C22 Agkistrodon

I froze for a moment, then quickly stuffed the book into my pocket.

In the blink of an eye, Johnson had turned back into that gentle man sitting on the wheelchair, as if nothing had happened.

A nurse came in with a tray of potions and syringes.

"Maria, I'm going to sleep again." Johnson smiled and said to the air.

There was no fear in his smile, only sadness. Johnson's figure froze under the warm sunlight. He was so lonely.

As I thought about what Johnson had said, I unknowingly walked to the entrance of the Inpatient Department.

"Sir, what do you have in your pocket? No matter what, I'm afraid you can't take it with you. " The security people told me.

The system of mental hospitals in the United States was almost the same as that of prisons, and everything in them could not be taken out without permission.

I quickly took out my book to plead with the security personnel. Only then did I realize that Johnson had handed me a [Guide for the Rehabilitation of Mental Illness], which had a total of 198 pages.

The book that Johnson gave me was wrinkled all year round by flipping through it. The cover was gone, and the one that was 43 pages old even tore off a small half of it. From this page begins How to Clean the Body for the Psychopath.

I went through it from beginning to end. There was nothing to mark it, just like any guide to the rehabilitation of the mentally ill.

The security personnel were also puzzled.

"If you are interested in this book, you can go to the main building's lobby for free." The security guard suggested.

Maybe Johnson had really gone crazy.

As I walked out of the asylum, I felt my pulse. By the time I counted to thirty, it was a mess. I can't think for three days and three nights without sleep

The sun was shining on the tarmac, and the soles of my feet were soft. As long as I wasn't careful, I could fall asleep.

I braced myself and called home from a public phone booth outside the hospital.

"Hey, Lina. I saw Johnson at the Napa Mental Hospital."

"BREAK!" Where are you? Maria really had a problem, she was crazy! "What should we do?"

Unexpectedly, before I finished speaking, Lina had actually turned my words completely white!

"Lina, calm down. What's going on?"

"Lei, I'm fine... Today, when Alpha came to find me, I accidentally spilled some juice on him. He refused to change his clothes no matter what, and then, and then — "

Lina took a deep breath and said to me in a low voice, "I took off his sleeves and saw that his body was covered with wounds! They were all deep and shallow scars! Some of them had been stitched up! His back, arms, chest, and abdomen were all covered in scars. How could a child be injured like this! It must have been done by an adult — no matter how I asked him, he wouldn't tell me the truth. She only said that she had been hurt accidentally — it couldn't have been a fall! I suspect that Maria has been mistreating him for a long time! Should I call the police?

"Lina, are you still with Alpha?"

"He just came home. Should I bring him back? Or should we call the police first? "

"Lina, listen to me, you go open the wardrobe. There is a box at the back of the wardrobe, I put the gun at the bottom of the box. You go get the gun. "

"Why a gun?" Lina asked in confusion.

"Lina, place the gun in a place where you can always hold it, and lock the door from the inside. Other than me, can you not open the door?"

I forced myself to calm down, and gave a brief summary of my morning meeting with Johnson.

I met Johnson this morning. I suspect that Maria had done something to him before. Was it just a coincidence that within a month, Johnson went from a normal person to a mental patient who had committed suicide dozens of times? At present, it seemed that the biggest beneficiary of Johnson's inheritance was Maria. She was the most suspicious. As for Alpha, he might be one of the victims too. "But I don't care. I can only give priority to your safety.

"But, I really can't believe that an old lady who can't even walk a few steps can do any harm to me."

"Do you remember how she didn't react that day when she was scalded with boiling water?" I asked Lina.

"Yes."

"Do you think that's normal?"

"..." Lina was silent.

"Maria is definitely not as simple as we thought. Now hold the gun by your hand and lock the door.

"Lei, why are you so sure that Johnson's delusions are caused by human factors? Do you know anything else? " Before Lina hung up the phone, she asked me anxiously.

"Because I have the same symptoms as Johnson." I hesitated, but still told Lina.

"What do you mean? What's the matter with you? "Don't scare me …" Lina panicked.

"Nothing …" "Let's talk about it when we get back …"

I hung up and got into a taxi.

