Honeymoon Avenue
Twenty and she is sitting on her bed, staring blankly at the wall of her slightly small but perfect bedroom, as if the picture of her mother's last moments gasping for air and whispering as she clutched her blankets visiting her every moment her eyes close would stop if she just doesn't close her eyes again. Her eyes protest, but her mind and heart do not. Her heart aches with pain unimaginable and unable to describe, her mind surrounded by variations of the same thought. "Guardian angels are always going to be there, watching over us. But, they can't fight our own battles, my Babydoll." The speech pattern of her mother's sentence was interrupted by tight and hard gasps of air, ones she could hear clearly repeating, echoing throughout her mind. Lightning strikes behind her and the crystal glass windows, wind and rain shatter through her blood stream, feeding her body more fear than she's capable of handling. She's gone into a state of denial. It's the only way she can handle her mother dying, the only way she can cope. She's long past the tears, but evidence still remains with her eyes slightly bloodshot. She's waiting for the doctor's word, to fully pronounce her mother as dead, but she doesn't really think it's necessary anymore. She already knows. But, the doctor already presents himself in the door way, giving her a slight nod of the head. She has a feeling so deep sprouting inside of her that it's true. Her mother is really gone. As if she couldn't find herself another way to find a sliver of a moment of closure, she jolts out of the bed she spent many nights sleeplessly laying in as her mother coughed, and runs to her mother's room as if when she gets there her mother's soft voice would once again fill her. But, there her mother lay, motionless as she was, with no sign of breath ever leaving her body. Her little sister follows behind with optimism that is quickly and surely shot down as she witnesses what her sister witnesses as well. A slight moan of sadness leaves her sister's mouth, incapable of forming real words. A comforting hand leads them out of their mother's room, as if she knows they've seen enough, but really it'll never leave their minds for many years to come. But as the older sister leads the younger one out, she catches a menacing glance from their step father, as if he was happy this was happening.
A month later and she's dropping a rose into her mother's grave where the coffin lays, other faces surrounding her and blurring together. Black. Black everywhere. Black is what describes the mood, the atmosphere, the day. But she still can't help but notice the sparkle in her step father's eye, the one he tries to hide to show everyone how he "misses his wife" but really shows how he's happy about her death. Tears flood the area along with slight rain, soaking her white blonde pigtails and bangs, and smearing her makeup. The faces slowly flood out the area, puddles of them still remain after a few minutes, but they fade out as well. There's nothing left for her and her little sister to do except walk back home without their stepfather.
A week after the funeral and her step father receives her mother's will, and he eagerly rips the envelope open. His eyes skim across the pond of words, only stopping to witness one line "I give my possessions to my two daughters." Anger outrages and snarls in front of him and then enters him, wrecking everything in sight. He grabs a bottle and drinks straight out of it, then throws it into the fire place exciting the flames. She hears the smashing, which only causes her to hold onto her little sister tighter. As her little sister sleeps silently, she can't help but envy her. She hasn't slept in days, maybe even weeks. She doesn't care about keeping track of time anymore. She kisses her sister's forehead, leaving her room slowly not to disturb her sleep. More smashing occurs in the office, and when she shuts her little sister's door, the shadow of her step father appears on the floor, his outline in the hallway entrance. The slightest view of him and she runs to her room, adrenalin coursing and mixing with the fear in her veins creating a poisonous concoction. But before she can slam her door shut, he reaches her and as the door threatens to close he pushes with strength she's unable to match, her body heats with fear of something terrible and her face shows it. She struggles to shut the heavy, wooden door as he reaches in and grabs her pajama's collar, ripping the top button and leaving it to roll on the floor. Out of defense she swings her right arm while her other arm still struggles to match his strength, and her claws come out like a cat. As her step father grunts with pain, he pushes her out of the doorway. She tumbles and lands on the wooden floor with a thud that causes her body to rumble and protest, and she sees that glimpse of the sparkles in his eyes that show the monster that has consumed him whole. He stands there, his face scratched, his nostrils flaring. But before he acts, he turns his head to the side, and his brain registers a twisted idea, one that leaves him smiling. The mother's Babydoll can't help but show her pain on her face, and fear of what he's planning. He then rushes out of her room, and as she tries to follow he shuts the door on her face, and the sound of the lock turning pierces through her ears. She tries to look through the hole of the door, and can only catch one action. He slams the door open