Leaping Death

THE PROHECY

  Hunter couldn't  determine whether he was still asleep  when he looked at his clock which read a minute before midnight.  He took a swig from his water bottle.  When his parents stopped by, they always brought a thirty bottle case of water for him.  With all the medication he was taking, the water was much appreciated. He decided to work out in the common room.  Hunter put on his karate gear, and was going to practice kicking the Punching Bag while he watched sports highlights.  He only had an hour: it would be lights out at one in the morning.  Hunter hated the whole facility, but had to admit that it was unique they let people stay up past dusk.  He talked to some of the other patients, who had been transferred from other facilities, and had heard some horror stories.
  When Hunter left his little fifty square foot room, he was in dark hall that led to the common room.  The cold hallway was adjacent to the security guards' room, where two guards  watched the cameras outside of each patient's room.   Two guards  patrolled the outside of the building, and two sets of two more guards walked the halls all night——watching for patients trying to break out.
  More often than not, the security job was easy for the guards. Usually, the patients were really co-operative———but sometimes they'd get  cabin fever, or become homesick, and lose it.  They were well-monitored and very much controlled. Patients  knew that bad behaviour was curbed with heavy sedatives.
  The guards communicated with Walkie Talkies and  each of them had a cell phone and personal safety necklace. As an even  further safety measure, every four hours a loud alarm would ring in the east and west wings.  If the  guards didn't respond by turning off the alarms within two minutes of them going off a real police officer was dispatched to check on the staff’s wellbeing.
  Hunter didn't wear shoes as he made his way to the common room.  A man in his bathrobe was lying still in front of a television screen that was flashing zeroes.
  “Hey Buddy.  Hit the play button so I can watch a video while I do a few stretches,”  Hunter said this while approaching the man.
  The man didn't respond, and didn't move one muscle.  Hunter tapped him, and put his hands on his frozen shoulder.  “What the hell is going on here?  I must be sleeping because this is not physically possible.  This is like that movie ‘Ghost’ when people would possess and jump from one body to another. Wait a second. That's not the case.  This guy is completely frozen.  What the f--k!  What was he, dead in the freezer?”  The man’s body fell forward on the ground.  Hunter ran, and opened the door to the security guards' office.
  “These guys are frozen too?" Hunter pinched himself to ensure that he was indeed awake.  “What the hell?  How long was I asleep?  Am I tripping out on my new medication? This is freaking me out.”  Hunter ran to the bathroom, and splashed water on his face.