So, this is Adam's story. They don't have enough backstory about him, I think. Just that he used to burn himself and that he had gone to various schools... So I'm going to write about that. Have fun...

Gracie looked down at her burnt wrists. She gave a half-hearted laugh and looked up at the sky. Am I crazy...? She thought. She knew she wasn't normal. She hated the thoughts that coursed through her mind all the time. It was... weird. She didn't fit in anywhere. Well, she fit in with the boys... Shut up, stupid brain... She knew it was wrong. She was born a girl, it was unnatural... Did people always act like this? Like, in 300 BCE, were there people like her? Girls that didn't feel like girls... Gracie imagined those women from the fourteen hundreds... in their long dresses, hair pinned up, in tight corsets... I bet the ones like me were crucified or something... locked up... made to bleed... burnt to death...

She rummaged through her drawers and pulled out a lighter and a metal fork. She held the fire up against the fork until the fork turned orange in heat. She pressed the fork firmly against her unclothed chest and let out an agonizing scream.

"So, how have you been, Gracie?" Dr. Rosen asked the 14 year old girl, in a seemingly worried tone.

"Better, ma'am. Um, do you know much longer I have to stay here?" She replied apathetically.

"We just don't want you hurting yourself. You can leave once you feel better. We just want to help."

"I know, ma'am."

"You still don't want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nothing, ma'am. I've just been feeling kind of upset."

"Kind of upset doesn't make you brand yourself with a 940 degree fork."

"I... keep getting these thoughts."

"What kind of thoughts?"

Gracie didn't want to admit it. It was weird. It probably wasn't even that bad, anyways, compared to some of the people at the hospital. There was that schizo Keira, always muttering to herself. There was that Satanic Lucy who was always screaming "THE DARK LORD WILL SAVE US ALL FROM THE BRAINWASHED SOCIETY!" There was Kelly, that poor girl who had been raped. Did Gracie belong there? Well, first of all it was called "The Rothschild Mental Healing Center for Young Women". Gracie was certainly not a young woman. That was the whole mess that got her there. Did she need mental healing, though? Maybe... but she wasn't that bad. Just pathetic... weak and pathetic...

"Doctor, can I leave, please? I don't belong here."

"Well, you aren't leaving until we find out what is wrong. So, you can either tell me what the thoughts are about, or you can tell me what led up to you burning yourself. Low Self-Esteem? Family problems?"

"Listen, I'm fine. I... I just don't belong here, okay? I'm not mentally ill and I'm not a young woman!"

"Not a young woman?" Oops. I didn't mean to blurt out that part...

"I'm... just a girl... I'm immature. That term makes me seem older and all..."

"You are perfectly mature for your age, Gracie. That's a false self-assumption." Dr. Rosen took down notes. Perhaps Gracie was afraid of growing up, and that caused her to hurt herself. She didn't want to let go of her childhood...?

"Is that what caused you to hurt yourself, Grace? Do you fear growing up?"

"Yes. You have figured out what is wrong with me! Thank the Lord, I guess you'll just give me some medicine or something, now, and I'll be on my way..."

"Not so fast. It takes hours of therapy to overcome phobias. Now, are you sure that this is it?"

Dr. Rosen was reconsidering. She seemed to be faking that this was the reason.

"I'm totally sure. I'm completely terrified of the responsibilities of age, that is the problem. You have helped me identify it, thank you so much! I've been cured!"

"Gracie, you have to stay here, still. Identifying the problem is just the first part of the healing process."

Gracie sighed. "Okay. You're right. That's not it..." Should I just come clean? "I am not afraid of aging. I just... don't identify with being a... woman. Or girl. Or female. Okay? I know. I'm... a freak."

Dr. Rosen nodded. This made a lot more sense, with her previous notes, her background, everything...

"Don't think that you are a freak. Never say that about yourself. This happens sometimes, with people. You know Dr. Frank Madison? He was born as Madison Frank. Do you want to talk to him instead? He might be able to help you better..."

Wow. There was someone just like Gracie in the very hospital... and not as a patient, but a doctor. Maybe she wasn't such a freak after all.

To be continued... x]

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