Maybe we should PM the people who posted profiles but never posted. You want to or should I?
I am nothing but a mouthful of 'sorry's, half-hearted apologies that roll of my tongue, smoothquick, like 'r's or maybe like pocket candy that's just a bit too sweet.
So unpredictable. It was hard to make friends in... well in here. An Assylum. A place for crazy people. You'd think I'd be crazy to want friends during my brief bursts of sanity. In truth, it was all that kept me holding on.
"Cards?" I asked, turning hopefully to another patient. A young, blonde teenager who I felt a sudden pang of pity for. To be in here at her age. I was staring and she'd already turned me down but I couldn't help it. My brain wanted to diagnose her, to discover that little crack which spun her out of control. They all had one, no matter how young. How young. How terrible! Why at her age I was... and that was where my thoughts drifted off. As always. Where was I at her age? I folded into myself as I tried to think it through. Medical school? Was I... did I...
By the time I was looking and seeing again, desolated by my thoughts, the girl was gone and the only evidence that she'd been there at all was a book abandoned on her chair. I got up slowly and walked over, bending to gingerly scoop it up. Rubbish. The books they allowed here were rubbish. I'd petitioned against that one time.
"Science fiction? Horror? Are you crazy, man? Eh eh?"
"Very funny, sir."
"Let's just stick to the curricular shall we?"
"I wasn't suggesting that we, I mean... yes, sir. I understand."
I came to myself again. The day had dulled and it was certainly after dinner. I was sitting in the lounge area before a chess board, the pieces set out in disarray. My hand hovered innocently over fallen pawns and a downed knight. I pulled it back and stared again at the callouses. Daniel. Daniel had... but the memory was already slipping away and the harder I tried to hiold it, the more certainly it escaped me. Daniel had surfaced for a moment, a few hours, half a day. This scattered chess set seemed to be the extent of his damage though so with a sigh I began to right the pieces. One was missing.
"Did anyone see what Daniel- what I did with the white knight?" I asked. It was typical of the man. Always the white knight. Like it was his, like he didn't want me to have it. A woman I knew as Ara approached. She was cradling something in her hands. I held mine out.
"He said I shouldn't give it to you but I suppose since you're him-" she hesitated, her eyes glazing over for a moment. Ara had memory trouble. An odd choice of person to give the horse to, Daniel. And just like that I was diagnosing myself. A wry smile slipped from my lips.
"Would you play with me?" I asked. "You could be white. Then you wouldn't be giving it to me, I'd be challenging you for it." I thought Daniel might like that. He thought himself a soldier afterall. A high and mighty one as well. I decided I would write to him again tonight and maybe for once I'd get a response that made any sense.
I think we'll be fine. jemjive is going to post a profile soon.
Ara Young
Play chess? Ara knew perfectly well howto play chess, but chess playing wasn't something she usually did. What if she had forgotten?
"I-I don't know," she said softly, placing the white knight in its place.
She had learned any deviation from her schedule was bad; the nurses even said so and encouraged her to do the same things every day. It was supposed to help her remember things... But those same nurses had thrown off her schedule today.
"Come on," Joe said. "It'll be fun."
Maybe since the day was already shot schedule-wise, she could spare a game. "Alright," she said. "I'll play." She sat down across from Joe at the table, letting him run through the rules quickly for her, and started playing.
Natalie watched on with a morbid sort of fascination. The man on the wooden chair was dull, almost dead, as cold steel slipped into his arm. The needle invaded his personal space. And they did it to him every single day.
Thank God she was exempted from it. Natalie scoffed as the man convulsed in his chair, as if he was being actually hurt. There was a beautiful grace in the way he shook and she admired it. However, he could have been much better. He was ugly, so very much so. He should have gotten his face fixed.
"Hey, hey! What's Winters doing here? Get her out of here! Now!"
Oh - she was caught. Icy fingers gripped Natalie's arms. They were touching her, with their dirty imperfection. Trying to move her, as if she was some poor, helpless person when she was so, so much better than any of the others in this godforsaken place.
Natalie let out a shrill yelp and wrenched her arm away from one of the men, who took an involuntary step backwards in surprise. The other nurse held on, his gray eyes unfeeling and unsympathetic.
