Leah woke up to someone roughly shaking her. "Leah get up." Jane spoke softly "Breakfast in 20 minutes and you still need to get ready."
Leah rolled over to face her, groggy and confused. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. It took her a minute to remember she wasn't in her own room. She let out a yawn as her brain began to wake.
"You best get moving, we're going to go get our meds," Jane said before taking her leave from the room. Leah watched for a moment as she left before getting up. She opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out a yellow shirt with pink flowers on it, and a blue pair of shorts. She quickly changed and put on her shoes before leaving the space. She had fourteen minutes to finish getting ready before she was needed downstairs.
She quickly found the women's washroom. It was empty inside. Well except for the 5 sinks, bathroom, and shower stalls. She did the best she could to get ready before the bell rang. Doing her hair, brushing her teeth, and using the restroom. Luckily she made it downstairs just before the Seven AM bell. She was, however, the last one in the breakfast line, but she didn't mind. The options this morning were oatmeal or honey nut Cheerios. Leah took the oatmeal option along with a carton of fruit punch before sitting down with her friends.
"Ready for your first day?" Wendy questioned as Leah sat down.
"As I'll ever be," she said sleepily as she dug into her breakfast.
Breakfast was rather silent, as everyone was still waking up. But it was over rather quickly as the eight am bell rang. Again the residents all got up and put their trays away to be cleaned. They walked down the hall as a group before Jane and Alice waved goodbye at the classroom.
"Where are they going?" Leah questioned.
"They split us up by age. 10-14, 15-17. 10-14 have therapy first while we do schooling in the morning." Wendy responded as she made her way inside. She gave Leah a reassuring smile as she followed. Inside she was greeted by a tall woman in a blue dress with a white apron and brunette hair. "Hello, you must be Miss Leah, I'm Miss Belle. I teach math and English here at the institute"
"Nice to meet you, Miss Belle," Leahe said with a shy smile.
"Where please to have you join us. Please, take any open seat." Miss Belle said with a smile as she gestured to the seventeen or so full seats. Leah did spot an open one, smack dab in the middle of the room. Not her first choice, but what other did she have?
She walked over to the empty seat, in between Alice and a girl in a purple dress, her brown hair done up in a ponytail. Leah sighed as she sat down. A notebook and pencil sat in front of her. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
Once everyone was seated, Miss Porter spoke up. "Good morning, how is everyone on this Monday morning?" Miss Porter asked. Everyone responded with either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. "I see it's a mixed crowd this morning, but that's alright. How about we start this morning off with some announcements."
"First we have a new resident who joined us yesterday." Belle added, "Leah would you like to introduce yourself?"
Everyone's eyes turned and fell on her. Leah's face turned red for a moment before she quickly snapped out of it and stood up to address the room. "Hello everyone, my name is Leah. I'm 15, and I believe in a world in the stars." She said, unsure what to say. She wasn't good at addressing large groups.
"Thank you, Leah, you can sit down now." Miss Porter said before continuing "In other news, I have a surprise. Mr Thatch has invited us to visit the Museum of Natural History in the coming weeks and Mistress Mal has agreed to the trip."
The whole classroom had erupted into cheers and shouts of joy. It wasn't every day they were allowed outside the grounds of the institute.
"Keep in mind that all this is a privilege. If you want to go, you need to be on your best behavior." Miss Belle reminded them.
"When do we get to go?" Jim questioned aloud, not bothering to raise his hand.
"Three weeks from this Thursday." Miss Belle answered.
The class cheered on again. The residents murmured to each other about what they wanted to see. Miss Porter gathered the attention of the room once again. "I'm glad you are all excited, but now we need to get to today's lessons. Will start with history."
The next few hours were quite slow, to say the least. They were given a history lesson, followed by math, then science, and ended with English. Eventually, the noon bell chimed and the residents quickly stood, hungry for lunch.
Leah followed Wendy out of the room. They headed to the lunch hall and got in line. For lunch, the options were either hamburgers or hot dogs. Leah took a hamburger along with a glass of water before finding her seat amongst her new friends.
