Retaliation of The Dragon Nation

Chapter 2

She should have never said a word. Not a single syllable about what had happened. If she had not, she would not be in a dark car, driving off and away from her sobbing mother and expressionless father. Aileen couldn’t help but give a little wave goodbye. She didn’t know the name of the hospital she was being sent to. She only knew of the reason she was going.

“Schizophrenia..” The house doctor put rather flatly. Aileen just blinked and laughed as if it where some sick joke. Both her parents didn’t know what to say. Aileen looked at her mother and frowned in puzzlement. “Mum?” She sighed. Her mother stroked Aileen’s hair with a shaky hand. Her father just stepped out of the room, looking utterly disappointed in his first born.

The three thought it’d be best to send Aileen to a place where people would help her, and she could see people like her… A mental hospital. Her mother explained that it was Aileen constantly talking about things she saw, her spacing out for a long while, and her not interacting with others.

Out of all the times her parents could have taken action. They chose now to care? She didn’t quite get it.

 

~~~

About four hours went by before the driver reached the hospital. Aileen had since fallen asleep. She woke when she felt the car come to a complete stop. She sat up and looked around. It had started to rain. Her chauffeur had opened the door for her, letting her out. She glanced at the hospital’s sign. The markings on it where incoherent. Aileen brushed it off. She didn’t need to know the name of her hell.

The walls were white. The uniforms of the employees were white. Everything they made her change into was white. She was led to her room. There were two beds. She had a roommate. They weren’t in the room. She had arrived just at dinner time. She went to the side of the room where there wasn’t things already placed. Aileen hadn’t brought much. Just regular things as if it were a sleepover.

She sat on her bed, waiting for her roommate to return. She felt a little eager to meet the person she’d be spending some time with. She didn’t know why.  A good fifteen minutes went by before they entered, accompanied by two nurses. “Oh wow..” Aileen mumbled to herself. She had locked eyes with him, that’s right, him. He had the deepest gray eyes, they were so full of emotion and awareness. His hair was inky black and a mess, but it seemed to suit him. His skin was pale, almost as pale as Aileen’s.

Aileen must have been staring at him for some time because one of the nurses had to speak up, “Zack, this is Aileen McCammack. She’ll be replacing Erik.” He clenched his jaw, “Hm..” Zack tossed his head back slightly as if he were greeting her. Aileen gave a slight wave, he went and laid on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling. The nurse had left, shutting and locking the door. Aileen had laid down, facing the wall her bed was up against.  Zack looked over at her. “So... “ He had broken the killer silence in the room.

Aileen turned and faced him, “What?” she said quietly. “Where you from?” he said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t really matter does it?” She put rather coldly. Zack shrugged, “Why are you here?” he was trying his best to make conversation. Aileen sat up, moving all her hair to one shoulder, “Schizophrenia… Or possible, schizophrenia.” She sighed and adjusted herself to look at him. “What about you?” She asked. Zack paused for a minute before finally saying “Minor Psychosis.” He said quietly. She sucked on her bottom lip. Zack sat up, stretching. “But I’m fine now, the only reason they don’t let me out is because I have bad anger issues.” He huffed.

Zack ran his fingers through his messy black hair. Aileen completely ignored how perfect he was to her and started to braid her own hair. “When is it lights out here?” She asked, looking up from her work for a second then looking back down. “Really, we’ve already passed the time of lights out.. But I don’t usually sleep. I’m surprised you’re still up.” He put his back up against the wall. Aileen smirked a little, “Insomnia usually prevents such things.” She tied the end of the braid, letting her hair go. “You’re hair is really long.” Zack mumbled. “I haven’t cut it since I was about four.” She crossed her legs. Zack pursed his lips, “Speakin’ of age, how old are you anyways?” He asked. “Fourteen.” Aileen’s voice trailed off, Zack groaned “C’mon, I’m always the oldest!” He exclaimed. She frowned, “How old are you?” he then hesitated before answering “Seventeen.” He admitted.