It was the same as Johnson's symptoms. Once I was asleep, I would fall into a nightmare, and my body would commit self-mutilation or suicide according to the dream.

My nightmare reflects what I feared the most in the bottom of my heart, and in Johnson's nightmare, I repeatedly experienced Maria's death.

I thought of the cot, the handcuffs, the bottle of pills I had seen in the darkroom at 601. Johnson must be afraid to sleep like me. So he got a lot of stimulant drugs to keep the nerve center excited and keep the sleepiness in check.

But medicine can only delay sleep time, after all, people still have to sleep.

Therefore, Johnson handcuffed the wall of the secret room to prevent his body from going around uncontrollably in his dreams.

However, no matter how meticulous one's mind was, there would always be a time where everything would be different. The side effects of sleeplessness are extensive brain damage, when people begin to develop hallucinations, mental weakness, and anxiety, they are more likely to automatically fall asleep.

It was very likely that Johnson had suffered brain damage because of his long-term refusal to sleep, which resulted in his gradually developing delusions. He couldn't accept the nightmares of Maria dying time and time again, which was why he made up a Maria himself.

I thought about how before I left, he smiled at the air and said, Maria, I'm going to sleep again.

Johnson was already calm towards death. When he woke up from that eternal nightmare, the Maria that he had imagined was still by his side.

I don't understand, how can Maria be so cruel to Johnson?

This man loved her so much that even the deepest fear was about her, yet she could scheme his death without emotion, put him in a mental hospital, and take all his possessions.

My thoughts were getting more and more confused, my eyelids more and more heavy.

Can't sleep! I took the key out of my bag and jabbed it into the inside of my thigh so hard that I broke out in a cold sweat.

"Sir, are you alright?" The taxi driver caught a glimpse of what I was doing and jumped.

"No, nothing." I forced a smile.

The taxi driver was a Mexican with curly black hair and a big beard. Under his sunken eyes was a nose made of alcohol and the smell of cheese on his clothes.

Like taxi drivers all over the world, American drivers also like to hang a few messy security trappings on their rearview mirrors.

In the rearview mirror he had hung a super-pompous gold plastic snake, its body curled into a wavy shape. Unlike ordinary snakes, this one had no tail, but two snake heads with symmetrical heads. Beneath the plastic snake, there were many metallic ornaments shaped like ears of wheat. There were even two pairs of fake green gems pasted on his eyes.

"This pendant of yours looks pretty good." I had nothing to say.

"Haha, you have good eyes!"

The driver laughed heartily, "This is a good thing for collecting money!" Anfey Bina has two heads, one going east and one going west! "

Amphisbaena?

I thought of Vadoma's incomprehensible parable: Anfey Bina has two faces, and lies as many times as the truth. Anfey Bina has two heads, one wants to go east and the other wants to go west...

This was the snake's name.

It has two heads, so it has two faces.

The two snake heads faced each other, so one of them wanted to head east while the other wanted to head west.

"This double-headed snake, what does it say?" I asked.

"Kid, you're asking the right person. Where do you think I am from?"

"... Mexico? " This was too obvious.

"Yes, I am a genuine Azkis (the most populous people in Mexico). My father, my grandfather's father, my grandfather's father, my grandfather's grandfather, they all live in the northern part of Mexico, but I am the most handsome in our family. They all say that I look like a European!"

"Oh... "It does have a bit of a resemblance."

Not at all.

"Amphimbina is the undefeated guardian god of Mexico. He was born with two heads, so he is also known as the double-headed snake god. It could move in two directions at the same time. If they worked together, they would be terrifying hunters, but if they disagreed, they would bring disaster upon themselves. "Legend has it that whoever looks into the eyes of Anfey Bina, the body will turn to ash and the soul will fall into eternal hell."

His soul had fallen into eternal hell? I remembered the nightmare that had circulated around Johnson for the past twenty-two years.

"Don't be afraid, young man," the driver looked at me with a frown, then smiled and said to me, "The legend of Anfey Bina is already long gone, now he is the symbol of gathering wealth! Did you see that? Its two mouths cannot get in! "