As soon as Wendy sat down, she immediately broke the news. "You guys will never guess what Miss Porter announced."
"What?" Alice questioned
"We're going to the Museum of Natural History in a few weeks."
"Really?!" Jane questioned.
"Yep, it's gonna be awesome!" Wendy said as she looked at you "The museum is by far the best thing about being locked up in this joint. You're gonna love it, Leah."
Leah smiled "I do love a good museum.
"This one's awesome!" Lewis said, "It's got dinosaurs, evolution."
"Space travel," Jim added.
"Undersea study," Ariel said.
"Don't forget music!" Megule chimed in.
"Sounds incredible," Leah said as she bit into her burger. The rest of the lunch was spent talking about the upcoming trip. The more Leah heard about it, the more she wanted to see it.
It wasn't long before lunch came to an end and the residents returned to their schedules. Leah followed Wendy, Ariel, and Jim as they headed to their group therapy session. Today it was held outside in the courtyard. Chairs were placed in a circle as some of the other residents, Eric, Meg, and Aladdin started to sit down. Leading the group therapy was Dr Facilier. Leah felt uneasy around him like something was off. His rather calm, soothing voice didn't help.
"Good afternoon everyone." Facilier greeted. "I trust you all had a wonderful meal. Before we begin I'm sure you've noticed our newest resident." Once again all eyes fell on Leah. "Leah, why don't you begin by telling us why you are here with us." it wasn't a question, but rather a statement.
Leah was quiet for a moment, she looked down at her hands and began to fiddle with them. "I'm here because of a space world," she said quietly, only for herself to hear. How she hated adults, especially authoritative ones.
However, Dr Facilier wasn't pleased with this. "Miss Leah, you're gonna need to speak up so the whole group can hear you," Facilier responded, gesturing around the circle.
Once again Leah repeated her words, just loud enough for them all to hear. She kept her gaze on the stone path as she spoke. "I'm here because of my space world."
"Tell us, what about this space world brings you comfort? Why do you wish to visit it so badly?" he questioned, pen ready to take notes on the clipboard he was holding.
"Because I'm a hero in that world," she responded.
"Could you elaborate on that?" he questioned as the tension between the two of them rose.
Leah's head shot up at that. She was starting to get fed up at telling her story over and over again, only for it to quickly get shut down. "Why, what's the point? You're just gonna tell me that it's fake."
Facilier looked up at her a bit surprised, but he kept his composure. "Relax Leah, no one is here shut you down here. We're here to understand why these fantasies you are having bring you comfort. Perhaps we should move on-"
"I'll go!" Wendy added. All eyes landed on her as she spoke "As you know, I believe in a world called Neverland. It brings me comfort because I don't have to worry about the real world, I can just be a child there, never having to grow up."
One by one the residents shared their experiences and why they were brought comfort by them. Once everyone was done sharing, Facilier glanced down at his watch before addressing the group once more. "That will be all the time we have for today. You all did very well. Tonight I want you all to think about why these things have an impact on your life. Will meet in the recreation room tomorrow to discuss your thoughts and feelings." The bell then rang and everyone got up to head to the recreation rooms.
Leah followed Wendy and Ariel inside as they explained the fun the recreation room had to offer. "There's games, puzzles, sometimes even arts and crafts," Wendy explained.
"We're gonna play some Candyland once inside, you're welcome to join us," Ariel added as they walked down the hall that led to the recreation rooms.
Leah smiled and was about to say yes when she was interrupted by a Scottish voice from down the hall. "I'm afraid Leah is needed in Dr Callaghan's office.'' They all looked up to see one of the guards approaching them. She was a tall girl with fizzled orange hair and a green dress. "Wellcome lass, my name's Merida. I'll be the one taking ya back and forth from your appointments."
Leah froze for a moment, she had completely forgotten about her appointment with Dr Callaghan. "Guess I'll catch up with you guys later," she said, turning to her friends.
"Yep. were usually in here till outdoors time, unless we're pulled away for our own appointments," Wendy said painting at the games room door. "Will see ya when you're done." With that Leah followed Merida as she led her to Dr Callaghan's office.