**WARNING VERY LONG CHAPTER AHEAD**
21// “Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?”
My breath began to slow down as Alisa continued to hold me.
“Safe, we are safe and that’s all that matters” she kept on saying in my ear. I was so cold, so cold. But I felt that if I could hold onto Alisa for as long as possible, I could heat up and the warmth that had been lost could return to me. Life could return to me. My eyelids were heavy as I leant my forehead against Alisa’s shoulder, her legs either side of me as we sat on my bed cradled in each other’s touch.
“Hatter?” her voice probed me awake from the verge of sleep, “Hatter are you sleeping?” my eyes opened and I leant up to whisper in her ear.
“No I’m right here Alice” I pulled away, my hands gently resting on her hips as she looked over my face, seeing if I was telling the truth.
“I’m hungry” I said, clearing my voice clear of tears, “come on lets go get some food” I take her hand and we walked out to the dining area which at this time of night is only occupied with the odd insomniac, Nymphomaniac and most of the other maniacs that the institute houses.
***
As the weeks drifted by consumed in routine that everyone, but Cherry, completely loathed questions began to fill my head and I didn’t have an answer for anything of them. When was I getting home? Was I ever going to get home? Should I tell Alisa that I read her history? Do I even want to go home? How was Mom going? Were Alisa and I a ‘thing’? What were we? Friends? More than friends? Friends with benefits? The questions haunted not only my dreams but every day as I went about with the routine.
I had been here two months and no one had made any indication that I was progressing. However I shouldn’t get too comfortable with the idea that I could be going home soon. After all Jaxon and James had been here for 18 months and Blondie a year, not to mention Alisa who had practically lived in mental institutes since she was 13. Was I just holding out false hope that I would get the chance to see outside these walls? Was I going to be here for years?
Nurse Carrigan and Harper made no effort to patch up what had happened about the field trip and we never asked about going on another one again. Blondie had tried rallying our efforts but no one was up to facing something equally or more horrible than what we had all seen that day. Yet my mind still drifted to him. How had I forgotten? He was family and in a way I had betrayed him, forgotten his memory. After much consideration I had mustered the will to ask Carrigan if I could go and visit him. Of course she had absolutely no empathy for a teenager missing an old friend. She had no empathy for the fact that, because I was locked up in here, I had missed the anniversary.
We were all sitting in the lounge. Blondie and I on the couch, Cherry cross-legged by a set of books that she was flicking through, Jaxon and James head to head in a board game and Alisa on top of the wooden stool in the corner. But none of us were doing anything. Supernatural was on mute, Cherry had remained on the same page of the same book for 10 minutes now, Jaxon was holding his piece mid move making no indication that he was about to do anything, even Alisa had ceased muttering to herself. It didn’t seem like a time to do anything. I let out another shaky sigh, we had been waiting for half an hour, how much longer could Carrigan possibly take to write up a report?
Today I was getting a progress report. It was going to tell me whether or not I was staying for another 3 months or leaving. I was surprised at how nervous everyone else was for me. At first Blondie had flicked the idea away, she never succumbed to human emotions and Alisa had just giggled and said not to fret. That was three days ago, but now that we were all seated and waiting, it was different. No one gave me any words of wisdom, they didn’t even look at me. It couldn’t be that bad having me another 3 months could it? Or was it for the fact that I might leave and never come back. Oh shit, what if I left and never came back?
How could I leave these people? The most genuine friends that I have ever had. Yes they were on edge, yes they could get on my nerves and yes most of them were boarder line insane, but so was I. My friends and I finally had something in common other than age. My hands began to ache as I gripped them so tightly together in my lap.
“Michael” Blondie’s voice beside me was unnaturally soft and quiet. I didn’t like it. She made a move to reach out and touch me or something but couldn’t. Like she didn’t know how.
“Blondie, it’s going to be fine. You won’t mind if you have to put up with me for another 3 months, will you?” she gave a half-hearted laugh that was so forced it sounded like metal grinding against metal.
I glanced around at everyone else to see that they all shared the same expression,
“Guys, it’s going to be fine” but the shiver in my voice couldn’t hide my own worry. Finally the lounge room door clicked open and Nurse Carrigan stepped in with a cream coloured file in her hand.
“Michael Lantara” she said, her lips pulled into a thin line, her hair and scrubs, perfect like she wanted to make a good impression. I got up and walked forward towards her and took the file from her hand.
