Misfits

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

[ Louis POV ]

Damn. After all the girls I had seen, been around, and been with, I had never met someone so crazily admirable in my life. So what? She's insane, but that just makes her even more interesting. The way she spoke about her life was so blunt, like it hardly mattered. Until she began to get into where she started going out of her mind, I could finally spot the emotion. But otherwise, it was like she hardly cared or wanted to remember what life was like before Albany.

Alice. I didn't even know her last name. I needed to find that out.

I watched her walk into the cafeteria after I had made my little comment to her in the hallway, and was proud to find that her cheeks were flushed. I kept my gaze on her, smirking in pride, but she refused to look over at me, for fear that she'd start blushing even more. It was adorable really, how she kept her gaze down, tucking a few loose strands of her blonde hair behind her ear, the faint tint of red in her cheeks still lingering.

It was like I was almost happy that my comments had made her so shy and embarrassed. Funny though.

I continued to watch her as she sat down at the end of a table with her tray placed in front of her, who-knows-what waiting on her plate for her to eat. Although I will admit, the meals here aren't the worst, they're about a step or two above school lunch. So, not horrendous, but not delicious either.

Alice's eyes began to wander around the room, resting on certain people as she ate boredly, observing them. Everyone, except for me. I just chuckled to myself, sitting down in a chair placed against the wall, looking around, and of course, thinking.

Kellin. He had hurt her. Physically, mentally, emotionally. I felt sorry for the both of them, they were young and in love, and then turned into a disaster couple. Alice was crazy about him, so she let him release all his anger and rage on her. Crazy about him, then crazy because of him. Kellin, I'm sure he still loved her, but emotions and pain get in the way sometimes, they blind you from what's right and wrong. The worst kinds of emotional pain are usually anger or just pure sadness, depression. The pain masks you and pushes you to do things you never could have imagined doing before. Finally, after releasing so much after so long, you're finally able to see again, and guess what?

You've become a monster.

Alice's parents hardly cared for her, leaving constantly and what not. She was always alone, enough time to be left alone with her thoughts. After thinking for so long, you start to become a little more in touch with your true self. Every single thought that passes through your mind is your own, and sometimes that's a good thing, and others, not so much. I could think of a million different things that possibly could have fleeted through her thoughts at some point in time and there would still be a million more I hadn't been able to even comprehend yet.

I felt bad for her altogether, she didn't belong in a place like this. Being surrounded by all these people, it was enough to drive anyone mad. But then again, she was insane, but so normal at the same time.

Maybe, just maybe, I could coax the insanity out of her, bring her back to complete normality, and I could get her out of here.

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, looking down at my lap. She's insane, she belongs here, you've only known her for a day, get over yourself. You can't save everyone Louis.

I cringed at the thought, blinking several times as to avoid any tears, and turned my gaze up, staring straight ahead. I couldn't think about that, not here, not now.

-

Lunch seemed to be over way too fast, and before I knew it, I was leading patients back into the common room. I focused on quite a few, remembering them from before, and watched them walk right back to the same spot they were in before they left for lunch. And then, Alice walked in, walking over to the table we were at previously, and sat down. Of course, she immediately pulled out a cigarette, letting it hang between her fingers momentarily before lighting it and bringing it to her lips.

"Louis!" Great. I brought my attention up to a smiling, overly cheerful Dillon. I smiled faintly, hopefully giving him some sort of allusion that I was somehow enjoying my job. "Oh. Hi, Dillon." "I need you to come with me, there's a patient here who'd like to go back to their cell, so I need another escort. Figured you'd like to get away from this for a few minutes." I sighed in relief, nodding and following him out into the hallway, where a man and a staff member were waiting.

The other employee nodded at the both of us before turning and walking down the hall, disappearing around a corner. The man standing there was almost as tall as me, kind of muscular, and was handcuffed. I made a mental note to ask Dillon what had gotten that guy in here later.

And so we walked, Dillon and I on both sides of him, slowing down just a bit to be slightly behind him. We walked silently, the only thing being heard in the deserted hallways was our footsteps, the man's handcuffs clinking together, and occasionally hushed voices in rooms around us.

Finally, after several minutes, we stopped and Dillon pulled out a set of keys, unlocking the door and gesturing to the man to go in his cell. I noticed a keypad on the door too, but the door still had to be unlocked with the keys. I just shrugged and looked back up to the man, waiting for him to go in. Luckily, he complied and walked in, sitting down on his bed and staring at the wall in front of him. Dillon shut the door and locked it back, quickly entering some numbers on the keypad, and I heard the door lock into place.

And so, we made our journey back to the common room, keeping quiet as we went. Finally, I asked. "What's he in here for?" Dillon stopped for a moment, looking over at me seriously before walking again. "He raped four women, in front of their boyfriends/husbands. He was into very..kinky things. That's why he's in that particular corridor, that's where the real crazies are kept. Tight security, handcuffed at all times, even while they're in their cell." I shook my head, scowling in disgust. "He should be in jail." "Oh, he was." Dillon laughed and we stopped right outside the common room, his voice dropping to a whisper. "He was insane, going after men at that point. No one felt safe, so they sent him here. He does anything wrong, sedate him, lock him in his cell for days without food, he learns his lesson. Miss Constance does not tolerate any kind of trouble, so people learn to not step out of line." "But-" And I was the only one in the hallway, stopping my sentence and shaking my head before walking back into the common room.

Dillon had walked off into the asylum, so I sat alone with my back to the hard concrete wall, looking around at the patients. And finally, settling my gaze on Alice. She was no longer smoking, just sitting there shuffling a deck of cards. Even after talking to her, after hearing about her insanity, I could still look at her and see a perfectly normal girl.

I don't know why, but I do. I hadn't seen or heard about her having a fit, so really the only thing insane about her was how she came to be here. Mistreatment, depression, god, I would do anything to keep her safe.

Louis, what? C'mon now, you've known this girl for a day. Don't do this to yourself.

But really, she seemed like she needed a friend, considering she was so open to me at our first conversation. Which I loved, I kind of needed a friend here too. I definitely didn't want to spend my summer being best friends forever with Dillon. Don't think I could handle that much cheerfulness every single day.

Anyways, who knows, this girl could really make an impact on me, whether it be in a good way or in a bad way.

In the middle of my train of thought, I looked up to see Alice smiling at me, motioning towards the chair in front of her while still shuffling the cards. So, I simply complied, finding myself in front of her with a hand of cards.

No 'hello again' or 'how was your lunch?' when I came over. All she had done was smile, deal the cards, and place down two of her own. Alice smirked slyly at me, leaning back in her chair a bit, "Two hearts. Go."

So I looked down at my hand of cards, biting my lip slightly before, truthfully, setting down one card, chuckling as I did so. "One Jack. Go."

The game went on just like that, us watching each one's move.

Finally, Alice sat up a bit, observing the stack of cards in the middle of the table after I had played my hand. Another small smirk crossed her face and she looked up at me, a little twinkle in her eye, and set one of her hands on the cards I had claimed two have put down before. Two spades.

"Bullshit."