AN: Hello everyone! :) Welcome to a brand new story! :) Yay! Hahaha!
This is heavily inspired by 'Girl, Interrupted'. That movie has a place in my heart. :)
I know that movie was based on true events from a book. This story however is not. Its completely made up from my mind. Lol
This takes place in the past. If you want to read what year exactly keep reading to find out.
Warnings: This story talks about mental illness, cutting, suicide attempts, body issues, gender issues, homophobia, abuse and other various things. These things were too taboo to talk about back then. I'm not one to shy away from talking about these subjects. If this isn't your thing you can click out now. You have been warned.
Its dark and scary. But remember- There is ALWAYS a light at the end of the tunnel.
None of the Glee characters mentioned really know each other and are very different from the show. Keep this in mind when you read.
Its from Dave's POV. He's sixteen years old here.
Here are the characters that will be in this story, in no particular order-
Dave Karofsky
Sebastian Smythe
Santana Lopez
Brittany Pierce
Blaine Anderson
Sam Evans
Mercedes Jones
Kurt Hummel
Rachel Berry
Quinn Fabray
There will also be a few OC's later on. I'll TRY to update as often as I possibly can but I'm pretty terrible at doing so. I'll try. Lol! :) I hope you guys give this a chance. :)
I think that's all there is to say? I hope I'm not missing anything. If you have questions let me know. Please be kind.
With all that said... Welcome to Happy Brooks... Enjoy your stay!
*tips hat* :)
Chapter 1
WHAM!
Dave's blurred eyes and wobbled head vaguely registered the vibrations of the slammed door. The effects of the previous night's sleeping pill (or pills – he was never sure what ALL of those pills were) were still in his system. The two passengers on either side of him simultaneously got out after the driver did.
Dave tried to sit up and realized something was holding him back. At first, he inanely kept trying and after a quick wobble of his head, he discovered his right arm was handcuffed to a bar. As his bearings were becoming more clear, he looked straight ahead, only to see a little fence in front of him.
"Am I," he wondered out loud to no one in particular, "in a police car?"
Defeated, he relaxed his body and heavily sighed. He should've been frustrated. He should've been scared. But instead, he just felt nothing. The previous few days were a blur of drugs and hospitals and screams and "don't do that, young man", and restraints... and even more drugs.
He turned his head to the left. Cornfields after more cornfields and after that, more of the same. Dave looked down at his lap. His arm was still bound by the offending metal and he hated it, the first real emotion he'd felt in recent memory. And then, he turned to the right and saw the place that would change his life forever.
An enormous, imposing brick structure stood before him. Looking a little weather-beaten yet functional, the building was at least five stories tall and was the only building in sight. On the front, in Art Deco lettering, were the initials, "HBMI". And below that, "Happy Brooks Mental Institution".
"I don't think," Dave muttered aloud, "I'm in Kansas anymore."
"You're not."
Dave's head whirled around and even bobbled a little as he looked up into the cold, emotionless eyes of a police officer. He didn't even register that his car door had opened! The cop stiffly pulled out his keys and removed Dave's handcuffs. As if on cue, he rubbed the little cuts on his hand from the steel, ignoring the other cuts already there.
"Let's go, son."
Dave blinked and deliberately pulled himself out of the car. The cop watched him look out into the cornfields.
"Don't even think of trying to escape, son." The cop added, shutting the door. "There's nothing for miles and miles around." Then, with that typical cop arrogance, he half-smiled at Dave. "Hell, Chicago's two hours from here."
Dave didn't bother to look surprised as he turned to face to old building before him. Meanwhile, the cop swiftly grabbed Dave's bicep and led him around the front of the car. It took him another two more steps before he realized who was waiting for him at the entrance.
His doctor – and his father.
Each of Dave's steps brought more and more recognition of what exactly was happening. His doctor, a psychiatrist, looked at him with the seriousness of a prisoner. Meanwhile, his dad Paul, simply looked away, a firm breeze blowing the wide lapels of his supremely tailored suit. His clean-shaven face was stone and everything about him said money.
Father and son passed each other. And neither said a word. And just as Dave approached the institutional doors, he glanced to the side and saw them already entering the police car.
And that was that.