“See me tonight about your results Mr Lantara, I wish to discuss them with you” I didn’t even look up or say thank you or whatever someone was obliged to say in this situation.
The door clicked shut and Nurse Carrigan was gone just as fast as she had appeared. The file was heavy as a ton of bricks in my hand, weighing down my whole body like I was would just sink into the ground and fall into the centre of the earth. At least I wanted something to just swallow me up whole.
“Michael? What does it say?” this time to my surprise it was Cherry who had said it. I looked over at her and twisted my mouth. I was flocked from all sides as I went and sat down on the couch. Jaxon and James leant over my shoulders, Cherry knelt on the floor by our feet as I was flanked by Blondie and Alisa. I opened the file like it was glass and looked at the front page. Five sets of arms began to reach for the other files, they all tried to grapple for a handful of pages that might have the clue to my future.
The one single page that actually had the answers looked thin enough to be a feather, but just the mere words on it added another whole dimension to it.
“Aw, you were so cute in elementary school” Blondie exclaimed as she found my school records.
“Damn you were skinny back then” James grimaced as he looked through the photos.
“And pimply” Jaxon added.
“Oh the wonders of puberty!” Blondie gave a gleaming smile. Finally, I thought, that was the first time today that the Cheshire Cat had smiled. I blocked out their comments as I stared down at the paper, a hand found my arm and I looked to my right to see Alisa looking at me with concern.
“Are you prepared for the results?” she asked under her breath as the ruckus continued as the others flicked through the papers like 5 year-olds on Christmas Day.
I inhaled a deep breath and began reading.
Michael Harvey Lantara
17
Diagnosed with depression
Has been released from Eastward’s Institution For Residential Graduates
Released? Released!
“Released!” I shouted throwing the paper in the air. The loud chatter immediately ceased as though I had pressed mute. All eyes turned to me as I was grinning wider than Blondie for a change. The sudden pull of the smile felt weird, strange, a distant memory. But it was there, however the weight of the writing and gravity pulled it back down.
“Released” I mumbled out as I leant forward, the press of five sets of eyes glaring into my back. Silence like deadly fog settled around Dorm 23 in an instant. Choking, suffocating, painful, it was there the piece of paper had said so. I was out.
“Hatter?” a little voice murmured beside me. I looked over my shoulder at Alisa, her brow was furrowed her mouth hung open in disbelief.
“Alice?” I copied her tone of voice.
“What does this mean?” she asked the question that everyone had on their tongues.
“It means that I’m going home” five sets of sharp intakes of breaths filled my ears as no one could believe it.
“But-but you’ve only just gotten here” Jaxon protested, James sticking close to his side for support. I gave a half-hearted laugh.
“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for 3 months” I said absent-mindedly.
“Because you have not” Alisa spoke up, “remember what the Card said? Sometimes forever is only a second. Therefore her analogy can be read backwards. How long can a second be? Sometimes only 3 months” Alisa’s face contorted into a look of sadness, her lower lip trembled slightly.
“Never thought I’d say this” Blondie started as she shifted uneasily on her combat booted feet, “But I agree with Alice.”
“We need to do something” Cherry spoke up, it was strange to hear her sound so authoritative since she was always so timid.
“What doth you propose March Hare?” Alisa asked.
“Something to remember Michael—Hatter by. Something that we could all do” Cherry announced. We all nodded and mumbled our agreement. But then an awkward silence followed.
“Well what are we gonna do?” James asked, his nose bunched up like a rabbits. We sat in silence for a moment before a neat little idea popped into my head. One that I knew would come in handy.
“We’re going to raid level 3” I grinned at them all.
***
Clothed in black like cat burglars, well everyone but Alisa who was in silky red dress that came up to mid-thigh and was strapless. I wasn’t complaining. After bribing Harper with a bottle of vodka that Cherry had acquired we had all made it to level 3, well the door anyway. We were standing there with no clue how to proceed. We had spent the whole afternoon figuring out how to actually get here but we had no game plan. To be honest we didn’t really think we’d get this far. Blondie was ahead inspecting the door with Alisa who was an expert on locks. Jaxon and James were keeping guard on the stairs one higher one lower than the four of us, armed with powder bombs made from wheat flour from the kitchens.
