~XI~

"It's advised that you don't get out of bed after 10:30. We'll see you in the morning."

Peanut stares down at his phone, the automated message of his voicemail listing off commands for the only recording he currently had. A woman's voice, unrecognizable to him, had just given him clear instructions to stay in his bed after a certain time. She sounded so weird, though. Almost like she was robotic. What's worse is that when he was about to call the number back, his phone lost all reception, making it useless. Cursing to himself, he lays back on the plush bed. He doesn't exactly know where he is, but judging the layout of the room, it's more than likely a motel. Was this the one by the school? No. This layout is too nice for the In-And-Out Motel.

He's constantly checking his phone, hoping for a signal or text from one of his friends. Of course, it never comes. With a sigh, he rests his arms over his eyes, phone still clenched firmly in his hand. He feels a chill go throughout his body, the sudden breeze finally getting to him. With half-lidded eyes, he turns his head to look at the open window, the curtains blowing with the night air. When did that open? Or was it always open?

Hesitating, he sits up. With one last unsuccessful check of his phone, he stands up and walks over to the window. He looks out, finding a parking lot mostly vacant, save for a lone car parked a couple spots away from his door. He feels uneasy looking out, the flickering street light currently being the only thing that illuminated the road, a thick forest resting just beyond the street. He's not in his home town, that's for sure. And as he closes the window and locks it, he can swear he feels someone watching him. As quick as a flash, he throws the curtains over the windows, desperate to keep himself hidden from whatever is out there. He backs away from the window, his heartbeat slowly increasing. He doesn't feel safe.

He lays back down on the bed, feeling like a child as he keeps the light on as he closes his eyes. The feeling hasn't gone away and he takes a look behind himself, making sure he's truly alone. When he finds no one in sight, he turns back over, looking at the clock. 10:27 at night. That lady had told him not to leave his bed after a certain time, and he wonders why. But he tries to push the thought, and the feeling, away as he closes his eyes in an attempt to sleep.

Not even five minutes into him trying to rest and he hears it. Soft but guttural breathing. It's in his room and he can feel himself panic. Without thought, his eyes snap open and he's greeted with nothing in front of him. It doesn't stop the sound of the breathing, though. His fear increases and he tries his best to calm down, breathing in and out as slowly as he can. It doesn't help. Nothing helps. And in a fit of panic, he flings himself up, jumping from the edge of the bed. He doesn't even get a step away when something is grasping his pant leg, keeping him in one spot. He lets out a shriek as he falls, his hand reaching out to catch onto the nearest thing – a spare bed right by his. Strange enough, the covers he had a hold of felt different. Leather. But he was wearing his jacket and had a hold on a blanket, not anything that would feel like that.

Whatever has a hold of his leg seemed to be pulling every time he went to move, and because of this he tries pulling himself towards the bed in front of him, panicking even more. The room begins to shake and he feels more hands on him, gripping his shoulders with a force he's familiar with.

"Peanut!" The hushed but aggressive voice wakes him from his sleep and he jumps awake, finding himself in the arms of Ricky. He looks at the greaser, his hand holding onto his leather jacket with such a force he's surprised he hasn't ripped the damn thing yet. That's why he felt leather when he was holding onto the bed. He's practically trembling as he stares at his friend, trying to remember where he is.

"Hey, it's okay," Peanut sits there, slowly letting go of the jacket as he calms down. He's in the tenement, having come over on his way back from his visit at the asylum. With a few deep breaths, he nods, removing himself from the fellow greaser and sitting back, putting his head in his hands. He felt horrible, especially for waking someone up.

"Sorry," he grumbles softly, "Just had a nightmare."

"Yeah, no kiddin'," Ricky reaches over, going to remove Peanut's pant leg from a loose nail in the floorboards. That must've been the thing he was feeling in his dream. He feels so silly. "You wanna talk about it or somethin'?"

"Nah, man," Through the darkness, he gives him a smile. "Thanks for waking me up, though."

"You had a hold of my jacket," he replies, "Thought you were dying or something."

"Felt like I was gonna," He says the last part so quietly he doubts his friend hears it, watching as he lays back down on the old mattress they're sharing with the others. He sits there, knees up to his chest as he wraps his arms around his legs, looking over at his friends. They all have their upper bodies on the mattress, Norton practically sprawled out at the bottom and taking up all of the room. He smiles slightly, turning his attention to their leader. He can make out Johnny's peaceful face in the dim light from the broken window and he feels envious of him. How he can sleep throughout the night without waking up from nightmares. He sighs softly, going to stand up, the packet of cigarettes in his hand. After that fright he definitely needs a smoke.

Outside is calm, the wind rustling through his pompadour. He yawns as he goes to bring a cigarette up to his lips, lighting it with the lighter he had snagged from Johnny when he got back into New Coventry. He feels better as he takes a long drag, trying his damnedest to blow out smoke circles. He had never really been good at it, although Lefty was pretty much a pro at doing tricks. He figured it was because he smoked liked a chimney. He's not halfway through his cigarette when he feels a hand on his shoulder, making him jump violently. He looks back, the senior smiling down at him.

