Chapter 3
Day 2
The next morning as the sun came up some doctor woke me up. “Time for sun rise relaxation,” The woman said clapping a few times. I nodded and mimed waking up the others and picking up a baby from the crib.
“Let’s go,” I whispered to my imaginary audience. “And yes, that means you Bob.”
We slowly progressed thru the halls and then out into a big open field. All the others were there already sitting on yoga mats I held back a groan. Mary Anne was sitting on the floor holding Melody so I went to join her.
“Morning,” I said sleepily.
“Who are you?” She asked in a strange voice.
“Sydney,” I said remembering she had multiple personalities.
“I’m Ellie,” she giggled. “This is my niece,” She said rocking the baby. “You must be friends with Mary Anne!”
“I am. How old are you?” I asked curious.
“Seven,” she beamed at me holding up the fingers around the baby in her arms.
“Sydney, it’s time for us to start,” Some councilor lady yelled.
“I am holding a baby,” I said quizzically. “I think this is slightly more important.”
“Give her to her mother,” The lady smiled trying to placate me. That wasn’t going to work. I was too tired for this, and not a fan of the idea. Relaxation techniques were something we did in elementary when we got in fights. To start my day off with a reminder of that wasn’t a good idea.
“But her mom loves relaxing things,” I objected. “And honestly, I’m not interested in this at all.”
“Darling, I’d appreciate it if you let someone else hold her.” The woman said straining.
I smiled back, “I’d appreciate if Zeus vaporized you so I didn’t have to deal with you. I guess we don’t get everything we want.”
“Sydney, give the baby away or I’ll have to go get the guards and your doctor.” She said in a still calm voice.
“Call them up,” I said miming a phone with one hand.
The doctor showed up in a few minutes with two guards behind him, “Sydney, why can’t you just let someone else take Kelly?”
“Everyone else wants to participate, I don’t.” I said simply. “This feels too elementary school fights, and not enough real life.”
“This isn’t optional, you have to try it. Who can hold the baby?” He asked loudly.
“I could hold her,” Ellie said smiling at me. I passed her down the baby and went to join everyone else, but not before flipping off the councilor and groaning dramatically. I sat down like the others, cross legged on the ground on the white yoga mat.
It turns out this was just yoga and meditation. I swear it was the opposite of relaxing. A few times I’d just lay down on the yoga mat, before the councilor would shrilly inform me that I needed to sit up and participate. It ended at around seven thirty AM and they sent us to get breakfast. The food in this place was strangely good. It was a bit like a buffet line, and they had a decent selection of foods. This morning we had eggs, pancakes, syrup, bagels, and a few types of cereal. I settled for something really chocolate-y with chocolate milk.
It started when Christy flicked a pancake at Jerry who freaked out.
“They’re shooting! Hide,” he yelled diving under the table and trying to drag Luke with him. Christy laughed and kept “shooting” her breakfast at him. Luke freaked and ran to the opposite wall where he normally sat. Then Lyn grabbed Christy’s arms and tried to stop her. Christy pulled away, grabbed her spork and stabbed Lyn’s eye. Then security came and a doctor gave her a sedative before they put her in a straitjacket and carried her away. Lyn was taken to see a doctor. Jerry was coaxed out from under the table and taken to eat in his room. Luke quickly retrieved his food and went back to the corner table.
“That was bad,” Ellie said plopping down next to me.
“Yeah it was Ellie,” I nodded.
“Oh, it’s Mary Anne,” she said laughing.
“Sorry,” I said.
“It’s alright.” Mary Anne laughed. “I can understand the confusion.” She ate quickly and then gave Melody a bottle. I looked away and nodded, getting up and grabbing an imaginary hand.
“Sir, could you get Mary a bottle for the baby?” I asked. The dude nodded and I left telling Mary to bring Kelly to my room later so Jenny could take her. I went into my room and lay down; I was your sleep till noon kinda girl.
A while later I was woken up by the sound of a baby crying. I shook my head and left the room. When I got to the room where everyone was I saw Mary Anne and Melody, but Melody was sound asleep.
“Did she just fall asleep?” I asked Mary quietly.
“No, she’s been asleep as long as you. It’s actually been really quiet,” She said looking concerned. I walked away and back to my room. I was sure it was nothing, but part of me was still worried. A short while later I heard it again. It was coming from the crib in my room. When I went over there was nothing in it.
“Syd, would you mind going to a sort of therapy?” The therapist popped his head in. I nodded and followed him, anxious to get away from my room. When we got there it was only me and Sarah.
“Hi, we met yesterday I’m Sarah,” She said smiling happily.
“I’m Sydney,” I said smiling back.
“We didn’t talk much, but you seem fairly normal,” she said.
“They claim I suffer from delusions.” I said rolling my eyes.
“Oh,” She said nodding.
“How’s your sister?” I asked concerned.
