1// "We're All Mad Here"
The institute was a relatively modern building. Grey walls, revolving doors, elevator, however they only had open windows on the front of the building that faced the road, the other windows on the side of the building each had thick bars on the outside. The only indication that this was a crazy house was the pretty looking golden signage above the revolving doors that read 'Eastward's Institution for Residential Graduates'. Fancy words, why didn't they just say home for crazy children? The duffel bag that sat on my shoulder suddenly became very heavy. Mom brought around my only suitcase from the trunk of the car and wheeled it up beside me.
"It's only for a few months, Michael" she assured for the 56th time, "I'll visit you if you like"
"No, no it's...fine" I drawled. The deterioration of her smile caused me to back track.
"Mom, I didn't mean it like that" I said raising an eyebrow, "I just need to adjust to this...lifestyle"
"But I don't want my baby to adjust to this lifestyle" she smacked a big kiss on my cheek.
"Really?" I stepped back and rubbed off the saliva with my t-shirt.
"Want me to walk you in?"
I nodded, the butterflies fluttering from my stomach up my throat to tickle the back of my mouth making me want to vomit. Walking through the revolving doors the smell of disinfectant and roses wafted right up my nose to my brain where it gave me an immediate headache. The woman behind the desk was thin, frail with a large nose and perched upon that nose were a pair of bright blue glasses. Her business suit looked scratchy and was boring in colour. I hated it here already.
As Mom checked me in (like this was a fucking hotel) I looked around the bottom floor, it looked relatively normal. Not as though this was a mental institute at all. Paintings of serene landscapes, plaques and certificates, the fluffy yellow lights, the silver plated elevator. It seemed normal. Lies, all lies. The dialling of a phone brought me to attention as the receptionist held the phone between her ear and shoulder whilst she typed. Like she was busy even though we were the only ones here.
"Nurse Carrigan to escort Mr Lantara to his room" she ordered through the phone. Okay so this was exactly like a hotel. Lies, all lies. It was a crazy house for people who had mastered drinking alcohol and snuffing cocaine at the same time, people who believed that wizards were after them, people who flipped out if you gave them decafe instead of expresso or people like me.
Mom put down the suitcase by my feet and looked at me with watery eyes.
"I'll call you when I get the chance" she assured me,
"No calls allowed madam" the receptionist barked as she stared at her computer screen not even getting the fact that I was saying goodbye to the only good person in my life who actually cared about me. Lies...all lies. No they weren't, she was reluctant about it, but she promised only a few months.
"Well then I'll email you" Mom tried again, her big mummy smile wavering slightly.
"No patient is permitted to use social networking and or technology" the receptionist's monotone struck my Mom again.
"How am I supposed to see my son, lady?" Mom snapped back, angry tears changing from the sad ones.
"No outside contact is to be maintained"
"None?" it was my voice that surprised us all. The elevator pinged and their comments were rendered moot. I turned to Mom tears already spilling over her cheeks.
"Mom it's okay don't cry" I murmured quietly and pulled her into me so that her head rested on my shoulder, "I'll be back before you know it"
"Promise" she whispered.
"Promise" I replied and we parted. I watched as she walked out of the revolving doors to her car, only looking back once before she opened the door of our blue ute.
"I love you" she mouthed to me. I was staring out to the road long after the smoke from the engine had disappeared.
"Mr Lantara?" an energetic and tranquil voice asked behind me. I turned to the source of the voice with irritated and lazy eyes. She had olive skin, her mousy blonde hair showing underneath the nurses' cap that matched the blue scrubs that she wore. She had a practised smile that I could tell even now could handle any comment or rude comeback that was thrown at her. She looked like one of those people.
"I'm Nurse Carrigan, would you please follow me" like I had a fucking choice. I hitched my duffel bag up higher on my shoulder and picked my suitcase up with the other hand. I followed her into the elevator.