"Another bad dream?" Johnny questions, holding out his hand. Peanut gives him a sheepish smile, handing over the packet of cigarettes and his lighter.

"Yeah," He turns away, looking at the brick walls before them. "I was really hopin' it would go away."

"Just hang in there," Johnny takes a drag, handing the packet back to him. "I'm sure everything will go back to normal soon."

"Hopefully."

That's how it went for the next couple weeks. Peanut, feeling bad for invading his friend's home so much, forced himself to stay in his dorm room at night. He also had a habit of skipping his afternoon classes to go to the asylum, providing he didn't have any classes with any other greasers. And whenever they questioned his whereabouts when he did see them, he made up some excuse about either not feeling well or being too tired to go meet them at the cafeteria. For a while, it worked out and everything was going his way. Until a certain Wednesday rolled around.

Dan had ended his visit with Vyvyan a couple minutes early, a grim expression on his face. It made him worry, considering the man was usually upbeat and happy. The look on his friend's face only made him feel worse.

"She's getting better," Dan speaks as he leads Peanut away from the door.

"That's good, right?" he asks, "She's supposed to get better so she can leave!"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's good," They stop in the lounge room, Dan sitting on the nearby couch. "I'm just worried about what's gonna happen. Out of every other kid here, she's the only one trying to get better."

"Then why are you looking so sad?" Peanut crosses his arms, a frown on his face. "What's goin' on between you two?"

"Vyv's paranoid, you know," he starts, "Doesn't like new people too much and doesn't like taking pills. Heh. She used to hide them when she first got here. Got away with it for a while, too, until I found out." He looks up at the teen. "Peanut, she got better when you started coming around so often. I think it made her feel good that someone gave a damn enough about her to show up. Until you came, no one asked for her. That's why it was a surprise."

"Not even her parents?" Dan shakes his head. It made him feel bad, and he wondered why she was so alone.

"She wouldn't tell us anything about where she came from," he explains, "San Paro. That was all we got out of her. We had to find out about everything else through the doctors, and even then we couldn't find a proper file about her."

"So, what? You said she was getting better. Is she hiding her pills again?" Once more, Dan shakes his head and Peanut's frown worsens.

"She started trying to be more social after you showed up," he continues, "I think she's finally getting used to everyone here, and having people like us – friendly and social to her – is helping her get better with everything. Thing is: I'm transferring to Florida in a couple days and I don't know who's gonna show up to take my place."

"You think she'll be all right?" There's a sigh and Dan just shrugs.

"Last time we had someone else try to care for her, she became unresponsive and even tried biting the guy," Peanut gives him a surprised look. He now feels lucky that she never acted out against him. "She's getting better, Larry, but she's still "damaged" and I dunno how she'll act when I'm gone." He stands up, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a small smile. "I'm trusting you to keep her sane, okay? No one else in this place gives a damn about the patients, but I do. And I know she's close to being helped."

"I'll uh… do my best," With that, Dan leads him to the exit, giving him one last thanks. He leaves the asylum feeling a bit down. He had gotten to know Dan over the few weeks he was going there, and with the stories Vyvyan had told him about the orderly, the man was always there for the patients. He wondered who would be replacing him.

Getting back onto campus didn't go so smoothly, either, seeing as Johnny was sitting on the bottom bleachers, phone in hand and an irritated look on his face. He knew exactly why he was there, too. He finally caught on and wanted to confront him about it first thing. Oh, he felt himself panic. And trying to sneak past his boss didn't go so well, either.

"And just where do you think you're going, Larry?" He was in so much trouble. Slowly caving in on himself, Peanut gives his friend a slight smile.

"H-hey, Johnny," The senior stands up from his seat, towering over his friend with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. "What uh… what are you doing here?"

"Wonderin' why my second-in-command is skippin' class every day," he replies sternly, "So, what's the reason? You deciding to finally quit?"

"No, not exactly," Peanut chuckles nervously as he takes a few steps away from his friend. "Just ah… doing things, you know?"

"Such as?" He doesn't want to answer, but he shifts his eyes in the direction of the path he had taken to the asylum, and that's enough for the senior. "So you're throwin' your life away to go see some schizoid? Is that it?"

"Not really," Peanut takes a couple steps back, and Johnny sees it as an invitation to move closer. "I'm just going to visit a friend, you know? To help me and-"

"You're gonna fail your classes," he growls, "but all you care about is going off to see that girl. And for what? You're still getting nightmares, so it's obviously not helping!"

"Maybe I'm just stubborn like you!" he shoots back. He knows it's not wise to argue with his boss, but he doesn't want to hear him lecture. "You do things that don't make sense or aren't smart, but no one complains! I just wanna do this until I get better!"

"Don't get smart with me!" Johnny takes a threatening step forward and Peanut continues to move back. He can feel the anger from his friend and it's starting to worry him. "I'm just tryin' to look out for you, and what? You act like I'm the bad person!"

"I know what I'm doing!" he tells him, finally turning his heels and starting to walk away. "Just leave me alone. I'll be fine."

He expects Johnny to follow him, but as he tries to calmly walk away, he notices that he can only hear his own footsteps. And he doesn't know if he should feel relieved, or fear for the future when he ran into his boss again.