THE ASYLUM CONFESSIONS

WHO AM I?

My name is Jack Steen. 

That name shouldn’t mean anything to you. But it does to others and that’s what counts. 

I’m a nobody, really. 

I’m not a writer. I’m not a storyteller. I’m not a goddamn thing.

I’m just a man who wipes the asses of that society couldn’t give two shits about. I give them their medicine, change their diapers, and provide something no one else has… 

An audience.

I work as a night nurse in the Asylum. 

Which one? Doesn’t matter – they’re all the same. After you read the stories, you should be able to figure it out, but apparently, I might get sued if I actually say the name, so I won’t.

You picked up this book because of the title, right? Deathbed Confessions of the Criminally Insane. That’s exactly what you’re about to read. 

That’s what I do. I take their deathbed confessions. The ones no one else has heard. The ones everyone wants to hear.

My patients tell me their stories, they confess their messed up lives because I do what no one else in this fucking asylum does.

I listen. 

I’ve worked here the longest out of anyone on my floor. I’ve got the scars, the stitches, the broken bones to prove it. I worked my way from the shittiest jobs here to the one I have now.

I used to think being a nurse was my calling. My passion. 

I thought I could make a difference, that what I did was important. 

I was stupid to think anything in life was worth this shit. 

I used to work in a hospital full of people who had lives and loved ones that cared about them. Most of my patients here have been discarded, forgotten about, left to spend their final days alone. 

I won’t tell you which hospital I work at. 

I won’t tell you the names of those dying.

But I won’t lie to you.

You’ll read exactly what I’m told. 

Instead of their real names, I’ll tell you the names I gave them. The names I whisper in their ear as they fall asleep. Sometimes they hate these names, but I don’t care. 

If you’re smart, if you can read between the lines, you’ll know who is telling the story.

I can’t say all the stories are one hundred percent true but like every tale ever told, there’s always a nugget of truth – but then, what the fuck do I know?

These sadistic bastards could be playing their final game with me by messing with my head and now, they could be playing with yours.

KEVIN.

Not everyone in the Asylum are serial killers. 

Some, like the one I’m about to introduce you to, had just one victim, but once you read his confession, you’ll realize why he was sent here and not somewhere else. 

I try to give the benefit of the doubt, I really do, but some people are just…well, something isn’t right in their line of thinking, let me say it that way. 

Kevin is like that. 

I mean, the guy is nice and all, but you need to keep your guard up with him. Every conversation starts out fine, and if you keep it short, you’ll walk away thinking he’s the nicest guy around. Just don’t ask him about his opinion on anything – that’s when you start doubting your own sanity.

If anyone was to walk into a mall with a gun because someone in the food court didn’t fill his drink up to the rim…it would be Kevin.

And yet, he’d be a fun lunch date at the same time.

Here are a few things about Kevin I’ve learned over the years.

He hovers. Like interested in everything you do, type of hovering. Like watching over your shoulder, in your business all the time, kind of hovering. 

He has no concept of personal space or personal anything, truth be told. 

There’s this smell about Kevin, like he bathes in garlic every day or something. 

He’s got the most charming smile I’ve ever seen – I mean, he’d beat out that guy from The Princess Bride if there was a contest. You know that saying about snake charmers? That’s one hundred percent, Kevin.

He’s the kind of guy who would go to the movies in the afternoon to watch the latest romance flick for the fifth time. 

There was one instance downstairs when he’d got placed in solitary after punching a guy for changing the channel on the television – I guess it was during a romantic scene that Kevin knew off by heart. He didn’t appreciate having the station changed.

The guy Kevin punched ended up in the infirmary with a few broken ribs. 

Kevin. A great guy when you first meet him. Charming as hell. Scary as fuck. At least in my opinion. 

His confession is definitely one that the Grimm brothers would have had fun with.

JESI.

There was one fairy tale story that never really piqued my interest, and that was the story of Rapunzel. I mean, a girl is kidnapped by a witch and imprisoned in a tower for most of her life? She grows this long, luxurious mane that’s strong enough to hoist this witch up however many stories without tearing out? 

There were so many issues with this story that never seemed plausible to me.

Until I started looking into it more. 

The truth behind the story is compelling, if you take the time to look it up. An Italian father was tired of having a strong-willed daughter who wouldn’t listen and obey, so he hid her in a tower while he was away on business. He had people visit her, and she’d lower a basket for food and necessities, but there was never mention of her hair. 

In the end, the daughter was very rebellious, escaped her tower, converted to Christianity (which was illegal then), and her father not only turned her in but ended up beheading her too.

Talk about a crazy family.

This leads me to Jessica, or Jesi as she prefers to be called.

Once upon a time, Jesi was probably the sweetest girl you’d ever met. 

Now…well, she’s a little batshit crazy, if you ask me. 

She’s got her reasons, reasons I’ll let her explain. 

Her confession is one that haunts me a little. 

She was one of the early ones when I was a newbie in this place, and she knew how to play me. 

I’m not sure who she has more in common with in the Rapunzel fairy tale – the daughter kidnapped and hidden away, the witch who thought to use her for her own evil purposes, or the father who was able to behead his own daughter.

I’ll leave that up for you to decide.