to her little sister's room and her eyes fill up with tears. She can't do anything, until her soaking crystal window comes into her view. She's deathly afraid of thunder and lighting, but she has to go through with this plan. Her little sister finds refuge in a closet, and as she locks her views on the thumping door, her older sister grabs on to the side of the house, deathly gripping the slippery wet siding, using it to fling herself down, unwilling to accept the death of her little sister as well as her mother. As she flops to the ground, her step father kicks open the door to the closet her little sister is whimpering in. His eyes say something like "I got you now," but his body says much more. Hearing footsteps, he turns his head only to see her holding a 45 caliber, her body soaking wet with not only rain but fear, her arm shaking slightly. As she shoots the handgun, she misses slightly, hitting the light bulb in the closet, causing the man to laugh. The second shot rings through the house, and nicks her step father's arm. She runs to her little sister, her eyes tearing up as she sees her sister's body, limp on the ground. "No…" is all she could make out, her fingers covered with blood as she tries to lift her sister up lightly. The step father lifts up the phone, dialing the police, but is stopped as she points the gun to his face. But she can't do it, she can't shoot. She quickly runs off, dropping the gun behind her in the hallway, giving the man time to call the police to the house, and her time to run out of the house. It's not long before the police finds her, curled up beside her mother's grave, tears dripping and falling all around from the sky and her eyes. Flashlights cause the girl to turn around, showing how her eye makeup has gradually smeared down her face and below her eyes. The stepfather confirms it's her, the one who shot him and scratched his face, blaming the whole story on her. She isn't given time to tell the police her story before they place her in the car. She gradually falls into a light sleep like a fawn in the meadow before she can protest them going past her house, and she is unaware where she's going, and for the moment, doesn't care. The rain pats the car slightly, providing a soothing lullaby to lore her into deeper sleep. It slides across the windows, as do the windshield wipers rhythmically. For the moment, everything is peaceful.
Hours later and she's pulled out of the car by two large guards, and shoved to the ground. As they pick her up off the ground she tries to fight but can't match them. As she struggles into the mansion, she catches a glimpse of the sign out front and it causes her to wake up more and freak out. "Briarcliff institution for the mentally insane." As she jumps and tries to move, the guards tighten their grips around her arms, and it finally registers that no matter how much she struggles, she'll never escape. They lead her in, her stepfather following behind. He's handed a checklist and form, listing things that could be wrong with her. He fills out the form, checking off adjectives she is. Violent, check. Unable to adapt to situations, check. The list goes on and on. A man walks up to the group, and engages in conversation with the stepfather. He's the one the stepfather talked to on the phone, or so he says. She can't even grasp the thought of living in a mental institution, the thought simply just scares her. They talk more, and as the tour goes on, the guards never leave her side. If anything, they tighten their grips, slowly cutting off the circulation of blood in her arms. She wouldn't be surprised if when she's finally let go, her upper arms are purple. She's given new clothes, but they aren't all that better. They're dull. They smell of musk, just like the mansion, and they match every other patient. "Order is their thing", she thinks to herself. They stop in the auditorium, which the man says is a "common room" where the girls socialize. Just as that sentence is said aloud, two patients flip over the table, shouting rambles of cheating and lying, and the guards finally let go and break up the fighting. Her arms ache from the fighting she did earlier, and her eyes sink deeper as her sleep deprived self slightly sways. Talk behind her of lobotomies and how she'll be in paradise causes her to listen in to the conversation being held. "Trust me, when I'm done with her, she won't even remember her name." is all she catches, and her pupils dilate with fear. Something about the doctor coming in five days is the rest, and she blocks out anything else that isn't important. The therapist is up on the stage, talking to his patient, telling her everything is alright, and that nothing can hurt her now. She just wants to leave, to escape but she can't. She knows she'll never get away with it, with the guards and checkpoints surrounding every exit. As she is escorted into her own prison cell, she can't help but have tears in her eyes. Her sister and mother are dead, her stepfather is just abandoning her in a place full of nothing but scary things, and she's stuck here. No one here knows her, and she's just afraid to talk to anyone. She changes into her new boring clothes, and the guard takes her old clothes. At least she gets to keep her black headband. They'll most likely get rid of her clothes, or give them away, or something like that. Just like that, her old life is thrown away, and her heart sinks. She sits, silently on her new bed, starring