A/N: Hi! Welcome to the first ever (I think) Victorious collab! It shall be amazing! So, since this is a collab, there are two -coughAWESOMEcough- authors, me (LongAgo13) and hup123hup123slapslap, my internet BFF XD So, just so you know who wrote what, the lovely hup123hup123slapslap wrote Cat and Jade's parts, and the spectacular, amazing, superior to the other -gets hit by co-author- , I mean, the equal to the co-writer who writes Robbie and Trina's parts, me! So now, it's time to read the story, or "It's a Mad World", or as a little pet name, The Victorious Mental Hospital Thingy. Yup.
She shouldn't be here.
Cat fiddled with the bandage on her arm absently, trying to distract herself from the nurse lady's talking. It didn't matter anyway. She was babbling on about the procedures here and where everything was, but Cat didn't hear a word.
It didn't matter what the nurse said anyway. As soon as she got to talk to someone who actually knew what they were doing she'd be out of here. They'd see it was just a misunderstanding – a result of too much caffeine and too little sleep.
The incident didn't make her crazy. It didn't!
"Isn't the spaghetti wonderful, dear?"
Cat looked up at her dad quickly, jolted out of her thoughts. "Huh?"
"He asked if you liked your dinner." Her mom supplied helpfully, sneaking a smile at her husband.
"Oh! Yup! It's really great. Not like—"
"You did a great job." Cat's dad beamed at his wife.
Cat couldn't even be mad at him. He probably didn't even realize he'd cut her off.
Distracting herself with pushing a meatball around on her plate, Cat tried to ignore her parents making doe eyes at each other. She felt like she was back in school, stuck watching a few teenagers flirting.
She was glad her parents were happy and stuff but…did they have to act like kids all the time?
Desperate to stop herself from making a face at their antics – she never did understand the whole relationship thing – Cat put her fork down and stood up. "Can I go outside and play with Tessa?"
Her parents went quiet, both of their gazes landing on her.
"Kitty, you're fifteen." Her mom smiled, concern fliting across her face.
Cat bristled and crossed her arms. "So?"
"So, don't you think you should get a real friend?"
"A real friend? She is a real friend!"
"We know she's imaginary, sweetie. We've seen you "playing" with her. I've never seen this Tessa you're so fond of."
For a second, Cat could have sworn her heart stopped. Why were they doing this? Why were they saying such mean things? "I'm not crazy!"
"We're not saying you are sweetie. You can still have your imaginary friends, just try to get real ones. Like –"
"No! My friends are real!" Cat tugged at her hair in frustration. They were trying to get rid of her, she knew it. She was in the was of their happy relationship and they wanted her gone! "I'm not going anywhere!"
She watched in horror as her dad stood up, calmly. "Kitty, you have to understand. We don't want you here."
"But, but –"
"He's right darling. It's the only way we can be happy. You'd just come back from anywhere else, but you can stay at a mental facility for a long while."
"It won't work! I'm not crazy! I'm not, I'm not!" Sobbing desperately, Cat ran out of the house, wanting nothing more than to get away from her parents.
She covered her ears with her hands to block out her parents' screaming. They were screaming at her, they were screaming at each other…
Cat stumbled to her knees but was up in a flash, blinking quickly so her eyes could adjust to the darkness. She kept running, pushing her way through the forest in front of her.
Her breath came out in rapid gasps as the trees closed in around her, suffocating her.
Lightning flashed, making her scream again.
She tried to move forward but was caught on one of the trees. Cat struggled, flailing as she tried to dislodge herself. "Stop it, stop it!" She kicked back and almost cheered in triumph as she came free.
In a second she was off again, way past frantic by now. Her eyes stung with tears and sobs ripped through her throat viciously.
Cat froze. What was that? She'd heard a strange noise. It almost sounded like…honking?
She tilted her head again, the world slowly coming back into focus around her. Her eyes widened in horror and she went to scream again, finding herself staring down the front of a truck. But the noise died in her throat as a tremendous force hit her.
