You had been home for a full week now. You felt like you were on a whole different planet, you felt so out of place. After Detective Dolin drove you home he had pulled your father aside to speak with him while your friends and family came up to greet you.
You avoided them like they had the plague or something of the sort. You knew these people, yet you felt like you could not trust them. You had learned to only trust three people in the past.
Destiny and Charlie tried to talk to you, but you did not say a word to them, nor anyone else for the matter. Destiny had tears in your eyes and quickly ran off when you refused to speak with her.
Was she taking it personally? Did she feel responsible for putting you there? If we were gonna be completely honest than she was partial. You did not know if you felt like blaming her though, after all, who was the person that hurt her to get her to tell that lie?
Your mother led you up to your room. It was still exactly how it had been left that fateful day almost four years ago. You had stood in the center, soaking in the feel of it again and letting the memories rush in.
That is where you stayed for the last week. You had barely eaten, not to purposely starve yourself but just for lack of appetite. Your mother would bring you things to eat and if luck was in the air she would find that it at least got nibbled on.
You would come out for other things as well, though not very often or for too long. You were trying to get back into the feel of being in a normal household and not an institute for the criminally insane.
When you would step out of your room to try and socialize your family would gather around you, but keep a little distance. You did not know how to feel about that. Were you feeling compressed with how they were around you? or were you feeling upset because they were keeping a distance as if they were afraid of you?
Either way, emotions got the best of you and you quickly ended up back in your room alone again. It would be often where you would find yourself talking out loud, asking questions to Elliot, Joshua or Willy, only to turn around to see why they did not respond and remember that they were not there anymore.
It brought tears to your eyes every time. When you cried you tried to be as quiet as possible, you did not want even more stress by already frantic family members barging in on you to see if you were alright.
It was morning now, and you slowly opened your eyes, once again expecting to see the white-painted concrete walls you had grown so used to in a glorified cell you called your room.
No, you were back home... what did that word mean anymore. You stayed laying down for a long time even after you woke up. Staying curled up in the blankets and staring blankly at the wall, deep in your thoughts.
You could smell something cooking from the kitchen downstairs. It smelled good, but you were probably not going to eat any of it. Your mother would probably leave some outside your room. She stopped knocking to announce it, she knew it only stressed you out.
You shifted around underneath the covers and pulled them off of you as they rustled softly. Swinging your feet over the edge and standing up. Moving to your closet to gather some clothing, you wanted to take a shower.
If there was one thing you were actually comfortable with back in normal life was how you had the privilege of showering alone and not in a room of about twenty other girls.
You often found yourself showering multiple times a day. It was your break from the paranoia that haunted you pretty much every day.
You hesitated at the door for a moment and listened to see if you could hear any movement from the other side. It seemed like it was all clear, your brother had his room upstairs with you too but he practically moved downstairs after realizing you refused to come out with other people so close.
You knew he felt hurt by that, they all did, but they also knew that you would need time. It would take a lot longer than a week to get over more than three years in an institute for a false accusation.
You moved quickly down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind you and locking it. You found your preferred temperature in the water and let your emotions go away even farther as the water running over your body soothed your nerves.
You looked down at your body and realized what had become of you. There were a couple of scars on you from certain events over the years at the institute. You had also lost a significant amount of weight in just one week. This was not surprising concerning you barely ate anything and you were under constant stress and fear.
Willy would be so disappointed with you right now. He always lost his shit when any of you skipped any meal, scolding you like a mother.
Maybe... Maybe you could finally go down and have a small breakfast at the table. You would attempt it, but if it got too much for you you would head right back upstairs.
You finished up in the shower, refusing to leave after a couple of attempts but eventually stepping out. You dried yourself and covered your body with soft clothing.
When you were done you exited the bathroom, but stayed right there outside the door, not sure if you wanted to go through with this plan of going down and seeing the family.
You stood there for a minute on the soft carpet. Your arms were wrapped around you as you contemplated. You took one step forward, toward the stairs that would lead you to them, and spent another few minutes standing in that spot.
