Entry Twenty-Six
Vincent and the Sleeper

I was told a man came to visit me today. He said his name was Vincent. The staff had turned him down because he wasn't family and had no proof of identification, but I was told that he said he'd come back later with what the staff wanted. Who knows, maybe he wanted to kill me. It wouldn't have been the first time. I'm sure a lot of people would like to see me dead. The name does ring a bell, though. Bah, it isn't like there's only one Vincent in the world, so it could all just be a hapless coincidence.
    Of course I shouldn't have, because ever since my mental relapse I was told not to, but I went and visited the sleeper one final time. For some reason I couldn't stop myself. Felt like I was sleepwalking...like part of me wasn't really there, that I was only aware of my surroundings.
    Whatever it was, this little sleepwalk brought me into a dream in which the sleeper, for a brief moment, opened a gray eye and looked up at me. I should've been scared. I should've been running away after what happened the last time I hallucinated about the sleeper awakening. This time, I didn't. And this time, he didn't strike out at me. No monsters. No dreaming. I'm awake.
    The sleeper is awake now. He has a lot of nothing to say.
    Everything about him is kept secret. I was told awhile ago by Wendel that everything the sleeper came in with had been confiscated into the director's office. Marcus' office. My brother's office. In a way, I suppose that Wendel was tempting me, and much like Eve, I took the first bite without hesitation.
    What harm would a little sneaking around do? It isn't like I've got much else to do. All it's been lately is counseling, eating, sleeping, drugs, more counseling. Other than Wendel I hardly see anyone anymore. I haven't seen Sarah in over two weeks, not since I explained some of my nightmares to her. I almost feel guilty about it now that I think of it, but what can you do.
    In any case, I've been bored. These little strolls in the rooftop gardens haven't been doing me any good, either. It's that nagging paranoia on where they had taken the sleeper after he woke up that kept pestering me. Who is he? Why is he here and what the fuck does Wendel think he's playing at by taking me to him in the first place? Nothing around here makes sense.
    Leaving is the only thing I can do. Throwing away everything and putting all this shit behind me doesn't sound like a very drastic loss. What's Marcus gonna do? Punish me? Honestly, what could possibly be more worse than being around him?
    "You don't mean that" he says when I tell him this.
    I do.
    The office was empty. I knew it would be. Oddly, though, he didn't have it guarded or locked or anything, as if he just kept it open in expecting me. It could be that Marcus wasn't being his usual, cautious self today. Maybe he'd be back soon. Who cares? I'd be gone by the time he arrived.
    I checked his drawers. I found nothing but a mobile phone, a few electric keys, some old technology. Nothing that indicated the sleeper's reason for being here, or his connection to me before the car crash that happened so long ago it all feels like a dream.... Then I find that what it is I'm searching for wasn't in the place where confiscated items would be. How could I have been so stupid?! Urgh! The only place Marcus would keep those sorts of things would be in the file cabinet, and that damned thing was always kept locked.
    Locked. Locked.... Not if I break it open.
    Yeah. Break. I trashed his entire office searching for that goddamned file.
    It took me a while, but I found it. How I was ever-so quiet, too.
    At first I thought it was some kinda joke. Really, the thing didn't appear to be much, but it was my only clue. The sleeper hadn't any files because it seemed he didn't have much of a recorded past at all. His condition...? Great, the poor bastard doesn't seem to be capable of speech. Even if I were to see his wakeful form, how the hell do I go about communicating with him? He ain't going to tell me what happened between the gaps of loss memory I've got. Which all brings me back to square one. I've got nothing. The sleeper, being my last hope, was hopeless.
    Then again, if he truly was my last hope, then why do I get a sudden edgy feeling about the Vincent guy? Who is Vincent? Who is....
    A woman. In a gaping hole in a void. She is a shadow.
    It means nothing to me. I'm still lost and without answers. When I try to remember things, my head hurts more and I feel like my brain's about to explode.
    I don't know why, but for some reason I wish Zayn hadn't left. At least he was someone here who I felt I could at least talk to in order to get my mind off of things. And where's Sarah? I used to be able to talk to her as well. Man, I miss those good ole days, even if they aren't that long ago.
    God, I must be pretty fucking pathetic, writing all this shit down. It isn't fair. None of it. But I could complain all I wanted and I'd still be nowhere in this whole case. Nowhere, no one left to turn to.... Can't even confide in the sleeper anymore. I wonder where he's been taken to.
    My brother's not gonna be very happy when he returns from his lunch break. Oh well. At least I'm doing myself a favor. I always could've gotten it a worse way.
    As I leave, I can't help but wonder where Sarah ran off to. It's a little rude of her to leave without saying goodbye.

--Alexander

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