Cat frowned. She hadn't gotten hurt. Her dad had tackled her to the side before she could get hit by that car. All she got was a scrape on her arm from the tarmac, so there was really no harm done.
"Catalina!"
"What?" Cat snapped.
"This is your room." The nurse replied patiently.
"Oh." Biting her lip, Cat figured she could make the best of it. Show people that she could make real friends and that she wasn't crazy.
Those stupid doctors didn't know what they were doing when they diagnosed her with psychosis.
Slowly, Cat opened the door, ready to finally enter the point of no return.
She didn't belong here.
Jade glared at the door, a scowl set firmly on her face. She didn't like this. Her freedom was gone, stripped away from her just like everything else.
And it's not like the scumbag didn't get what he deserved. All she did was play the part of karma. It was no reason for her to be sent here. Juvy would be a million times better.
"Get out of my way." Jade snapped viciously, watching with satisfaction as the maid scrambled away from the door with an alarmed squeak.
"Sor—"
"Get!" Smirking as the terrified woman all but ran from the room, Jade opened the door.
"Beck." She greeted, sounding at least semi-civil.
"Hey." Beck greeted, looking like he just wanted to be swallowed up by the ground.
"What wrong with you?" Jade made a face. "You are not cancelling our date!"
Beck smiled carefully, trying to calm himself. "Can I come in? We could sit down?"
Jade's grip on the doorknob tightened until her knuckles turned white. "...Okay." She agreed hesitantly through gritted teeth.
The door opened wider and Beck slipped in, the epitome of cool. He expertly led Jade through the house, knowing her house almost as well as his, stopping in her favorite room. The first floor living room.
It was Jade's own personal area, not only the maids were allowed to clean up in here.
Jade's tension left as she sunk into her favorite chair. Beck was perched at the end of the couch.
"Jade…" He began hesitantly, "I like you, but—"
Jade popped up, eyes blazing. "You're breaking up with me aren't you?"
Beck didn't have time to confirm before she continued.
"No, you can't! That's not how this works! Is it another girl?" Jade stopped her pacing, frozen by Beck's silence. "It is!"
"Jade, listen!" Beck held his hands up in surrender. "It wasn't supposed to happen—"
"But it did!" Jade kicked an end table, lost in her fury. It tipped over with a loud crash, making Beck flinch. "You bastard!"
"Jade, calm down!"
"No! I won't calm down! How long has this been going on?"
"Not long! We were just talking and I—"
"Liar!" She screeched, tears flowing down her face. "You're such a fucking liar!"
Beck shook his head, heading towards the door. "I'm not! Calm me when you calm down. God, it's so hard to have a rational conversation when you fly off the handle like this!"
Jade's fists clenched as she watched his retreating back. "Fuck you!" She screamed, moving towards the coffee table.
She leaned forward, picking up her favorite possession, a carved wolf statue her first nanny had given her. Her eyes flashed at the memory. She'd left, leaving Jade all alone, just like everyone else. They always left her. Now it felt right, using it for this. Beck was leaving too, and that just wouldn't work.
Knowing exactly what she needed to do, Jade followed Beck into the hallway. "You'll be sorry." She muttered.
Beck sighed. "I won—" He turned, eyes widening comically as he found Jade with the statue raised above her head, an evil glint in her eye. "No!"
Jade smirked and sent the stone wolf crashing down on Beck's temple. She watched in fascination as a scream died in his throat, eyes rolling back in his head as he collapsed to the ground.
A pool of blood spread out around him, making Jade's lips twitch into a real smile.
Mother and Father would have a fun time paying for the new carpet. Maybe they'd even fly in to talk to her about it…
Burrowing herself farther into the corner, Jade sighed. Her parents hadn't come. They'd just dished out the money to send her here, filling out the paperwork from halfway across the world.
Figures.
The sound of the door opening grabbed her attention. Her eyes flickered towards the empty bed across the room, making her tense. Shit.
They'd said something about a roommate. Something about having her in close contact with someone in a safe environment. Those idiots thought that rooming with someone would make her like people more. Fucking idiots.
