The Asylum (Editing in Progress)

II

After lunch, we meet in our groups for an hour. My group is pretty moderate in size, for we have about six people, including myself.

As I look around, I see a girl with bright red hair who rakes her nails up and down her skin, but had the best singing voice. That's Charlie.  And there's John, who frantically looks around, trying to find the people that he thinks are watching his every move. He tells the best jokes. There's the anorexic girl who's the best listener. Her name is Skai. There's the guy who's on suicide watch. He's the most artistic. He writes, draws, paints the most beautiful works I've ever seen. That's Patrick.Lastly, there's Marcelene/Frank, depending on the day. He/She has multiple personalities. You never know who you're going to hear from when he's/she's around. Marcelene is a dainty girl, who loves photography and flowers and anything pastel. Frank is like a man in his late forties who likes the Mets. Both of them are nice people. Great to be around.

I've seen people come and go, I've seen people die here. You never know when someone comes in and you never expect it when someone leaves, so I try to steer clear of getting attached to someone. Though John is my closest friend here. He's been here two weeks longer than I have. With his meds, he doesn't freak out as much, and he's actually one of the coolest guys I've ever met.

"Alright, guys!" Our counselor, David, begins once everyone has sat down. "Who wants to share first?" He looks around at everyone expectantly. This is the part of the meeting where we share everything on our mind.

Skai raised her hand sheepishly.

"Skai! What's on your mind?" David inquires. He placed his hands in his lap and looked attentively at her. 

"I want to sit in the sun today. Can we sit in the sun? Oh, I miss the warmth of it on my skin." She blurts out quickly, scratching her elbow. 

She was wearing a floral dress, one that she brought from home. In fact, everyone but me wore clothes from home. I was ushered here in such a hurry, I didn't get to bring anything with me. No clothing. No music, not a single book. Nothing. So I wore scrubs and read books from the asylum library. Nothing good. It's all censored to protect those in the ward.

David looked like he was seriously pondering the idea. After a long, suspenseful moment, he nodded and said, "Why not? You guys have been doing very well lately. We can continue outside. I think you guys deserve a treat."

Skai smiled and looked around. We were all pretty happy. I hadn't been outside in a few months due to the cold winter. 

So we gathered our things, Patrick with his sketch pad and Marcelene with her camera, and ventured out to the yard within the wall.