Five minutes has gone by, and she's holding Mr. Longneck in a rock hard grip. The bag of candy between us is empty, and I wonder if this will upset her after she breaks from the spell she's locked in.
"Where are you friends?" I ask, trying to get her attention on something else. "Jade, Tori, and...Robbie?"
She blinks a few times, and I think she's coming out the place she was in, the place that exists only in her mind, but is full of pain and darkness. She looks over at me, and grins.
"Yeah those are their names!" she exclaims, happy that I've remembered them. "I think Robbie's in his room, but I'm too scared to go in there. Jade's in individual therapy and I think Tori's...oh gosh I don't know." She suddenly looks worried.
"What's wrong?" I ask, moving a bit closer to her.
"It's just...Tori has issues," she says softly. "She has image issues. She's supposed to be monitored, or one of us is supposed to look out for her. They like to give us has much freedom has they can here. I hope she didn't sneak off..."
"Is she anorexic or something?" I knew that it was a serious disease, I just never knew it could land you in a mental hospital.
She nods. "Yes, I think she's also bulimic, I saw her throw up her dinner once in the bathroom. She begged me not to tell, I don't think anyone knows about it..."
"Cat, maybe you should tell someone," I tell her. Her eyebrows furrow, and she looks scared.
"No! Then she'll never talk to me again!" she yells. She casts her eyes downward. "I don't want to lose anyone else important to me..." I can see her eyes getting that look in them again, I don't want her going back to that place. I grab her hand, she shakes her head, snapping out of it. She looks at my hand holding hers, and than meets my eyes.
"It's okay," I whisper to her. My heart's racing so hard she can probably hear it. I blush, and than I turn even redder at the fact that I just blushed. Looking into her eyes makes me feel all gooey on the inside, I've never had that feeling before. She smiles a little, and squeezes my hand. My eyes trail on her lips, and I'm tempted to kiss her. But I know I can't, it wouldn't be right. I just met her, and she's obviously been through a lot. I don't want her to feel like I'm just being nice to her to get something out of it. I feel like she's been being chased by that dark place for such a long time, and I want to protect her from her. I want to be her saviour. It's such a strange, overwhelming feeling, but it's the most powerful thing I've ever felt. All for a girl with magenta hair in pink cupcake pyjamas, that I met in the staircase of a mental hospital.
The door slams open, and I turn my head to see a tall girl with dark hair with blue extensions and startling green-blue eyes.
"I finally got away from that asshole with the tape recorder-" her eyes fall on me. "Who the fuck is this?"
Cat grins at the girl. "Jadey, this is Beck!" she squeals, lifting my hand to wave at Jade.
"Hey Jadey," I say, laughing.
She looks like she wants to scowl, but instead she does this sexy smirk. "It's Jade, Becky."
Cat giggles and stands up and links her arm through Jade's. "Jadey's my best friend in the whole world."
"We were brought together by our mental health issues," Jade says, her arm rigid in Cat's.
"Jade!" Cat scolds. "Don't say that!"
Jade rolls her eyes, before smirking at me. "So pretty boy, what're you in for?"
"Jade, that's not our business..." Cat says, but stops when Jade gives her a dirty look.
Jade eyes seem to burn into me. "So? Are you gonna tell us? We'll find out eventually in group therapy. Unless you wanna keep you mouth shut the whole time, in which case, you'll be lifers, like Cat and I here. Well until we're eighteen, and they have to let us out."
"They only sentenced me to three months," I explain to her.
She laughs, the sound dark and taunting. She shakes off Cat's grip on her and walks over to me. "Yeah, but unless you talk, they'll tell the courts that you 'haven't got over your issues'," she air quotes. "and that they 'recommend your stay be lengthened so they can try to address your issues'."
"I don't have issues!" I object.
"Oh yeah," she hisses, and than lowers her face closer to mine. "Then why are you here, pretty boy?"
I stand up and she backs away a little. "I'm not fucking crazy!"
She smirks. "I think I just found out."
My mouth drops open a little, I'm stunned. She totally tricked me, she was looking for a trigger. And she found it. I let some mental chick get under my skin.
"Don't worry Becky, I won't tell your secret," she says, as she walks backwards out of Cat's room. "I think it's kind of hot, I've always been into aggressive guys. But than again, I'm crazy, right?" she winks before turning down the hall, out of my sight.
I look at Cat, who's picking at her hair. I sigh, they always did say the prettiest girls were the craziest.