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Disclaimer: No claim over TDI

The Madhouse

Chapter Two

~Courtney~

Welcome to the madhouse, princess

I woke early; panting some. I glanced around the pitch black room to find myself in that dreary bedroom I was introduced to yesterday. No windows; I couldn't see anything.

I almost squeaked when I noticed someone's sleeping figure in the bed next to me. I had a room mate?

I would find that out later anyway; so I shrugged the thought aside. I stayed in bed. 'The Grey Stone house' had rules, of course.

-No going in the attic or the basement

-No going outside without permission

-No staying alone in the afternoon

-Do your chores during free time

-Have a healthy snack around 3Pm

-Leave your bedroom when signaled.

-Lights out at ten.

This place sounded like boot camp; but I was a stickler for the rules after all. I stayed in bed, staring in the blackness of the room. I couldn't even see my hand well right in front of me. My onyx eyes drifted over to the sleeping figure next to me. Please don't tell me the rooms are coed too. Please don't.

One of the beds creaked; it sounded like the person in the bed next to me was getting up. I squinted in the darkness to see who it was.

I noticed a hint of blue... I think it was Gwen. Something about Gwen made me feel uneasy even so.

"Courtney? You're awake at this hour?" Gwen's voice murmured; quiet enough so people in the other rooms couldn't hear us.

"Well, I could be asking you the same thing," I pointed out. She nodded slowly. Gwen got up on her feet carefully; so the floor boards under her feet wouldn't creak. "You're going somewhere?"

"I get up early to see Trent every morning," Gwen explained, "It's easy to sneak past at this time of day anyway. Four in the morning."

"Where do the guys sleep anyway?" I asked. I was surprised she would break the rules, but I didn't question her on it.

"There's a door at the very end of the hall," Gwen started, "That leads to another hallway of doors. The girls aren't aloud in there, cause that's where the guys sleep. Us girls sneak over there from time to time,"

"Why? What happens if you're caught?" I asked curiously.

"We've never been caught before," Gwen replied with a shrug. I blinked a few times.

"Okay then…" I started, a little uneasy, "Be careful,"

Gwen managed a small smile. "Thanks. I'll see you later,"

I gulped once, and nodded as she exited the room. The door opening sent a small light through the room. It shut quietly, leaving me alone to think in my room.

Breakfast wasn't coed to my surprise. Us girls were going to breakfast first; and the guys had it afterwards. Thank goodness.

Something told me, I didn't want to meet this Izzy person.

I walked into my kitchen to find Gwen and a dark haired girl sitting at the kitchen table. The girl with dark hair had brown eyes. She was wearing a crimson colored tank and jean shorts. There was a tension running through the room, obviously. It seemed that the girl and Gwen didn't like each other very much. Great.

I sat down next to Gwen, since I knew her the most. The dark haired girl crocked a brow at me.

"Who's she?" The girl asked; her tone snobbish. Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Heather, Courtney. Courtney, Heather," Gwen introduced dully.

"N-nice to meet you," I managed to gulp out. I've been stuttering a lot ever since I got to this house. Everything made me nervous. What if some of the kids here were dangerous or something?

"Cut the crap," Heather replied harshly, "What are you in this nut house for?"

"Heather," Gwen hissed, glancing around the kitchen nervously, "We can't talk about ourselves in that matter. Remember?"

I glanced at Gwen in confusion, and Heather huffed in annoyance.

"Mooorning!" A girl's cheerful voice rang. I looked up to see a curly haired red head. She was in a lime green nightgown, and she carried an over stuffed teddy bear in her left hand. She skipped over to the seat next to me. "It's da new girl!"

To my surprise, she leaned over and gave me a friendly hug before sitting down. Gwen and Heather made a few grunts in response.

I blinked a few times in confusion, and the girl tilted her head.

"I'm Izzy! My mom's a monkey, and my dad's a wolf!" Izzy exclaimed. Well, I guess I could see how Izzy was locked up in this place….