Cherry, expertly dressed in all black right down to her eyeliner and lipstick, was yet again fiddling with some random items that would somehow get us in and out of level 3 without being caught. She was clutching metres of coiled wire, thinner than a pencil line and silver. In her left hand she was examining two wooden poles the width of the door as she chewed a huge wad of pink bubble gum,
“The door has a security alarm on it” Blondie hissed in the darkness. I winced, hoping to not catch Cherry’s eye who had slowed down her rapid chewing beside me.
“It’s set for a two second time span” Blondie added. Dammit maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Meaning?” Jaxon hissed as he stood ten steps higher than the rest of us.
“The door can’t be open for more than two seconds otherwise it’ll set off the alarms” Blondie had never spoken so fast before, like she had a two second timer on her explanation as well.
“Moreover the door cannot just endure closed, it must also align with these” Alisa bent down and pointed out the rubber lining that held the door tightly in place like a vacuum seal.
“And the doors are heavy,” Blondie added “so on average we’re gonna need a second to close the door.”
“So we each have on second to get into the room?” my voice shook slightly. This idea didn’t seem so great now. What if we got caught? Would we get into trouble? Well at best I would be guaranteed to stay longer if we did get caught, meaning more time with Alisa. If we didn’t get caught we could feast on delicious pizza and I would go home tomorrow. It was a win-win every way.
“Screw it lets do it” I said and moved past Cherry to be the first to go through. “YOLO right?” my attempt at modern slang was met with a slap on the shoulder from Blondie.
“Great enthusiasm just—no pop culture reference” she said a proud smile on her face, “oh and you might want to dive when you go through” I just gave a confused frown but she didn’t elaborate as she got Alisa and Cherry, who was still clutching her bundle of odd things in her hands, as they readied themselves by the large door. Alisa went to work picking the lock as delicately as an artist might paint the patterns on a butterfly wing.
The door gave a very faint click and Alisa stepped back, Blondie behind her ready to shut the door. Cherry shuffled forward her hand on the handle of the door. I adjusted the black beanie on my head and shifted closer to the door. I gave Cherry a nod and she wrenched the door open just enough for me to slip through. In a not very smooth motion I toppled into the dark room and dove onto the floor, the door almost catching the cuff of my jeans as the three girls slammed it shut again. I turned over, my chest heaving, leant up on my elbows as we waited for sirens to sound. However the blissful silence of the night was undisturbed. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I stood up just as the door opened again and Cherry leapt in, I grabbed her arm and hauled her quickly to me till she bumped into my side. The door shut just as quickly as it had opened. Again we waited for alarms but none came.
In a second Blondie jumped through, however she had hardly even gotten through the door when she grabbed the handle on this side and hauled, working with the three on the other side to shut it in time. Blondie blew away a loose strand of her dark hair, hands on hips. But there was no time to rest as James spilled into the room. The four of us closed the door again. We were getting the hang of it. Next came Alisa who snuck through the tiny space like a mouse I hardly even saw her. She was silent as ghost before she came to my side and hauled the door closed. Last was Jaxon, all alone on the other side. The tension was hammering and we could all feel out pulses in our ears. Blood rushing into my ears the only sound I could hear.
Finally Jaxon squeezed through the small gap in the door and all six of us pushed the door shut. We all stood in silence for a while, wondering if one of us should say something. Congratulate ourselves, laugh at our stupidity…but it was James who gave a whoop of satisfaction as he thrust his fist into the air, ran to the nearest couch and jumped on it like it was a bed.
“Before we go crazy we need to set up our own security” Blondie gave grin and thrust her chin towards Cherry who set to work setting up her contraption.
“Michael, mind helping?” Cherry’s timid voice spoke up as the others set to work scavenging the place for goodies.
I cast a quick glance back at Alisa who was already off with Jaxon and James searching for something to eat or something to play with. I felt the side of my mouth perk up a little as she shuffled through the things like an excited toddler. Following Cherry to the other side of the room, she thrust the coil of wire into my hands. Despite the amount of wire there it was surprisingly light. Cherry pulled out the wads of gum, broke it into too. The sound of squishy saliva and popping air bubbles were the only sounds down this end. Cherry stretched the gum till it snapped in two. She put one piece on either end of the wooden poles and positioned one on the silver door that led to the elevator.
Cherry bent down to the edge of the door and stuck the pole in place. Next thing I know I’m down beside her curling the wire around the pole.
