Broken Glass (13 page)

I loaded my plate up with acceptable portions of peas, potatoes, chicken, and cornbread, and opted for a bottle of water. After Julianne had also gotten a plate of food, I followed her to find a seat.

“Hey, guys, mind if we sit here?” Julianne asked, stopping at a table where two young guys sat.

“Sure,” one of them said, smiling pleasantly. He got up and moved to the other side of the table, so that Julianne and I could sit next to each other.

We sat down and Julianne began the introductions, yet again.

“This is Ava,” she said. “Ava, this is Henry and Shakespeare.”

“That’s a cool name,” I said immediately. The boy, Shakespeare, looked to be just a little older than me, and he looked like the type of guy you’d never imagine seeing in a psycho hospital. He had very handsome features, dark hair, dark eyes, prominent bone structure, and for a second, I wondered if perhaps he was foreign.

“Thank y
ou,” he said, in a very Virginian
accent.

“How do you like the place so far?” the other guy spoke up. I did a once-over on him, then. He definitely looked like he belonged in Craneville. Skinny, pale, shaggy brown hair, and lig
ht blue eyes formed an unhealthy
crazy look.

“I haven’t really formed an opinion yet,” I lied. “I haven’t been here long enough.” I pushed the food on my plate around with my fork.

Julianne then proceeded to make small talk with them while I somehow managed to push the less-than-delectable food down my throat. I was successively tuning them out, which is why I was surprised when Julianne stood up.

“Are you ready, Ava?”

I looked up at her quickly.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, standing up as well. “Um, see you guys later.”

I followed Julianne to the trashcan by the door leading out of the room, threw my trash in, and left.

“Where are we going now?” I asked.

“To your room,” Julianne replied. “You’ll need to go ahead and change out of those clothes so I can take them before I leave.”

“Leave?” I asked, not expecting this.

“Yes, leave,” she chuckled. “I don’t live here, Ava.”

“Oh, yeah,” I muttered.

I changed into the white cotton panties I’d been given by Julianne, pink lounge pants and the white “I Live For Rose Madder” t-shirt I’d made for Tyson’s band back in high school. I handed Julianne the clothes I’d been wearing with a grimace.

“Thank you,” she said. “Now, you’re free to do whatever you choose until eleven. If you need to get out those doors, just ask a nurse or attendant to type in the code for you.”

“Okay,” I replied, as she walked to the door.

“And remember, you must be up by nine in the morning,” she reminded me. “Someone will be by your room to wake you.”

“What, no alarm clock?” I asked, putting the sets of panties and socks Julianne had provided me with into the trunk in my room.

“There’s a digital clock in the top drawer of your nightstand,” Julianne said.

“Really?” I asked her, surprised. “I didn’t see any outlets.”

“It’s battery powered,” she said, smiling slightly. “See you tomorrow at noon, Ava.” I gave her a wave and lay back on my bed. I let out a loud sigh when she’d left. I sat up and opened the top drawer of my nightstand. I pulled out the digital alarm clock, the time
was
already correct, and programmed
the alarm for nine a.m. I set it on the top of the nightstand and then lay back on the bed again. None of this was happening. It couldn’t be. Tears began welling up in my eyes. Why had this happened? Why did Tyson have to die? Of all the people in the wor
ld. Of all the things to happen.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang on my door. I quickly sat up and wiped my eyes dry with the back of my hand. I got up and walked to the door, opening it slowly.

There stood the girl with the pink and white hair.

“Hello, new girl,” she said, smirking and walking past me and into my room. She stopped and looked around.

“Not much different than mine,” she commented, giving me a wink.

“What are you doing?” I found myself asking her.

“Oh, beg your pardon,” she said, walking up to me. “We met earlier, remember? I’m Aurelia and you’re…Ava, is that right?” I just nodded.

“Please tell me you remember meeting me,” she threw her head back and laughed. “Or are you one of the really crazy ones?”

“No, I remember you,” I told her, going back over to my bed and sitting down. “What do you want?” I couldn’t believe I’d said it. But who cared? Clearly, she was crazy.

“What do I want?” she asked, in a very dramatic fashion. “Funny you should ask because my therapist
never
seems to care
what I want
!”

Oh
,
my God. I’d opened a can of worms.

“I want a purple Jaguar, a house in the
Hamptons,” she began. “An Academy Award
, a winning lottery ticket…and oh, yes, let’s not forget drugs, alcohol, and loooooots of sex!”

I stared at her.

“But never mind me,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m Aurelia, I’m your neighbor, and that’s all you need to know for now. I want to know all about
you
.” 

“Not to be rude, Aurelia,” I said, in a tired voice. “But I’m not really
in the mood for company tonight.
”

“Oh, don’t be a drag!” Aurelia replied. “We’ve still got three hours until lights out. Surely
you want
to meet everyone.”

“Not really,” I told her. “I’m sleepy. I want to go to bed.”

“No you don’t,” she evened. “You want to lay in here by yourself and wallow in your self-pity that probably put you here in the first place.”

I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Are you trying to get under my skin?” I asked, chuckling.

“Maybe,” she responded. “Is it working?”

“Not at all,” I said, getting to my feet and pulling the covers down on my bed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I told you I’m sleepy,” I said, getting into bed and pulling the covers up over my legs. “I’m going to bed. You don’t have to leave, but you’ll be bored. As for getting to know each other, we have the next two months to do that in group therapy. Good night.”

