The Home

All Disclaimers Implied

Notes: Sorry for the long wait. I had trouble with this, sort of. I'm going by order I got the characters, okay? So, if you want to change anything, just tell me and I'll fix it.

Chapter Two

Carrie Jones whistled lightly as she walked through the endless halls of the hospital. White, white, white, white – oh, a color poster! Then it was white again and again…

Well. This was boring.

She sighed to herself and took a look around to see which part of the hospital she was in. Each door number had an 'E' in front of it, so it was the East Wing. One door was E-303L, meaning she was in the Ls of the East Wing.

E-303L. 'E' for East, '30' for the room number, '3' for general insanity, and 'L' for the last name. Carrie's been here for three years too many if she can memorize what each letter and number stood for. Then again, she always was a smart kid. And she still is, no matter what those condescending, smiling aides whispered behind her back. She wasn't even a kid anymore, she was twenty. Just because she looked seventeen didn't mean she was…

Oh, she wanted to be in Massachusetts again.

Here, they didn't let her do much. And she tried to be polite about that, really, but some of the doctors and the majority of the nurses just got on her nerves. So condescending with their little smirks and secretive attitude. Carrie wanted to be in a hospital, but not like this. No, she wanted to be a real doctor, like the ones who made patients feel better. These doctors were so…

Cold and distant.

If only they didn't confiscate the radio from last time. She'll have to ask one of the nicer nurses to give her more paper and a pencil. Carrie could feel a headache from all this white coming on. She pursed her lips and began walking back to her room, W-156J.

The number system here was strange.

Her thoughts brought her back to the room, E-303L. That was that one girl; Lani Akoni Lolotai, wasn't it? She was sent here when she was young and her story was pretty sad too. It wasn't that different compared to all the other patients. Rich parents - like her - lonely childhood - like her. The only differences were the details - Carrie took care of two younger siblings herself.

Cold and distant. Just like her parents. What difference did it make in the end?

Her room was white and bland. Who would blame a girl if she wanted to add a little…color? And right now, Emma Gale grinned at her masterpiece. (Well, it was no Michelangelo, but still, it was a step-up from the white room.) Each wall was a different color; the one with the door was teal with dark blue vertical stripes. To the right of it was a green wall with a pattern of a big red dot and smaller dots surrounding it. The wall she was facing had pink flowers on a purple backdrop and the final wall had black and white checkers.

Well, she was pretty proud. And she managed to do this without anyone noticing! Tinny the Tin man smiled up at her in satisfaction as well. Charlie the Pink Unicorn was sleeping next to the checkered wall with Denzo the Flying Bear. How cute.

At least they didn't leave her.

Emma knew that they were things of her mind. But still, it was nice to have some company. S-274G would have been lonely without them. In fact, there might have been a completely different person here. And Julia might not be so lonely either.

Ah, Julia. The only family member of hers left that still liked her (and the like was returned in kind). The little girl didn't know much about her older sister, but it was still sweet of her to write and send in pictures. She had even mentioned that she might visit one day.

That'd be nice, wouldn't it? She'd have some actual company other than those cold doctors and the distant nurses and the patients that had their own problems. A clank from her side interrupted her thoughts and she turned her attention to Tinny. She gave him a slightly apologetic smile. "You're good company too!" she reassured him.

"Miss Ga-oh my Lord!"

She turned around at the sudden voice, her friends instantly disappearing. A nurse stood there, the tray she had once held in her hands on the ground and her eyes almost as big as the 'o' her mouth was making. Emma gave her a cheerful smile. "Hi Nurse Carlton! How are you today?"

The nurse fixed her light green eyes on Emma with a glare. "You- how did you even get paint in here!" Her hands were placed on her hips and her pink lips were pulled down in a deep frown. She was the type that didn't need make-up she realized, cocking her head to the side and ignoring the question.

"Did you do something new with your hair today, Nurse Carlton?"

Sighing, Emmaline Briggs stared down at the wood grains in the student desk, silently tracing them. It was her one-on-one time with Doctor Eddsen and the man just sat there and stared at her with his deep brown eyes.

The Doctor wasn't half-bad, really. He at least tried to get to know his patients on a more personal basis. He was nice and kind too, cheerful as well. "So…do you want to say anything?" At her shake, he hesitantly added, "Anything at all?" Another shake of the head had him sighing. "Then I suppose it's no use to continue." He closed his empty notepad and got up, giving her a smile. "I'll see you next time then."

Emmaline nodded quietly and slipped out of the room. Why can't she do anything right? She saw the disappointed look in the Doctor's eyes and she knew how the nurses and the doctors talked about her. She let a sigh pass through her lips; she'd have to shelve books or fold her clothes or something…

Her OCD tendencies were a fairly legitimate reason for being at the home. But really, who wants to be at a hospital for those declared 'mentally insane'? The aides here were enough to get under your skin on the first day, and the other patients barely had enough time to care about you. If they weren't kept apart because of their own problems, they certainly were due to those aides. Emmaline let out another sigh as she shuffled back to her room, N-192. 'N' for North, '19' as her room number, and '2' for disorders.

The number system they used here weren't all that hard to understand. '1' for public danger, '2' for disorders, '3' for general insanity, and '4' for the rest. It just took a week to memorize, really.

A week. Someone could probably memorize it faster than that. She just doesn't do well enough, does she? Emmaline's footsteps slowed subconsciously. Everything was her fault, her fault, her fault...

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked around. Somehow she had managed to wander from the Main Hall to the South Wing; no where near her room. Emmaline let out a third sigh. Damn it.

Why couldn't she do anything right?

Turning around, she started to shuffle off back to her room - halfway across the building now - with depressing thoughts swirling in her mind. Without paying attention, she accidentally bumped into someone else (with an extremely thin frame). Emmaline started spilling out 'sorries', looking up into dark brown eyes. The woman, clearly older than her, starting laughing. "It's fine Emmaline!" Xieu Wun Wang, or as she went by in America; Vivian, patted her shoulder with her skinny hand.

Emmaline gave a small smile. Well, at least not all the patients avoided everyone.

Notes: Yeah, it's short…sorry about that. ^^;

So, did I get the characters right? That was part of why it took me trouble. Anyways! Here are the states already taken:

Massachusetts – Carrie Jones

Kansas – Emma Gale

Missouri – Emmaline Briggs

Hainan (Ooo, China! XD)

California (I have two for this one)

Nevada

Texas

Quebec

North Carolina

South Carolina

Other than that, all other states are still free game. Keep sending in characters and tell me if I screw them up ('cause I know I'll do that somewhere along the way). Also, if you guys have any suggestions for the next chapter, go ahead and tell me~

[To tell the truth, I don't really know where I'm going with this story anyways. Like, maybe there's an evil mastermind behind the Home using it as a front for something? I dunno...]