Joshua drank from the dark and oft restraining dominion of silent, allusive, chasing madness. He jumped over an untouchable, but brilliantly hanging moon. He flew through an eye-catching, ecstasy-filled, blue-yellow hued double-sunlit galaxy that only a few chosen, and perhaps, unfortunate and curs'd-bless'd, people will ever know. Ecstasy bounced! Time fell down! Awareness slept!

He fired a bullet from his space gun and then raced the bullet as if he were Superman. He won! As he did so, he recalled many of the mind-altering, paralyzing bruises of his lifetime. And then, he traced his floating and crooked footsteps, and memoirs, to a dark, mostly lonely place near insanity. He was barely hanging on to himself. His life had been the best and worst of times.

All the doors were locked, locked and padded. All the lights were bright, burning and hot bright. All the shapes and silhouettes were ever-changing demons and angels, changing and thrilling, and they reminded that Heaven and Hell on planet Earth can be experienced in a single instant. Even the germs ran away from this evil sun-blocked institution. They ran to a new insanity, an insanity of places unlike this insane place. A better insanity, so to speak.

He was like an angel with blue fragile-translucent glowing wings, like a humming bird racing flogging winds in a ghastly hurricane, like a Nat, or wheel-chaired man, sliding down a greased and slippery rainbow without a parachute. He enjoyed every quivering drop of twilight insanity oozing from the plague of D-Candy, AKA the Devil's Candy, the new fantastic, mind-altering, 22nd century ecstasy drug of choice for addicts World-Wide.

"I'm not crazy!" uttered Joshua. "I'm not!"

"No, you are not crazy," whispered a surreal male voice. "Listen very carefully. I don't have much time. Do you understand?"

Joshua was dancing on the roof of a skyscraper now -- lit like a Lighthouse. He was on top of his world -- in his own pain-free, and more importantly, memory-free world of immortality and dreams. A world without his greedy sister. As Joshua sang,

"I'm playing my sister's game
Nothing will ever be the same
I'm the victim of a sister's frame"

"He's too far gone!" demanded an unreal female voice now. "Give him the shot!"

"No! It may kill him!" screeched the man's voice.

"Get out of my way," ordered the woman as she jammed the needle deep into the back Joshua's neck. "This will help bring him down so that we can get him out of Venghurst. It will counter the effects of Devil's Candy for a week."

The man and the woman headed for the door: "Remember," said the man, "You have to act crazy as you start to feel better. Then you can fool your Dr. Simms until we can engineered your escape."

"Yeah, do it for Trina, Joshua; Do it for Trina," repeated the woman. "If you do as I say, you will see her in a week."

Suddenly, amidst the pain and agony of being strung out, and frequently fleeting addict's bliss, Joshua and reality intersected. The room began to spin and the walls inhaled and exhaled excitedly, closing in and then, backing away form Joshua. It was a euphoric and terrible feeling. Joshua sat in a chair straddling a line between trepidation on one side and salvation on the other. His poor mind was spread-eagle in a void of unreality, draped in the bleeding veins of mischievous crisis, and stranded in a greasy pit of despair. It was dark here, dark and scary -- scary like death. The woman had said something, the only thing that could reach Joshua: Trina was looking for him. Sweet Trina, was the love of his life. She was his heaven on Earth and his everything.

After the inhibitor absorbed into Joshua's blood stream, all hell broke loose. It was an inhibitor for D-Candy. The side effects were almost as bad as the drug itself. It caused terrible trembling, dry mouth, noise bleeds, and extreme panic and paranoia, as well as many other horrendous symptoms. Perhaps, with some luck, Dr. Simms would believe the paranoia was Joshua's insanity.

Background: Doctor Forest Simms, was Joshua's doctor. He was his oldest sister's, Michelle's, college boyfriend and former fiancee. Joshua's younger sister, Mary, was simple minded and harmless. She was also easily controlled by Michelle: who honestly loved her. Money talks, but money and sex worked better for Michelle and Dr. Simms. Michelle was a pretty, upper level socialite bitch who worshiped money and social appearances. She easily persuaded Forest Simms to do her dirty work. Dr. Simms also worshiped money, and Joshua was his get rich fast patient -- especially since his deceased father was super rich.

Dr. Simms kept Joshua isolated, almost totally isolated. He paid some of his more disreputable staff to control Joshua. Together, they used D-Candy and mental games to try to drive Joshua insane. With Joshua's mind gone, Michelle would control $millions$ and could make them rich too.
Soon, it was Thursday - the begin date for Joshua's first shot. Thursday was carefully chosen by the mysterious stranger that visited Joshua. If they gave Joshua the shot Thursday, the weekend's solitude would give him time to fool the staff. By Friday, Joshua's paranoia would not be that noticeable. And on this particular Friday, Dr. Simms planned a three day vacation with his wife and two children. It was perfect timing -- perfect, cunning planning. By the time Dr. Simms returned, Joshua would have five of the seven days he needed to return to his senses. The last two days would be the worst, Joshua would have to fool Dr. Simms, and that would be difficult - Forest Simms was well trained and exceptionally observant.

That Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were strange indeed for Joshua. Roger Tremble, one of Dr. Simms accomplices, and an orderly, kept Joshua alone except to give him his D-Candy shots and some food. It was enough food to keep him alive, and weak. On Monday, Dr. Julie Mills tried to visit Joshua as well as all of Dr. Simms patients, but Roger Tremble was much too clever.

Tremble kept Dr. Mills away from Joshua by giving him a powerful sedative. Julie Mills wondered about the strange, heartbreaking setting for this patient, and why he was sleeping all day, but she did not want to interfere. It was strange, damn strange to isolate a patient in a lost corridor of Venghurst. That night, the surreal man returned:

"Joshua, be ready in two days to escape."

"Escape?" replied Joshua, barely aware.

"Yes, Trina will be waiting for you when you get out!" advised Mike Habor. "Remember, act crazy for just two days and you will be home free."

Mike Habor walked quickly to the doors and exited. He was a private detective Trina had hired to find Joshua. When Trina found out he had been committed, she had Habor bribed several of the Venghurst hospital staff to get access to Joshua. After all, Venghurst was considered a Loony Ben instead of a reputable private hospital by many people. Worst things had happened here over the years -- much, much worse things.

On Tuesday, Dr. Simms returned and things went back to normal. When he entered Joshua's padded cell, he immediately sensed something was different:

"Joshua, how are you?" inquired Dr. Simms trying to butter him up.

"Joshua, how was your weekend, quiet I'll bet!" continued Dr. Simms. "Joshua, Do you remember the account number for the safe deposit box? Where's the key?"

"Joshua, I need the account number so that I can look into the box and find Trina's address and telephone number."

"Joshua, don't you want to see Trina?"

Bingo, Dr. Simms had hit upon the right key to unlock Joshua mind. Joshua desperately wanted to see Trina. His mind, in some ways, was very close to breaking, but the thought of Trina ...

"Yes, I want to see Trina," answered Joshua strangely.

"Then tell me the account number," insisted Dr. Simms. "That's the only way you can see Trina!"

Before he knew what was happening, Joshua said: "399259621001 is the number! The key is in a box in the trunk of my girlfriend's car."

Dr. Simms wrote the number drown and made Joshua repeat it several times. The D-Candy inhibitor had caused so much paranoia, Joshua had to see Trina just to stay sane. Now, however, with the safe deposit box number and key, Michelle could destroy Joshua's copy of their father's will. That was bad -- very bad indeed. Two days to go until his escape, and Joshua had given away his only bargaining chip. He was in serious trouble now, perhaps even, deadly trouble.

That same night, Michelle managed to get into Trina's car. She stole Joshua's safe deposit box key, and the next day, she substituted a forged will for the original will. Now, she would have all the family fortune, and of course, take good care of her crazy brother by making sure his sick mind never left Venghurst.

One day to go and Joshua's behavior changed radically. He began pacing his cell, chanting aloud and claming that spiders and snakes were crawling in his clothing and cell. Tremble was very nervous and didn't like the type of attention Joshua was drawing. He prepared his sedative and called for Dr. Simms. Joshua received a very lucky break. It was 1 PM and Dr. Simms had taken his wife to lunch. He scheduled lunch at The Tower, an exclusive and very expensive restaurant. When he arrived back at Venghurst, Tremble slyly approached Simms:

"Your boy is going into schizophrenic rapture in his cell. I've never seen him like that. He is claiming to personally know Jesus. I gave him a very strong sedative."

Simms arrive in Joshua cell five minutes later. Joshua had become so wild, he totally exhausted himself. He was sleeping like a baby. Simms examined Joshua and found that his heart was still racing. Simms tried aggressively to wake him. Joshua stirred wildly, but refused to wake up. Simms was satisfied. Joshua was harmless for now, but ...

That night, Habor and his female accomplice, Lisa Bates (still dressed as orderlies), entered Joshua's room. Habor woke Joshua and found he was uncontrollable.

Lisa gave him a very strong muscle relaxant and that helped calm Joshua down quite a bit. They dressed Joshua as an orderly also and headed for the guarded exit.

They had selected their guard and time precisely. He was the weakest and most incompetent guard. They had done well. The guard stopped them and looked at their identification. They were all forged well. The guard barely looked at Joshua. Lisa had removed her orderly jacket and was wearing a very revealing blouse. It worked. With Lisa, no wonder -- wow! Joshua was free. When they arrived at their van, Trina was waiting. And suddenly, Joshua was sane. It was like a huge dark cloud had dissipated over his head letting in bright sunshine. All that, and it was almost 10 PM at night. Habor and Lisa Bates escorted them to a hideaway, safe house.