"That's not literally possible," Heather muttered at Izzy; giving her a hard stare. Izzy just shrugged and smiled.

"It is to me! And that's what counts!" Izzy replied, sticking her tong out at Heather.

Gwen sighed, and cupped her chin in her right hand; elbow propped up on the table. "Izzy; that's Courtney. Please don't call her….new girl. That's downright weird."

"But true!" Izzy replied, hugging her teddy bear up to her chest.

Bridgette entered the kitchen, wearing similar clothes from yesterday. Jean shorts and a blue tee shirt. Her hair was pulled up in her original pony tail.

"Morning Bridgette," I managed to say.

Bridgette nodded, and stumbled a little on her feet as she walked over to the table. She plopped into her chair, letting out a sigh of relief.

"You go to see Geoff too late again, Bridgette?" Izzy exclaimed, childish interest on her face.

"Shut it Izzy! We don't want them finding out!" Gwen hissed under her breath in the red head's direction.

I was tempted to rub my temples, but I didn't.

Margot, Hannah, and some other woman walked into the room a few minutes after our awkward silence. The woman I didn't know, set miniature cups of water down in front of us. Cups like the ones you would use to rinse out your mouth while brushing your teeth, I glanced at the cup, unsure of what to do with it.

Margot walked around, dropping a miniature white pill into the small cups. I looked at mine nervously as the other girls just sipped there's down, and then continued on with their conversation. I watched them in confusion, and then turned my gaze back to the small cup. I hesitated, and took a quick gulp of it. I swallowed the pill; the back of my throat stinging.

Next, Hannah walked around, putting single bowls of oatmeal in front of us; along with a glass of carrot juice. Not exactly the breakfast of my choice; but I took it anyway.

After breakfast, we would all head into the pass time room to wait for the guys to finish up. Margot walked in there with us; just to keep an eye. She listed out the names of our different chores for the week.

"Courtney," Margot started, looking down at something on her clip board, "You'll have laundry duty this week."

I nodded slowly; I could probably manage that.

"Alright. That concludes our list of chores for the week," Margot stated firmly with a nod, "Dr. Hill will have a word with you in an hour, Courtney. For your classes and appointments,"

I nodded once again; trying to keep the woman satisfied. Thank goodness the other girls were watching some show on the TV.

Once Margot was gone, I looked at the screen in confusion.

Gwen glanced back at me, "Cartoon network, the only channel we can really watch here," She explained.

I gulped a breath of air, and took a seat on the couch next to Bridgette.

They were watching some cartoon. 'Tom and Jerry' I think? None of them really seemed to be interested in it, but Izzy; who was bouncing at her seat on the couch, watching happily as the cat got blown into the air by the mouse.

Gwen rolled her eyes at Izzy, and shook her head slowly in disbelief. Wait…wasn't Izzy the one who might have had matches yesterday? Wow, that really made me feel safe…

The guys joined us in the room. Duncan, Geoff, Trent, and another guy who was rather short. They all just got on the couch with us girls. We all seemed a little drowsy. Maybe the pills? I don't know.

"Noah!" Izzy exclaimed, jumping on him.

"What the heck, Izzy?" The short guy asked. I suspected he went by the name of Noah. Obviously.

"Let's play Mario Kart!" Izzy exclaimed to him; keeping a loose grip around Noah's shoulders. Noah sighed, and nodded his head in agreement.

"Yay!" Izzy exclaimed, throwing her arms off of him. She turned on the Wii system they had in the pass time room; turning off the cartoon. No one seemed to mind anyway.

Izzy and Noah were busy getting their wheels ready; leaving the rest of us to just sit there. Bridgette and Geoff were the first to walk away from the couch; now sitting on the two beanbag chairs in the back of the room.

Duncan scooted closer to me; since Bridgette had emerged from her spot next to me.

"Sleep well, princess?" Duncan asked smugly, laying his arm around my shoulders. It felt warm and comforting- not like I'd admit it. I slowly shrugged his shoulders off.