A harsh worker hand reached out and pressed level 4. The elevator jolted to life and we moved upwards for only a few seconds and then the doors opened again. The smell of disinfectant was so strong here it burnt my face. Nurse Carrigan stepped out onto level 4, there were no walls, no doors, the whole floor was out in the open. The entire placed with filled with couches, TV's, Playstations, Wii's, fridges and cupboards, beanbags, coloured carpets with happy go-lucky shit all over it. Music was blasting from the stereo on a huge table, as kids laughed and joked. The sounds of the video games mixed together to create a wash of white noise. There were many people hanging out, playing videogames, eating, just relaxing it looked like youth group rather than a mental institute. This was where I was going to be staying? It seemed like smooth riding for the next few months.
However as I followed Nurse Carrigan through the level, she didn't stop anywhere or acknowledge the stares and whispers that were flowing from the mouths of the other...patients. I started to get worried as she was nearing the stairwell on the other side of the room. She ascended the stairs and I followed suit dragging my heavy suitcase behind me.
"Why didn't we just take the elevator?" I ask breaking the hardening ice that this introduction was.
"The patients from level 4 and up are not permitted to use the elevator"
"Why?"
"Stability issues" she says vaguely. I roll my eyes to the back of my head. Fabulous, I was one of the really crazy kids. My guess, the more crazy you were the higher level you were...ironic.
Everyone now and then a door would appear on the side of the stairwell, which indicated that we had passed another floor. After what seemed a day of walking we arrived at a door that read 'Level 7'.
"Here we are" Nurse Carrigan chimed far too happily for my liking. She opened the door with a key that was hidden inside her breast pocket and opened the door to a sterile, blue looking hospital room. This place did not look as exciting or fun as the other one. I wanted to go back there, where there was music and food and Watchdogs. The reek of roses hit my nose and I saw that similar nurses to Carrigan were walking around with masks on, clipboards in their hands, their faces unreadable.
Nurse Carrigan continued to walk through the hospital. It was so horrible looking. Girls with long hair covering their faces sat in wheelchairs staring into oblivion. A little boy that looked no older than ten was writing mathematical equations on the wall of the hallway in green crayon. I heard commotion and shouting for 'back up' as a naked blonde haired girl raced past me in a blur of curls and tattoos. Three nurses were running after her, the girl was screaming something about beheadings. I'm guessing my eyes widened in shock because Nurse Carrigan turned to me to make sure that I was still here.
"Don't worry about her, she all about melodrama no action" she assured me. Right...I could still see the girl's corkscrew curls, her naked-
"Here you are Mr Lantara, Dorm 23" Nurse Carrigan opened a door to reveal a lounge area with a large flat screen TV in the left wall. Two red couches that were back to back in the middle of the room, on the right side of the room were an array of board games. Two boys were playing a game of chess on the right side of the room. A girl with dark skin was watching the TV with intense fascination, she had broad shoulders and buff arms which made me think that she must work out. Even though she was sitting down it was easy to see that she was tall. Her black hair in numerous braids tied up in a ponytail, her tanned skin had a few raised scars on her forearms. There was also a second girl who was wearing only the colour blue. She was running around fixing things up in a mad hysteria of panic. Her hands were jittering almost uncontrollably by her sides, I watched, stunned, as her eyes were almost permanently widened, in shock or anger I didn't know.
'Jaxon you're new recruit is here' Nurse Carrigan chimed happily looking towards the guys playing chess.
A boy who looked about sixteen jumped up from his position and almost skipped over. He had black flyaway hair that hung in a curtain over his forehead. He had blue eyes that twinkled out of their sockets, he looked like a very happy person, why the hell would he be locked up in here with these people?
"Hiya there buddy" he chirped.
I was silent for a moment. Did he just call me buddy...?
"Jaxon this is Michael" I felt Nurse Carrigan's hand on my elbow pushing me forward into the room.
"Don't be shy Michael, we're all one big happy family here no need to be squeamish" Jaxon rolled off. His smile kinda did creep me out,
"You should know that we are all very open here in Dorm 23,"
"Ah-huh" I muttered uneasily.