with her knees up to her chest at the cement walls, and she knows crying won't help but she can't stop them from falling down her face. After a few minutes, she hears a knock on the door, and she's told that it's time to go into the common room, and she remembers how the two girls were attacking each other. As much as she just wants to sit and cry, she's forced into the common room, where a song repeats in a different language she can't understand, overwhelming her slighting. Faces, all unknown, are scattered all around, each doing their own thing like no one else is here with them. She tiptoes her way into the room, the smoke creating a screen. She finds a seat alone, and she just stares around, taking in the surroundings as the cigarette smoke gets caught in her lungs. Tears find their way down her face, and a girl comes her way, and sits next to her. "First day here, huh?" and it takes her a moment to speak up. She stutters slightly with the sobbing, "Y-yes, how did you know?" The girl laughs a bit, and says before she takes a drag from her cigarette, "You look completely lost. Not that anyone else here doesn't, but you just have the look of pure fear and sadness." She has a slight French accent, and she looks at her with caring eyes. "Tell me, sweetie, what are you called?" She chokes down a bit of a sob and says "Babydoll." She's always been called Babydoll by everyone, so much so that she forgot her real name. Although she is twenty years old, her small stature, large vulnerable eyes, slender frame, and long, wavy, girlish pigtails, makes her appear to be much younger. "Well, Babydoll, this place is terrible, but if you surround yourself with the people who are actually good here, you'll be able to survive. I'm Grace, by the way." Babydoll is surprised by the kindness Grace offers her, along with a drag from her cigarette. "Oh, I don't smoke, sorry." She says, returning the kindness and refusing the cigarette. "Be careful, Babydoll. A little girl like you is a big target for people here." Grace begins to get up, causing Babydoll to react quickly and pull her back down. "Please, don't leave me here alone," Babydoll cries, and Grace smiles. "Relax, I wasn't going to leave you forever. I just have to throw this away." She says, holding up an empty box of cigarettes. Grace almost just floats to the trash can in a sweet nature, and with her absence another girl with a slightly odd looking face shows up and startles Babydoll. "Oh wow you're a new girl! Play with me!" she demands, scaring her more, which causes her to tear up a bit more and sink further into the couch that smells of smoke like everything else in this room. "Pepper, don't scare the new girl. Leave her be." A young, blonde nun appears out of nowhere it seems, and she seems to be very sweet, at least with her looks. Babydoll, to soothe her curiosity, taps the nun on the shoulder. "W-who are you?" she says with a slight stutter from the sobbing that she tried to repress. "I'm Sister Mary Eunice. You're the new patient, correct?" She says sweetly with a smile, and Babydoll replies "Yes, they call me Babydoll." They exchange smiles, and as Grace appears back to the seat, Sister Mary and Pepper leave. "Those two are harmless. Don't worry about them." Before Babydoll could reply back to Grace, a loud whistle is sounded that pierces everyone's ears, even those who seem to be in another world. They all begin to line up, and Grace takes Babydoll's wrist and drags her into the line as well. She tries to poke her head through all the people in front of her that tower over her, but she still can't see what it is they're lining up for. She asks Grace quietly, "What are we in line for?" Grace just quietly replies, "Medicine. I'll explain more when she leaves." Who is she? Why is it all of a sudden so quiet except for that song that repeats over and over? So many questions filled Babydoll's head as they moved up the line one by one. She gets to the nurses who are handing small cups of pills with water, and she has no choice but to take them. She can't tell what they are, but as soon as she gets back to the couch they sat on before with Grace, she asks. "They're sedatives so that we go to sleep in our rooms, or at least that's what I think they're for. No one truly knows except for the woman herself, Sister Jude. She's the head here at Briarcliff, and it's wise to tell you to not ever cross paths with that woman." Babydoll wonders for a bit, then gathers enough courage to ask "Why, is she that bad?" but before Grace gets the chance to speak, Sister Jude appears in the doorway of the common room. "Everyone is to report to their rooms, we're closing the common room early." Babydoll quickly grabs onto Grace, and they wall up the steps slowly to their rooms that are more like prisons. The doors are metal and thick with a slit in the middle for small things to be passed through and a cage like screen at the top covered in metal bars. Security is quite tight here, but she don't blame them for doing so. Briarcliff is known to be home to some of the most criminally insane, and supposedly it's supposed to be home to the killer who calls himself Bloody Face sometime soon. Babydoll has nothing to do in such a bland, tightly secure area except to cry and sleep. But, as she lays down on the thin, somewhat uncomfortable bed, a wave of tiredness floods over her like a blanket and she finds herself dreaming before she even had time to shed a single tear.