“She is alright. Christy didn’t hit her too bad,” Sarah frowned.
“That’s good,” I said nodding.
“Hi girls, I’m Erin,” A woman around twenty five came in smiling.
“Syd,” I smiled back.
“I’m Sarah,” Sarah yelled excitedly.
“I’m going to be working with you two on artistic projects so you can channel your feelings into art.” Erin explained.
“Cool,” Sarah and I said together.
“We will start with sketching. I’d like you guys to sketch a photo of how you came to be here. I want it to display the emotion of how you felt. Try to do it with just the drawing pencils on your easels.” She instructed us.
I set to drawing what had happened. I started by drawing the cheerleaders. They were all wearing the PE uniform, but the shorts were too short and the shirts too tight, let alone that they had tied them up to show off their stomachs. I drew it so you could tell Jessica’s nose was broken. Then I drew me with my hand clearly having just punched her. My knuckles were bleeding. There was a cop running towards us. I did it with thick, solid lines and a sort of dark over all feel.
“Erin, I’m done,” I said loudly. She walked over and studied the drawing.
“It’s beautiful, and dark.” She said looking like a kid at Christmas.
“Thanks,” I said smiling. “Are we done?” I asked.
“Nope!” She beamed. Then I felt someone tap my left shoulder. I whipped around. There was no one there.
“Did someone tap my shoulder?” I asked quietly.
“No,” Erin said worried. Then Sarah finished.
“Share!” Erin yelled happily.
“I was manic and I sort of jumped in a fountain, then when I was in prison waiting to be tried. I was depressed and punched a cell mate. It ended up being this huge fight,” Sarah said looking annoyed.
“Bob told me to punch some cheerleader ‘cause she was being a bitch,” I said simply.
“Alright, next project,” Erin said looking like someone just annoyed her. “We are going to draw something soothing with pencil and colored pencils,” She smiled.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“A scene, it can be abstract if you’d like,” She laughed.
I set to work doing a basic sketch of a bed and books, but so they almost seemed to flow like water. Then I slowly colored it in blues and greens, with purple accenting it.
“You
guys are great!” Erin said after we had “shared.” “See you tomorrow!” She yelled leaving us alone.
“Well, bye,” I said leaving for lunch.
Lunch was fairly uneventful; no one got stabbed, shanked, tormented, or any other traumatizing experience! It was a miracle. As I was leaving I felt someone tap me again. I went back to my room to hear the baby crying again. I left and went to the room I’d had art in. I sat down on the floor with a sketchpad I had found.
I was sitting there for hours. Eventually the doctor came and found me. He took me to group talk where I sat across from Jerry. He took out a chess board and made the first move.
“So how are you kid?” He asked.
I shrugged, “I’m not sure.”
“Well, I know I felt unsure a lot when I got here,” He said nodding.
I nodded, “It’s too new. I miss home.”
“I can imagine, you’re still just a child,” He said nodding. “It has to be harder to adjust to this at your age.”
“I’m used to waking up, going to school, and coming home. This is a far cry from my usual routine.” I told him.
He nodded, “It’s not like what I’m used to either. I just learned to adjust quickly in the military.”
“How long were you there?” I asked.
He thought briefly, “Well I was there the entire time my wife was pregnant with my daughter and again from the time my daughter was six months old till before her second birthday when I was injured.”
I recalled seeing his slight limp and realized that must be what he was referring to. “Do you mind me asking why you came here?”
“Well, it was Independence Day and the neighbors were setting off firecrackers and fireworks. I broke a little. I ran towards the door. My wife was standing in the doorway, but I pushed her aside and under our dining room table. I went into my neighbors’ yard and my little girl was standing there. I thought,” He paused and breathed deeply. “I thought they were the enemy and they’d taken my baby. I went to grab her and someone came towards me. I flipped him onto the ground and apparently injured his spine. I grabbed my screaming, crying daughter and ran home. I dragged both my wife and daughter into a closet and stayed there until the next morning.”
“So you came here?”
He nodded, “That boy was sixteen. I’d known him his whole life, since he was a little boy. I went to his birthday parties every year. He spent six months in a wheel chair and is still in physical therapy. I’ve talked to him, he doesn’t blame me, but I needed help. I knew I never wanted to do that again.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He moved his piece, “No problem. Checkmate.”
I looked down and noticed the game. I laughed and shook my head. He was really good.
A few hours later we headed to dinner. Luke came and sat next to me and I realized I was at his table, the farthest corner from everyone else. “Why are you hiding?”
I raised my eyebrows, “If I was hiding, then I didn’t do a very good job you found me.”
He shook his head, “I sit over here because it feels safer. Like no one can see me. Why are you over here?”
“I wanted the peace of it I suppose,” I said.
Luke was silent for a moment, “Sydney, do you ever feel like everything we do is monitored?” I looked around the room at the guards, the cameras, and the other workers.
“You know what Luke, I really do.”