"Let me go!" she yelled, enraged. Natalie let out another ear-splitting yell, sending most people covering their ears and on their knees. But the nurse still refused to let go. Natalie lashed out. Her nails dug in deep into the male nurse's cheek. He let go of her arm, looked the other way and allowed her nails to drag across his face. His fellow nurse had grabbed a needle and was about to stab Natalie in the arm.
Natalie, quick and lithe as ever, grabbed a chair and shoved it towards the other nurse, who was unable to avoid it in time. They were going to pay. They ruined her nails. With their blood. Ugh.
The two nurses then grabbed her arms, and this time, this time, no matter how much she shrieked or yelled or wailed, they wouldn't let go. Natalie let herself go limp. The nurses never loosened their grip, intending instead to drag her all the way to solitary confinement. Just then her doctor arrived.
Dr. Bachmann glanced at the nurse's face and frowned. Natalie couldn't help herself.
"They started it!" she said. "I was just watching - I wasn't even doing anything wrong. They grabbed and they hurt me, they tried to hurt me, Dr. Bachmann!" Tears streamed down her pretty face and mascara stained her rosy cheeks. She tried to stand up straight, but the angle at which they held her arms proved it impossible. She let out another wail and cried harder.
The nurses exchanged confused glances and glared at Natalie. Dr. Bachmann gave Natalie a sympathetic smile and motioned for the nurses to leave. They tried to reason with Dr. Bachmann, but he merely nodded and sent them on their way. Natalie stayed on the floor, sniffling.
The old doctor approached Natalie and put an arm around her shoulders. "Now now. Come on, Natalie. Let's get you cleaned up."
"They tried to hurt me, Dr. Bachmann," she said through teary eyes. "Punish them! Make them pay!"
"I will. Now come on. Our queen can't look like this, can she?" He used his handkerchief to wipe away the smeared make-up. "Let's get you into new clothes. Maybe you'd like to watch others play chess and make fools of themselves afterwards? How does that sound?"
Natalie smiled at the doctor and nodded. She loved Dr. Bachmann.
-- Natalie Winters - Lounge, 8:30 PM
Natalie smoothed out the creases of her dress, eyes watching every move the people in the lounge made. Over to the side, two morons played chess, making all the wrong moves. Why, if it were Natalie there, she could have won the game. Then, one of them made a disastrous move.
That was it. Natalie couldn't take the stupidity of it all. She walked over and smiled at the woman - Ara.
"Hey," Natalie began with a smile on her face. Her eyes flickered over to the chessboard. "You know, I can help you win this game."
"The moral of this story, is that if I cause a stranger to choke to death for my amusement, what do you think I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me who ordered you to kill Colosimo?“
Read and sleep, read and sleep. It was all going quite nicely until I realized that many of the books had pages ripped out of them. Over half of "1984" was gone, and the same for "Frankenstein." I hated when people tore pages from books. Why would you do that? I could see no possible motivation. If you really wanted to keep certain pages for yourself, use a photocopier for goodness sake!
I was getting restless. I really, really wanted company, it didn't much matter whose, but finding some would mean leaving my room and possibly encountering crowds. And that's when I had my brilliant idea. Once everyone was sent to their rooms for the night like children at eleven o'clock, I would visit someone, anyone. It was simple.I would leave when the nurse returned to ask if I would like to spend some time in the living room, since crowds would surely die off, and I would say yes. I would stand by the door until left, and then I would hide out in the bathroom, staying there as the night-time bell rang, so quite, with my legs tucked up under me on top of the close-lidded toilet, and when everyone was gone, I would emerge. It would work. Maybe.
( I think she'll visit either Natalie, Lilac or Olli, because she'd probably be familiar with their names)
"Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise." -Maya Angelou
Jasmine, you could meet me in the dining room. I mean Jasmine Hart. I'm not talking to myself xD
I am nothing but a mouthful of 'sorry's, half-hearted apologies that roll of my tongue, smoothquick, like 'r's or maybe like pocket candy that's just a bit too sweet.
