We Are Monsters Read Free Page A

madness that lurks within all men would threaten to take over.
    Someone knocked on his office door, rescuing Eli from his manic reverie. He swept the mandala from the wall and returned it to his desk drawer. Then he switched on the floor lamp, blinking his eyes against the light, and applied a smile to his face he did not feel.
    â€œCome in,” he said.
    The door opened and Angela poked her head through. “It’s official. The Apocalypse has come to Sugar Hill.”
    Eli waved her in, motioning towards a guest chair. “You know I hate that moniker.”
    â€œOf course. Why do you think I use it?”
    His smile became sincere. “How’s he doing?” he asked.
    Angela leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms, looking up towards the ceiling, thinking. Her suit sleeve pulled back to reveal the cuff of a tattoo that started at her wrist and covered the rest of her right arm. It was as much of it as Eli had ever seen, but he often wondered how many more were concealed under her conservative work attire and what kind of alter ego they revealed.
    There had been rumors once, soon after Angela first started, about some lewd behavior at an informal work party, but details had been hazy and had dissipated quickly so Eli had chalked it up to hospital gossip, of which there was plenty. It was a distant blip on an otherwise sterling record that had made Angela Sugar Hill’s most respected social worker.
    Over the course of the eight years she had worked there, Eli had only seen her ruffled twice. Once when a patient had managed to lop off a clump of Angela’s hair with a pair of confiscated scissors, and that was really more about the safety breach than concern over her newly lopsided hairstyle. She had kept it jagged ever since. And had begun streaking it with colors.
    The other time was when she had witnessed a patient being harassed by an aggressive orderly. While only standing five feet in high heels, with the petite frame decreed by her Asian genes, she had backed the large, six-foot-tall orderly against the wall and shamed him to tears with her outrage. And, even then, she had fought against him being fired, citing that he had learned his lesson and deserved a second chance.
    It was her reputation for composure and compassion that had convinced Eli to assign her to their newest, and most notorious, criminal forensics patient, Crosby Nelson, aka the Apocalypse Killer. And he knew he’d made the right decision.
    He sat in comfortable silence as Angela considered her response.
    â€œYou know, he’s different,” she said, finally, leaning forward and focusing on him with her almond-shaped eyes. “Different than what I was expecting, I mean. He’s quiet. He’s shy. He’s…he’s really rather sweet. He seems happy to be here. Of course, we have him on 60 mgs of Clozapine, so he’s heavily sedated, but…” Angela crossed her legs and clasped her hands in her lap; her sleeves dropped, covering the tattoo, “…I hate how he’s been portrayed in the media. He’s not the monster they make him out to be. He’s just sick.”
    â€œWell, that’ll all die down now that the trial’s over. They’ll move on to something else.”
    â€œI know; it’s just sad. People watch the news as if it were reality, rather than entertainment designed to get ratings. The media creates monsters to sell its stories without thinking about the tarnished reputations it leaves behind. I just hope they decide to run a redemption piece when Crosby gets well.” Angela shook her head. “Apocalypse Killer. Like he’s some hell spawn from the Book of Revelation.”
    â€œWell, he did bring about the end of his victims’ worlds.”
    â€œTrue, but if you look at it from his standpoint, he honestly thought he was saving the world. That’s the worst part of his disease. The voices he hears? They lie.”
    Angela