Chapter 2, guys :)
"You're kidding. Just please tell me you're kidding" Finn burst out after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, staring at his manager in disbelief. Blaine shrugged.
"If you want to save your reputation you have to do it" he said matter of factly.
"But how…why…that is not funny at all" Finn replied, a confused look all over his face. What was he supposed to say or think?
"I know" Blaine replied and looked at him apologetically.
"I don't know a thing about mental illness. I mean, these patients are humans but still. From what I know they tend to be overly emotional. What if I say something wrong that upsets them and…"
"Finn. Calm down. You won't be alone with them. There are nurses and doctors that will support you. All you have to do is hand over your donation and have a little chat with them, maybe half an hour or something, then you can leave again and we can share the news of the heartwarming and generous Finn Hudson with the world" Blaine concluded, looking fairly satisfied with his plan.
"Why can't I just go to some kind of preschool and play with those kids for a while?" Finn was practically begging.
"You did that last year" Blaine said with a huff.
"I'm not sure, Blaine. I feel bad for taking advantage of these poor people just to save my damn reputation. I mean they all have serious illnesses and that's not something to mess with" Finn said and bit his lower lip.
"Damn you and your morals" Blaine cursed. "And besides, you're not taking advantage of them, they will probably be thrilled to meet the world-famous Finn Hudson. Seriously, you're most likely brightening up their day, I'm pretty sure even mentally ill people have heard about you" he concluded.
"Fine. Fine, I'll do it" Finn finally said and breathed out heavily, still not fully convinced that this was actually a good idea.
"Good boy. I'll set up the appointment for Wednesday then, when you have your day off" Blaine said and raised his hand to give Finn a high five.
When Wednesday creeped around the corner Finn was beyond nervous. Several days of thinking about the situation had not done any good, in fact the more Finn thought about it the more he felt as if all of this was so out of his league. He had no idea what on earth he was supposed to say to all these mental health patients, "how are you" just did not seem like an appropriate way to start a conversation with them when they so obviously were not okay. To be honest, he felt like an even bigger dork than usual.
When his driver picked him up at 2 pm he got in the limo and the first thing he did was pouring himself a huge drink to calm his nerves. He was sweating in his tux and he could not stop his knees from bouncing nervously. He prayed that no paparazzo would see him when he was like this. Twenty minutes later the limo stopped in front of Mount Hope Psychiatric Hospital. To Finn's surprise I did not look like Fort Knox at all. It was a modern white building with a flat roof, surrounded by a beautiful garden with flowers and huge trees and only the sign at the entrance gave away what was behind these walls. When Finn reached the gate however, he found that it was locked. Makes sense he thought to himself and rang the doorbell.
"Hello?" a sweet voice answered through the speaker.
"Err…this is Finn Hudson. I was supposed to come here, my manager Blaine Anderson…" Finn rambled.
"Ah, of course. Hold on a second" the voice answered and then the front door of the building opened. A red haired woman in a white coat walked towards him, obviously a nurse. She unlocked the gate and extended her hand to Finn.
"Welcome, Mr Hudson. I'm Emma Pillsbury, the nursing officer. Welcome to Mount Hope" she introduced herself. Finn shook her hand and thanked the Lord that this woman seemed quite nice. He followed her into the building and was met by yet another surprise. The walls of Mount Hope were not as blank and cold as he had envisioned them. Instead they were painted in a warm yellow and every now and then a butterfly decorated the yellow foundation.
"The nurse office, the visitor bathroom, therapy rooms and the kitchen are down here and the wards are upstairs" nurse Pillsbury said and led him up a wooden staircase. Then they were met by a typical hospital gate and it was the first thing that reminded Finn of an actual hospital in here.
"Today is a good day. Everyone seems to be in a fairly good mood" nurse Pillsbury said as opened the gate and led Finn inside.
"Wait…the gate is not locked?" he said dumbfounded. Nurse Pillsbury chuckled.
"No. This one here is an opened ward. Our patients are here on free will, so we trust them enough not to run away. Besides, most of them are allowed to leave the ward during parts of the day" she explained.
"You mean leave as in roam the streets freely?" he asked and his eyes widened.
"Yes, Mr Hudson. Our patients in the open ward are considered trustworthy and are not acutely suicidal or a danger to others."
"I'm sorry" Finn apologized "I just don't know a lot about this stuff" he said and looked down at the floor.
"It's okay, Mr Hudson. Most people don't know and we are always happy to explain" nurse Pillsbury said and then Finn looked up, smiling at her gratefully. She had definitely chosen the right job. Then he looked around and examined the ward more closely. The center was a modern wooden table with twelve seats around it, several patients were sitting there and chatted or played cards. A large corridor lead away from the table and that must be where the patients had their rooms. The first person who noticed him was a black woman with a warm smiling face who sat around the table together with a fairly thin brown haired girl and a friendly looking guy some sort of weird clothing.