"Jaxon I want you to make Michael feel right at home" that was the last thing Nurse Carrigan said before she closed the door on the lounge room and left me alone in the room with the four other people.
"You don't talk much do you?" Jaxon asked as he tried to get my attention as I was staring numbly at the people who occupied the room.
"Uh-"
Jaxon laughed so loudly I winced.
"Damn it you bastard get over here and finish our fucking game!" the other boy playing chess shouted out of the blue. I jumped as the boy who also had black flyaway hair turned around in his chair a deranged look in his eyes. Jaxon twisted around and looked at his friend,
"Then make my fucking move!" he screamed back. The other boy didn't seem taken back whatsoever just made the move in one angry motion.
"That's James, you'll have to excuse him" Jaxon apologised to me in a whisper, "he's crazy"
That's bullshit. And we weren't? Crazy was pretty much just a collective name for all of us.
"Alright everyone Dorm meeting!" Jaxon shouted to everyone clapping his hands once. The girl watching the TV turned it off and came and sat down on the red couch beside James. She did it with such attitude but all in one fluid motion as though she knew what was going to happen. The girl who had been moving about the room in a fluster fixing up everything, the one who was wearing nothing but blue stopped as she was about to turn the TV back on.
"No, no...no Alisa. We cannot do the Dorm meeting without Alisa" she stammered, her hands shaking by her side, I swear her eye twitched too.
"Sit down Cherry, we can introduce Michael to Alisa later okay" Jaxon grit his teeth in annoyance.
The girl in blue-Cherry-took little shy steps towards the couch and sat on the arm beside the dark haired girl.
"We'll do this like therapy. In a circle so I'll start" Jaxon began, twisting in his chair so that he faced everyone. There was nowhere for me to sit, so I just stood there like an idiot having no clue what the hell was going on
"Hi my names Jaxon, I'm 16 I have Bipolar and I've been here for 2 years"
"I'm James I'm also 16 and I also have Bipolar. I've been I here for 2 years" the other boy deadpanned. He too had blue eyes but that's where the similarities between him and Jaxon stopped, although they seemed to bounce off each other's comments, like twins with that creepy telepathic mind connection.
Next was Cherry, she didn't meet my eye when I tried to catch hers. Cherry's hands were still shaking in her lap clasped together. She had toothpick straight strawberry blonde hair her lips coated in sky blue lipstick even her nails were painted blue. She had a porcelain face with a sprinkling of freckles along her cheekbones, she was really pretty. One of the shy, nerdy girls that my mates at home would undoubtedly hit on just for kicks.
"My name is Cherry and I am 17" she stammered out, 'I have OCD'
That explained it.
The girl sitting beside Cherry reached into her shirt and got out a cigarette stick from her bra. She pulled out a match from her combat boot, put the tip in her mouth and struck it against her teeth setting it alight.
"Blondie!" Jaxon shouted, horrified, "Nurse'll notice the smell" Blondie rolled her dark eyes and lit the cigarette. She took an enormously long drag till the smoke clouded her face in a haze.
"Blondie, 17" She muttered obviously not caring less, "sociopath"
"Debatably a psychopath" James smirked.
"Debatably I don't give two shits" Blondie snapped gave a large smile like she was having an inside joke, got up and resumed watching TV. Blondie was formidable.
"Michael it's your turn" Jaxon gestured for me to talk.
The words momentarily stuck in my throat. What was I supposed to tell this bunch of lunatics?
"Um I'm Michael, I'm 17 and I have depression" I stated looking down at my feet.
There was nothing but the noise of the television for a moment before anyone spoke again.
"Cherry, would you please take Michael's things to his room?" Jaxon asked. I was about to protest that I didn't need someone to take my things, I was perfectly capable, but then I realised that Cherry had OCD and right now she looked like she was going to combust if she didn't do something. I gave her a weak smile, Cherry got up and put her trembling hands to work and took my things and left the lounge room.