I jumped and glanced up, blinking at the nurse that stood in the doorway. She hadn't been there a moment ago, had she? I didn't hear the door open. Why hadn't I heard the door open? I always heard my door open. Well, almost always. Sometimes during the - well, nevermind. I didn't want to think about that.
"Mr. Lore?" she repeated. She was new - everyone knew Mr. Lore was my father.
"It's Kai," I corrected, words clipped. She smiled patiently at me, though it didn't reach her pale blue eyes. A pity, as she might have looked nice without that cold stare.
"Of course. Kai. It's nearly time for dinner. Will you take your meal in here, or should I escort you to the dining room?"
I considered the offer. Usually I remained in my room, because the doctors said that Mother and Jamie couldn't find me in here. So far they - the doctors - had been right. But then it had been a while since I had interacted with others. A few days? A week? I couldn't remember clearly.
I sucked in a breath of air, thankful of its coolness on the back of my throat. "Dining room."
The nurse nodded and motioned for me to follow her. I stood and crossed the room, padding quietly at her heels until we reached the small white door that led to the kitchen. Tendrils of heat licked their way underneath and lapped against my ankles. I shook my head and held my breath until we reached the dining room.
"Here you are, Kai," the nurse said, her tone matching her still icy eyes. She gestured inside the brightly lit room with tables scattered around, a few seats already occupied. I stepped past her and got my plate before going and finding an empty chair, as far away from the kitchen as possible.
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
Everyone was looking at me. Why was everyone looking at me? Had I done something wrong? This was why I hated being around too many people, they always stared at me. Those stupid nurses thought otherwise, but I knew. I knew that everyone stared at me. I hated it.
"Zoey, have you eaten your food?" A voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts.
Spinning around quickly, I saw a nurse stood in front of me. She was staring at me too. I really didn't like the way she was looking at me though. Her eyes were cold and hard and there was a clearly fake smile plastered on her pale face.
"Yes." I lied, heading down the hallway.
"Where are you going?" I heard her voice behind me.
"My room." I replied, quickening my pace.
The nurse said something, but I didn't hear. I didn't care about what she said either. I needed to go to my room. I had to get away from everyone and their horrible stares. It was always safe in my room, there was no one else around. I could just lie on my bed and read a book. No people, no danger, nothing. Even the thought of it made me smile.
Minutes later, I was in my room. It was so nice to be out of that dining hall and away from everyone. Sighing happily, I lay down on my rather lumpy, white bed. Suddenly, I realised that I didn't have my book. Where did I put it? I froze; the dining room. I had to go back there, I couldn't relax without my book. What about the horrible stares though? I had to risk it. I must have left it on the table or something. What if someone had picked it up and stolen it?
Biting my lip, I jumped off my bed and practically sprinted out of my room. If I did this quickly, I'd be fine. I would go into the dining room, pick up my book, leave, then go back into my room. I'd be fine. Hopefully.
"Hey," a woman appeared beside the chess table, just as Ara was about to make a move. "You know, I can help you win this game."
Ara looked up at the woman. She wasn't familiar, like most people who lived there. There were only so many residents, and it wasn't hard to keep track of people, but this woman was unfamiliar.
"N-No," Ara said. "I don't know you."
The woman raised her eyebrow, looked at Ara in disbelief. "Sure I haven't been social for a while, but you know me Ara. Don't be silly." She reached out and took the white chess piece from Ara's hand and set it back down, choosing another one to move instead.
"What are you doing?" Ara demanded. "I don't know who you are, get away!"
"Ara, calm down," the man sitting across from her said, placing a hand on her arm. He was strange, unfamiliar like the woman. Why were there so many strangers here?
"Stay away from me," Ara said, pushing her chair backwards, her arms knocking over half the chess pieces on the board when she jerked back. "I don't know you, I don't know any of you!"
Strong hands grabbed Ara from behind, lifting her up from the chair. "Come now, Miss Young," a gruff voice said. "It's time to go to your room."
The unfamiliar man dragged Ara away from the chess table, toward the door of the lounge. She squirmed and kicked and screamed the whole way, trying to free herself from this man she didn't know. She didn't know anyone, why were these strangers here? Where was she?
