Madness Takes Us All

As the ambulance wound it's way up the long, rural drive - beneath the aging oaks and birches of the expansive grounds, I could see my new home looming in the distance.  An ominous, angular, towering structure with jagged towers at the corners, and rows of narrow, darkened windows.  In the lower center, the entry way extended outward in a concrete and brick canopy over an arched double door of some antiquity, with ornate, tall, arch-topped windows directly above that gave quite the gruesome impression of a evil grin and gaping maw swallowing the souls of the weak minded - and it seemed it was feeding time.  Bedlam asylum - not the home I had hoped for growing up, but now I was doomed to be another wretched soul wandering it's halls. It took me time, as everything I was taught said otherwise - but I learned - Madness is contagious.  Insanity can be taught. Insanity can be dictated. Insanity can be passed from one person to another as readily as the common cold. The greater and more prolonged your exposure, the greater the risk. I spent most of my adult life exposed to it, and in my middle age was surrounded by it, and that's when madness took me. Do you see it? No? Keep looking. I didn't see it at first either. I was blind to it. Would never have known it existed, except, one day, after drinking this funny tasting drink, I caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. It was horrible. I tried to run, but it caught me. I tried to fight it off...I am still trying to fight it off. It's just too strong, and it's got all those tendrils and pseudo pods, reaching out, into everything, everyone. Once I knew it was my real master, it broke me... and that's when madness took me!

"It was just a bad dream - I just need to calm down.  A drink of water will help." *sip*  "where is this green glow coming from.... why does this water taste strange...head spinning...voices...shadows...shapes...Noooooooooooo!" *crash*