A huge gate stood before Dave just inside the entrance. Harsh lights and yellow floors hurt his eyes. A guard, heavy-set and firm, briefly took some paperwork from the police officer and then he returned to his car. And as the doors clanged shut, Dave knew he'd be here a while.
A loud, obnoxious buzzer sounded and the metal gate automatically swung open. Before him stood an orderly – surprisingly young and very short.
"Take off your clothes," the little orderly said, "and put on these." Dave received, tossed through the air, a cream-colored pants and shirt uniform. Buzzers and clangs in the distance banged his ears and the echoes made them worse.
And the whole time he undressed, he was never tempted to cry or get angry or even try to escape. He glanced at the marks on his wrist and sighed. Of course, when he was halfway done changing clothes, the tiny orderly spoke up in a nasally voice.
"Do you have narcotics on your person?"
"No."
The lights above him got brighter.
"Do you have a history or do you have a mental illness?"
"They say I do."
The orderly pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Yes or no answers only. Do you have a history or do you-?"
"Yes."
As best he could, the orderly approached Dave slowly with an allegedly intimidating look in his eye. "You'll learn not to interrupt anyone here."
Dave fought off a smile. As much of an epic fail as the orderly's attempt at intimidation was, there was something in the way he said it that was foreboding. The small orderly stepped back to his original spot.
"Are you or have you ever been on street drugs?"
"No."
"Are you or have you ever been out of the country?"
"No."
"Are you or have you ever been a homosexual?"
Pause. "No."
"Are you or have you ever been a communist?"
"No."
The orderly smiled. "Get dressed.
"After that, Dave succumbed to some of the most thorough tests he'd ever experienced. A general physical, a motor skills test, a dental check, eyesight, bloodworm, urinalysis, etc. The whole process probably only took an hour but Dave soon realized that he was on THEIR time – not his.
Finally he was escorted back to those familiar yellow floors, towards his new home. At one point, he was in an elevator and didn't even know what floor he was on. He darkly wondered if he was high enough to jump out a window and sniggered. A nurse with him barely noticed.
Dave walked up to another two iron, gate doors, waiting for this orderly or that nurse to call a guard on a green telephone to let them through. Those same familiar buzzes and clangs sang through the air and Dave would just have to get used to them, he was told.
Finally, they reached a room not too far from the far wall.
"This is your room." The nurse announced. After a key unlocked the door, Dave entered the room.
He'd never been around so much white before. But the walls were dingy – like someone had placed dirty hands or feces along it. A narrow bed was to his left and he noticed the familiar iron mesh covering the only window. A fluorescent light flickered above and the door slammed shut behind him.
Dave wondered if he could truly relax and recover from the trauma of the last hour or so. With an incredibly labored sigh, he plopped down on the bed, feet on the floor, hands covering his face. A quick shiver coursed through him.
"Cold?"
"JESUS-!" Dave yelled, leaping off the bed.
The boy slid his long legs from his own bed to the floor and stood up. "Dang. I know I'm skinny but I didn't think I was invisible."
Dave's eyes widened. "I just... I didn't know you were... I didn't-"
"It's solid, pops."
"Pops?"
The boy half-smiled. "Sorry. My dad used to use that expression."
Dave said nothing.
"Hi." The boy amiably said. "I'm Sebastian. Sebastian Smythe."
Dave took the hand into his own cautiously.
"Dave. Dave Karofsky."
"Hello Dave". They released their hands. "Welcome to Happy Brooks." Then, a wicked smile erupted on Sebastian's face. "Are you happy yet?" Dave looked annoyed at the dumb joke.
"Sorry."
The boys took a moment to size each other up. After that, Dave looked around the room again but did not sit down or relax. However, Sebastian strolled around the little room.
"I know it isn't much," the boy began, "but at least it's groovy to have a roommate again."
Dave turned to face him. "How long you been here?"
"1934."
Dave looked bewildered.
"Oh! I though you asked how long this place has been here!" A silly laugh escaped Sebastian's mouth and it was the first nice sound Dave heard in a long time. He liked it.
"No," Dave said, "I asked how-"
"I know what you asked." Sebastian darkly replied. And then, with a soft tone, answered, "too long."
