{ c h a p t e r o n e }
lauren's pov ;
LAUREN COULDN'T REMEMBER the last time she spoke to another human being.
Mrs McAdams, Lauren's mother, had every single intention of decreasing the amount of contact her daughter had with any member of the human species, besides her trusty therapist and her family who looked at her as though she was food at their table that they hadn't ordered.
Lauren believed her mother was sent to the earth for the sole purpose of making an unnecessary fuss over her. Just getting out of the car was a messy and complicated situation. Her mother tucked a surgical mask over her face, then carefully helped her out the car. She grabbed her daughter's shoulders and steered her all the way to the therapists office.
"Mom, you don't have to make such a big deal out of this. We're indoors. There's literally nothing that can happen to me." Lauren said, a scowl plastered on her face.
Mrs McAdams looked at Lauren, astonished. "I just want you to be safe, honey."
Lauren had heard that so many times it annoyed her to the point where she saw red. She was sick of people treating her like she was fragile.
Her mother mistook her aggravation for anxiousness. She tried to reassure her daughter by squeezing her arm. "I've already talked to your therapist. She's lovely, I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about and gain from this. Just keep an open mind, okay?"
'Fine." Lauren rolled her eyes. She didn't understand why she was going for therapy in the first place.
"Call me when you're done, sweetheart. I'll stay near the building." Her mother said, giving her a tight hug and unwillingly letting go. The second her mother walked away, Lauren took the mask off her face.
She walked into her therapist's office. The room was small and the color of honey oak. It smelt of coffee and toasted bagels, and had comfortable couches and cushions scattered all over the place. One large round window was on the far wall, closed of course. Lauren imagined her mother having a fit if it was open.
She stared through the window, admiring the beautiful view. It was spring, arguably the best season of the year, and the trees were in full bloom. Flowers decorated each and every single branch, and long carpets of petals decorated the ground below. It was mesmerizing.
Lauren reached out to the window, brushing it longingly with her hands.
And for a short, blissful second, it felt like being on the ground again.
A woman who looked like she was in her late twenties or early thirties hurried through the door. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and only noticed her client's presence once she sat the drink down and organized a few papers that were slightly jutting out of her neat piles.
"Oh my! Is it noon already?" She asked, glancing at her watch. She looked up and smiled. "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. Lauren, isn't it?"
"Yeah, Lauren."
"I'm Kate, it's so nice to meet you. Take a seat, please. Any one you'd like. I'll be with you in a moment."
Lauren found a comfy leather armchair and sunk into it. She studied her therapist, Kate, as she rummaged around in her tidy drawers. Kate had sleek raven hair that fell in soft waves down to her waist. She wore rose colored glasses and even when she wasn't smiling, she had this warm, friendly look to her.
Lauren didn't know how some people managed to be nice and friendly all the time.
How exhausting.
"So, Lauren. Tell me about yourself." Said Kate, clutching a clipboard and pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
Lauren hated when people asked her that question. She never knew quite exactly how to answer it. Her mother always advised her that whatever her therapist asked, she should say the first thing that came to mind. Often that was the most honest.
"There's not much to tell." Lauren said with a shrug. "I don't usually leave the house."
"Your mother said so. Could you tell me more about that?"
Lauren hated explaining her condition.
When Lauren was five, she started to get sick an awful lot. The doctors found something strange in her body, a rare disease that weakened her immune system and made her susceptible to more diseases. While it wasn't at an extremely concerning stage, the doctors predicted it would only get worse if she was exposed largely to environments that weren't properly sanitized.
That's when the paranoia began with Mrs McAdams, and when Lauren's life became very much like Rapunzel, minus the handsome prince and the awesome pet lizard.
She was to be kept indoors at all times, and everything and everyone that came into contact with her was to be sanitized. She was forbidden to open any windows, or put the air conditioner on; and various other silly rules her mother would stress every day.
Of course, this didn't stop Lauren from rebelling just a little against her insistent mother. On some occasions she'd open her large window in her room just enough for her hand to fit through, and feel the breeze dancing through her fingertips.
"You don't have to feel different, Lauren." Kate said, breaking her train of thought. "One day, everything will fall into place and you'll have the life that you want."
Lauren looked up suddenly. "Why am I even here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why am I going for therapy?" Lauren said. "The doctors say I'm responding to treatment, and it's most likely that in less than a few years I'll be able to actually interact with the human race. So if I'm responding and I'll be seeing people and going places, why am I here?"
"Lauren..." Kate trailed off, tasting her words carefully. "I can't imagine how hard this whole situation must be for you. But the doctors said that they suspect you're responding to treatment. The truth is, they have no idea."
Maybe they would if her mother would just let the doctors do some tests. But Mrs McAdams would rather drive her daughter off a cliff than let doctors test how her body behaves outside.
"Now," Kate said, "Your mom is sending you for therapy because she's afraid of your anxiety skyrocketing the second you come into contact with someone you don't know."
"My anxiety isn't skyrocketing with you." Lauren replied indignantly.
"That's because you know I can be trusted. Your mom has reassured you and you already knew who I was beforehand. But I can see your nervousness just in the way you're sitting. The way you fidget with your hands or twist your hair around your fingers."
