Ok… chapter two. Sorry it took me a little while to write it, but I had a little bit of writers block and my inspiration had bronchitis. Oh well, it's here not that many people care, but thank you to those who have reviewed.

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After talking to the girl on the sidewalk, Fred went back to his little red car. It was small, yet spacious. It was big enough for someone who was 6 foot 7 inches tall fit in comfortably, but he would never drive back home, to Northern California, in it. It was a half an hour drive to Thorney Towers, but it went fast because of the thoughts rushing through his head. Talking to the teenage girl from the bagel store brought back terrible memories. Memories of home and his sister. He had pushed them far into the back of his mind so that the guilt would subside.

"It was not my fault," he thought confidently. "No, it wasn't her fault either though. She didn't know what she was doing. She never knew, that's why she's still there."

Flashback:

He didn't like the elevator, especially riding it with his six year old brother, Nelson. He had to bring him though, Nelson was Marie's favorite. The corridors of Melrose Sanitarium smelled like urine and old food. The elevator dinged when it was time to exit and the got out. Fred listened to scuffing sound of his too-long jeans as they skimmed the white linoleum floor. His red hoody and green jacket clashed horribly with the too clean surroundings of the hallway they wandered in.

"Freddy?" Nelson asked innocently as he tugged of Fred's jacket. "When Marie coming home? I miss her and I want her to read to me again. You're not very good at it."

He was used to that type of criticism from his family. That was all he ever heard from his parents. They asked why he couldn't amount to more like a doctor or a politician. He was a Bonaparte; surely he could amount to something! But no, Fred was average. Just average...and average was unacceptable for a Bonaparte. The only thing that was not average was his height, and that too was unacceptable to the Bonaparte family. His relatives constantly either made fun of him outright or muttered things in French to each other about it.

Fred and his brother reached the padded cell their sister was in. The white hurt Fred's eyes. There was a small desk in the corner of the room next to a barred window with no curtains. The only sign that a real human inhabited the room was the numerous pictures of her seven other siblings and mother and father. Nelson's pictures were in the front and closest to her bed on the nightstand followed by Fred's. His sister was sitting quietly on the white cot staring at the wall. "That's all they ever give her to do," thought Fred as the orderly allowed them into the cell. The heavy door was squeaky, but it alerted his sister to there presence. Her blank expression turned to one of happiness as she watched her brothers walk into her little room.

"Freddy," squealed Marie, obviously happy to have company. "I missed you all so much, and you've brought Nell! You're the greatest, Fred."

She looked happy, although she still did not believe what everyone told her. She didn't believe them even when they showed her the scars on her wrists. Marie would move in and out of depressive states without knowing it. She was in an extreme depression when she tried to commit suicide. Ever since she left the hospital she looked dramatically different. Her long blonde hair had been cut short and he blue eyes had lost their brilliant glow. She had also aged a great deal even though she was seventeen now she looked almost thirty.

"Nell, why don't you get a book so that I can read to you, alright?" Marie cooed to her little brother.

Nell left the room to find a book when Marie turned to Fred. "When am I coming home, Fred?" she asked. "I don't like it here. The people screaming down the halls and in the recreation room. I'm not like that Fred, you know that!"

"I know but mom and dad insists that you stay here. I've brought it up a lot to bring you home but they won't listen, especially to me." Fred replied, his shoulders slumping in a defeated manner.

"Oh...I miss everyone, I want to see my family," Marie murmured, her voice cracking. "One day you're going to stop visiting too, and I'll be left here all alone. I know it."

"I won't forget you, I promise." Fred said, offering a small smile.

Marie didn't smile back.

Nell returned with the book. The front cover had been ripped off and most of the pages were torn but she still read as Fred held the book because of Marie's straight jacket. He jumped onto the clean white cot with them and listened intently to his sisters' soft voice. Another hour passed before it was dinner time and they wheeled Marie down the hall to the cafeteria, where visitors were not allowed. Fred and Nelson said good bye to their sister and went back home to a family anticipating a full report from them on her progress.

End Flashback:

Fred pulled into a parking spot at Thorny Towers. The lot had not been re-paved for many years and was full of potholes. It was nine in the morning and the sun shone bright even for October. Like all the asylums he had visited whether for school or his sister, they all looked the same, run down and austere. Thorny Towers was no different except it had a lovely view of Lake Oblongata, which glowed an eerie green in the morning sun.

The tall young man climbed up the stairs of the building to the creaky, rusted door. The hinges squeaked as he pulled the door open and stepped inside. To his left was the main reception area and there right was the stairs that lead to cells.

"Is this where I sign in?" asked Fred. The woman at the desk was eying him curiously, causing him to flash a nervous grin. "I-I'm with the college. I think that I'm early but not by much."

"Yes, you're early." She chided, still looking disapprovingly at Fred. "Sign in here. Then report to the nurses' station upstairs, they'll tell you where to go."

"Thanks," replied Fred as he eagerly walked to the stairs to the asylums upper floors.

The stairwell smelled and looked like all the other sanitarium stair wells did, like pee, hospital food, and cleaning products. He heard the constant moans and random cries from the patients in the floors about. The old wooden stairs creaked as he walked and they were coated in a thick cobwebby dust. There wasn't much to climb before he had reached the second floor, which was where he thought Emily's room was. The nurse's station was the first thing that you happened to pass before actually reaching any rooms. He looked around for the girl in the various cells, thinking that maybe she was out, but there was no sign of her, just a tall woman with wild red hair and a man with many tattoos and a black goatee.

"Uhmmm…i-i-is this the floor that Emily is on?" Fred stuttered, looking incredibly nervous.

"Emily what, doll?" The woman drawled, she was pretty and had a severe southern accent. "The one with the eyes? If it's her, this is her floor. Best I show it to yeh' where she's at."

"Thanks."

He and the nurse, who introduced herself as Isabelle, walked down the dingy dark hallway, they walked all the way down to the end and she stopped and took out a large ring of keys. "Gotta' make sure she stays put. We don' trust her." She drawled. "Yeh gotta be careful with her; she's a strange one."

"Really now, why is that?" asked Fred, he began to worry figuring that they had actually put him with a real whack. He tried to force a smile but he thought it only made him look like he wanted to puke. His heartbeat quickened and Isabelle turned each key and unlocked the cell door. The small window that gave a glimpse of the room was blacked out, giving him no way of looking in before stepping into immanent doom.

"You'll see, doll." The nurse said as the swung open the heavy iron cell door.

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To Be Continued...