Ara fixed her eyes on Joe and Natalie by the chess table. "Joe and Natalie!" she screamed, memories flooding back into her mind. "Joe! Natalie! I remember! Let me go, I remember, I'm fine!" She fought against the man's hands behind her; they would only take her back to one of the examination rooms, they would do something terrible to her. She was fine, she didn't deserve any treatment.
Before she could free herself a thin metal piece slid into her arm, and she could almost feel the icy liquid entering her veins and traveling through her entire body. Within minutes, she was unconscious.
"But she's fine, she remembers, she-" I sighed and tried to calm myself. They'd already injected her. It was too late. It was always too late. I ran my fingers through my dishevelled hair and started picking up the chess pieces again. The attendees were watching me. They were watching to see if I needed sedating too. Calm. Calm down. Show them you're fine. As I reached for the final piece, another hand closed around it and I looked at the soft, brown fingers. Soft and smooth. Feminine.
Slowly I looked up into her hazel eyes and smiled. "Chess?" I suggested eagerly. I felt a touch of disgust and pity for myself. Here I was, still young and healthy (thanks to Daniel) but the greatest excitement in my life was chess. I didn't even play well. Daniel kept trying to explain it to me. My strategies were all wrong, he wrote. I was too defensive, too cautious. But when I tried playing offensively and recorded my moves, my inevetible disaster, I could almost feel his laughter at the back of my throat. Too reckless! He'd scrawled it in my book the next day. It wasn't empty criticism either. I'd been congratulated on Daniel's skill at chess more than once. He was a champion of the game.
Natalie had a haughty expression on her face but settled herself at the table like a queen. She arranged the pieces and I sat down across from her cautiously. I wasn't good with Natalie. Friendly just didn't work. In all my experience of dealing with the insane, I hadn't met anyone quite like her.
"You should be..." I hesitated. Black? Would it be racist to suggest that she should be black? But I wanted the white pieces to myself. I was trying to understand him, trying to think like him. I was trying to understand where he came from and what the connection between us was. It couldn't just be random that my head had developed Daniel as my alter ego. There had to be a connection somewhere. "I'd like to go first," I said instead. "And since you're so much better-" Flattery sometimes worked.
I know I practically just posted...but oh well. Here's to moving the story along. Check out the DT if you haven't yet!
Ara Young
Something sharp and cold jolted Ara from unconsciousness. Or at least, she had thought she was unconscious. In her hand she held a colored pencil, a half finished drawing showed from her sketchbook that sat on the desk in front of her. She was in her room, but she didn't remember how she got here or that she was drawing. All she could remember was the coldness of the needle slipping into her skin as the doctors sedated her.
Ara looked over the drawing she had been doing. Half of a large, important looking building sat on the clean white paper. It was very good, and extraordinarily detailed for something she did while unconscious. She wondered if that was even possible, to draw while unconscious that is. Maybe she hadn't been unconscious at all. Maybe she was just forgetting things again...
"Oh well," she said out loud, her voice echoing strangely in her ears. She didn't remember herself ever sounding like that. Usually she sounded tired, oftentimes exhausted. Now she didn't sound tired at all.
She flipped over the page with the building, only to find half of the pages in her sketchbook in front of it. 'What?" she asked herself. She never skipped blank pages, she always just went in order through the sketchbook.
Every page prior to the one with the building was filled. They were all different, and of things Ara couldn't ever remember having seen before. They were of places, some buildings but some scenery. There were even some people and objects.
Ara closed the sketchbook and got out of the chair. She had never drawn anything like that before. She drew residents, doctors, rooms in the institution. Always things she had seen.
"Oh my god." Ara's mouth dropped. Her white-washed walls were covered with hung up sketches. Every available inch of wall had some colorful drawing similar to the ones in her sketchbook hung up. At least ten empty sketchbooks lay in a pile on the floor next to used-up rolls of tape.
All these pictures. She had drawn them all when she was unconscious. "How long was I out for?" she asked out loud. They had to mean something. She wouldn't have done them all if they hadn't meant something. Something in her told her to take them down. All of them. For some reason, she felt that if any doctor or nurse saw them then they would take them and she wouldn't be given a chance to figure them out.
