For My Aching Soul

Chapter 14

Alex was a pretty nice guy and decent looking. He had olive skin that reminded me of Abriana's, a soft boyish face with upturned eyes and thin pink lips, his black hair perfectly gelled and sleeked back. He didn't dress in all white as the other man. Instead he wore a black silk shirt, beige pants, and deep blue crocks. Apparently he was one of the welcome wagon members. He was in charge of dealing with younger patients such as myself as he too was young (maybe about 24) and could relate to them...to us.

However, as we toured I realized that there weren't much members my age here. It was mostly middle aged people.

Alex showed me the tennis, basketball and netball courts, the football field, the swimming pools and hot tubs (those could only be accessed by gold patients which according to Alex were those who had been cleared as causing no harm to themselves or others but occasionally visited when they needed to unwind), the theatre, the game room, the library, the computer rooms, and to my surprise...the dance studio. Not that I'd be going there. I only danced at Stanley and now that it was gone, so was my love for dancing.

I followed behind him silently. Occasionally nodding when he would ask if I'm okay.

The last part of our tour was to Wing B-32. This was where I'd be living. He opened a large double door which opened out into a massive sitting area (not as large as the lobby but right up that ally). It was painted all white with equally white furniture. There were pops of color here and there. There were two couches parallel each other and white seats expanding out from either side of each until they met to form a circle. In the center was a large white table with notepads thrown almost carelessly yet purposeful atop it.

The room, or wing rather, had three walls apart from the one housing the entrance. Straight ahead I could see one single door that had a placard I couldn't read so far away. The walls to the left and right of me had three doors each.

"So the door straight ahead is the office of the counselor who is assigned to this wing. Her name is Miss Allione. She's very nice, I'm sure you'll like her. The doors on the sides lead to bedrooms. All of them are occupied except the one on the right closest to the office. That will be yours," Alex pointed to the room, the black beaded bracelet on his hand moving with the gesticulation.

"Occupied?" I asked with the scrunch of my brows, wrapping my arms around my body.

"Right. So there are five females who live on this wing. You'll get a chance to meet them tomorrow morning," Alex smiled and began walking over to my room.

He pushed the door open and it revealed a decent sized room with a single bed, two night stands with lamps on each one, a dresser, a small desk and chair, a tv stand with a 32" flat screen atop it and a small closet. It was painted white, the bed had no sheets on it and the windows had bars and blinds. I walked in and looked around then closed my eyes and exhaled, letting my arms fall to my side. I was trying to let this all sink in.

"You can pick out your comforter and anything else you might need this afternoon downstairs. I hope the blinds on the windows will suffice if you don't like too much light. We don't have curtains he-" I cut him off.

"Because you're afraid we'll try to hang ourselves?" I asked sarcastically.

Alex looked at me for a moment, bitting at his bottom lip, before he said anything, "I'm probably not suppose to say this to you but you're young and you have your whole life ahead of you so I think it's my duty. Burkley is a fine line between modern day spa and 19th century mental institution so I wouldn't walk around saying stuff like that if I were you. This wing is pretty nice but the further down the alphabet you go is the scarier it gets." Alex wore a serious look on his face and from his eyes I could tell that he had seen things. Things that would scar people.

I didn't know what to say so I nodded quickly, returning my arms to my sides.

After that we went back out in the hall.

"This door here, as you can see from the label is Wing B-33. These are the only two wings on this level. There a bathroom a little down the hall. The ladies from the two wings share it. It has 8 showers, five toilets and five sinks," Alex motioned toward the end of the hall where a door was erected.

My face immediately twisted into an uncomfortable look. Alex saw this and laughed.

"Don't worry dear. It's a very nice bathroom and it's cleaned twice a day."

We returned to the lobby to join my father.

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