You grit your teeth and did not stop to think or worry as you stepped the rest of the way down the hall and descended the stairs. You walked to the left and into the kitchen, walking past the front room where your dad, brother, and older sister sat watching the television.
Your mother had her back turned to you as you entered the kitchen, quietly taking a seat at the table, you waited until she inevitably saw you. closing your eyes, you enjoyed the sounds of all the pots and cooking food.
You did not know when your mother turned and saw you, you only heard the slight gasp she let out, but she surprisingly did not come over to you, she let you have your space, which you could appreciate.
You heard a platter get set down in front of you and you opened your eyes to see a plate of your favorite breakfast food, you looked up at your mom who was giving you a hopeful look and you gave her the smallest of smiles.
She knew what it meant, she smiled back at you and made some plates for the other family members and left into the front room to give it to them. She did not return, likely to give you some space to yourself and help you get used to being downstairs.
You nibbled on the food she gave you, mostly in your thoughts and sometimes jumping at the sound of voices coming from the living room.
You were so used to the institution's food that house cooked food tasted slightly odd to you now. It would just be something you would need to get used to again. It did taste good, just something you were unfamiliar with. You never thought you would have gotten unfamiliar with your own mother's cooking.
You took another bite as the Television in the front room was turned up, it was on the news channel and you heard the opening theme of whatever channel was on. A lady's voice broke out and you listened with one ear as you continued eating.
" Last night was a devastating night in the town of Meadow Grove with the disaster that took place at the Holland Hill's institute for the criminally insane." You immediately shot up from the table, the chair screeching across the tiled floor and falling over.
You rushed into the living room, ignoring the shocked faces of your family members. What happened at the Institute?!?! Were your boys ok?!? You looked at the TV as the woman continued to speak.
" Yesterday night was the eve of the last day the institute was to remain open, and all the patients were to be transported to new facilities the next day. Unknown as to what caused it though, there was a breakout and the patients got loose. A quarter was found, a quarter still remains missing, and some were killed by the officers as the patients attacked. Here with me now, one of the surviving officers and witnesses of the event."
The camera went off of her and to a ragged-looking woman with dark circles under her eyes. She looked pretty beat up and scared down to her soul. The reporter asked her to tell about her experience.
" It was madness, one minute everything was normal and the next patients were all over the place! I was up on the eighth floor trying to get a hold on the situation, fending off ravaged patients. It was chaos! There were people killing the guards and breaking free! I tried to save my partner but he was pulled away from me, when I found him next he was getting eaten! I myself was almost killed when a giant grabbed me! I had already seen this man squish the heads of others like grapes between his paws! I shot him in the shoulder and he dropped me and I ran for my li-"
The Television was suddenly turned off by your startled sister who held the remote in her hand. The whole family was looking at you worriedly as all the color drained from your face.
There was a breakout at the institute... It did not take any time at all for you to figure out that the "Giant" had been Elliot, and the one eating the guard must have been Willy. That bitch shot Elliot... You grit your teeth and dug your nails into your palms so hard that it almost broke the skin.
" Y/N... I don't think you should be worrying so much about this... they will get it under control." Your sister said softly and you whirled around to face her. She flinched with fear as she saw your face.
" Don't worry?! They hurt my friends! I need to find them now!! Elliot won't make it out there by himself he has to have someone with him!? What about Willy and Joshua! What if they got hurt too! We need to contact detective Dolin he's the only one I can trust to actually try and help them and not hurt them!" You rambled out frantically.
" Y/N" Your father cut you off and you stared at him with wide eyes like a wild animal. He took a deep breath and continued. " Y/N, I know they are your friends but they are associated with a very toxic part of your life, you have to find a way to get over them." He said.
There was a long moment of silence as you simply looked at him with an emotionless expression. You saw your mother, brother and sister looked between each other as the tension in the room built with every passing second.
" They were the only non-toxic points of the time was there... they saved my life, and kept me from completely going insane. Don't you ever try and make them out to be the bad guys." You seethed at him and bolted. Not up the stairs into your room, but out the front door and down the road as you heard the frantic cries of your family wail after you.