Young Writers Society

May I join?

Name: Alouette "Lou" Le Usele
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Illness: Depression, self-harmer.
Reason for institutionalization: Graduated from university at fifteen. Extremely intelligent, a genius, even. Figured out what was going on nearly straight away.
Appearance:

Personality: Tends to be selfish, gloating, and sees the rest of the world as dumb. However, she is very loyal and a good person at heart.
Other: Has an almost immediate distrust and/or dislike of any authority.

Note: I'm English, so if I get any American aspects wrong, please correct me.

Welcome Skorpionne! I'm English too so no worries

Joe Smith; Early Afternoon; The Day Room; Ara and Natalie

It was a slow day and Joe was almost wishing Ara hadn't been released so he could go back to his thinking. Ara was boring. That wasn't a very nice thought but it was hard to enjoy the company of a person who was meeting you for the first time every day. Joe was making polite conversation with her while thinking through his current troubles.

"What are you reading?" Ara asked him, tucking a stray lock of her dark hair behind her ear. Joe caught himself watching the movement and thinking it was such a shame that a pretty girl like her was wasting away in here.

"It's my diary," Joe explained, looking back at the pages again. He wondered if she'd ask to see it and felt a stab of guilt. Of course he'd let her - he'd let her before, not that she remembered - but Daniel didn't understand. Daniel always said their thoughts and conversations should be private. He was always most mad when Joe discussed it with the doctors so he had to be careful that Daniel didn't find out about that anymore. He'd stop writing if he knew. Joe couldn't let that happen. They'd - he'd never get better if he didn't learn more about Daniel and the doctors could help with that.

"Oh," Ara said.

"Do you keep one?" Joe asked. Strangely, Ara's features went stiff and Joe decided that she did in fact though she'd never mentioned one before. He found that he was actually interested to hear what she had to say and softly closed his book. Unfortunately, that was when Natalie strode over and slid gracefully into a chair.

"Hello Ara," she said cordially. Joe shot her a worried look. Natalie was rarely anything other than stiff. What was she after?

"Natalie," he said. "Did you need anything?"

Sure thing Skorpionne! I'll post in a bit, I'm in a bit of a rush now.

Lou-Someplace unknown, Sometime unknown

167540 x 5 = 837700

During the S phase of the cell cycle DNA is replicated or syntesized in preparation for cell division.

The number of people enrolled in school throughout the country—from nursery school to college is 74.9 million. That amounts to more than one-fourth of the U.S. population age 3 and older.

Good. She still knew these things. She was still Lou. She knew these things the rest of the world didn't.

But where was she? Why was she here? What was the point in this? What was the point in living?

"Miss Le Usele, what is the square root of 769?"
"27.7308492477241"

Why was she being asked these things? What had she been before she came here? She couldn't remember. How strange.

Note: Facts in this post (and in all other posts) have been taken from the internet and their truth cannot be guaranteed.

Ara Young

The woman named Natalie sat down beside Ara and Joe. Ara watched her; she seemed familiar. Joe had seemed familiar as well. Perhaps she had seen them both before. How long before, she couldn't tell. Her mind was blank of anything before being locked in her room.

"Natalie," Joe said. "Did you need anything?"

Ara lost track of the conversation; it was one she was clearly not involved in. She had a feeling this Natalie didn't have much affection for her. As they talked, Ara let her hand slide to the folded paper in her pocket. It was one of the things she had drawn. She thought back to her matress stuffed with paper from her sketch pad.

Natalie cast a cold glance at Ara. Ara looked away, her shoulders stiffened. Why did Natalie dislike her so much?

Joe regained Natalie's attention and they kept talking. Ara wanted Natalie to leave. She needed to talk to Joe too. She had been waiting all day for the right time, the right place to show him the paper in her pocket. Then maybe he would come see the papers in her matress too. Maybe he would know what it all meant.

She watched him talking to Natalie, holding his diary on his lap. He was a kind man, always pleasant when Ara was around. He must know her better than she was ever able to remember knowing him. Ara sighed and slumped down in her chair; she so desperately wanted to remember something.

Is it too late to revive this?

I'm not sure. Who is still interested in writing? I am so if we have four people, that would be enough...

I'm still interested.

Natalie Winters

Did she need anything? Natalie snickered. Of course she needed something. Did these children think she had the time to sit down and play tea time with them? But - time was ticking. Natalie simply ignored Joe's question, leaned towards Ara, the most innocent expression on the icon's face.

"Ara, darling, how have you been?" Natalie purred, voice dripping with sweetness. Unfortunately, little Ara shrank away from Natalie. Nat's smile wavered. What? Was something wrong with Nat? Impossible. The silly girl must be having one of her delusions again. "Ara? Are you all right?"

Ara said nothing, only moved away even further.

Natalie huffed and scowled. This was no time to be playing games. She needed Ara to talk, now, because if Nat waited for the girl to take her time, then that dress would be out of fashion by the time Nat got her hands on it. She almost grabbed Ara by the collar, hands swiping out at the other woman, but she caught herself at the last moment.

