Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or the characters. All rights go to the creators.
The next day, after breakfast, Scott stood in line at the nurses' station behind Stiles, waiting to be administered medication. He wasn't looking forward to having pills handed to him every single day for who knows how long…Until he was cured, Scott guessed, or no longer considered a danger to himself.
The line of patients inched forward slowly. Scott wasn't surprised when one patient, Malia, was pulled out of line and had to have her pills forced down her throat.
Once she had been dealt with, the line continued its slow movement forward.
Isaac stumbled into line behind Scott. Stiles glanced at Isaac then glanced at Scott and gave him a confused look. Scott shrugged; it was beyond him as to why Isaac was so sluggish this morning. Usually, he was an early riser, but this morning Scott had had to shake him awake.
"Dude, you look awful."
"Thank you very much, Stiles," Isaac groaned.
Isaac did look more worn out than usual. The usual brightness in his blue eyes seemed duller, and dark circles had appeared under his eyes, making them appear sunken.
"Did you sleep at all," Scott asked.
"Sort of," he said, stifling a yawn, "I had a bad dream that kept repeating itself."
"Those suck," Stiles muttered. They inched forward in line. Isaac glared at Stiles.
"How would you know," Isaac demanded. "You don't even sleep."
"I do so," Stiles retorted, mocking offence. "Very rarely, but I do sleep." They inched forward in line again. Stiles was next in line and he took his pill cup without hesitation and washed it down with water. Scott stepped up to the nurses' desk next and was handed two small plastic cups; one with water, the other with the pill. He glanced at the small pill in the little plastic cup and sighed before tossing it into his mouth and washing it down with water. It left an awful aftertaste.
Scott and Stiles headed over to one of the tables that were closer to the nurses' station. Isaac didn't follow. Instead, he headed back towards the bedrooms that lined the hallway.
"Where're you going," Scott asked.
"The nurse said I could go back to sleep for awhile," Isaac said, "Hope you don't mind if I'm not around for awhile." As Isaac disappeared back into their room, Scott took a seat at the table while Stiles took a seat across from him. Allison and Erica joined them and the four of them sat in comfortable silence, but the longer the silence was drawn out, the more awkward the quiet became.
"We should play a board game," Allison suggested, her tone attempting to be cheery. Stiles and Erica shrugged in response.
"Sure, why not," Scott said, trying not to sound monotone. Erica headed over to the nurses' station and spoke briefly to the nurse on duty. A moment later, she came back with a board game box labeled LIFE.
"Really," Stiles asked sarcastically. "Couldn't you find something that would remotely keep our interest?"
"Hey," Erica snapped defensively, "It was this or Candy Land."
"Hey, I loved playing Candy Land," Stiles replied.
The four of them set up the game board and pieces and proceeded to play the game to shake off some of their boredom. It didn't work very well.
They were halfway through the game when Scott heard the squeaking of shoes on the tile floor. He glanced up from the game board and saw a thin, tall man in a white coat coming down the hall.
"Who's that," Scott asked. Allison and Stiles turned their attention to where Scott was looking. He saw Allison grimace before turning her attention back to the game board.
"That's Dr. Barrow," Stiles replied lowly. Just the mention of the man's name seemed to send a ripple of hate through the three.
Barrow was taller than average. He had thinning brown hair that was slowly greying as he aged and permanently squinty small eyes. He glanced about the common room before calling over a nearby orderly. The two of them leaned in close to each other, lost in intense conversation. Scott watched intently, taking into notice at how agitated Dr. Barrow seemed. The orderly pulled away and nodded firmly. Barrow stormed out of the room, his footsteps echoing down the hallway. The orderly he had been talking to walked the length of the room and addressed two orderlies that were lounging by the nurses' station. Although they were not within ear shot,
Scott could make out several curses before the three of the made haste, following Barrow's footsteps down the hall.
"What was that about," Scott asked, looking at the others. Stiles shrugged and turned back to the board game.
"Strange shit happens around here all the time," he commented, his chin propped up on his fist. He grabbed the dice and rolled. "I've learned not to question it anymore; I've been here way too long to keep caring."
"Dr. Barrow's a real creep," Allison said.
"How so?" Scott asked, urging her to continue.
"Why don't you ask Isaac," Erica suggested.
"Why would Isaac know anything about Barrow," Stiles interrupted. Erica raised her eyebrows, surprised.
"He never told you," she asked. A smirk appeared on her face. "I thought you knew everything about everyone here, Stiles." Stiles stared at her for a moment before leaning back in his chair. He made a rolling motion with his hand; a gesture for her to continue. Erica sighed impatiently, as though telling Stiles was a waste of breath. She leaned forward in her chair, beckoning Scott, Stiles and Allison closer so the nurse or passing orderlies wouldn't hear.
"Isaac was assigned to Dr. Barrow when he first arrived here, but he got switched to Dr. Blake after…after a certain episode." Scott frowned as he struggled to keep up with the conversation. What had happened to Isaac? He didn't actually know much about Isaac, not even the reason as to why he was committed to Eichen House in the first place. He glanced back at Erica, who seemed content on to keep talking.
"Do you remember what Isaac was like when he first came here?" she asked, her question directed only to Stiles.
"Not really," Stiles admitted, "I mean, I never really spent much time around the guy until Scott showed up." Erica sighed, her eyes focused off somewhere into the abyss.
"He was completely…normal," Erica stated. "There was nothing wrong with him." Scott slouched in his seat and rested his elbows on the table. This conversation was getting more confusing the longer it continued.
"Then why is he here," Stiles demanded, annoyed.
"His asshole of a father put him in here," Erica hissed. "He didn't want to deal with Isaac anymore."