Jade shifted her gaze back towards the door, glaring intensely and bracing herself for the beginning of hell on earth.
He didn't belong here.
These were the words racing through Emilia Shapiro's head. Her sweet, precious, innocent boy shouldn't be locked up in here for months with a bunch of crazies. It wasn't fair. He should've been at home with her. Not here in this hell hole.
But she knew he needed this.
Emilia had always tried to write off the fact that Robbie talked to a puppet as nothing more than one of those "phases" young people go through these days. He'll get over it, she had thought after two weeks of Robbie talking to his new best friend Rex. But he never did. He would sit in his room, just talking to the damned thing as if it were a real person. Emilia could have never believed her child had some kind of mental problem, or rather, never wanted to accept it. Deep down, she always knew there was something wrong with him up there.
Emilia remembered when Robbie was very little, that he began to become interested in ventriloquism. He had begged and begged for a puppet as a birthday present. Emilia had always responded with a "We'll see, Robbie." And she began her search. Not too long after beginning, she had found what she was looking for.
Emilia smiled at the memory of Robbie's face when he had received the puppet. Robbie began jumping up and down, showing the dummy off to his best friend Andre.
Andre. There's a name that brought back so many good and bad memories for her.
Robbie hadn't had much friends as a little boy, always being called a nerd or dork or other names that made Emilia want to go over to the kids who did it and punch them. So when Robbie had finally found somebody he could talk to, somebody he could play with, both Emilia and Robbie were ecstatic. Andre had been so nice, not minding Robbie's sometimes strange quirks. Emilia remembered how Andre had stuck up for Robbie, always protecting him from the jerks that called him names and tried to beat him up. Emilia couldn't thank Andre more for what he had done.
Then, he found new friends. "Cooler" friends. Friends who didn't exactly enjoy Robbie's company.
So he abandoned him.
Robbie had been so heartbroken. Losing his only friend was rough. Then, the conversations began. Emilia remembered walking by his bedroom door, and hearing him talk to someone. She'd open the door, and find Robbie talking to Rex, as if he were as real as the next person.
It was odd, but she left it alone. Kid's have a bunch of imaginary friends, Robbie just has a physical object he can project that imaginary friend onto, It's nothing to worry about, she had reassured herself.
If only she knew what this would become.
Robbie had began to take it to school. What had he been thinking? It would only earn him more ridicule from his classmates. But at least he had a "friend" at school to help him, right? Then, he began to snap at anyone who claimed Rex was just a puppet or a dummy.
"He's more than that!" Robbie would yell.
Emilia had tolerated Robbie's odd behavior. But his father, John, wouldn't have anymore of this.
"Jesus Christ, Emilia! He's taking it to school now! He talks to the damn thing like it's some kind person. I think he's crazy or something," John had told her once.
Emilia gave a small gasp. "Don't say that!" she scolded. "He is not crazy. Just you wait, he'll get over it."
"Emilia, it's been a year. He needs a psychologist," John told her.
"Damn it, John, he doesn't need a psychologist. What would that help anyway? Look, this will all blow over, just give it some time," she reassured, more to herself than to her husband before her.
John sighed. "I've given that kid enough time. He's nuts."
After that night, John had never treated Robbie the same. He had just given up on him, declaring him a "nut case". This angered Emilia to the point where she almost divorced him, but realized she couldn't have enough money to raise Robbie. She needed his money to raise her son. Looking back, she felt terrible about it. John had put her son through so much emotional pain, vocally voicing his opinions about the subject to Robbie himself, causing Robbie to recline back into his safe zone with Rex even further.
Over the years, Robbie never let Rex go, taking him everywhere he went, talking animatedly with his "friend", and it finally dawned upon Emilia that this wasn't some kind of phase that all the kids go through. There was something wrong with her son. She knew it. But she just couldn't accept it. No, her little boy (not so little anymore) couldn't have been mentally ill, could he?
No, impossible.
