The shuttle entered the dock and Lucas was shook awake. The walk to the center was a short one. It looked like a doctor's office. After registering they were escorted down a hallway and through a pair of double-doors. Lucas studied the room, there was a desk in the center and two doorways on each side. The nurse at the desk smiled and brought them all into a small room next to the door on the right. There, the nurse sat down with Lucas. The others were told they must leave. Tony sat down Lucas' bags and Wendy tried to hug him with no success.

"Now." The nurse turned to Lucas, "I have to ask you some questions. You don't have to answer them but it will just take you longer to get out of here." She lowered her gaze, "You want to get out don't you honey?"

He nodded and smiled. She was a big black woman, as round as she was tall. Her short hair was back in a tie.

"How much do you weigh? And how tall are you?"

"Eighty-five pounds.. Five-foot ten."

She wrote it down,"Have you ever purged after eating?"

He nodded and again she checked it on the paper.

"Do you ever eat a lot and then purge?"

Lucas shook his head, again she checked it on the paper.

This ritual went on for about half an hour until she smiled and told him they were done.

"You're an anorexic baby, but don't worry about that, you'll be fine." She shuffled through her numerous sheets of paper and handed him a packet, "This is information about your disease, and you'll be seeing Doctor Lambeth. You'll like him sweetie." She stood up and picked up his bags, motioning for him to follow her.

She nodded to another nurse behind the desk who pressed a switch to let the door open. Lucas followed the nurse into the door right of the desk. There was a long hallway and as he walked he realized there was a kitchen to the left, along with a TV room with four couches. At the moment there was no one out and Lucas wondered if he was the only one here. The nurse stopped at one of the doors and opened it. Inside were two beds, two lockers, a bathroom and a desk with a computer.

"There are no mirrors, there are no curtains, your shoes will be confiscated from you in an hour. Every 4 hours your meds will be taken. You will be checked on ever hour on the hour at night. Razors can only be used for an hour under supervision in the morning and bathroom time is limited to one minute. There is an alarm if you go over that minute. When taking a bath the door must stay open. No going into any of the other rooms either. Got it?" the sudden burst of rules left Lucas bewildered but he nodded.

"Am I the only person here?"

"No, it's nap time. There are three a day, thirty minutes each." She glanced at her watch, "There's only about five minutes left in this one. You should unpack." She set his bags down on the closest bed and left him.

He pulled off his shoes and had just finished unpacking when she came to the door again to tell him everyone was up. Lucas followed her to the family room, there were only eight people in the room. Out of that eight there were only two guys. The others were girls, not the sweet, carefree girls he remembered from High School and Collage. These girls were different.

"Come on baby doll." There came a voice, it wasn't the nurse who had brought him into the room, but another one. She was a pretty woman. Black like the other but with the softest green eyes he had ever seen, "Sit there."

She had pointed to a spot next to a dark haired girl. He sat down, trying not to look too much at the other patients. He felt so out of place.

"I'm Katrina, but everyone here calls me Trina. What's your name honey?"

"L-Lucas." He stuttered, looking down.

"Well, Lucas, right now we are going to have group therapy. It's the same thing every day. I didn't invent it so don't get upset with me. You can listen and after everyone is done you can go." Her attention turned to the dark-haired girl next to him.

After group, everyone was allowed some time to kill before food was ready. Lucas trudged back to his room and sat on the bed. The package that the nurse had given him was lying next to him. He picked it up, reading the heading 'Anorexia Nervosa'

"What the hell, like I've got better things to do with my time." he flipped the title page over and started reading:

'Anorexia Nervosa- NOUN: A psycho-physiological disorder usually occurring in young women that is characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, a distorted self-image, a persistent unwillingness to eat, and severe weight loss. Self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, malnutrition, anemia, and other physiological changes often accompany it.'

"Lucas."

He jumped at the sound of his name and Katrina laughed, "Time to eat."

"I-I can't. It won't stay." He looked at her pleadingly and she pulled a small bottle from her pocket.

"I thought you'd say that." She poured it into a small cup and handed it to Lucas. "It calms your nerves and stomach. Helps you keep food down."

Lucas stared at the green liquid for a moment before drinking it. It was bittersweet but he didn't mind.

"Come on handsome, food's ready." she walked with him to the kitchen where a few of the kids were eating.

He was given a small bowl of broth. It was only Luke-warm, he was glad of it. His throat was too sore to eat anything hot.

"You don't have to eat it all, just as much as you can." She rubbed his back, "You'll only have liquids for a week, then if you keep them down you can have soft solids."

"Have you ever. I mean, were you ever." Lucas tried to ask but stopped as soon as her head nodded.

"I was in here for Anorexia five years ago. Every nurse in here was treated for an eating disorder at one point."

After eating all of the patients were brought into the family room. Katrina stood on a chair and lifted a CD.

"I have an assignment for you all." There was an assortment of groans from the group and she continued, "I'm going to give each of you a CD. On this CD I want you to burn a few songs that represent how you feel about your life, any aspect of it. But I want you to choose the one that is most like how you feel. One week from today we will play these songs for the group and you will have to tell us why you chose this song."