Dave sensed there was a whole other layer to this conversation and chose self-preservation over anything. But as he came out of his reverie, he noticed Sebastian looking off into the distance. Dave's possible new friend looked forlorn and Dave didn't want anymore of that. He had to think of something fast - strength in numbers, as they say.
"So..." Dave said, dipping his head a little towards him. "What's this about 1934?"
Sebastian paused for just a second before looking at him curiously. And then Sebastian's face lit up and Dave was rewarded with a boyish grin.
"Oh! That's when this place was built and founded by some old guy named Happy Brooks, hence the name of this lovely building."
"Golly Gee!" Dave exclaimed. "That's, like, thirty-five years ago!"
"I know! Ancient times!" They shared a teenage, hearty laugh. And then, Sebastian tried to look serious. "But they say this place is haunted."
Dave gulped. "H-haunted?"
Sebastian smiled widely. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts?"
"I'm not!" Dave cried out. Sebastian knowingly smiled at him and Dave looked away.
"Well," the thin boy said, "legend says he shot his wife and then himself back in '45. Right in this very-"
Suddenly, the lock turned and the door opened. An ordinary orderly walked in and approached them.
"It's time for group. Bedder git down there naw."
And with that hefty announcement, the orderly turned and left the room, leaving the door wide open.
"Come on." Sebastian said already walking towards the hallway. And then, he threw his voice. "We bedder git down there."
Dave smirked and followed him. Soon they both emerged into the hallway and Dave wasn't as overwhelmed as he was when he arrived. He actually took the time to look at his surroundings.
Rooms were situated like a motel - side by side and across from each other. Every door was open now and he barely saw anyone. Those he did were in bed, usually lying down.
Suddenly, he heard an ear-shattering scream from up ahead!
"That's Hester." Sebastian casually stated. "But her real name is Rachel Berry."
Dave nodded and they kept walking. He noticed a newspaper and the date couldn't already be July 1968, could it? Dave also saw other patients around him walking towards wherever group therapy was that day.
"See her," Sebastian began, interrupting Dave's thoughts, "over there?" Dave followed his line-of-sight to see a pretty blonde girl stroking her belly and walking funny.
"Her name's Quinn Fabray. She thinks she's pregnant. Like, all the time. She's got Hysterical Blindness."
Dave knew that should've had some significance but it didn't register.
Sebastian made a right turn into an open room with white support pillars strategically placed in the open space. Metal chairs scraped on white linoleum floors as patients in white formed a white circle in the middle of the white room.
Sebastian escorted Dave over to where the chairs were and as Dave was distracted with grabbing his own, he felt Sebastian tap him on the shoulder. Dave looked up at him only to see Sebastian looking at a blonde, very cute boy around their age.
"That's Sam Evans." He announced. Dave too noticed the boy. "Eating disorder."
"Do you know," Dave began, half-smiling for the first time in a while, "everybody here and what's wrong with them?"
"Oh yes." And then Sebastian looked at him with something else in his eyes. "I may even know what's wrong with you."
Momentarily distracted, Dave stood motionless as the smaller boy laughed, grabbed his own chair, and carried it across the room.
The boys stay in silence for only a half a minute longer until a tall, overweight man in a white coat walked up to them. Dave immediately took notice. And in the corner of his eye, he noticed several orderlies come in after the doctor, but stationed themselves at the room's doors. It didn't take Dave long to figure out why they were there.
A nameless patient grabbed a chair for the doctor and he flashed an obligatory and temporary smile before he too sat down. Very soon after that, everyone went eerily silent.
"As many of you know," he began with forced, ugly seriousness, "I'm Dr. Draziw. We'll meet for group therapy every day at 10AM. No exceptions. Everyone must attend and you will be docked visitation rights-"
At this point, Dave tuned him out. Instead he counted about ten or so patients in group, including himself. Sebastian had been a great, albeit unusual, help in at least a few people's names. And then, he turned his attention back to the doctor, who was still speaking.
He was looking right at Dave.
A thunderous chill coursed through Dave's body. The doctor's lifeless eyes stared right through him and he was still addressing the group.
Finally, the doctor paused and looked away. But Dave kept his eye on him.
"Now," Dr. Draziw said, "let's begin group."
AN: Thank you all for reading! :) Is this good enough to continue? Let me know! :) Have a nice day!-ILOVESMESOMEGLEEX3