Time passes by quicker than thought to be, and Babydoll wakes up early, just like the rest of the patients on the level for a room search. She has nothing to hide in her room, she didn't even bring anything to Briarcliff. They found some food in another's room, but other than that, nothing so all the guards pushed the patients down to the common room. Babydoll lagged behind, and as she was slowly tiptoeing down the hall, she heard screaming from another's room. "Come back here you bitch!" was among one of the many screams she heard, and without much else to do she slowly walked over to the cell that most of the screaming was coming from. She sunk into the shadows, making sure she wasn't seen as two nuns made their way down the hall. When the large metal doors to the hall were shut, Babydoll began to try to communicate with the girl in the cell who was screaming. "Hey, it's okay, I'm here. Well, I'm not sure it's okay but I'm still here and I'm not an old nun like most of them." She tried to sound sweet and comforting with those sentences. "H-hello… Who are you?" The voice said, slightly calmer than when she was screaming, but still on edge. It was apparent in her voice that she was full of fear. "My name is Babydoll. I'm new here, just like you." The voice of the girl was still untrusting, and so Babydoll stood up on her tiptoes to get a look at the girl. "See? I'm not a nun. It looks like you're in a bad situation, though. Maybe I can open this door?" Babydoll proceeded to yank open the door that was surprisingly, unlocked. Most likely because the girl who it was keeping in its cage was strapped down to her bed. "Can you please help me? Undo these straps, please." Babydoll didn't hesitate to undo the straps and let the girl free. She was bigger than Babydoll, but no older than around 25 years old. "Why are you here?" Babydoll asked, sitting next to the girl. "My lover abandoned me. She just left me to die here." Babydoll knew exactly what that felt like to be abandoned, since she was by her stepfather. "Oh, I was too, except it was by my stepfather. He killed my sister and he blamed me for it. He tried to attack me too, but I scratched his face in defense and shot his arm. Of course, I'm the one who's blamed, not him." Babydoll goes on, explaining her story. "Oh, well, since I'm out of these straps, where do we go so we don't get caught?" The girl asks, and Babydoll replies, "The common room. If we're quick enough, they won't notice us come in. By the way, what's your name?" "Lana. Lana Winters. I'm a reporter, but Sister Jude locked me in here because of my 'inversion.' I'm determined to get out of this place, and crack this place for good. And I know just how to do it." Lana doesn't say anymore, but leaves Babydoll to wonder. They sneak down the steps and into the common room, where the guards don't even take notice. They're too busy eating and playing cards themselves. She leads Lana to the couch where she sat yesterday with Grace, and finds Grace sitting there, smoking like always. "Babydoll! I was worried about you. I thought they took you to solitary or something." Grace says, hugging Babydoll and once she lets go and notices Lana, she interrogates her for herself. Lana explains her story, and each time she looks around, she takes a note down on a small note pad. "What are you doing?" Babydoll asks as her eyes follow the small pencil writing notes down. "I'm writing notes so I remember everything that's happening here. I'm going to get out, and I know how to do it. And, when I do get out, I'm going to take this place down." She knows how to do it? To escape? Babydoll can't help but ask with a tint of excitement coming through "You know how to escape?" "Yes, there tunnels downstairs, leading to the outside. We can use it to escape, but I need someone to go with. Do you want to?" Babydoll agrees obediently, but Grace isn't so sure about it. "Babydoll, how do you know Lana isn't lying about this?" She inquires, suspicion rising along with the tone of her voice. "I'm not lying!" Lana says back, her voice slightly louder, causing people to look at her. She notices, and lowers it down again. "It's true! Sister Mary took me through the tunnels before Sister Jude noticed. I had to hide in a cell, and before I could leave my own lover gave me up and now I'm stuck here. But not for long." Lana was so determined, and it made Babydoll feel happy. "We need a plan!" Babydoll says, her voice showing how excited she was.