Oh god, really? Did she really fall for a 17 year old? She felt as if every blood cell migrated to her face. Aileen had to look away for a minute, looking back at him she sighed, “Are you serious?” She hoped he was. He nodded. “Yeah, I’m dead serious.” He confirmed. She fell back on her white bed and sighed. Aileen turned to face the wall again, Zack did the same. Zack mumbled a simple “Goodnight.” before his quiet snoring could be heard. Aileen however stayed up, being unable to fall asleep she found herself listening to Zack’s snoring until she zoned out.

There was a loud crack, this caused Aileen to snap out of her trance like state. She and Zack sat up simultaneously, however Zack was the first to get out of bed. He mumbled something that Aileen couldn’t quite make out. She got up as well, fixed her hair a little, wanting to fix Zack’s. Some nurses opened their door, guiding them to the dayroom.  

Many other patients were already in the room. Aileen’s forest green eyes scanned the room. Some patients sat at tables with each other, others were walking around. There was one brunette boy who sat alone at a table, he was looking out one of the only windows in the dayroom. Aileen totally pushed Zack out of her mind and went over to the boy. She took it upon herself to sit across from him. He had glanced over at her, his expression a bit puzzled. Aileen cleared her throat quietly, but enough for him to hear her. His attention was now fully on her, they had locked eyes. His turquoise eyes had a hard time focusing on Aileen’s green ones. Neither of them spoke. Aileen scooted her chair closer to the table, folding her hands lightly on the table. “If you’re going to do or say something rude, do it already.” He put rather coldly. Aileen frowned, “Boy, I don’t even know your name. Why would I be rude?” She pursed her lips. He sighed, crossing his arms. “I’m Peter.” He mumbled, she leaned in “What was that?” Peter’s eyes darted away from Aileen’s “My name is Peter.” He almost hissed. Her eyes widened. “Well, Peter, I’m Aileen,” she paused “No need to get so aggressive.”

The two had talked for no longer than five minutes, until Zack came over to sit with mainly Aileen. He pulled up a chair from a separate table. Peter’s eyes darted over to Zack and then back at Aileen, then over at the window again. “So! I see you and Peter are getting acquainted.” Zack said, his voice dripping with both sarcasm and a bit of hatred. Peter snapped his attention to Zack, “Yes, actually.” He huffed, his arms crossing again. Zack smiled a bit, scooting in a bit closer. Aileen tapped her forefinger on the table softly. Peter refused to look at Zack, however Zack kept pestering him. Calling him names, poking at him, laughing. Peter was obviously bothered by this, but he said nothing. Aileen was rather angry at Zack, she put a hand on his shoulder, “Zack..” Her voice trailed off. He looked over at her, squinting one of his gray eyes. “Yeah?” He asked as if he was doing nothing wrong. Aileen’s eyes narrowed, “What do you think you’re doing?” She clenched her jaw. Zack laughed, “I’m just giving ‘em what he deserves.” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Aileen’s eyes narrowed, if Zack wasn’t twice her size, she would have uppercut punched him. The two seemed to be having a rather hatefilled staring contest, meanwhile Peter just stared awestruck at Aileen. No one had ever stopped people from bullying him, the best part was, no one had ever taken such a tone as she had with Zack. As far as Peter was concerned, Aileen was cool in his book.

Peter had gotten up as soon as they started to yell at eachother. Some caretakers had to separate the two, they took Zack back to their room, and Aileen stayed with Peter. During the remainder of the day, Aileen and Peter both exchanged stories. As it turns out, Peter had ADHD and a Bipolar disorder. He also lived in Dublin, Ireland, not too far from where Aileen lived. He was also older than she, only by two years though. He was born on September 16th, two months before her, and two days.

Although he had refused to tell her why he was in the same situation she was, Aileen truly liked Peter. He was very energetic once she got to know him, he was the opposite of Zack. Zack radiated more negativity than Peter, but in the loneliness game, Peter won. Despite being so outgoing and energetic, he seemed very lonely.

As the pair talked, time flew by. Before they knew it, they had already eaten

dinner and it was time for everyone to go back to their rooms. Peter however didn’t have a room… He had a cell. This concerned Aileen. Was Peter capable of something even Zack wasn’t? She had to push her thoughts aside. As she was put in her and Zack’s room, she was relieved to see that Zack was asleep. Aileen crawled into her white twin sized bed. She sighed happily as she planted her face into the pillow. For the first time in who knows how long, Aileen fell asleep.