Ara ran across the room and started tearing the pictures down and stuffing them inside her matress. There had been a long rip in one side; Ara had turned it to face the wall and kept things in there. Nothing special, but sometimes she just took things. A chess piece, a spoon, a book; she never knew why, but she took them and kept them there. Now, her hundreds of drawings accompanied them.
When every drawing was gone, Ara sat on the floor in the center of her room. She wondered how she could figure out what they meant, or if there was anyone here that might tell her without taking them away.
*The drawings are all of things from the real world before she was injected with her illness. I'm thinking she was out for a week or two, and since thats what the sedative was supposed to do no doctors or nurses bothered to check on her.*
Natalie did not like Ara. Not one bit. But she only realized that after Ara went all hysterical and dramatic when Natalie approached her. Nat was sure Ara did it to garner attention from everyone in the quiet lounge. All eyes were on Natalie, and Ara knew it. And she couldn't stand it.
So, of course, the little drama queen staged a hysterical breakdown, after which Natalie was left stunned. Couldn't everyone see? Ara was only trying to steal Natalie's thunder, and the morons around her allowed Ara to succeed.
James or whatshisname, however, kept droning on and on about chess, like a constant buzz in her ear. Everyone's eyes were on Ara as she was being dragged away, and whispers choked the air with tension and undeserved attention. The less-disturbed spoke in hushed tones with their friends, while the paranoiacs huddled in the corner, shooting suspicious glances at Ara and everyone else.
Great. The only people who agreed with Natalie were the paranoid ones. And Natalie was in no way paranoid - she couldn't be. She was what everyone aspired to be, not paranoid.
The only way to upstage an exit like that was to expose Ara for what she truly was - a nosy person who wanted attention. And if Ara wanted attention, then Natalie would hand it to her on a silver platter. Natalie pushed herself away from the table, her metal chair's legs screeching against the porcelain tiles beneath her shoes. No one even turned to her. She drew the line there. Took a deep breath, taking in the almost-stale, bitter stink of medicines, and let out the highest-pitched shriek she could manage.
All eyes turned to her: a few nurses nodded to each other. The others carried on dragging Ara away while two others approached Natalie cautiously. Natalie collapsed in sobs again, knees on the cold floor and hands buried in her hair. She shook her head, over and over and over again. Joe shifted uncomfortably in his chair, coughing.
As soon as one of the nurses came close enough, Natalie grabbed his coat and yanked him close to her, whispered in his ear, which was only a few centimeters away from her lips.
And she whispered the words she knew would hit the staff hardest. "She told me you do something terrible to the newcomers."
OOC: So I posted late and saw that Lauren had posted something. oo" And I decided to add a layer to it, by making Natalie the cause of Ara's being locked in and being left alone for two weeks while the doctors and the rest of the staff decide what to do with her. If this bit won't work, then just tell me and I'll edit it. ^^
Natalie Winters - 2 weeks later, Her New Solitary Room
"Natalie, are you listening to me?" probed Dr. Bachmann gently.
The magazine's glossy pages were icy and smooth, glassy, to Natalie's touch. The airconditioner's breathing filled the room with an impersonal ambiance so familiar to Natalie. She crossed her legs, comfortable in the long white dress shirt she wore despite the cold. Dr. Bachmann coughed a bit, and Natalie simply passed him her untouched glass of water.
"Thank you." He took a sip from it.
Natalie pointed a perfectly manicured finger to a dress on a certain page. "I want this."
Dr. Bachmann frowned at the dress, but smiled at Natalie. "All right, how about we have a deal?"
Natalie perked up. "Deal? It depends." She really, really wanted the dress.
"How about you try to talk to Ara - she just woke up - about what she told you last Friday? But don't be too obvious - hint at it. And tell me what she says. If you can do that, I'll get you the dress."
Natalie's lip curled into a grin. "Of course." This ought to be easy. After all, Ara knew nothing the incident. Of course Ara didn't. "I'll talk to her in the afternoon."
Dr. Bachmann nodded. "The afternoon's perfect. Joe's with her right now, so," the doctor shrugged. "We'll see."
"The moral of this story, is that if I cause a stranger to choke to death for my amusement, what do you think I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me who ordered you to kill Colosimo?“
I mean Jasmine Hart. I'm not talking to myself xD
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