She was the girl who was afraid of love. Terrified of it. It isn't permanent, she believed, it leaves you and it leaves you broken.
He was the boy who desperately needed it. Love--the only thing that could've rooted him to this world.
Ophelia and...
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Oak Valley Sanitarium was enormous.
And when I say enormous, I mean huge enough to leave me stunned as I stood in front of the tall structure.
It looked ancient.
"You're being dramatic, Lia," Was what Luce told me.
"I'm not being dramatic," I replied, which was actually the truth--at least right now. And why in the world would I be dramatic? The whole building looked like an old castle from medieval times. Except that from the inside, it was just as modern as any New York hospital.
It took us some time to get past the security at the front to finally step inside the hospital. Most of the staff were wearing teal-colored scrubs, including Luce. I, on the other hand, was in one of my very soft and warm hoodies (a bit in between blue and teal green so I fit in with the other staff) and some random pair of jeans that I'd found the quickest in that moment.
I refused almost immediately when Luce offered me those same scrubs, or the white coat to wear on top (with a little volunteer tag on it). They weren't ugly. It was just the size that mattered. They were a bit too oversized on me, and they reminded me of that one time in middle school when I had accidentally ended up with an oversized laboratory coat.
Long things short, everyone had laughed at me. And I had to laugh along even though I was embarrassed because how awkward would it have been if I hadn't? I was made a laughing stock back then. I did not need that here too.
"I made you sign the form, didn't I?" Luce asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I hummed softly before nodding.
"All right then. Since this is your first day and you don't know anyone here besides me, let's get done with some introductions first." She added as we started going up a marble flight of stairs.
Introductions, I thought grimly.
There were two glass doors on my right, overlooking a beautiful garden outside. I think I saw a few staff out there, maybe even some patients too (mostly old). Everything was incredibly clean about this place.
One thing that weirded me out a little was the paintings that were hung up on the walls at some distance. None of them seemed to make any sense. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even any sort of renaissance art. When we went up the flight of stairs, the paintings were still there. I didn't like the obvious lack of contrasting colors.
The entire hallway, as we walked across it, was empty with no staff around us. When I asked Luce about the other volunteers, she replied, "There weren't many volunteers, Lia. You're probably the first one."
"What? Why? Is it that bad?"
"What? No. Most people volunteer in the local nursing homes. This place is too large and too old to hold any volunteering programs. I'm pretty sure no one even knows there's a volunteering program being held here right now." She told me.