I closed my eyes, praying she’d leave. I heard her shuffle about the room, and then the door opened and closed and it was silent. I opened my eyes and saw that I was alone.

It was going to be a long two months.

10
.

“
I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire, went down, down, down, and the flames went higher
…”

I opened my eyes and groaned, slamming my hand down on the snooze button of the alarm clock to cease the blaring music. I rolled over and closed my eyes again. They quickly fluttered back open when someone pounded on my door and then opened it.

“Time to get up!”

I rolled over to face whomever it was lingering in my doorway. A short, very heavyset woman with thick glasses was smiling.

“Good morning!” she said, brightly. She flipped on the light. My hand flew up to shield my eyes.

“C’mon, get up!”
she even more pleasantly pushy
. “Gotta get your bath things and head off to the showers!”

I sat up, groggy, and threw my legs over the side of the bed. I got up slowly and treaded over to the nurse, who handed me a little bucket with a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, shower shoes, and a towel.

“What do I do with all this stuff once I’m done?” I asked her.

“You’ll keep it in your room,” she informed me. “But be sure to throw your towel in the laundry bin in the hall outside the bathroom when you’re done drying off!”

I just looked at her for another moment before going back into my room to change into my robe. How on earth could someone working in a mental hospital be that cheerful? I took off my pajamas, put on my robe, and padded down to the bathroom, still squinting in the new bright lights of the day.

When I walked into the bathroom, I immediately wondered if I could just skip the whole showering routine for the day. Two girls stood at the sinks in their bathrobes, brushing their teeth, and two showers were running. I recognized one of the girls at the sinks as the one who’d been with outside with Aurelia the day before.

Both girls looked at me as I walked in.

“Hi,” I greeted quietly to them. Neither said anything but just watched me as I went to an empty shower. I stepped in, and closed the curtain. I took the shower shoes out of the bucket. They weren’t too bad. They looked like any beach sandal, only in the ugliest blue color I’d ever seen. They were a large size, which I guessed was what everyone got, and they made me look like I’d just put on ugly blue skis.

I slipped off my robe, draped it and the towel the nurse had given me over the cheap plastic rod holding the shower curtain up and turned the shower knob. Ice cold water shot out, causing me to jump and nearly fall on the hard, tiled floor.

“Jesus!” I hissed, flattening up against the shower wall so as to avoid the cold spray. I waited about two minutes and stuck my hand under the water. I jerked my hand back again quickly, for now it was scalding hot. I played with the knob a little bit, trying to figure out how to get the water to at least a lukewarm. Ten minutes later, I was able to take a shower.

A nice, hot shower was something I’d always loved.
So, needless to say, w
hen I turned the water off
after finishing my first shower in Craneville, I was in a super pissy mood. The shampoo
smelled
like barn animals
, the soap was thick as paste and took forever to sud up, and the water had suddenly gone both frigid cold and burning hot on me twice.

I dried off, put my robe on, and threw the shampoo and soap back into the bucket. I pulled back the curtain and saw the same girl I’d seen earlier at the sink, but this time, she was with Aurelia,
whose
pink hair was
now
wet and spiked up into a mohawk.

“Well, well, good morning, new girl,” Aurelia said, turning around and flashing me what I’m sure was a notorious smirk of hers.

“Hey,” I replied simply, walking over to the farthest sink on the end, away from the two of them. I took the toothpaste and toothbrush out of the bucket and began the process of brushing my teeth.

“Are we in a better mood this morning?” Aurelia began walking over to me. I didn’t reply, but instead, tried to concentrate on brushing my teeth.

Aurelia leaned against the sink next to mine and just stared at me for a moment. I spit one last time and rinsed off my toothbrush.

“What?” I asked, not looking at her.

“Oh, nothing,” she said, with a dramatic sigh. “I’m just trying to figure out why you think you’re better than us.”

I quickly turned to her then.

“What?” I asked.

“Aurelia, don’t,” the other girl said, walking over to us. Aurelia looked at the girl.

“What’s it to you?
” she snapped. This didn’t faze
the girl. Instead, she tucked a wet strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear and looked at me.

“You have to excuse Aurelia,” she said, with a slight smile. “She’s a bitch. But she grows on you after a while. I promise.” Aurelia glared at this girl.

“You know it’s true,” Aurelia said, turning towards me again. “This girl’s a total snob. She looks like an anorexic ex-cheerleader.”

“Okay, what the hell is your problem?” I asked her. “I don’t even know you.”

“Oh, yes you do,” she replied, evenly. “We met yesterday, remember? Or are you really crazy?”

“You’re the crazy one,” I told her, in a huff. “Get out of my face.” I picked up my bucket of bath stuff and walked past her, towards the bathroom door.

“Oh, so you run away from your problems, that’s your sickness,” Aurelia said after me. “Typical suicide case.”

I stopped and turned back around to face her.

“If you’re so keen on making a diagnosis for another person’s life, then why are you on this side and not in the big doctor’s office?” I asked. Her smirk faded and she didn’t respond.

“Like I said,” I added. “
You’re
the crazy one. Don’t mess with me, Aurelia.” And I left the bathroom.