CHAPTER ONE

1964

Maria Johnson walked along the halls of briarcliff, ready to feed the next patient. She opened the rusty door, and let herself in. usually, you'd push the food through a slot because some patients would get violent with you, but maria didn't think that all of them could cause harm and mayhem. she squatted down, meeting eyes with pepper.

"hello ms.maria" pepper said with joy. pepper loved maria, maria was the nicest nun to work at briarcliff. perhaps you wouldn't call maria a nun, since she only was working there for a college scholarship. that was the only way maria could go to college, was to attend briarcliff as nun. maria smiled lightly at pepper.

"here you go, pepper." maria handed a plate of disgusting looking mashed potatoes and peas to pepper.

"thank you, ms.maria!" pepper smiled. maria gently got up, and left the room.

maria held the railing of the old, squeaky stairs going up to the second floor. she turned the corner, entering her bedroom. it was small, and she wasn't allowed any posters, or decoration so it was a tad plain. she took off her clothing, and put her white tank top on, along with shorts.

"goodnight, world.." she said to herself. she slowly closed her eyelids, saying goodbye to another day.

-

"wake up, maria!"

"maria johnson wake up this instant, we have an emergency!"

"you dumb thing, get up!"

maria awoke to the yells of judy martin, hovering over her like a helicopter.

"i'm so sorry, sister jude!" maria apologized, not exactly knowing what she had done wrong.

"i don't have an alarm yet, i didn't know i had overslept-"

"you didn't." sister jude stopped her from finishing the sentence. maria's face twisted with confusion.

"why did i get yelled at, then?" maria asked. sister jude rolled her eyes, and scoffed. maria stood up, not immediately realizing that she was still in her night wear.

"for heavens sake, get dressed and meet me in my office." sister jude said and then exited the room. maria sighed, and grabbed her regular attire from her closet. she put her brown hair in a right bun, and tucked it in the hood of her attire. she took a last once over at herself in the mirror, and left her room. as soon as she opened her door, she heard loud yells from patients and nuns. she rushed towards the noise, and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw it.

when she saw him.

her eyes widened  as she made eye contact with kit walker, a accused murderer. not just any murderer, a murderer who skinned his victims alive. who skinned women alive like a little boy skinning cats for fun.

"oh my god." maria said to herself in a quiet tone. guards had their arms tightly around him, forcing him to go into sister judes office.

"get down here maria!" sister jude called out from downstairs. maria nodded, and walked down the stairs with caution.

"get them calm." sister jude told her. sister jude pointed to pepper, and a few other patients who weren't so happy that kit was here. maria ran to them, and gathered them all to follow her back into their rooms. after that, she came back into the main room, to complete silence. she then remembered that jude asked her to come to her office. she walked back up the stairs, and hurried to sister judes office. she already saw the shadow figure of a man in a chair through the door window, in the back of her mind she knew who it was. she opened the door, and saw the one and only

"kit walker." sister jude announced his presence. maria tried to avoid eye contact with him, and she stood next to sister jude.

"listen up, mister kit." sister jude began.

"this is maria, maria johnson. she'll be your personal helper." sister jude said. panic shocked through maria.

"sister jude, i don't think that's a-"

"quiet maria."

"maria will show you to the lounge room." sister jude smiled. maria gulped, and grabbed kits hands and led him to the lounge room.

"i didn't do it." the man spoke up. maria ignored him. kit sat down in the chair in the lounge room, and everyone began staring at him.

"i'm telling you, i'm not guilty. just hear me out." kit pleaded. maria sat down next to him.

"you killed and skinned many women." maria said. kit shook his head.

"no, i didn't. i'll explain-"

"you wanna tell me the story about the little green men? i've already heard it." maria said. kit looked her dead in the eyes with determination.

"i'm telling the truth. somewhere deep down, you believe me." kit said. maria broke eye contact with him.

"you know nothing about me, kit." maria said. kit laughed.

"you don't know who i am, do you maria?" kit asked. maria rolled her eyes.

"your a murderer." maria replied. Kit shook his head.

"i lived down the street from you." kit said. maria scoffed.

"no, you didn't."

"you seriously don't remember me, maria lilith johnson?"

maria's eyes widened.

"nobody knows my middle name except my family, and one other person." maria said, shook.

"who is that one person, hm? perhaps a kid you used to play with as a child?" kit smiled. maria inhaled and exhaled quickly.

"have you been stalking m-me?" maria asked. kit laughed again.

"your kinda slow. but you've always been a bit slow." kit said.

"i'm the kid you used to play with, you used to call me kitty." maria refused to believe it.

"no." she simply said. she didn't wanna believe that at all.

"yes i am, you can deny it all you want too. but we both know i am. don't you recognize me?" kit clicked his tongue. maria looked at him for a moment, and imagined the little boy she used to play with.

"if your really him, you'd know my biggest secret that i had as a child." maria stated.

"you mean when your dad cheated on your ma?"