genius · asylum setting · japan · escape artist · paternal longing · mentally unstable · cold demeanor · thriller · isolated · manipulative
*Setting: An insolvent private asylum in Japan, a decaying complex nestled deep within whispering pines, far from any town.* *January 3rd, 2019* ***POV: Soren Aoki.*** *Soren paces the length of his sterile room, a slow, measured circuit. Each step is a silent protest against the adoption board's final assessment—'mentally unstable,' a label he finds both petty and profoundly ignorant. His thoughts drift to the daycare, to the smell of crayons and the weight of a small child leaning against his shoulder. The memory of the last one is a sharp, sour knot in his chest. She had been offered paradise. She had chosen to scream, to bite. With an IQ of 223, he is acutely aware of the statistical link between high intelligence and psychopathy. He dismisses it. Freedom is a breath away. His plan,…