"Guys, I do believe we just got newbie" the woman exclaimed and suddenly three pairs of curious eyes examined him. He tried his hardest to find anything unusual in them but he could not find anything. Just regular eyes, no craziness.
"Actually, Mrs Jones, Mr Hudson is here to visit you all" nurse Pillsbury introduced him und then the girl with the brown hair seemed to recognize him.
"Oh my God. It's Finn Hudson" she whispered and clasped her hands over her mouth. Realization seemed to hit the other two as well because suddenly their smile was gone and plain confusion spread over their faces.
"Uhm...hello. I'm here to visit you all and to…you know, chat a little and it's okay to call me Finn and…" he rambled and tried to somehow tell them silently that he was not someone they had to treat in a special way.
"Did I just hear Finn Hudson?" a voice exclaimed and out of one of the doors in the back part of the corridor stepped a, to be honest, fairly hot Latina. Finn noticed that both of her lower arms were covered by bandages.
"Hello" he greeted her and when she reached him, she grabbed his hand with a smirk and pulled him towards the other three patients, forcing him on a chair.
"Santana, be easy on him" nurse Pillsbury warned and with a giggle she disappeared behind one of the doors. Finn felt awkward and was a tad bit mad at her for leaving him alone like that.
"So…who are you?" he asked and could not help but press his hands together under the table, a last desperate attempt to maintain his posture. He looked each of them in the eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in their minds.
"Santana Lopez, BPD" the Latina said and Finn looked at her in confusion.
"What?" he asked and Santana chuckled.
"Borderline personality disorder" the black woman explained and Santana rolled her eyes.
"Oh…okay. I mean, you don't have to tell me your diagnosis, just your name is fine" Finn replied and gave them each a reassuring smile.
"It's okay. We're all very open here. We are learning to deal with our problems and not hiding them is part of that" the black woman explained and Finn nodded understandingly. That made sense.
"By the way, I'm Mercedes Jones and I'm here because I have bipolar disorder. You know, manic-depressive" she went on. Then Finn looked at the thin brunette who seemed rather shy.
"Marley Rose and I'm here because I struggle with…with bulimia." Her voice was nothing but whisper and that explained why her frame was so tiny.
"It's okay. Marley arrived about a week ago. It's all very new to her" Mercedes said and squeezed Marley's shoulder encouragingly. Finn was very touched by the support that all of them seemed to offer the others.
"Kurt Hummel. Good old depression" the guy with the weird clothes said and wrinkled his eyebrows.
"So, Mr Superstar…why are you here?" Santana asked but before Finn could answer her question, a high-pitched shriek tore the room apart. Kurt groaned in annoyance.
"What was that?" Finn asked slightly panicking. It sounded as if someone was hurt terribly.
"Nothing, just Rachel. Rachel from the closed ward" Mercedes said and pointed towards the door at the end of the corridor.
"Okay" Finn said, even though he did not understand what that meant. Another scream caused them all to flinch.
"She's been here for weeks and it just doesn't seem to get any better. No one knows what's up with her, staff won't tell us, all we know is that she freaks out several times a day and at night she has the tendency of waking up the entire ward" Kurt said in a low tone.
"Santana swears she saw her tied to the bed several times" Mercedes whispered.
"True" Santana confirmed. Yet another shriek filled the air and Finn started to wonder why no one was helping this poor girl that seemed to suffer so terribly.
"Guys, time for your meds!" Nurse Pillsbury stepped out of one of the doors again and everyone's face lit up.
"Best part of the day" Kurt cheered and Santana rolled her eyes at him. They all gathered around nurse Pillsbury who carried a tablet filled with several tiny pills and glasses of water.
"I think I will head to the bathroom then" Finn said and Mercedes pointed towards the back of the corridor.
"Third door on the right" she said and smirked at him while swallowing her pill.
When Finn was done in the bathroom he stepped out again and heard another scream which gave him chills, and not the good kind. He had the irresistible urge to see whether that poor creature was at least safe and not alone. He walked towards the gate of the closed ward and to his surprise, it was open. Wasn't a closed ward supposed to be closed? He shrugged, maybe someone forgot to lock the door. He stepped inside and heard another noise, this time more like a hurt whimper.
The closed ward was a lot smaller than the open ward with significantly less rooms for patients. He looked behind his shoulder and found that no one seemed to have noticed him in here. He followed the whimpers and stopped in front of the last door on the left. It was a crack open.
"Hello?" Finn asked quietly and opened the door slowly. The room was blank, aside from a bed and two wardrobes. The answer was a bloodcurdling sob. He looked around the room and there, in the corner behind the wardrobe, sat a girl. A tiny woman with messy brown braids, her face hidden behind her hands.
"Um…can I help you?" Finn asked shyly, not knowing what to say. The girl lifted her head and Finn was met by the gaze of the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Dark brown, like chocolate und so deep that he thought that he might as well just get lost in them. But he could also see another thing in her eyes besides incredible beauty. And that was pure insanity.
Thoughts? :)
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