Flowers for a Ghost
Chapter Two
Leopard fidgeted uncomfortably with the newfound information. It was hard to accept the rumors weren't rumors. They were real. "Why? Well.. Not really.. I know why.."
Lily silenced her with another stunning light blue gaze. "You don't know why." She corrected, stating it as a fact rather than placing malice into the sentence. "Nobody knew." Lily groaned, moving her eyes around the cell, "Funny how everything looks almost the same as it did 200 years ago." Despite her bitterness towards the asylum, Black Leopard had to agree it was the only home both of them ever knew.
It was hard for Leopard to remember anything about her parents other than the day Professor Pete had told her they were dead.
The black cat followed the ghost's eyes, taking in her cell that she had grown so used to. As if they'd ever change something for the pleasure of a patient. They think we are incapable of holding coherent thoughts. "It... is?" She questioned Lily, though didn't doubt her for a minute. Lily's ghost evidently knew more about the asylum than anyone she had met before.
"Mhm." Lily hummed, looking around her old cell. "Cell seven."
"Do you miss it?" Leopard asked. She knew the answer. No toon would miss this place.
Lily rolled her eyes, "I miss the toons. Not the place or the doctors who run it." Leopard wandered over to her bed, flopping down. It was late. I need rest too, even though it's hard to sleep when it feels like the walls are closing in around you. Tomorrow, I have appointments with my doctor.. and if he thinks I'm losing sleep, I'll only ruin what I've been hoping for: a way out of this miserable asylum.
Leopard knew for a fact that the majority of patients trapped here turned out to be excellent companions, but felt the need to ask anyway. "Who do you miss from here?"
"Well.. There was Roxy's Joyful Uber.." The yellow cat trailed off, features darkening, "She was the one person that I gave two shits about."
"Roxy's Joyful Uber? Never heard of her."
Lily shook her head, "The asylum has done a marvelous job of covering up the heroes of this place. They never told you about me, nor will they ever tell you about Roxy. She was brave. She tried to escape this Hell with me."
Leopard gasped; She had no idea people tried to escape. Wouldn't that make you seem more insane than the doctors already think you are? "What happened?" She whispered softly, interest filling her eyes.
Lily shrugged. "We planned an escape. We didn't make it." Bitterness edged into her voice. It served as the clear warning to not ask any more questions about this certain incident. "I came here a long time ago. I've seen way too many things happen to the poor souls who wind up stuck. We need to get you out of here; This isn't where you belong." Lily spoke, her lovely blue eyes acquiring a new sense of determination in them.
Leopard nodded, she agreed completely and was relieved another toon thought she didn't belong here as well. It renewed a small amount of hope stored within the black cat – just the thought of escaping made her anxious and eager.
"Hey, Leopard! When did you get up?" Socks, the black cat across the hall called over, waving in a friendly manner. Socks was one of her best friends; A toon that she could console with.
Leopard jumped upon hearing the voice. It wasn't someone she expected to be up at 5:30 in the morning."Socks?"
"Mornin'!" She replied, smiling. It was beyond Leopard as to how someone could stay so positive while being forced into a mental institution. "Who were you talking to?" Can't you see Lily? She's standing right here.
"Lily Mizzenpop.. You know, the toon that you said killed herself?" Black Leopard looked to where Lily had been standing, wondering if it wasn't in Socks' plain line of vision.. It was. She could see the yellow cat perfectly. "Lily? This is Socks. Her and I are really close friends."
"I don't think she can see me." Lily explained, watching Socks' confused expression with interest.
"That's great..?" Socks seemed slightly freaked out, "I'm... glad you found someone to talk to.. Want me to call your psychiatrist? Do you want me to get a nurse?"
"What do you mean?" It was Leopard's turn to be confused. Can't you see her, Socks? I can't possibly be imagining this yellow cat. "She's right there!" The black cat pointed to Lily Mizzenpop, who stood as still as a stone.
"Nobody's there." Socks' eyes wandered around the cell, searching for the mysterious Lily. "Are you sure you don't want me to get Dr. Karma?"
Black Leopard ran a paw over her forehead. Maybe I'm just sick and delusional. It happens to the best of us when trapped in an asylum.. Wait.. Maybe I do belong here. I'm seeing a person who died over two hundred years ago. "Get Green Queen up." She begged Socks, hoping her other friend had the ability to see Lily.
Lily offered Leopard an apologetic smile, "I think you're the only toon who can see me, sorry."
Leopard blinked at Lily, "Why? Aren't you real?" She asked incredulously, feeling like she was on the verge of sanity.
"What did ...you ..want?" Green Queen asked groggily, peering into Leopard's cell.
Leopard frantically explained to Green Queen how she can see Lily Mizzenpop, the ghost of cell number seven – and how Lily was standing next to her. "So- can't you see her?" Leopard's hope fell as Green Queen shook her head no along with a couple squints of confusion.
"Why can't anyone see her!" Leopard demanded, letting her emotions get the best of her.
"It's okay," Lily soothed Black Leopard, watching her with sympathetic, crystalline eyes. "You're not going crazy." How do you know? We're both in this psycho ward! She wanted to shoot back. You're probably just my imagination trying to make me feel better.
