On The Verge

Chapter 1- The Plan

———————Chloe———————

As I walked through the doors of the Sanitarium, shivers erupted over my bare arms, covering the surface of my skin. From the pale grey walls, to the barred windows, the hospital was a glorified dungeon. But it was the patients that truly gave me the chills. Hair that was knotted and tangled, they would rock back and forth in the corners. Clothed in identical white gowns, some would sing incomprehensible tunes while others stared off into the abyss.

⠀⠀I exchanged a worried look with Kendall. Is this how Paige would be? Utterly and undeniably crazy? The thought sent a fearful shudder down my spine.

⠀⠀Every window in the room had iron bars securely crisscrossing over the glass, discouraging any patients who possessed thoughts of freedom. The shutters were drawn up tight from the outside, not allowing sunlight to pass into the dreary room which held an eerie darkness.

⠀⠀"Right through this door." The nurse instructed us, interrupting me from my thoughts. She was pointing confidently at a grey door that loomed before us.

⠀⠀Maddie eyed the entrance hesitantly before taking a deep breath and pushing the heavy door open.

⠀⠀The room behind the door was much different than the one we had come from. It was surprisingly filled with sunlight. A television surrounded by plain, worn couches was playing a happy looking cartoon in the back of the room. The windows were still barred, but no shutters kept the sunlight from streaming into the room.

⠀⠀I spotted Paige first. She was seated on a bench across the room. Her hair was brushed and straitened, her bangs pulled back from her face. She was not wearing the white gowns that the rest of the patients were, instead she wore a pair of black leggings, a pink lace camisole complete with a beige cardigan . A bottle of nail polish balanced beside her as she painted her fingernails a sparkly pink.

⠀⠀She looked like... Paige. She looked as if there was nothing wrong with her, as if she didn't lay awake at night mumbling, she looked just as she had looked to us before she was admitted; normal.

⠀⠀"H-hey!" I stuttered nervously. In response to my words, Paige slowly dropped the nail polish brush back into the bottle and inertly raised her head to look up at us.

⠀⠀"Hey!" She then cried enthusiastically. "Oh my gosh, I missed you guys so much!"

⠀⠀The silence that followed was so heavy that you could hear a pin drop. She seemed so normal, it was hard to imagine that she was mentally unstable.

⠀⠀"How are you?" Nia asked cautiously.

⠀⠀"Bored, honestly," Paige admitted with her usual sass. "there's no one worth talking too. I hate it here."

⠀⠀We all nodded awkwardly, sympathizing with her while our thoughts roamed with confusion in result of her normal behaviour. We had all been told that she had developed schizophrenia— how could she seem so normal?

⠀⠀"The food is horrible and there are absolutely no cute guys," Paige complained. "honestly, I want out of here."

⠀⠀There was a silent moment where we all observed Paige, trying to find something that imminently proved that she was crazy.

⠀⠀"You seem, um.. Fine." Kendall remarked quietly, breaking the silence.

⠀⠀"Why wouldn't I be?" Paige asked, rolling her eyes.

⠀⠀We all exchanged glances. The answer to Paige's question was quite simple: because she was presumed to be  crazy.

———————Maddie———————

⠀⠀The more we talked to Paige, the more we realized that she was the same Paige we had known all of our lives. She rolled her eyes when we told her that her ex, Brandon, had a new girlfriend, she laughed when we told her that Kamrym had actually worn orange at the spring formal. She seemed so normal. It was hard to imagine that she was unwell.

⠀⠀After about an hour of conversation we said our goodbyes and left Paige, assuring her we would be back. Once we were outside the building and easily out of ear shot, I blurted out; "she seems the same."

⠀⠀"She doesn't seem crazy." Kendall added.

⠀⠀"Are we sure she even is crazy?" Chloe said suddenly. All eyes flew to her in shock.

⠀⠀"I mean," she explained. "We've never seen her act weird— I know her parents say they have— but even now she acted perfectly normal. If she were crazy she would have shown some sign of it, don't you think?"

⠀⠀"What are you getting at?" Nia asked slowly, narrowing her eyes.

⠀⠀"I don't know, but I don't think she's crazy." Chloe said quietly.

Kendall, Nia, I stared blankly back at her. The possibility of Paige's sanity had crossed all of our minds, but even the doctors had decided that she was sick.

"She wants out of there— she even said so! We're her friends... Shouldn't we help her?" Chloe continued.

"Help her escape?" Nia asked incredulously.

⠀⠀"No way." I countered, my instincts advising me against Chloe's ideas. No good could come from smuggling a psychiatric patient out of a mental hospital. Chloe looked at Nia and Kendall expectantly, awaiting their opinions. Nia's face contorted with dispute as she considered this idea.

⠀⠀"It's not healthy for her to be around those people... Even if she is crazy, she can't be that crazy."  Nia muttered, agreeing with Chloe's plan.

⠀⠀Kendall sighed deeply, contemplating who's side she should join. Kendall had always been the quiet and indecisive one. She was the type who went along with whatever we decided to do. But now, everyone was looking at her in anticipation of her choice.

⠀⠀"I'm in" Kendall said, a smile creeping into her soft lips.

⠀⠀"You guys have got to be kidding me." I muttered, shaking my head.

⠀⠀"How do you plan to do it?" I asked Chloe angrily, hiding my resentment that Kendall and Nia had gone against me.

⠀⠀"Look," she pointed at the upper level of the Pittsburg Sanitarium, where the roof jutted out be beneath the upper level windows. "the windows up there aren't barred. Paige said all the dorms are upstairs, if we sneak up there we can escape with Paige through the window."

⠀⠀Nia, who was the realistic one in the group sought out all the flaws in Chloe's plan.

⠀⠀"We'll need a ladder. And we don't know what room she's in." Nia remarked smartly.

⠀⠀"Room 225." Kendall said so quiet it was nearly inaudible.

⠀⠀"How do you know that?" Nia asked dubiously.

⠀⠀"Paige had a wristband on, it said her room number." Kendall explained proudly, nodding her head ever so slightly, clearly overjoyed that she knew something that Nia didn't.

⠀⠀"So is it a go?" Chloe asked. Nia nodded, smiling at Chloe's excited face.

⠀⠀"Let's do it." Kendall added. Everyone looked at me, waiting for my response. I sighed in defeat.

⠀⠀"I guess so." I stated, still unsure whether this course of action was the right one. Chloe jeered enthusiastically, pumping her fists into the air. The motivations to sneak Paige out was simple; school hadn't been the same without her. Perhaps sneaking out would at least convince Paige's parents that she was at least sane enough to receive treatment from home.

(A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Please vote and comment!)