Chapter 1: Getting In
"I don't know," Mona huffed as she rushed to the bathroom. "I have to think about it," she said, beginning to brush her short sandy blonde hair.
"What's there to think about?" Emily asked, coming up behind her.
Emily and Mona were two seniors over at Boston College. They were also both psychology majors that needed to come up with a plan for their project.
Mona put the brush down and sighed as she turned back to Emily. "Look, you're asking me to give up a month of my life, a month in which I could be concentrating on school, a month that can set me back an entire semester," she explained. "I don't think I want to do that just for a project. We can find something else to do that won't require us being absent for four weeks straight."
"Drop your other classes," Emily urged.
Mona rolled her eyes and rushed past her out to the living room. "Look, I'm already running late. When I get back here, I want to hear another suggestion," she demanded as she grabbed her books.
Emily smirked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed. "Kenny wants to join us," she casually mentioned.
Mona put her books back down and slowly turned back to Emily. "Really?" she questioned, suspicious.
"Yeah," Emily nodded. "You can call him if you want," she offered. "Or you can just wait until tonight until everyone comes over."
Mona stood there, considering the idea. "Who all is going through with this?" she inquired.
Emily's smile grew bigger as she pushed herself off the doorframe. "Well, you have us, Kenny, Lisa, Henry, Gary, Scott, Kathy, and Elise," she answered.
"All right," Mona started. "If they all decide to go to tonight, they say they are definitely going, I will join. If, if, any of them state that they have changed their minds, there is no way that you are dragging me to that place. Not now anyways," she stated.
"Good, be here at eight tonight," Emily told her and then walked off to her room.
Mona sighed as she grabbed her books and continued out the door.
Oooo
Everyone sat around the living room of the small apartment. "So what is this thing anyways?" Kenny implored. "I know we're going to an asylum."
Mona, who was sitting next to him on the couch briefly looked over to Kenny and then glared to Emily was sitting in the chair across from them.
Emily stood up before the group. "I guess I should have been a little more clear," she admitted.
"Nah, Kenny's just a moron," Kathy remarked.
"Comment ignored," Emily stated and then smiled. "What we are going to do is get someone related to us, only one person though and tell them whats going on here. Okay? We have to have one person that can sign the papers to get us in and also sign the papers to pull us back out of that place. If you can't get that, then, well," Emily trailed off.
"We're screwed," Scott finished for her.
"Right," Emily said. "Now, we have to all come up with symptoms that we are going to be committed for. It doesn't matter if a couple of us have the same ones, but, I don't want all of us going in there doing the same thing. They might catch on to us and that would ruin the results. Now, after that, we get committed and then start acting completely normal. We write down our observations and then in four weeks, that said relative comes and gets us and we get back here and write the greatest paper ever written about the treatment of patients and the bias of those treating them," she told them.
"What if they try to put us on medication?" Lisa inquired.
"That's actually a really good question," Kenny added.
"Yeah, I don't want my brain being messed with," Gary said.
Kathy looked over to them. "Put the pills in the side of your mouth and wait until later when no one's watching and spit the pills out," she instructed. "And if it's an injection, well, then, in Scott's words, you're screwed."
"Nice to know," Henry said.
"Anyways," Emily said getting back on track. "We will all arrive to Briarcliff at different times throughout the first week."
"How do we decide who goes first?" Lisa asked.
Emily held up her hand, motioning for her to wait a moment and left the room. She returned with a plastic bucket with pieces of paper with everyone's names written on them. "And the first person to go it..." she started as she dug her hand around in the bucket.
Oooo
Mona's older sister, Clara, walked her through the door to the bleak office. Mona took note of the nun behind the desk. She looked stern, almost evil in a sense.
The two took their seats before the desk. Mona made sure to look almost dazed, absent. Her hair was slightly messy, she made sure to not get much sleep the night before hand so that she would look plenty tired. She even managed to look almost pale.
"Miss Ramona Foreman?" she questioned.
"Yes," Clara answered for her.
