<strong>Sunset, One week previous</strong><br/><br/>"I'll let her try them out," he said, accepting the pills.  "I don't think they're going to work very well, though.  She's..."  He considered the words for a while, thinking of how to explain.  "She...hears things.  Voices, but dozens of them all at once, by what she's told me.  Sometimes they get so bad that she just cries and cries, to the point where..."  It was hard for him to explain, yet he still had to make the attempt, if only because being honest was probably the best way to get some help for her.  "To the point where sometimes I just want to conk her on the head like in the movies so she's not suffering."<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://www.yourbars.com.au/static/media/x600/138103_131008_monastry_interior_1_copy.jpg)</div><br/>Bill helped to carry the stretcher inside while Theo got the door.  Inside the place was quite clean, taken care of and most importantly, brightly lit.  A number of the lounges had been set with pillows, newspapers were carefully piled in certain areas.  It was difficult to shake the feeling that this place was lived in, even now, although its current occupants knew how to take good care of a place.<br/><br/>Upon walking inside, a semicircle had been drawn upon the floor in chalk; although it didn't seem to hold any special significance in and of itself, it was impossible to enter inside without passing over the chalk.  The insides of the various windows had likewise been marked with chalk in strange glyphs and designs that didn't seem to have any more meaning than the markings outside.<br/><br/>A teenage girl lay upon a bed without sheets, gripping her head and moaning as if the pain had only just returned with a vengeance the moment that they had walked inside.  As soon as they had Red safely down upon one of the couches, Bill moved over to the girl, getting her a pair of the pills.  "Hey, Carrie.  Let's try this."  She downed the pills with rapid ease, practiced by someone who had dealt with so much medication in her life that she didn't even need a glass of water anymore.  Whether it would help would take time to learn, but Bill was fretting something terribly, helpless to aid his daughter's suffering and hating himself for it.<br/><br/>He moved off behind the bar, searching around a bit before producing an ivory statuette.  It had an old, aged look, slightly chipped but depicting a young woman with outstretched arms.  "I really need knockout drops for her if you can get them," he said.  "I don't know if you can trade this, if you just need me to get more money, or what-"<br/><br/>Without warning, the girl suddenly sat up, summoning Bill's attention.  Red was still doped up and worn out, but he glanced over as well.  "The full moon will bring the first cataclysm," she said, her voice pained and hoarse.  Her eyes stared widely but without really seeing anything that was going on.  She almost seemed to be possessed.  "The fall of three will give rise to seven.  The first pinnacle of black fire will be found where the rays of heated man-flesh roast next to the blurry haze of sentient face-boxes."  With that, she suddenly collapsed, though her strange outburst didn't appear to have stopped her pain in any significant manner.