So Emilia blocked it out.
But then it came to the point where she couldn't block it out anymore.
Emilia wiped away a tear at the memory coming back to her as she watches Robbie disappear into the mental hospital.
A few weeks ago, Emilia noticed that Robbie had been severely depressed. Well, Emilia knew Robbie had always been depressed, what with his horrible father and lack of friends and respect at school, but he always had Rex there to talk to. To cheer him up. Now, even his "best friend" couldn't give him a smile. It troubled Emilia greatly.
"You feeling okay, honey?" Emilia had asked one morning.
Robbie shrugged. "I guess, just kind of tired. That's all."
It was obvious he was lying.
About two days later, she noticed she couldn't find her son anywhere. She asked her husband in the living room, and he responded with a "Hell if I know where the freak is." Emilia began searching the house, his room, the basement, her bedroom. During her search she noticed the bathroom was slightly opened.
Emilia knocked on the door. "Robbie? You in there?"
No answer.
"I'm coming in." Emilia stepped into the bathroom, and cried out at what she saw.
Robbie sat up against the wall, his body slumped over. There was a razorblade on one side of him and Rex on the other. But the most noticeable to Emilia were the deep gashes in both wrists.
Emilia fell to the ground, horrified, the image burning into her brain. That image would never leave her. She knew that, and it frightened her. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and tried her best to sound calm as she explained to the 911 operator what was wrong.
Emilia and John had to explain to the doctors what may have caused him to attempt suicide. They told them all about how he had never had friends, and how he always talked to a puppet. The doctors thanked them for their information, and went back into the room where Robbie was being held.
The doctors had eventually come to the conclusion that Robbie had a mental illness, Schizoaffective disorder.
"Schizoaffective disorder is a disorder which is like schizophrenia and an affective mood disorder, probably major depression, in Robbie's case," the doctor's had explained. And as the doctor listed off the symptoms such as agitation, lack of energy and thoughts of suicide, Emilia knew Robbie wasn't as perfect as she had forced herself to believe.
Finally the doctor recommended that once he recovers he be sent to a mental institution, where he could receive the help he needed.
Emilia finally lets the tears fall freely as Robbie is out of sight. She wipes them away on her shirtsleeve, and made her way back to her car. As she drives away, she wishes that her son could just be normal.
She didn't belong here.
Trina Vega wasn't supposed to be in one of these weird facilities. She belonged in a high school, with friends by the dozen, nice teachers and a colorful atmosphere, or at home with a loving family, an amazing room, and an all around nice life. In here, there was no color, everything just seemed to be white. There were no friends here, just a bunch of weirdos that talked about gay gerbils or something strange like that. The atmosphere here felt like a prison, a dark, cold unforgiving prison.
It's not like she murdered anyone, or did anything crazy like try to kill herself. All she tried to do was to get skinny fast. So what if she threw up a couple times? Who cares if she decided to cut down her eating schedule? It was her choice. None of these people had any right to stop her. It was her body, she could do whatever the hell she wanted with it as she pleased.
As Trina was escorted to her new room in the mental facility, she thought back to how this all started.
Trina was just running through aisle after aisle, picking out clothes, all of the shirts and pants piling up in her arms. She stumbled around through the store until she got to the changing rooms. She slipped into one of the stalls and finally dropped all the clothes on the bench in front of her. She gave a sigh of relief as the weight was relieved from her sore arms.
Trina picked out the first thing she saw in the pile, a pair of jeans. I'll look amazing in these, she thought excitedly. She shed her current pants and began to slip on the jeans. But there was a problem. As she tried to button them, it wouldn't fit around her waist. But it was in my size, Trina thought, confused. Had she gained some weight? She looked at herself in the mirror. She noticed that here waist may have gotten bigger since the last time she went shopping, and she also noticed her stomach had gotten a little bigger, as she could see it through her t-shirt.
Out of the thirteen pairs of pants she had picked out, only five fit her comfortably. All the t-shirts fit, but some showed off her stomach a little too much, but she got them anyway. She drove home, carrying her shopping bags up the stairs to her room, giving her sister Tori a small "Hey," as she passed her in the living room.