"That's not true." She huffed, immediately stopping playing with her fingers and touching her hair. "I'm fine and I can talk to anyone I want without bursting into a fit."
"I appreciate your confidence and optimism--"
Lauren rolled her eyes and let out a huff.
"--And I do believe that in a short span of time I could slowly introduce you to someone of your age." Kate offered. "This building is filled with counsellors and therapists, and a number of rooms that host a variety of people, a lot close to your age. I'll do a bit of research and find one that could do with a friend."
Lauren's frustration grew. "I don't mean to be rude, but I didn't sign up for 'find a friend' at some mental asylum. I'm fine. I just want to graduate and go to college and finally live a normal life that doesn't involve insistent therapists or over protective mothers."
"Lauren--"
All this talking was getting to her head a little. She needed to just calm down and take a breath. "May I be excused?"
"Of course. Take all the time you need." Kate then proceeded to give her directions to the bathroom.
Lauren quietly stood up from her chair and left the office without uttering a single word. Somehow she managed to find the bathroom without getting lost nearly as many times as she thought she would. She rinsed her face with cold water, and stared at herself in the mirror.
Her green eyes were pinkish, as if she had been crying. That often happened when she got upset or frustrated. Her scattered freckles seemed darker in the fluorescent light. Her lips were pinker than she'd ever seen them. She wasn't surprised, she often bit her lip when she was angry or trying to hold back from saying something.
She tucked her choppy blonde hair behind her ear. Her hair was most probably the thing she liked most about herself. It constantly reminded her of the day she cut her hair. She was upset for some reason, and took her long hair and just chopped it all the way from her chest to her shoulders. It was a more than little uneven then, but it grew and she decided that even though it wasn't perfect, she liked it.
It was the one part of her that resembled who she was.
Finding her way back to Kate's office seemed like an impossible task. She barely remembered going to the bathroom, much less had a clue finding her way back. Thankfully, most of the doors were painted white, unlike Kate's oak doors, and so when Lauren finally found the doors she was looking for she breathed a sigh of relief.
A middle aged woman left the room before Lauren could enter. She had short, dirty blonde hair and angular cheekbones. The woman was on the phone and she hurried off, clearly having a very important conversation. Lauren's breath hitched, but she managed to keep her breathing steady. Kate was wrong. She managed to stay alright when she bumped into a stranger. Even though the woman didn't spare her a single look at all.
Lauren entered the room, only to find that it wasn't Kate's office at all. The room was a little bigger, with more windows although covered by curtains. There were two beds, both of which had bedside tables and pretty lamps. One of the beds were empty, with crisp bedsheets that hadn't been sat on. The other bed had a teenage boy sitting on it. He had headphones on and was writing in a journal, oblivious to Lauren's presence.
Lauren froze. All the muscles in her body tensed up. It was the first time being in the same room as someone the same age as her that she didn't know. It felt as though her airways were being stitched up, allowing no air or sound to come out. She decided to slowly back out of the room, without catching the boy's attention. Her plan fell quite flat, pun intended, when she ended up tripping over a loose cord that ran along the wooden floorboards.
The boy looked up in surprise. He looked around her age, maybe a little older, she couldn't tell. He looked at her with a blank sort of expression, but she could tell he had absolutely no clue what to say or do. He had an alarmed expression that Lauren easily identified in his eyes. It was probably exactly how she looked.
"I'm so sorry." Lauren managed to stutter out awkwardly, twisting a strand of hair around her index finger. "I'm a little lost I guess, and I thought this was my therapists office. Do you happen to know where it is? Her name's Kate."
The boy just stared at her, still startled and he didn't say a word. He seemed to register his situation, grabbed his knees and rocked back and forth, as if he was trying to comfort himself. He took short breaths while clinging to the bed sheets, and she could see tears brimming by his eyelids.
Lauren panicked. Kate did say there were people who stayed there, and she was sure they were there for a reason. Why else would they be surrounded with therapists and doctors?
Lauren opened the door and decided to get help for the boy, since he wouldn't like it if she tried to help him herself. After all, she was most probably the source of his freak out. She saw the same woman who was on her phone walking back to the room, and she decided to call out for her help. The woman rushed in the room with a concerned look on her face, then pushed the door a little bit closed.
Lauren was unsure what to do with herself. She thought it would be common courtesy to stay and see if he was okay, but then again he'd probably have another fit if he ever saw her again. She decided to just wait outside the room.
She heard the woman comforting the boy and she eventually came out of the room a few minutes later.
"Thank you for calling me, sweetheart. Grayson sometimes gets like that." The woman said, smiling reassuringly at her. "I'm Lisa, by the way."
"Lauren." She said, holding her hand out for Lisa to shake. "I'm so sorry, I didn't didn't mean to startle him, I was just a little lost and I thought it was Kate's office." Lauren said embarrassedly.
"Oh, don't worry about that, dear. Kate's office is six doors away." Lisa pointed me in the direction of Kate's office and Lauren thanked her and apologized once again.
On her way to Kate's office, Lauren couldn't help but glance over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy. She saw him on his bed looking directly at her, with a rosy blush forming on his cheeks.
She couldn't help but flash a smile, and unless her eyes fooled her, he managed one back.
* * *