"Now, what seems to be the problem?" Jude questioned, looking between the two, trying to figure out which one it was ahead of time.
Clara sighed. "I don't know when it started, but I just found out what she's been doing and it's scaring me. She needs help," she informed her before leaning over and grabbing Mona's arm and rolling up the sleeve, revealing the cuts and scars.
Jude looked over her desk, observing the cuts. She looked, repulsed. Good. She had spent four hours in the bathroom trying to convince herself that she would be okay. Okay, that right there, was maybe an indication that she did indeed belong here. Didn't matter though, she lived and she was pretty certain that she was getting admitted.
Jude reached over and picked up the phone. "Can you get me Frank? I need him to escort a young lady to an empty room. Thank you," she said.
"Thank you Sister," Clara said.
"And don't worry," Jude replied, standing up from her desk. "We'll get you cured," she told Mona.
Mona waited until Jude was behind her before she smiled. She was in, and she was now a patient. Now, all she had to do was observe.
"Come with me miss Foreman," she ordered. "We've got some check in procedures that you must go through."
Mona stood up and sheepishly followed her. For some reason this woman scared her, intimidated her. "What is involved with these procedures?" she nervously implored.
"It won't hurt anymore than you've already hurt yourself," she informed her. Jude opened the door and Frank came in, leading Mona out through the hall.
The proceeded to strip her down, body search her, and wash her down with a hose and soap. It wasn't completely what she was expecting, but she did slightly understand it.
What she didn't understand, was being sent out into the common room right away. Her first few steps through that door were the longest, and hardest steps she has ever taken. Looking around, Mona noted all the people there. The older woman with her doll, a pinheaded girl, a rough looking man with rolled up sleeves. There was a cute boy, a really cute boy, at least she thought he was, that was sitting off by himself, with glazed over eyes.
No matter what though, she really didn't want to have much contact with anyone here. Not now while she was here alone. She could wait a couple days for a few more people to arrive.
Getting slightly scared, her hands clenched onto the ends of the sleeves on her purple button down sweater. She hurried over to the couch and took a seat. Mentally, she kicked herself. She was supposed to be acting normal now, and looking like you're about to have some sort of panic attack is far from her desired results.
Without thinking about it, she took a piece of paper and started writing on it.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Mona looked up and saw a woman, most likely in her later thirties standing there, messy brown hair and a dark red sweater. She could see the marks on her head, electro shock. Instantly, she felt pity for her. "Why not?" she cautiously inquired.
"Sister Jude doesn't like it," she explained. It might have just been her, but this young girl looked frightened, and she figured she wanted to help get her through her first day here.
"Thanks for the heads up," Mona replied, putting the paper and pencil back. She carefully watched the lady, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She didn't seem dangerous, so it really didn't matter. "I'm, I'm Mona," she introduced herself.
"Lana," she replied as she sat down in the chair. She pulled a cigarette out of her pocket and offered it to Mona, who accepted and then set one in her mouth before lighting each of them.
"Do you mind me asking why you're here?" Mona questioned, taking the cigarette out of her mouth only long enough to ask.
Lana took a puff, shrugging. It didn't really matter who knew here, it wasn't like they would judge her or punish her or anything, well, not the other patients here at least. "I had a girlfriend," she told her. "How about you?"
Mona looked to her, shame becoming visible in her eyes. With hesitation, she secured the cigarette in her mouth and pulls up her sleeves.
Lana jumped back a little. Her eyes were glued on the cuts though. "What made you want to do that?"
Mona had to quickly think of a story. "I don't know," she started. "Do you ever just get the feeling that you're all alone. Nothing matters, and you don't matter to anyone?" she inquired, her eyes wondering down to the floor. She wasn't that good of an actress so she had to try her hardest to keep Lana from asking more questions.
It was Lana's turn to look with pity. It was actually quite ironic though, the fact that someone was sent to this place to be treated for depression. "Good luck," she said.
Mona just looked to her, not yet fully able to understand how much luck she and her friends were going to need to get through the next month.
