came over to Brian wearing his artificial smile that always hinted at something more sinister behind it. 

"You have no idea," Brian replied with a sigh. 

"Well, Mr Belmont sometimes we need a little confusion before we get the entire picture, yeah?"