"If you must know," I started, crossing my arms, "I didn't,"

"You'd probably sleep better in my room," Duncan stated with a sly wink.

"I doubt it," I replied with a sigh, "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"In this dump?" Duncan asked, amused, "No."

I tried to ignore him; watching Izzy and Noah's match of Mario Kart from where I was sitting on the couch.

Izzy's hands started to shake all of the sudden; and she dropped her remote; now staring blankly at the screen. Noah paused the game, noticing this.

"Izzy?" He asked in slight concern. I felt goose bumps creeping down my arms.

Gwen looked up from the sketch book she was drawing in; with Trent by her side. Even Heather looked up from filing her nails.

Izzy darted out of the room without another word.

None of us had seen Izzy after that incident in the pass time room. Margot took me to an office soon after; so I could meet this Dr. Hill.

"Courtney," Dr. Hill started. She was a blonde woman; very tall. She almost looked like she could be perfect; her beauty almost unreal in a way. She wore a white coat, similar to Margot's. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I don't," I replied simply; a little nervous.

"Well," Dr. Hill started, "By the looks for your tests…"

I braced myself for what she was about to say. This was probably the decision to my future; the disorder that would change my life.

"Courtney; you have schizophrenia." Dr. Hill finished; her hands clamped in front of her, waiting for my reaction.

"S-sch-" I started in disbelief. I couldn't possibly have schizophrenia.

"Schizophrenia. This disorder, at some point in the illness, involves a psychotic phase with delusions, hallucinations, or grossly bizarre or disorganized speech and behavior. This psychotic phase must last for at least one month; or less if successfully treated." Dr. Hill explained calmly, "You were carried off from school that one day; and you woke up in the hospital. Did you remember anything?"

"I-I-I-" I started; too nervous and shocked for my own words.

"Slow down, and think." Dr. Hill stated, waiting patiently.

"No," I replied flatly. Dr. Hill's expression was disappointed, "What do the others think of this?"

"We prefer to keep everyone's disorders a secret here. You're data is in a file; no one here will know of this but me, Margot, and Hannah." Dr. Hill started, "We prefer to keep the privacy for each individual here,"

Schizophrenia. The illness is crazy…and I of all people have it. I want to get out of this place. I want to be normal. What happened at school? Did everyone think I was crazy now? They probably did.

I was in the kitchen with all of the others for lunch now; but I wasn't hungry. I pushed my plate away; everything was so silent and dreary. I felt truly a little depressed. I was a Shizo. It would wear off in at least a month. How long would it take?

"Don't care for today's specials, princess?" Duncan asked with a smirk. He was washing the dishes; his duty for this week. That's when I realized we were in the kitchen alone; everyone was already gone. Finished. Well, with the exception of Izzy; who disappeared before.

"Not really," I mumbled, my chin cupped in my left hand.

"Found out about your label?" Duncan asked when he finished washing down one of the plates.

"Label?" I asked drearily.

"They tend to label us by our disorders here. They don't think we have personality," Duncan replied, keeping his eyes focused on the dish he was washing, "We're just their little soldiers; trying to get rid of a disorder as quick as possible."

"Boot camp," I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Exactly," Duncan agreed. Duncan put one of the plates down on the counter; and it just cracked in half. I stared at the plate in confusion, and Duncan winced.

"Damn it," Duncan muttered.

"You just put it down…" I started, "How did it break?"

"I-" Duncan started, "It's nothing. I just hit it down to hard. These plates can be a little thin,"

I could tell he was lying; but I didn't press the matter any further. Duncan made something clear to me. Something about this place wasn't right.

Duncan cringed, and then looked back at me. "We're not normal,"

I winced; but nodded. "I know that already,"

"Not normal. Even with these mental illnesses; we're just…." Duncan started; locking his icy blue eyes into mine. "Supernatural."

Hope that wasn't too confusing for you guys~ :D

Thanks again for all the reviews~

Courtney's past is going to show up in the next chapter. Each character has their own past, which I will reveal through the future chapters.

-Apple