“We’re going to miss you, you know” Cherry said pointedly, out of the blue, “we don’t say so but we do” her words were bolder, stronger and in a voice that didn’t sound at all like her. It had only occurred to me now that in all of the time I had been here I had never really had a conversation with Cherry.
Her black coloured mouth showing her gleaming white teeth against the pale colour of her skin. With her black gloves, jeans and blouse she reminded me of a Steampunk. I would also be stupid to say that I didn’t find her attractive, because she was. But she didn’t have that radical charisma that I adored in Alisa. And even though Cherry put her entire soul into order and balance she didn’t have the same dedication like Alisa.
I wasn’t sure what to say. To be honest I was trying to come to terms with Cherry speaking so strongly.
“Uh, thanks” I mumbled over my words as my hand filed through another length of wire.
“You’re a guy of little words” Cherry observed a little shortly. She got up abruptly and began walking across the room with the coil in her hand.
“I guess I’m just surprised that you’re talking to me” I said as I followed her with the other half of the wire.
“Blondie’s right, you are too innocent” Cherry was behaving very brashly. I raised my brows at her as we reached the other side of the room. My teeth grit together, seriously? Just because I didn’t think about how I could get in every girl’s pant all the time suddenly I was innocent.
“Alisa doesn’t think so” I said, my voice going low and in the back of my throat. Cherry just laughed sweetly.
“You run your hands over her, of course she doesn’t think you’re innocent” Cherry snapped flippantly, she rose again and lapped the wire again and started for the other door.
I was about to object to that, but I would be lying. Why wouldn’t I run my hands over her? Not that I was rough with her or anything.
“Blondie’s had a bad influence on you” I said matter-of-factly.
“I think she has a bad influence on everyone that she meets”
“Yet I’m still innocent” I interjected and side-glanced her.
“I didn’t mean that” Cherry tried to revive her adorable demeanour but it was long gone.
“Sure thing March Hare” I snapped and stood up to full height looking at our masterpiece. Four lines of thin wire stretched the length of the room.
“So what the hell is this anyway?” I asked as Cherry stood beside me, dusting off her hands like there was dust on her palms.
“If anyone moves the door the wires with move, rubbing against each other creating a noise. My security system” she grinned proudly. I nodded, impressed. That’s when one of her other schemes popped into my mind.
“Speaking of your security systems how did you make the lights stop working that night when we went to the roof?” Cherry and I began walking over to the others who had turned on the Playstation and were playing a video game that involved guns and blood.
“Gum and rope my friend” she began vaguely, “tie a piece of string to the knob of the light, pull it taunt and hold it in place with gum”
I grinned at her as I bumped her shoulder with mine,
“Ingenious” my voice was slightly blurred by the sound of a gun being fired constantly on the large TV screen.
“Michael come sit” Jaxon shuffled across and handed me his controller. I saw as Alisa sat in front of the TV like a five year old marvelling at the wonders of a moving screen. Blondie had joined her and I watched as she shoved her hand into a packet of Doritos, just as she was about to have a go on the Playstation someone hit pause, causing a wave of groans to appear.
“Hey what the hell!” Blondie protested as did James who was about to face off against her. Jaxon held the remote in his hand tightly not letting anyone get at it.
“I think we just need to stop for a second and acknowledge that this is Michael’s last night here” James began his voice solemn however not entirely clear of its usual happiness. Yes, I said happiness, get over it.
“Come on Jax I was about to kill this bitch” Blondie exclaimed pointing to James who was about to make a retort when Jaxon spoke over them again.
“We’re never going to see him again guys, doesn’t that count for something?” Jaxon spoke to everyone, looking them all in the eye, even Alisa was standing in front of the TV blocking the picture.
“You’re right, we’re going to miss you Michael” James put his controller in his lap and eyed me. He was very serious about it.
“Definitely” Cherry confirmed, smiling without showing her teeth.
“Woah, hey, I’m not leaving forever” I told them, “I’ll come see you all. I’ll see you all again” I said. My words were met with awkward silence from all of them as they refused to look my way. Blondie crackled her knuckles, Alisa furrowed her brow as she began swaying slightly, Jaxon bit his lip thoughtfully while James just looked down at his controller, Cherry fiddled with the hem of her blouse.
“Hey, I promise that this isn’t goodbye” I remarked, trying to break the ice.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep” Blondie snapped rather harshly to me.
“Hatter is right!” Alisa exclaimed, “Do not be discouraged. He is not lost, do not be sorrowful” I watched as everyone eyed me, staring at me for confirmation.
