DAY 1
"Are you new here?" she asks, walking down a few steps so she's just two steps above me, and even then I'm still taller than her.
"Yeah, it's my first day," I tell her.
"What room are you in?"
"302."
She grins and jumps up and down. "I'm in room 303, you're across the hall from me!" She grabs my hand. "I can show you to your room." She's already tugging on my arm before I can even answer.
"I'm supposed to-" Valarie tries.
"Pleasey?" she pouts to Valarie.
Valarie sighs and nods her head. "I'll be calling once a week to check on you Beck."
I nod, and start to follow Cat up the stairs. She still has her little hand wrapped around my bigger one, and I gently hold on back. She turns back slightly and smiles at me when she feels my hand hold on to hers. We climb up the final stairs, there's two hallways, one going to the left and one to right. Cat pulls me down the left one.
"Our rooms are at the end," she tells me. "I'm so happy someone's finally on my side of the hall, Jade, Tori, and Robbie are all down there." She points to the other hallway. She stops at a room that says 302. "Here's your room."
I turn the knob, and open it. It's pretty big. It has the same dark wood floors as the rest of the house, a single bed against the wall, a white dresser, a little side table and a closet. The walls are white, but it doesn't seem mental hospital-ish. I notice my bags are placed on my bed.
"Do you wanna see my room?" Cat asks excitedly, already dragging me down the hall. She opens her door and pulls me in. It's just like my room except for the fact that there's a turquoise bedspread with the little mermaid on it, and that her bed is covered with stuffed animals. She puts her giraffe down on the bed, and gives it a kiss on the head.
"I love you Mr. Long Neck," she whispers to it. I smile, even though its sort of weird, its also cute.
She sits down on her bed and pats the spot beside her. "Sit!" I obey, careful to avoid squashing a purple unicorn. She starts rummaging through her side table drawer, pulling out a little paper brown bag. She pulls out a sour key candy from the bag, and starts sucking on it.
"Want one?" she asks, holding the bag out to me.
I can't even remember the last time I've had a sour key, so I take one out of the bag and start sucking on it. She grins at me, and like a reflex, I smile back.
"How long have you been here?" I ask, I'm also curious to know why she's here, but I don't wanna upset her or insult her. She's beautiful and sweet, but she's in a mental hospital. She could easily snap on me and go crazy.
"Six months," she answers, still sucking on the key. "It's not that bad, I have Jade, Robbie, and Tori. And all the staff is nice to me."
"How long have they been here for?" I ask. Might as well learn something about my fellow patients.
"Um, I think Robbie's been here for eight months, Jade came right after me, and Tori got here two months ago," she answers, reaching into her bag for another sour key.
"Where did you come from?" she asks.
"LA."
She nods, her eyes all knowing. "I thought so, you have that sort of feel about you."
Most people might question what she means, but I understand what she means. The words sound like they would accuse me of something, like stealing cars, doing lines of crack, but her tone, her eyes, say differently. She might be innocent, but she's not stupid. She probably knows I have done all those things, but she knows that it wasn't just to be "cool" or because I'm a "troubled youth", but because there's a legitimate reason. She gets me, and I like it. No one's ever bothered to look past my looks and troubled past to see the real person there, the guy who wants to be found, but builds walls. She hasn't knocked down a wall or anything, but it's like she's found a window.
"Where did you come from?" I ask back.
"New York City," she answers, pulling a licorice out of the paper bag. She places the bag in the middle of us.
"I've always wanted to go there," I say, pulling a gummy bear out of the bag.
Her eyes light up. "I miss it a lot, it's so beautiful. The lights at nighttime, it was never dark there." She looks out the window, and I realize that her window faces the forest. "Not like here."
She's scared of the dark. Most people might roll their eyes at this, considering that's she's teenager, but the dark represents the unknown. I have a feeling that her fear goes deeper than boogeymen and goblins.
She grabs Mr. Longneck and holds him close. I want to pull her into to me and hold her, and tell her that it's okay, but I've just met her. And again, I don't know what her issue is. I don't wanna upset her more.
"I was at a different hospital before," she says quietly, her voice muffled by the fact that her face is buried in Mr. Longneck. "I had to leave though." She lifts her head up, and rests her chin on the giraffe.
I see it, finally. The reason why's she's here. I don't actually see the legit reason why, but I see the pain and trauma in her eyes. I want to know what happened to her, I want to know what kind of darkness found it's way into this girl, this girl who seems to have cotton candy and rainbows flowing through her veins. I want to help her, I want to suck away that darkness.