Sorry I haven't written in awhile. Granted, it's only been a week since my last- well, first- entry, and you're an inanimate object so you're not really capable of missing me or anything like that. But you, little journal, are the closest thing I have to a friend in this place. Jane is nice and all, but she's my doctor, so I don't think it would be appropriate to call her my friend. And, she says that the best way for me to get through my time in this place is to be able to express my deepest feelings in this book; to be able to write out my experiences and everything I'm feeling without facing any judgment at all. So, here I am, "friend".
It's been an interesting week. I still haven't made it up to the second floor, but, all in good time. I have, however, met most of the staff now, including the woman who owns and runs this hospital. Her name is Helena Hornsby, and she seems absolutely wicked. She acted perfectly nice with me, but at this point in my life I'm an incredibly good judge of character. And I can tell that she isn't actually a very nice person. I think she's hiding something.
I've also met my tutor, Belle. She'll be keeping me caught up on my schooling while I'm here. Of course, I was expecting to be missing school this whole time, and when I found out otherwise, I was very disappointed. I think I made that quite obvious. Jane thought I was being rude, but Belle found it quite funny. Belle's a little odd herself, and quite nice, like Jane. We've gotten along beautifully so far. Oh, and her actual name is Dr. Thoreau, but she insists that I call her by her first name. She's very informal, and I like that. And, from what I can tell so far, she's the best teacher I've ever had.
Most of the security team is wonderful, though I figure they may only act nice to keep the patients calm. Still, I can tell that most of them are actually nice. There are a few who aren't; I can tell that those few enjoy teasing the patients, and don't take their issues seriously. I daresay that they don't really think of the patients as human beings. But, I don't know them personally, so I can't know for sure. I just avoid those few. But most of the security team is quite nice.
There's one guard in particular who I quite like. Her name is Merida, and she's one of the most interesting people I've ever met. She reminds me of a good friend of mine, because she has curly red hair and speaks with this wily Scottish accent. Granted, he only spoke with the accent when he was of ill temper, but nonetheless she reminds me of him. The first moment I met her, I knew Merida was quite different from most of the women I'd known in my life. I couldn't help letting her know how odd it must have been for her employers to hire a woman for security. She snorted and muttered something I didn't quite catch, but it earned her a sharp look from Jane and I couldn't help laughing. Then Merida smiled and informed me that there are two other women on the security staff! I've yet to officially meet either of the others, but I've seen them both around. One is Chinese and the other is American. This place is very strange indeed...
Any way, I like Merida a lot. She offered to be my supervision if I ever want to play in the courtyard. I think she'd be much more fun to have around than Jane or Belle. No offense to either of them, they just don't seem the playful types. But Merida is a wild one.
I've gotten to meet a few of the other patients as well. Not many, because Jane and Belle want to keep me separated from them for some reason. But when I sit to eat lunch with the two of them, I get to observe the others, and a couple of them have been nice enough to come introduce themselves to me. There are a couple around my age, but most are adults. I'm not sure what everyone is sick with, or what they might need counseling for, but none of them seem crazed or delusional to me. They're definitely not harmful. (But apparently, the "dangerous" patients are fed in their rooms, not the cafeteria. I'll have to look into that.)
I've tried asking both Jane and Belle about what's afflicting the others, but they both refuse to tell me. It's all "classified" or "doctor/patient confidentiality" and whatnot. Complete nonsense, I tell you. What would be the harm in just telling me? I wouldn't tell a soul... I have no one to tell! And I think I deserve to know exactly what kind of people they've got me cooped up with, regardless of how often I actually get to be around them.
No matter. I guess that's all just business I have to find out for myself.
My sessions with Jane have been going well, I think. She's just had me telling her about all my adventures in Wonderland- describing everything I experienced, the strange people I met, the creatures I saw. And Jane just nods along and smiles and continually asks me questions. I think she's genuinely curious about the place. I think she actually believes me about it, too. And she gives me the sweetest little candies at the end of each session- a sort of reward for talking things through with her. I must say, it's nice to actually talk about it with someone; to explain it all and not be shunned or ridiculed for it. She writes it all down in her notebook, but her hand-writing's so bad that it just looks like scribbles. Not that my penmanship is perfect... Any way, I suppose it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as she understands it. She is the doctor, after all.
Well, I'm beat. It's been a long day, and I've just taken some pills that Jane suggested would help me sleep. I'm absolutely exhausted now. I'll try to write again soon. I'm really bad at keeping a journal thus far... Two entries in as many weeks! I'll have to start keeping up more regularly. Jane says it's important that I do. I think she explained why, but I can't recall at the moment.
Good night.