"What a jerk," Allison muttered, shaking her head.
"So, get to the point already, Erica," Stiles demanded, "You said he was normal when he came here? What happened to change that?"
"Barrow did something to him," Erica hissed accusingly, "Something that broke Isaac." Scott shook away the fog that had clouded his mind. He was having trouble keeping things straight in his head. It seemed that ever since he had arrived here his mind had been slowly unravelling into insanity. First there was a schizophrenic who could predict patient deaths; there was a mysterious locked door, which, according to Lydia, was where death awaited. Second, there was Derek's crazy theory about patient experimentation and third, there was some creepy doctor who had apparently psychologically damaged Isaac beyond repair.
But as he mulled over all this information in his head, Scott couldn't help but feel inclined to think that there was something that the hospital was hiding. Perhaps he was just being suspicious, paranoid even, but something didn't feel right.
Today, apparently, was one of the three visiting days they had throughout the week. Again, no one had bothered to inform Scott about visiting hours, not even Stiles. Scott noticed that not many visitors showed up though. He was surprised to see that Derek was one of the four people that got a visitor. He saw Stiles glancing down the hallway anxiously, as though waiting for someone's arrival.
"You expecting someone," Scott asked.
"My dad comes by when he can," Stiles replied, his eyes gazing down the hall longingly. "He's pretty busy most days though, being Sheriff and all, so he usually comes around during long weekends and holidays. What about you?"
"My mom said she come by on the weekend sometime." To be honest, his mother had never said such a thing. She hadn't even said goodbye when he was carted off to the nuthouse. He didn't want to tell Stiles this though; that would make his mother look insensitive.
Stiles opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as the room was suddenly filled with a loud shrieking, whining noise of a siren. Over the noise of the siren, Scott could hear a woman's monotone voice giving out directions.
"Is this normal," Scott asked, yelling over the screech of the alarm.
"It's the alarm for when one of the patients off the secure ward has escaped!" Stiles yelled over the noise. Scott was momentarily silenced by his friend's words. An escape? From the secure ward? That definitely spelled trouble.
The alarm ceased suddenly, leaving the room deathly quiet. As hints of conversation started to filter back into the room, Scott noticed Isaac heading towards them, looking rather startled.
"What did I miss," Isaac asked. His hair was ruffled and his clothes wrinkled. "Who escaped?" Scott couldn't help but notice how casually Isaac said it, as though escapees were a regular thing.
"What's the possibility that whoever escaped is a complete psycho," Erica asked, suddenly nervous.
"The possibility is high. Whoever escaped most likely has violent tendencies or psychotic behaviour. That's what the secure ward is for." The four of them turned to stare at Derek, who sat a table away with his visitor. He glared back at them and shrugged. "I was just thinking out loud. Don't take my words to heart." The man that sat across from Derek, his visitor, laughed briefly, light reaching his eyes.
"Always the optimist, aren't you Derek," the man said, a sly smile on his face.
"Shut up, Peter," Derek mumbled, his eyes focused on his hands as he returned to shuffling cards.
For being a social recluse, Scott was surprised that Derek had a visitor. His own mother wouldn't come, but one of Derek's relatives would; Scott envied him right now. As they carried on with the game of LIFE, Scott watched Derek in his peripheral view. He seemed to pay little to no attention to his guest, but that didn't seem to bother his visitor any. If anything, it sparked up a one sided conversation that seemed to annoy Derek more than anything. Scott couldn't help but feel kind of lonely.
As Scott prepared for bed later that evening, he kept giving Isaac unintentional side glances, Erica's words repeating themselves in his head the entire time. She had said that Barrow had done something to him, something that had broke Isaac. What possibly cruelty could have fallen upon Isaac to change his entire mental well-being? If there was something wrong, Isaac did a damn good job of hiding it.
"What are you looking at," Isaac demanded sourly, snapping Scott out of his daze. Scott shook his head.
"Sorry," he muttered, feeling heat rise to his face, "I was lost in thought." Scott crawled into bed and almost immediately fell asleep. He was surprised when the slightest noise of the door creaking open roused him. At first, Scott assumed it was just one of the nurses doing their nightly checks, but his heart jumped into his throat as he felt someone's hand clamp over his mouth. He clenched his hand into a fist, ready to punch whoever it was out, and opened his eyes. His fist relaxed and unclenched as he realized who it was.
It was Lydia.
She pressed a finger to her lips, motioning for him to be silent. Scott nodded and Lydia removed her hand from his mouth. Scott slid up into a sitting position and glanced at Lydia, still shocked. How had she gotten off of the secure ward?
"I need to show you something," she whispered. She tip-toed back to the door and waved him over. Scott slid his legs over the edge of his bed and stepped into his slippers. As quietly as possible, he followed Lydia, being careful not to wake Isaac as he closed the door. Lydia tiptoed down the hall, hugging the wall as she went. Scott chased after her, not being nearly as quiet as her. She led him through the Youth Ward and onto the Adult Ward. He was surprised that they hadn't run into any of the night staff…yet. She came to an abrupt halt as she came to the turn that veered off into the foyer.
"What did you want to show me," Scott whispered. Lydia turned to him, her green eyes bright as day.
"I do not want to show you something, I need to show you something," she said sternly. "I believe you may be able to help the others from suffering an awful fate."
"What do you mean?"
"I need you to expose them," she whispered, menace hidden in her voice. Her eyes shimmered with rage. "I need you expose what they have being doing here the past ten years."
A/N: So, what do you think! I hope you all enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a review if you want to; they're appreciated. And I hope that I am portraying all the characters accurately.