Entering her room, Trina tossed the shopping bags onto her bed and walked over to her mirror in the corner of the room. She shed most of her clothes, leaving them pooled around her feet. Trina looked at herself in the mirror, eyeing every part she saw. She was shocked as she noticed her thighs were a bit on the large side, and then began to notice how she had gained weight.
Oh god, how much have I been eating anyway? Trina thought to herself worriedly. She couldn't become like one of those fat people that had trouble getting out of chairs. She laughed a bit. Calm down, it's just a little weight, nothing to get worked up over, she reassured herself.
Trina went to school the next day. As she walked down the halls, Trina noticed a poster. She checked it out. It said there was a dance in a couple of weeks. A dance? How did I miss hearing about that? she questioned.
At lunch, she had asked some of her friends about the dance, asking them if they knew it was happening and if they had dates.
"Oh, yeah, we've known for like a week," one girl said.
"Why didn't you guys tell me?" Trina asked them.
"We'd thought you would already know about it. Sorry," another girl piped up.
Well, then I'm going to need a date for the dance, now won't I? The gears in Trina's head began to turn as she thought of somebody she could take as a date to the dance. Thinking about dates, Trina realized she hadn't had a boyfriend, or a date for that matter, in awhile. Usually, she didn't even need to ask boys out, they always asked her out. It was odd. Why had they stopped?
Trina's mind whirled back to the day before in the dressing rooms, and in her room in front of the mirror. Was it because of her weight gain? Oh god, what if it is? Trina thought, scared that that might be the actual cause for the lack of dates she had over the past few weeks.
The day dragged on, teachers droning on about some unimportant math equation or some dull war that happened a hundred years ago. Trina barely paid attention, staring out the window in most of her classes, lost in her thoughts. Am I getting fat? I can't get fat, I can't. What am I going to do? I'll never lose enough weight by the dance, Trina thought, overreacting as usual. But these thoughts hung with her throughout the school day.
After the day had finally ended, Trina drove home and went up to her room. What am I going to do? she thought for probably the fifth time that day. Her mind raced with ideas. Exercising? That would help, but not enough for the dance. What else was there? She couldn't think of much else. But then, her mind traveled back to about a year ago, remembering a rumor about some girl in her grade. The girl thought she was fat, so she had started to not eat and exercise a lot. She had to be sent to some hospital because it got bad.
"I can't do that!" she cried out loud. It was crazy. She didn't want to end up in one of those hospitals. But…maybe it could work. "Well," she said to herself, looking at herself in the mirror, "maybe if I stop after a day or two, it'll be okay. I mean, they say it can become addicting, but how can not eating become addicting anyway? Right?"
It'll only be for a couple days. Just until I get skinny enough to find a date. Then I'll be fine. I have to be, Trina reassured herself. This was all going to work out. Everything was going to be okay.
It had to be.
That night at dinner, Trina excused herself from the dinner table, saying she wasn't that hungry. Rushing up to her room, she began to plan how this would work. Tomorrow I'll run to school, and I'll only have a couple fries for lunch, and I'll have a bit of something at dinner, and that's it. I'll do this everyday until I finally slim down. It won't become addicting. It can't. I'll be fine.
So Trina began this routine everyday. Running to school, and running back home. When Tori questioned this, Trina replied with a casual, "I just thought a little exercise might be good." As perfect as everyone thought Tori was, Trina knew her one flaw: she was naïve. Tori just gave an "Okay" and drove off.
Now with any suspicion off her back, she continued the process for days. It was after the second day the side effects, which had been mild so far, began to become a problem. She began to feel disgusted if she ate in front of her friends or family, so eating just a bit of food a day became nothing a day. She felt weak, like she could fall down at any second. And there were moments where she felt as if she couldn't breathe. It took a lot to hide this from her friends and family. But she could do this. She could do this.
I have to.