There, they nursed Joshua back to health. They had a good supply of D-Candy and inhibitor on hand to coax him off the drugs slowly. Withdrawal was absolutely awful. Joshua was strong physically, but it took all he had to pull through once they completely withdrew D-Candy. It was much more addictive than the old drug Crack which was widely used in the 21st century.

Five weeks later, Joshua was ready for Michelle who had done everything to find him. First, they all went to a policeman friend of Habor and explained the situation. Habor's policeman friend knew all the right people and he knew all the appropriate tactics to use to catch Michelle. He would have Joshua confront his sister wearing a wire. Joshua was scared. In the past he had never feared Michelle. After all, she was eight years older and she left for college before he knew what was going on. He had fond memories of Michelle always playing with him and dressing him up like a doll when he was younger. Later, she lost touch with him and their family.

The next day, Joshua surprised Michelle in a bar: "Hello Sissy," smiled Joshua.

Michelle's jaw dropped to the floor.

"What, what are you doing here? How? ..." asked Michelle stunned.

"I escaped from Venghurst and got some help," said Joshua. "You tried to kill me and still my inheritance."

"What are you talking about?" denied Michelle.

"Don't deny it, it's no use," advise Joshua. "Dr. Simms already confessed and implicated you."

"Now, I know you are lying," laughed Michelle. "Forest Simms is one of the coldest, most clinical men I know. He would never do such a thing!"

Joshua just sighed, "You are right, Dr. Simms was ice water, a real glacier, but Tremble, the orderly quickly made a deal and turned Dr. Simms in to the police. When the police researched Tremble, they found that he was an ex-con on parole."

"No way!" screamed Michelle.

"Yes, way," continued Joshua. "From there Dr. Simms tried to make a deal for your conviction, but the police and District Attorney refused. Finally, Simms got a reduce sentence deal for turning you in."

"It can't be," cried Michelle.

"Yes, it can," insisted Joshua. "Just one question ... Why? Why on earth would you do such an unnecessary and terrible thing? I thought we always got along great."

"Yes, its true , we did!" said Michelle kindly. "When you were a baby, you were my little boy! I loved you so. As the years passed, I grew accustomed to money and finest things and grew distant with you. You rebelled at twelve and were went to military school. While you were away, while I was visiting home from college, I overheard mother and father arguing that I was not his child. I was stunned! In his anger, father said he would keep me out of his will. His attitude towards me changed drastically. Until then, I had always been his favorite. Now he hated me. When he died, I knew I would get nothing. So I came up with a plan to get you out of the picture. I would have never actually killed you. I just wanted to keep you locked up!"

"Terrible," said Joshua sadly. "It was all unnecessary! "

"Unnecessary?" screamed Michelle. "I would have gotten nothing!"

"No, not true !" continue Joshua. "It is true father was angry. He was so angry, he told me he changed his will. He gave me a safe deposit box and told me to memorize the number. As you know, I have always had a way with numbers and that was easy enough. You must have read the old will!"

"Old will?" questioned Michelle. "What old will? What are you talking about?"

"Yes, Sissy, an old will," continue Joshua. "About a 18 months ago, I found out that my girlfriend Trina was two months pregnant. She had our son Michael and I told father. I had a blood test done for father and that verified Michael was my son. At that time, father changed his will, but I would not take it until he had a blood test done for you."

"For me?" asked Michelle stunned.

"Yes, surprise, it was for you and your benefit," answered Joshua. "I never wanted to exclude you from the will. I always looked up to you. After all, you were the only mother I knew. You do remember how mother was ... Remember when father insisted that you looked tired and anemic? Well, its no coincidence that his doctor was in the house and took your blood. I insisted, and father complied."

"And the results?" cringed Michelle.

"You are father's daughter!" said Joshua. "It's definite! A simple blood test verified that. All you and father went through was unnecessary. Mother simply lied before she died to get even with father for all his cheating. She was totally drunk and insane with jealousy when she said that you were not his child."

"She lied," wept Michelle uncontrollably, with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, when father found out," continued Joshua with tears also, "he changed his will a third time to include you and Michael. I never bothered to put it into my safe deposit box. I gave the newest will to Trina who promptly threw it into an old shoe box in her closet. Michael gets a trust fund as the only grand child and you get almost exactly one-third of father's $235 million dollar estate."

When the police looked at Joshua's undercover audio recorder, they found that it had been turned off. As a result, they had a weak case against Michelle. She spend only three years in a minimum security prison. Trina agreed that Joshua did the right thing. After all, how would it look to his son if he told him he put his sister in prison for life. After all, Michael was named after Michelle. You never know who cares for you!

~The End~

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