“I said I promise and I will not break that promise” I said deeply, making them all smile or at least the ghost of a smile pass across their features. Blondie coughed loudly causing everyone to grin and give a chuckle.
“Okay let’s actually have some fun, this is all too morbid for me” she protested and squished herself inbetween James and I on the couch.
***
Lollies, empty pizzas boxes, half empty—or half full whatever your outlook on life is—soda bottles, Doritos, broken controllers littered the floor and the couch as I watched on as Blondie and Cherry rocked it out on Just Dance 3, jamming to Blurred Lines. James and Jaxon were throwing and catching gumballs in their mouths and Alisa had taken up residence on my lap. She rested her head on my shoulder and my right hand was being inspected by her.
“You’re hands are soft” I observed, whispering in her ear as her hair had been swept over onto her left shoulder. There was a certain lingering smell of roses on her skin, like an entire layer of flesh was rose scented. Her hair smelt like vanilla bean and if there was ever a moment when I wanted to bury my nose in her it would have been now.
I lowered my mouth to rest on her bare right shoulder. I felt her body react as it shivered on top of me, her hands moved to rest on each of my jean clad thighs. My hands found her hips and I pulled her closer to me, hoisting her even higher. She arched into my touch and turned around till she was straddling me on the couch. Her deep cerulean eyes glazed over my face inspected my cheeks, jawline, eyes, my mouth. Her heated gaze moving to the hem of my shirt where her hands were now fiddling with the stitching, I returned her look of yearning as I scanned her body. The way the red dress complimented her small waist and dipped though between her breasts. Her curls as they cascaded down my arm as I drew her closer, the gleeful twist of her mouth, her glistening eyes, the smell of flowers and fairytales.
“Hatter, you are staring unabashedly…again” Alisa’s words were edged with desire as her mouth descended to find the corner of my jaw. Her mouth moved down to kiss the junction where my neck met my shoulder.
“Hate it break up the make out session guys but we got a 911” Blondie interrupted as she spoke almost directly in my ear. I looked over my shoulder to see that Jaxon and James were stuffing backpacks with food and gaming consoles while Cherry was bounding up and down on the spot like she was excited and terrified at the same time.
“What’s going on?” I asked, nudging Alisa off my lap and turning to Blondie.
“Wires moving, people coming, we need to get out” she huffed out vaguely.
“What?” I scrunched up my nose.
“The alarm is going off and we need to high tail our asses out of here if we want to stay alive!” she rushed out not stopping for a breath.
“Stayin’ alive stayin’ alive!” James sung as he ran to the door, the backpack heavy in his arms. I spotted a can of yellow spray paint in his hand. I looked back into the dimly lit room to see that every single TV had been painted on and on the left wall in large writing were the words ‘Wonderland waz ‘ere bitchez’. I grinned to myself, oh if they ever figured that out we were in deep shit.
I wasn’t sure whether to scream or laugh so I just followed everyone to the door watching as the four metal wires that ran the length of the room were moving like crazy. The sound of the elevator moving up filled our ears as we waited by the door. Jaxon was about to squeeze pass and shut the door again when Blondie stopped us all for a pet talk.
“Screw not setting off the alarm we have like five seconds before people get up here” she was half way through her explanation when she pushed through the door to the stairwell, Cherry and Jaxon followed her straight away before the alarms began to blare in the dead of night.
The sound was cross between a banshee screeching and French tipped nails scratching down a blackboard. I covered my ears and passed through the door, quickly followed by James who was the last one out. We all pulled the door closed as we heard the elevator shudder amongst the ear piercing sirens. I could only pray that Harper could cover our asses when we got back.
“Go go go!” Blondie yelled at us as she shoved our backs up the stairs. We raced like weirdos trying not to trip or laugh too hard as we made it to level 7 and dove through the door.
The lack of light in the hallways got us all bumping into each other like we were all drunk,
“Ow that’s my foot”
“Get your fingers out of my mouth”
“March Hare do refrain your hair from getting into my face”
Suddenly down the hall there was a stream of torchlight and we all thought that one of the nurses had already been on patrol and had caught us.
“Shit we’re dead” Blondie whispered not too quietly. The sirens were still ringing throughout the institute as Harper approached us in his scrubs holding the torch and a bunch of keys.
