Lights of Addiction
Chapter I: Arriving at "The Residence"
Yusei had heard a lot about "The Residence". It was where mentally unstable people went. The bus jerked as the wheels hit a bump and Yusei looked away from the barred, black window to the front of the bus where a building could be seen. It was gated by three different gates and guard patrolled the walkways.
The bus halted inside the second gate and the driver stood, addressing the bus occupants. "Here's your stop. Please, take care." The bus door opened and one by one, people exited the bus and were escorted through the last gate and into the building.
Yusei was the last one to get up out of his seat. It took a guard threatening him to actually move him. He wasn't too thrilled to be here. Here's where all the insane and crazy people went. He wasn't insane!… or crazy for that matter!
"Fudo Yusei," the guard said to the front desk, his grip on Yusei's bicep tightening.
"Yusei?" the front desk attendant looked at her files. "Yes. You will be residing in Area 34. Please show him the way."
The guard took off, Yusei trying his best to free himself from the guards' grip. But it was no use. They reached an elevator and the guard pushed Yusei in once it arrived.
"You're not going with me?" Yusei asked.
The guard looked disgusted. "I will NOT step foot in Area 34. You're on your own. The elevator will open on that floor. Just try not to struggle too much…" and the elevator doors closed before Yusei could escape.
The ride up was torture: long and slow. It felt like he had gone up at least fifteen stories when the doors opened again. People in gray coats rushed in and pulled him to his feet and out of the elevator.
He was dragged to what appeared to be a cubical office space and introduced to a lady sitting at a desk.
"Yusei," she muttered, glancing at him seductively over her spectacles. "You're roommate's name is Jack Atlus. You caretaker is Bruno and he will explain the rules and regulations here. He will be with you shortly. Please, take him to his room," she said to the people in gray coats.
To his surprise, the room he was dragged to had posters and décor crossing the walls. It didn't look anything like the asylums he'd read about in books or seen on TV. The rooms he'd passed on the way over also had posters and looked comfortable to live in.
One room had a girl sitting on a bed, in plain sight of the hall. She was really pretty to Yusei, with her gorgeous sapphire eyes and charcoal hair with a slight azure shine to her mid back. She had looked up at Yusei a small smile edged at the corners of her lips. Another girl was close by, reading. She had pale brown hair and emerald eyes. She was reading on her bed and didn't appear to have noticed him pass.
The room next door was empty of its occupants, but it appeared to be a girls' room as well.
When they reached his room, a boy was sitting at his desk, looking at a bunch of collector's cards. He had blond hair and amethyst eyes that stared at Yusei and the people that escorted him with a cold gaze.
"Jack, this is you new roommate, Fudo Yusei," one of the escorts said, pushing Yusei further into the room. "Bruno will be here shortly to inform you of the way things work around here. For now, ask Jack any questions you have." And the escorts left, leaving Jack and Yusei alone.
"What are you in for?" Jack asked, with a rather rude tone after a few moments of silence.
Yusei sighed. "I was addicted to hallucinogens."
"Was?"
"Yeah… I won't be able to get my hands on any while in here…"
Jack smirked. "There are other things to be addicted to here."
Surprised, Yusei looked at Jack. "What do you mean?"
Jack just smirked.
After a few moments of silence, a knock came at their closed door. Jack called for them to enter. In the doorway stood the two girls that Yusei had seen in the room he'd passed on his way here and a third he didn't recognize.
"Yusei, I'd like you to meet some of the people that live here with me," Jack said, standing and moving to the girls in the doorway, placing his arm around the shoulders of the girl with a dark brown pixie cut hair and rosy pearl eyes. "This is Kris, my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you, Yusei," Kris said, smiling. "These are my friends Aurora and Inari." She gestured to the girl with charcoal hair with the sight azure luster and sapphire orbs that stared at him with some kind of expression Yusei couldn't read, then to the girl with pale brown hair and emerald eyes.
"Greetings," Inari mumbled, bowing her head slightly in respect.
Aurora said nothing, just stared at the wall above Yusei's head.
Kris jabbed Aurora in the side, waking the girl from her daze. "Are you going to say something or are you going to stand there like an idiot?"
"Oh…" Aurora's voice was soft as she looked back at Yusei. "Pleased to meet you, Yusei." She spoke with a proper tone and bowed more than Inari had in respect. Her eyes held some kind of internal emotionless spark that confused Yusei once he figured out what her expression was.
"Yusei's here because he was addicted to hallucinogens," Jack explained to the three girls.
"What kind?" Inari asked, looking to Yusei.
Yusei shrugged. "It got so bad I didn't care what kind."
"That's very dangerous," said Kris. "I'm surprised you survived. There are some horrible drugs on the streets."
"How would you know that?" Jack asked Kris who smiled.
"I used to make some of those drugs. You'd be surprised what went into them." She glanced at Aurora. "However, I have this fine beauty to thank for all my success." She wrapped an arm around Aurora's shoulders and smiled.
"What did Aurora do?" asked Yusei.
"Aurora has a personality disorder and is addicted to…"
"Shut it," Aurora growled, cutting Kris off. "They don't need to know what I was addicted to."
Kris paused, analyzing the situation. Not even Aurora's roommate Inari knew the other half of why Aurora was here in The Residence… Granted it was Kris' fault for the other half, so she decided to respect Aurora's request and shut her mouth. Instead, she settled for a simple answer. "Aurora was my 'helper' for some of the drugs."
"Helper?" Jack asked. "Is that why she's so ea-…?"
Aurora shot Jack a menacing glare and he closed his mouth, not finishing his sentence.
Yusei was very confused. Why was Aurora not willing to let others speak of her disorders? Was it really something terrible? He decided to ask later.