"No! It's not okay." Leopard was forcing herself to ignore the strange looks that Socks and Green Queen were giving her for talking to absolutely nothing. "Ugh!"
"Please let me call Dr. Karma." Socks pleaded, concern leaking into her meow.
Leopard waved a dismissive paw at her friend, "Go ahead. I don't care." She inwardly groaned; More medication and brainwashing ahead if Socks went through with calling her psychiatrist. A single tear slid from her eyes, falling onto the tattered bed. "I could have sworn you were real, Lily." The black cat sniffled to no one in particular.
"..I am.." Lily responded. "Don't you believe me? You're not seeing things."
Black Leopard didn't bother to respond to what Lily Mizzenpop had said to her. There's no way I'm going to make myself look more psychotic. She simply waited for the nurses to come and take her away to Dr. Karma's office for an emergency therapy session.
"Please," Lily's voice rang out, begging Black Leopard, "I'm really here. I'm a ghost, but I'm here. Remember the notes I wrote you?"
The notes. She did remember. However, the thought made her only more confused and frustrated as to what was going on around her. The black cat used her tail to knock the notepad onto the floor, never wanting to see the cursed thing again.
It took but a minute or so for the nurses to open the cell door, gently prodding Black Leopard into a standing position. She walked down the hallway with them, one on each side of her. I hate these nurses more than any toon here. They are the worst. Leopard sighed heavily, not looking forward to the meeting with the therapist, Dr. Karma. He never helped her with anything. She hadn't need his assistance until now.
The hallway exited into the lobby, where the front desk and offices were. "Here we go." Black Leopard murmured under her breath, preparing to go into Dr. Karma's office.
"Come in." He called, looking up from the paperwork he had been doing. "Ah, Black Leopard. How are you? How come Socks had to request an emergency appointment for you? Tell me what's going on."
Leopard nearly chortled at the fakeness of his tone. Doctors and nurses alike, they weren't happy to be working in an asylum. "Because I'm seeing things." She muttered. It was painful to admit that she was in fact going insane.
"What are you seeing?" Dr. Karma asked patiently.
"Lily Mizzenpop. She was talking to me." Black Leopard protested, not wanting to believe it was her imagination. "She told me about Roxy... ah.. what was it.. oh yeah, Roxy's Joyful Uber! And their escape..."
Dr. Karma sighed deeply. "Have you gotten enough sleep lately? I know your insomnia kicks in sometimes." My insomnia? That's what he's going to blame this on? I think the patients are smarter than the psychiatrists and nurses.
"Well, maybe not but-"
"Alright, you're just over tired. Nothing a little temporary meds won't fix." Dr. Karma dug through his desk drawers, pulling out a small slip of paper. And here comes the medication. Got a bad cold? We'll get you some meds for that. Can't sleep? We gets meds for that, too. Seeing a ghost from two hundred years ago? Don't worry bro, meds will solve that!
"Right." Leopard muttered, watching as Dr. Karma scribbled a prescription for the drug.
Dr. Karma smiled at Black Leopard, "I'll give this to the medical department. You should be able to start using it as soon as the order is processed.. So.. two days tops. For now, go on back and try to get rested up. Everything will work out."
Another aspect about the institution that annoyed Leopard beyond repent was the way they treated "mentally unstable" patients. They had labeled Leopard as one ever since the black cat had been thrown in the asylum. "Bye." The black cat turned to leave, walking out the office and down to the hallway, nurses a few feet behind.
As the trio approached cell number seven, one of the nurses unlocked the door, allowing Black Leopard in. The nurses shut the door, leaving without a word spoken between them.
Socks, Green Queen and the patients in their shared wing of the mental institution weren't there anymore, probably out to scheduled breakfast. "Whatever." The black cat murmured, not caring if she missed breakfast. Leopard plopped herself down onto the cold, concrete of a floor. Immediately, her eyes spotted the notepad, filled with Lily's writing.
She wrote on the notepad. She had to have been here. "Lily?" She whispered into the darkness. "Please, please tell me you're there. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. You have to be real! Please, Lily!" Black Leopard begged, a soft sob erupting from her. "Please.." She croaked, wanting Lily Mizzenpop to come back and prove she wasn't seeing things.
Loneliness crept in as the minutes ticked on without a word or any sign of the ghost.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Author's Note: That took waaaay longer than expected and I'm really sorry. I mean it. I was terrible and you can yell at me all you want in reviews. I want to finish this fanfiction before the end of the month and HOPEFULLY that will make it up to anyone whose been patiently waiting for the next chapter. (Well.. here it is..) Again, this is for the real Lily Mizzenpop of whom is amazing. I haven't been working on this because I thought I lost the plotline and it turns out it was in the wrong notebook.. but anyway, it's found. Hooray.
So omg, I got a review from IrkenLily: First of all, thank you so much for taking your time to review. That means a lot. And I apologize to you the most since you wrote in your review that you hoped I'd update soon.. and that didn't happen. ;_;
Okay, enough of my mindless chatter. I'll be updating in a couple days.