“Hey keep it down you lot” Harper whispered even though the sirens were screaming all throughout the building.
“Like anyone’s going to hear us!” I shouted at him. Everyone silenced and turned to me like I had grown a second head.
“What? It’s fucking true” I laughed. God I had never felt this good in ages, maybe forever.
“You all need to get back to your rooms before we have S.W.A.T beating down our doors” Harper interjected flashing the light inbetween all of us. We didn’t need to be told twice as we all scurried down the halls, trying to reorientate ourselves in the darkness, while trying to keep away from the odd nurse or two who were trying to keep the psychopaths calm. We had a few run-ins but nothing we couldn’t get out from with Alisa’s intuition, Blondie’s tricks, Cherry’s gadgets, Jaxon and James’ skill and my leadership.
Finally we made it too Dorm 23 and we stood there huffing and puffing like we’d all run a marathon, with two backpacks full of stuff that we probably didn’t need.
“Should we split the goodies?” Jaxon asked what everyone was thinking. In silent agreement we all shuffled into Alisa’s room, turned on the lamps and sat on the bed in a cluster of limbs. Immediately we began unpacking the bags that were full of lollies, drinks, chips, stolen games and movies even some kid’s pack of Hubba Bubba. Even though the sirens were all still blaring through the building and there were hoards of nurses racing about in the corridors as they tried to settle screaming patients, all the while trying to figure out who had broken in or gotten out. With chairs shoved under the door handles of Alisa’s room we didn’t give a fuck. Right here and now we were happy and we were all friends and that was all that mattered.
***
I don’t really remember when I had fallen asleep or where or how I had. All I knew was that I hadn’t fallen asleep alone. Blinking my eyes, the stiff sound of silence filled the place, quite a nice change from the ear splitting alarm last night. There was also a heaviness that I was lying underneath. Something tickled my cheek and I turned my head to find a blonde curl sitting there as Alisa lay sleeping with her cheek on my chest, her legs pulled up till her knees touched my bicep. Cherry had her head sitting on Alisa’s hip, while Blondie had her head balanced on Cherry’s stomach, moving slightly up and down as her friend breathed. Blondie’s legs were dangling over the edge of the bed, Jaxon asleep atop them, his head resting on the crook of Alisa’s bent knees. James was sprawled across Cherry and Jaxon’s legs.
We looked like a Japanese brain teaser puzzle. The remnants of what we had eaten last night was also in the mix. Snakes lollies and sugar cubes crushed and squished under our bodies, the overpowering smell of alcohol and soda wafting up my nose. I wanted to move but I think that would set off a chain reaction. I had momentarily lost my legs for a moment and had to see past the tangle of legs and arms to find that they were being laid on by James and sat underneath Blondie’s thighs. Alisa stirred gently on top of me, breathing in deeply and squinting her eyes tightly she resembled a naïve little five year old girl.
That’s when she opened her eyes to catch me staring at her. She didn’t even flinch or frown, it was like she knew I was watching her. That sounds creepier than it really is, but it’s kinda hard to not watch her.
“Good morning” she gave a little sound that sounded like she was about to say something that started with ‘m’ “Hatter”
“But I hate pickles” Blondie spoke in her sleep. I laughed a little and saw as Cherry woke up due to Alisa’s slight movements. Yup the chain reaction began as Jaxon woke up and jumped a little when he saw how close we were all sleeping.
“How drunk were we last night?” Jaxon mumbled groggily as he stirred, causing James to be rudely awoken out of a dream.
“We drank last night?” James asked as he grabbed his head like he was hung over.
“Just soda” Cherry remarked lazily as she pulled out a flattened bottle that she was lying on.
“Then why do I taste…what is that?” Jaxon asked, flicking his tongue out like he had sucked on a lemon,
“Let’s not look under that rock” Cherry said as she leant up, James’ head practically in her lap now. Blondie still hadn’t woken up yet but now that her dream slash nightmare had been over she awoke with a start.
“You’ll never guess what just happened to me” she snapped at us with wide eyes, “I was ‘this’ close to giving Channing Tatum a blowjob” the five of us all burst out laughing even Alisa and Cherry who were always so reversed, well, Cherry was anyway.
“But when he took his clothes off he turned into a pickle” Blondie’s face fell in despair.
