"Your first day here..?" Wow, this guy had Ashton totally fooled! He'd expected Jake to be one of the hardened regulars or something, the way he was talking! It was like this guy was one of the Head Doctor's model patients or something - exactly how much had his head been screwed with before he woke up this morning, in that case?

And if they'd messed with his head, there was a chance that they'd messed with Dias' head, too! ..Except that it was more probable they'd screwed with Ashton's. He was the one with the terrible luck, and he was the one who remembered different things from everyone else, too.

These thoughts made Ashton's smile fall just a hair, though he was still looking pretty positive as he replied to Jake. "Well.. ahh.. you'll see. I could show you my injury, but I think you really need to see how the night is for yourself." He looked momentarily sheepish. "I can't force you to believe me or anything, but you're always free to come talk to me tomorrow! I should be out of this thing by then."

He could see the nurses starting to lead the first few people out of the cafeteria, so he stuffed the rest of the cheese sandwich in his mouth and downed it with the rest of his juice.