3 - Kagome

Kagome sat in an ambulance and looked out of the window. She was shivering of cold, even though it was June, and she was wearing a pullover. She was freezing. She seemed tired and sad. She had just cried. Her eyes were a little red. She had fought back for hours, but finally she had to give up. Finally she had to step inside the vehicle. Words didn't help, every objection just made things worse. She had to leave.

"Okay, tell us your name again", asked the ambulance man, who was sitting opposite her. He was holding a paper is his hands.

"Kagome Higurashi", the girl sighed a bit absently. He couldn't believe this. There she sat, in an ambulance, on her way to involuntary treatment to a mental hospital. Nuthouse. Loony bin. Funny house. Cuckoo's nest. Bughouse. Whatever. How did this happen? When one and a half years ago she was good at school, holding high-grade exams and known as everyone's friend?

The car drove by some big buildings, until it stopped at the edge of the hospital district, where there was one more, three floored building. It was the ward of the most sick patients, ward K10. There was a quite small fenced yard, where there was a few trees and swings.

Ambulance's man stood up as the door opened. He stepped out and gave Kagome his hand.

"Okay now, come, easy..." he spoke as Kagome slowly got out of the car. She was a bit annoyed of how she was treated like she was going to run away any minute. She might be standing in front of a mental hospital building, but she wasn't stupid. Where could she run?

The ambulance man walked to the building's main door and rang the doorbell. It took a while until an old-ish woman opened the door, greeting him with a warm smile. Kagome kept quiet.

"Leave your jacket here on the rack", the lady guided, pointing the clothing rack next to a big, glass door. But that was not the door they would go through.

"Come", the lady said and took the elevator with the girl. They got to the third floor. The door said K10-3. You couldn't really see through it. Nobody would get out of there by accident.

Kagome felt like crying. She was so scared. What if this building was filled with psycopats? Ones that have murdered their parents, saw the world upside down and heard the dead talk?

Kagome was not anything like those. She did have a life-threatening anorexia and a severe dissociative identity disorder. Very severe. She had two sides. The real one was shy, quiet, cautious and nice. But the other side was violent, vile monster.

The door to the ward opened. Just in front of it was a tall gate. It was a metal detector. As the nurse walked through it, nothing happened.

"Come", she said, waving the girl to her. Kagome got through too. She took her first step in the ward. Otherwise it was surprisingly quiet, only the sound of TV sounded from somewhere far. It was peaceful.

A young woman came to them. Her head was drooping, looking depressed.

But as Kagome heard a blood-curdling scream from somewhere, following with beeping, like an alarm bell. That's it for peacefulness.

The old lady closed the ward's door. Kagome flinched by the door banging. There she stood, in the middle of a corridor, going in both directions, carrying a big Adidas gym bag on her fragile shoulder.

"Come here, Kagome", the old lady called out. She led her to a room, which door said "Office". There were lots of computers and a locker for every nurse. Kagome had to leave her bag to be checked for sharp and dangerous items. After they had done with the checking, nothing was found, and Kaede led Kagome to her room.

The ward was huge, and there were many corridors, five to be exact, one in every compass point and the "main corridor". The biggest wing was the western wing, and that's where the patient rooms were. And as there were lots of patients, there were lots of rooms.

But not everyone had their own rooms. Actually, most rooms were for two. And that's with Kagome. Kaede knocked one door, opened it and carefully pushed the girl in

There were two beds in the room, and a closet for both. On the left bed sat the woman she had seen, walking the corridor. She raised her eyes to the arrivals, but didn't say anything.

"So. This is your roome and your roomie", Kaede introduced. Kagome looked around. "This is your closet, and here're your keys."

Kagome wasn't really listening. She just stared at her new roomie. She didn't look back.

"Just knock the office door if you need anything", the nurse said, left the room and closed the door after her. The room got all silent.

Slowly Kagome sat down on her bed and leaned against the wall. She looked around. There wasn't really anything to look at.

"If you're looking for something, check under the bed..." her roomie mumbled.

Kagomem kept quiet, but just out of interest, got down from the bed and went under the bed. And oh yes, it was filled with writings, a whole story to read.

'The world sucks,' 'I wanna fuck', 'lemme outta heer' and so on. Kagome sighed. What kind of people (and not only humans, maybe even youkais and hanyous, too?) would she mee here?

Kagome nodded. She didn't know did the woman want to talk. But then...

"Did you come from some other ward of this hospital or...?" the woman asked.

"N-no... I came from a juvenile ward, from far away, Tokyo. I'm Kagome, 15 years old. Who are you?"

"Sango... 23 years old... I've been here for about a year."

Then they heard a bell ring. Kagome looked at the clock above the door. It was 2:30 PM. She heard doors opening and steps. Now what? Of course, Kagome did know.

"...Come", Sango said. "It's snack time."

Kagome's heart started pounding. You mean, eating? In the dining hall, with all other patients? She followed Sango through the ward all the way to the dining hall. She was shaking. When they got to the hall's door, Kagome gave up hope. There was two nurses standing at the door, so running away would be no use. So the girl took a slice of rye bread, a huge stack of lettuce and a few slices of cucumber. A glass of water.

She followed Sango to her spot and sat opposite her.

Kagome stared at her sandwich (with no butter) and turned around her plate. She looked around.

There were lots of different kinds of people. She could tell the ward was big. Others ate with great appetites... but one place was empty. There was a tray with juice, a sandwich, a pot of yogurt and a banana.

"Get Ayame, she's absent again", one nurse ordered. And so a male nurse walked away to get the absentee.

And just when the nurse disappeared from the door, another came back hand in hand with a young boy. He had long, silver hair with strange animal ears. What made him scary were those bloodred eyes. He couldn't be a human. Maybe a youkai or a hanyou. Kagome had seen those only a few times in her whole life – except the one crow-youkai in her school. She had graduated years ago, so now Kagome hadn't seen those again. They were rare.

The boy growled, pressed his ears against his head and broke away from the nurse's grip and grabbed a plate.

"Calm down", the man sighed. He was standing right behind Inuyasha as he gathered up a meal.

"A-TSHOH!" the boy sneezed.

"Bless you", Mitsuhiro said and pet the boy's shoulder.

Soon the nurse returned with a desperately thin girl with him. She was pale, and wore a wool pullover. She was Ayame. She was led to her spot, looking like she wasn't going to eat a bite. Kagome knew right away that she was just like her... Kinda. Both were afraid of food, but that other girl was thin. Kagome was fat. A disgusting blob of fat. But in reality she also was deadly thin. She just couldn't see it.

Suddenly everyone heard a huge clang. They turned towards the sound. It was Inuyasha. He had just banged the plate on the floor so hard that even a plastic plate went in pieces. Food scattered everywhere.

"Inuyasha!" Mitsuhiro shouted and grabbed the boy from armpits. Two more nurses ran to them quickly.

"Get an injection!" Mitsuhiro ordered, and one nurse got on his way. Other patients just stared at this their eyes wide.

And soon the nurse arrived with a syringe.

"Okay now, Inuyasha..." Mitsuhiro calmed the boy as they pushed Inuyasha against the floor on his stomach, pulled his pants down a bit. Inuyasha flinched when the injection stung him.

"Good, good..." Mitsuhiro stroke the boy's neck. In just a few seconds he went limp. Mitsuhiro took the boy on his back and carried him away. Others got back to eating, just like nothing had happened. But Kagome stared at the hall's door. She heard a loud howl, and two sneezes. Where on earth had she got into?