“Including his pickle?” James joked and we all broke out into even more hysterical laughter. Blondie however looked conflicted,
“Hey this is no laughing matter” she said in mock-seriousness, “I hate pickles”
“Yeah we heard” I chuckled as I felt everyone’s laughter, especially Alisa’s who hadn’t moved from her position on my chest, curled up to my side.
That’s when the door began to open. There were several people out in the corridor wanting to get in by the looks and sounds of things. Our laughter died down as we watched the chair that held the door closed, move and eventually shoved aside as Nurse Carrigan strode into the room, seeing red. However all of a sudden, her expression changed. Or it seemed like it did. Maybe I had just imagined it. But then I saw as she straightened her shoulders, looking at us all individually. In fact she looked intimidated. But it all disappeared in a flash and we were under her ruthless words of how disobedient we had all been.
***
Everything was packed up. Everything. My suitcase, my duffel bag which had remained unopened and unused, recommended medication that Carrigan forced me to take home with me were all packed and ready for me to go home. Before I knew it breakfast was over, I was showered, dressed and standing in the elevator as it pinged down only accompanied by Nurse Carrigan who couldn’t be sociable to save her life. She had offered to take something of mine but I had refused, three months of being in a crazy house doesn’t make you softer. If anything it actually makes you tougher.
Being on that bottom level and seeing the light of day outside the institute felt like a luxury. Something which most people took for granted but now to me it was a gift, a blessing. Mom was standing by the receptionist’s desk arguing to her again. She was dressed in ripped jeans, not the ones you buy already ripped these were DIY tears, a plain shirt that had been smeared with coffee and paint and all sorts of random liquids, her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she had minimal makeup. She had little to no warning when I dropped my bags and grabbed her into a windpipe breaking hug.
“Michael!” she exclaimed, her voice slightly muffled as she was crushed to my chest. Her arms wrapped around me and even though she had to rest her head on my shoulder I still felt like a little boy in her arms.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said eventually pulling away, her eyes brimming with tears.
“I’ve missed you too” I too was holding back tears. Picking up the suitcase and duffel bag, Mom finished signing the release papers, because this was a fucking prison, and we headed out to the car. However just as I had piled the suitcase into the backseat, five bodies came scrambling out of the sliding doors of the institute. How in the world did they all get out in broad daylight?
“Michael!” Jaxon’s voice was the first to bring me to attention. Alisa, Cherry, Jaxon, James and Blondie were all racing towards me like a hurricane. Blondie however got to me first, throwing herself around me in a bone crushing hug. She was standing on her tiptoes as she spoke against my neck.
“I’m going to miss you Michael” her words caught me unawares, “I’m a sociopath and we don’t show emotions, but if I was ever going to show any emotion in my entire life it would be to say that I’m going to miss you” she pulled away, her expression returning to its usually haughtiness. Next was James and Jaxon, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the twins. I clapped them both on the back, shaking their hands as I did. Little words were swapped but the emotion behind it was right there. They both stepped back and Cherry stepped forward, her dark blue colour coded outfit clashing with her strawberry blonde hair, pale skin and freckles. I reached up and brushed the pad of my thumb across her cheekbone, smiling slightly as I did. Pulling her in for a brief hug I whispered in her ear,
“Look after Alisa” Cherry gave a sweet grin and pulled away. Silence milled around the seven of us, including Mom who had decided to watch on. Alisa moved forward but stopped a foot away from me. She looked like she wanted to tell me something important, something that had been praying on her mind for some time. But she didn’t say it, whatever it was. She glanced down at her dusky rose coloured dress, it was silk and defined her curves quiet well.
“Do not leave me without something to think about. Leave me a letter or a kiss or a riddle or something.” her voice faltered like she was going to cry, I took a step forward till we were inches apart.
“Anything in which I shall remember you Hatter” side-glancing Mom she gave me a queer look like I was crazy to be standing so close to this crazy girl. Didn’t she get the memo? I was that crazy.
“Very well Alice” I told her eventually as the stretches of silence felt like a thousand years of quiet.
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” and then I left. I didn’t touch her I didn’t kiss her I didn’t even smile at her. I looked over at the rest of Dorm 23 and I suppose their expressions mirrored my own. I turned around, shut the back doors, went shotgun and Mom drove. I looked up in the rear-view mirror and saw that only Alisa remained on the sidewalk, she took a few steps out onto the road so that she was facing the moving car. As the car increased in speed, she began to get smaller and smaller. Soon she was only a dot of yellow and pink. And then she was gone
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