"You're all kinda crazy" I mumbled out, hoping that no one heard me.
My comment was met with hysterical laughter. Blondie put out her cigarette under the heel of her combat boot. James and Jaxon continued their game of chess while they all laughed like lunatics. I think I wanted to go home.
"What?" I muttered, feeling completely stupid.
"You haven't even met Alisa yet" Blondie threw over her shoulder as The Bachelorette broke for a commercial.
"Who's Alisa?"
"Alisa Wilders the manic schizophrenia who believes that she lives in another world" Blondie stated.
"In another world?" I muttered. This was getting scary.
"She's been in and out of mental institutes since she was thirteen and dresses like she was just in an English Victorian stage play" James added.
"Never speak to her first" Jaxon continued, "she'll behead you or worse...get naked in front of you"
"How is that worse?" I asked. Remembering that only one girl has ever gotten naked in front of me and that was the school's head cheerleader girl. I thought that I had struck gold until I realised that she was holding her phone in her hand waiting for me to take my clothes off so that she could take pictures and tell the world how...small I was.
"Oh Michael you are so naïve. When you meet Alisa Wilders everything she does is worse than when normal people do it"
How bad could this girl be? She must be terrifying if these guys think she's not to be messed with.
"But look on the bright side" Blondie turned around in her spot on the couch and looked me directly in the eye, "you're officially one of us, we're all mad here" she gave a large gleaming smile, her teeth looked jagged from here. Shit...it scared the shit out of me.
"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked delicately once Blondie finally turned around and stopped staring at me like The Joker.
"She perceives the world like Wonderland. We are all characters in the story" James explained, "however after all of these long months she's never found her Mad Hatter"
"Mad Hatter?" I frowned in complete confusion.
"He's the only other main character in her Wonderland story that she assigned someone too yet" Blondie grinned again and turned around so that she was kneeling on the couch facing us. She lowered her eyes and dragged her tongue along her teeth seductively.
"Michael just got here we don't want to scare him away" Jaxon chirped unperturbed. Too late, I grumbled in my head.
"So where is Alisa now?"
"She ran away this morning" Blondie stated blankly, "are we still betting?" she directed the question at Jaxon, James and Cherry-who had just walked into the room with a frightened expression on her face.
"What is it Cherry?" James asked concerned.
"They got her again" she mumbled timidly.
"You called it" Blondie retrieved a moneybag out of her bra (what else did she have in that thing?) and threw it at Jaxon who had his back to her but still managed to catch it with ease. Suddenly the door of the lounge room opened and two nurses wearing sterile blue uniforms appeared in the doorway holding a girl between them. Her face was hidden by naturally butter blonde curls. Her hands were gnarled into claws and she seemed to be...snarling? I looked closer and saw that it was the girl from before. The girl who had run down the hallway naked with nurses trailing her. But this time she was wearing an oversized white shirt and solitaire card stockings with holes on the feet.
"Lock the door behind you next time kids. We can't be running after her all the time" a male nurse directly to the four of us. Then they shoved Alisa harshly into the room and shut the door and locked it from the outside. Alisa balled her hands into fists and banged them against the door three times. I saw that she had tattoos running up her right arm and snaking down her neck. I couldn't see the one on her neck because of her mass of blonde hair but I did see the one on her arm. However it wasn't just one big tattoo even though the pictures mashed together to create a sleeve. Tailored hats, spilled teacups, flowery teapots, heart-shaped keys, solitaire cards, a dodo bird, a mouse with eyes too large for its head all littered her arm in black ink.
"A foul beast is he who dares lock up me!" she shouted at the door, "you learn not from your pitiful mistakes. You have not witnessed the last of my escapes yet you cowardice foes!"
My mouth hung open in complete and utter shock.
"Come back and counter my attack you nostalgic fools. Cowards! I know that you do the Bloody Big Head's filthy work. The pain and guilt reflected in your faces is clear as day for my eyes to see through your merry demeanor"
This was Alisa?
//AN//
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