Five days in, the effects were hitting her like a ton of bricks. She was exhausted, she just wanted to sit down and sleep. It was getting so hard to breathe. So agonizing…
Trina was walking down the halls with Tori at the end of the school day. Tori was talking about something (most likely unimportant), when Trina lost her balance. She collapsed in a heap against the lockers. As Trina faded away into unconsciousness, she noticed a group of kids crowding around her and Tori calling an ambulance.
Trina awoke in a hospital room. She was on a very uncomfortable bed, and there was some creepy nurse hovering over her.
"Hello sweetie. You feeling okay?" the overly chipper nurse questioned.
"Where am I? What happened?" Trina asked, so confused. Her memory was blurry.
"You're at the hospital. You fainted at school. You're sister called the ambulance, she was very calm about the situation. You should be grateful to have such a wonderful sister," the nurse smiled.
Trina scowled. "Yes, isn't she perfect?" Trina snapped. The nurse's smile faltered a bit. She was sick of hearing how Tori was oh so perfect. And she especially didn't need that shit now. Tori was far from perfect. She messed everything up. Trina would've been fine, she should've just given her a minute. She'd be okay. But now that doctors were involved, they'd find out, and she'd be forced to eat again. Then she'd get fat.
Tori ruined everything.
"Well, we talked to your parents and your sister, and they've said you've been eating less and less for the past few days," the nurse said, her smile now completely gone. "Your sister suggested you may have developed an eating disorder from what little she's observed."
Of course she did.
Trina stayed silent and stared at the wall.
The nurse sighed. "Well, we got you some food from the cafeteria, so try some." The nurse lifted a tray of food off the table next to the bed and placed it on Trina's lap. "Your family is outside, waiting if they can see you."
Oh god.
"Uh, could you let them in in a couple of minutes? I kind of want to be alone right now," Trina told her.
"Okay, but when I return, I expect that food to be mostly gone."
"Okay," Trina said softly. And with that the nurse left.
Trina looked at the food. One meal won't hurt, Trina reasoned, beginning to ravage through the food before her. When she was just about to finish, her family and the nurse entered the room. Trina quickly pushed the tray away from her.
Her mother and father began to fuss and fuss. There were plenty of lines of "How could you?" and "Why?" and Trina's personal favorite (not really, obviously) "What drove our little girl to do this?" But the whole time this was going on, Tori stayed silent. Trina had a glare fixated on Tori at that moment, sending her the message that she hated her right now. By the look in Tori's eyes, she got that message loud and clear.
The doctors had diagnosed Trina with anorexia. They told her and her parents it was very common in teenage females who were feeling self conscious about themselves. Trina barely paid attention to the conversation, as at the moment she found her hands way more interesting. But one phrase caught her attention.
"…I recommend she be put into a mental institution. Maybe there, she'll be able to get help with her anorexia," the doctor said, as if he had seen this stuff everyday. Probably did.
"Is that really the best option?" her father asked the doctor.
"I'm afraid so. But it's worth it to get her help for her problem."
The doctor left the room.
Trina was silent. She couldn't go there! Those places were for crazies, not her. She wasn't crazy, she just didn't eat for a couple days. How was that crazy?
But Trina didn't have any say in the matter.
And as Trina was introduced to her new room at the mental institution, she entered it, heard the door shut behind her, and sat on the bed. And she began to sob, curling up in the bed and sobbed like she had never sobbed before. It was all she could do to keep herself from going insane.
A/N: Yayness! It's finally done! So what have we established so far? Cat hallucinates and is adorable, Jade is that crazy bitch ex-girlfriend you always hear in stories. Robbie should never be trusted with sharp objects. And finally, Trina is being self-concious and IS THE BEST CHARACTER EVAR I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY SHE IS AMAZING RAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!...Sorry, fanboy moment. Also, if it wasn't made clear what disorders they had, Cat has psychosis, Jade has antisocial disorder, Robbie has schizoaffective disorder and Trina has amazingness...I mean anorexia. Yes people, we actually did research. Dedication :)