Black Waters (Frank Ocean Love Story)

Chapter 十八

Running away didn’t seem to be a smart idea.

They could put me in that mental institution and I could stay there until I came up with a clever plan. But that would give Forrest a lot of time away from me. By then, he would have gotten to Christopher and ruined everything for me.

What to do, what to do…

I was suddenly inside of a black bus. It looked like a state-to-state bus, or a party bus. The bus was empty, so I was led to the back to take a seat. There was a brochure squeezed between two seats. I picked it up to read more about the institution, and that was where I got my idea.

I’d manipulate them. Forrest has an army of his own, so can I.

                                                                   * * *

Cedar Gardens was a large, stone building. I didn’t get much view of the outside because I was rushed inside by a woman and a man. When I finally got past the useless, empty hallways of security desks and sign-in areas, there was a woman waiting for me. She had on a nice working suit and a forced smile. You could tell she was stressed by the way her eyes sagged and the laziness of her posture.

“Hi. What’s your name?” She asked. I smiled in return.

“Ajahni. What about you?” I asked her.

“All the patients know me as Mrs. Roland. Come with me, Ajahni. I’ll show you around.” The woman turned around and walked down the long hallway. As we walked, the sound of faint talking rose. The hallway had rooms on either side of us. In each of them were two people of the same gender—talking, laughing, or completely silent.

“These are the dorms of Section A. You’ll be in Section C for now until further analyzing.” Mrs. Roland said to me as she pressed a button for the elevator at the end of the hallway to come down. We waited in silence as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, careful to make a first impression. My plan wouldn’t work if these people took the wrong view of me.

We entered the elevator as it came down and Mrs. Roland pressed a ‘C’ button. Then we were slowly travelling upward. The elevator was evidently old.

Section C was on the third floor, where there were large windows with wooden window panes and a lighter atmosphere. The walls were painted a pretty coral color, and the doors to the dorms had golden doorknobs. This looked like a much better place to be than Section A.

Mrs. Roland’s high heels clicked and clacked on the tiled floors as she made her way down the hall. I followed close behind until she stopped and knocked on a door labeled 134.

“Adriana? Anastasia? Open up, please.” Mrs. Roland knocked harder until the door finally opened promptly.

“We’re watching a really interesting movie, so make it quick please.” A girl snapped. She had a petite figure, like she was only in middle school. She had long black hair; so long that it looked like it was half of her whole body.

“Make room for company. You have a new roommate—say hello to Ajahni. She’ll be staying here with you guys for a while, and maybe later on she’ll get moved. I don’t know. But for now, be kind to her.” Mrs. Roland softly pushed me into the room, looked around for a few seconds, and then closed the door.

The girl that opened the door was staring at me. There was another girl sitting on one of the three beds, staring intensely at the television and paying me no mind. The two girls looked exactly alike.

“Are you two sisters?” I asked them. The one that opened the door nodded.

“We’re twins. I’m Adriana, and she’s Anastasia.” The girl said and pointed to the girl on the bed. Anastasia didn’t greet me at all. She just looked at me briefly and then looked back at the movie.

Two of the beds were made with blue comforters; the third one only had plain white sheets on it. I sat down on that one and stayed silent as Adriana looked at me with a confused expression.

“I’m sorry for staring…it’s just that you don’t look like you should be here. I mean, this is a crazy house. What could be so wrong with you?” She asked. I shrugged.

“I don’t know, honestly. I guess they think I’m crazy because I lied to them about my name.” I replied flatly. Adriana didn’t seem to want to ask any more questions, so she went back to her bed and continued watching the movie.

It was only then that I realized how exhausted I was.

I peeled my jacket off and curled under the sheets, letting the warmth of the bed put me softly to sleep.