I was studying for my chemistry test the other night and I was in an author-ish mood when I was reading the part about half-life and radioactive decay and this idea just hit me in the face. Half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of an unstable element to break down, emitting harmful radiation. Now think about that in a different way. The amount of time it takes for an unstable person to break down, inflicting harm on her friends. I know it's a stretch, but I felt the need to write it.

Everyone knew there was something wrong with Caterina Valentine, but no one did anything.

They just stood by and watched as she slowly broke down, letting her sanity leak out around her.

Everyone knew there was something wrong with her, but they acted too late.

What good does it do to lock someone up if they've already gone mad? Being closed in a cell with carpeted walls isn't going to restore her sanity. Nothing is. She's no longer Cat Valentine. She's patient #53. She's a lost cause. She doesn't know what she did. She has no idea what she caused.

She pushed him over the edge of the railing and she told the police that she just wondered what it would look like for him to fall. Just some random stranger that she shoved to his death in the Grand Canyon because Cat was curious.

Her friends were terrified of her. She was a murderer, after all. But she didn't know. She still doesn't know where she is or why she's there, or even who she is at times.

But she's not worried. She'll be out of this place soon. The halfway point's approaching and she can see it growing bigger in the distance. She doesn't know what comes after it, but she can't wait to find out.

It's not like it came out of no where, this 'murder' thing. She didn't just one day get out of bed and decide to be insane. There had always been something a little bit off about her, but no one seemed to notice. That, or they just didn't care.

~6 months ago~

"No, I'm just saying that she shouldn't have done that to you." Tori argued, refering to Andre's latest girlfriend.

Andre started to protest. "Well, I did lie-", but Robbie interrupted him.

"Yeah but you lied about something that was incredibly personal. At this point in the relationship, it might be too soon to tell her the truth about that." Robbie said.

"I don't know." Andre sighed. "I feel terrible. She's really good at making me feel terrible."

"Then dump her." Jade said, as usual, saying what everyone was thinking but was too nice to say.

"But I don't want to."

"Why not?" she whined. Beck reached across and took the fork from her hand, after she yanked it out of the new puncture wound in the table.

"Because. I mean, yeah it's not the best relationhip I've been in, but it has its...perks."

"Andre, can the sex really be that good?" Jade laughed, leaning back in her seat with a smirk on her face.

"Jade!" Beck scolded.

"You have no idea," Andre laughed, shaking his head "but that's not all. I mean, she lives like right down the hall from me. I can't just dump her. I have to see her face every single day." he moaned, slamming his head into his backpack and giving up on the cafeteria's cheeseburger.

"Oh." Tori said, returning to her lunch and ignoring the annoyed look Andre shot her across the table.

"Oh?" he asked, not trying to hide the annoyance in his tone.

"Well, yeah, what do you want me to say? You're right. You're totally stuck. My only idea is to move, but that's ridiculous since you're grandma can't even leave the apartment most days. So you're out of luck." she shrugged, stabbing a wilted lettuce leaf with her fork and groaning with disappointment when one of the prongs on her plastic fork snapped off, lost somewhere in her (probably expired) cafeteria salad. Andre scoffed at her advice.

"Wow, thanks. I feel so much better. Remind me: why did I start this conversation in the first place?"

"Beats me." Jade said, picking at her nail polish.

"Yeah, I don't know."

"Come on, I want real food. I think we have time to hit Inside-Out Burger before lunch ends." Beck suggested, resulting in cheers and a mad dash to his truck.

Cat looked up from where she was sitting. Her friends had stood up and were gathering their backpacks and lunch-trays. She didn't remember zoning out, but it didn't look like she missed too much. Just most of lunch.

A white plastic knife was clenched in her fist. She was suddenly aware of a burning sensation on her thigh. Curious, she looked down and winced. A long red line traced it's way across half of her upper thigh. Not a cut, she thought to herself, so no scar, but it still hurt. She ran her fingertip over the hot, stinging surface of the line left by the cheap plastic blade. She must have been sawing at her thigh through most of lunch.

Cat couldn't help but let out a tiny laugh before tugging her skirt down to cover the mark and then picking up her lunch-tray to join her friends.

You see, It's not like she didn't give them any warning. They just didn't receive it. At no point did any of them look down to acknowledge Cat's violent habit, nor did they question the odd stories that surfaced about her dysfunctional family and possibly insane brother. And no matter how many warning signs she put up, despite the reflective metals and flashing edges, her friends just seemed to pass them by.

Thanks for reading! Review please? Working on the next chapter so stay tuned.