Breathe, Natalie. Breathe. She would not lower herself to the likes of these barbarians. Natalie stood up and arranged her long hair over her shoulder. She caught Joe watching her and a small smile tugged at her lips. Of course Joe was watching her. Who else would he watch? Ara? Ha.

Natalie strode over to Ara's chair, putting her hands on the back of the seat. Pouted at Ara and leaned in close to the girl's ear. "Ara darling, I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to know exactly what happened last Friday." Natalie's eyes glimmered with tears. "I was so worried for you."

And as Natalie moved, she saw Ara straightened, alarmed. Immediately, the other girl began to talk, and she spoke as if she'd die any minute now.

But it was too late. Nat's attention had been bought by paper in Ara's pocket. A dirty little secret, perhaps? Ara shifted away from Natalie, but the latter was too quick for her. Her hand snatched for the paper in Ara's pocket, threw it into the air. A few papers rained down on Natalie as Ara desperately tried to catch all of them to no avail. Joe spat some harsh words, but they fell on deaf ears.

Natalie snatched a paper, saw the drawing. What in the world?

Yay Kara is still here! They're in the day room though? So it would have to be the page of the paper in her pocket which Natalie got her hands on.

Joe

"Leave her the hell alone!" Joe spat as he tried to get a hold on the situation. He couldn't believe the monstrosity of Natalie. Reaching over and snatching something out of Ara's pocket - her pocket! That was just... barbaric! Things like that were private, things like that were-

Then he realised that Ara looked like she was about to cry. "Please," she said in a timid voice. "Please give it back." Joe tried to give her a sympathetic smile and reached out to pat her hand before turning a seething glare on the older woman. But he didn't know what to do. Joe was not a man of action or a man of courage and violence. He was but a humble doctor.

"Natalie," Joe said, attempting to sound kind but his voice came out stiff and grating between his clenched teeth. "Whatever that is, it doesn't belong to you and it's very important to Ara."

"Why should I care about that?" Natalie demanded haughtily. She gave him a bewildered look and then decided to ignore him, turning instead to Ara. "What is this? What's this drawing supposed to be?"

And Joe still didn't know what to do. He felt something shifting in his head and soon wasn't thinking anything because it was Daniel who was in control. Daniel who immediately recognised what was required: negotiation. "Natalie," Daniel said gruffly, testing his voice, getting the feel for his body again. How unsettling, how odd it was to not know what he'd been doing all day! Probably not a lot of any use. "What do you want in exchange for the piece of paper, Natalie?" Daniel asked.

"Some answers," she said immediately with a sniff. "What would I want with a scrappy piece of paper anyway? But you obviously want it." She shot them both a suspicious glance. "So it has to be worth trading for."

Lou was shown to a room, and then left to herself. Told only that the Day Room was down the corridor and that she was permitted to go there if she wanted.

What was the point of this? Why was she here?

In fact, what was the point of living?

Lou suddenly had a disturbingly acute desire to slit her wrists. She dug in with her nails, but they'd been cut. Short in the extreme. She then glanced around the room, but there was nothing sharp. Everything heavy enough to do damage had been bolted down, as well. She swung her legs off the bed, and opened her door.

As Lou walked down the corridors she noticed that there were no other doors. How strange.

There were three other people in the Day Room when she entered. Lou paid them no attention, and sat on her own about two metres away from them.

Ara Young

Natalie watched Ara, expecting something she could not give.

"Ara, what happened last friday?" she demanded, holding the drawing just out of her reach.

"I can't remember," Ara said, reaching out for the paper. She needed it back, and fast. If one of the nurses saw they might take it away and see what it was. Maybe they would know what it was, and maybe it would be bad. Maybe they would take it away from her and she would never know what the drawings meant.

Natalie's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can't remember? What are you, stupid?"

Ara's gaze fell to the floor. She often wondered why she couldn't remember things, and why she did things the way she did. Every second she could feel memories slipping away from her.

Joe placed a hand on Ara's shoulder. "Natalie, you know Ara has dementia," he whispered, though Ara could still here it. "Memory loss is one of the symptoms."

"I won't give it back until I get some answers," Natalie said. She folded the paper and stuck it in her own pocket. "So she better start remembering."

Natalie turned and walked away. Ara watched her leave through the double doors at the other side of the day room. She felt tears well up in her eyes. She couldn't remember, and she couldn't let Natalie have that paper.

Alright, I know this is completely dead.

But.

I was playing around with the idea of trying out how the Pages feature handled storybooks. And I was thinking of re-trying this idea. Anyone who was previously in it would be invited to join, and it would be open to anyone else as well (though I can't decide if I would keep the page open or require approval from myself to join).

So would any of you be interested in giving this thing another go?

Sure, it was fun and it might have a better chance if restarted. I'd be in.

Willing to give it another go, if you'll have me~