Remmington's School for Troubled Teens

Chapter 5

Ashley and I talked for hours. Just getting to know each other. Well, more like I was getting to know her. I never let anyone in. Faye was the only one who knew my past and that was the way I wanted to keep it.

Ashley told me about how she was an artist. She said that she would take trips on LSD to figure out what personal artistry was in her head. And when she came down from her high, she would spray paint it on the streets of New York.

She seemed to be obsessed with a fictional realm that she called Badlands. She had it all planned. The people, the architecture, the culture, the food, the location. Everything. A "Dystopian Las Vegas," she called it.

She traveled to a motel in New York called the Pink Motel. And she would spray paint her visions of what Badlands was.

Ashley told me about how her parents found out she did LSD and how they both broke down crying. She told me how she tried to kill herself because their disappointment got to her.

And after she got out of the hospital, she listen to music for the first time in what seemed like forever. She said that that was when she knew that she was going to write Badlands as an album one day.

Ashley said that she was in her room all day and all night writing. Her parents became worried and then sent her here.

"I'm still working on an EP now. I'm writing all of my own stuff and after I release that, Badlands will come out. I know it sounds stupid but, I know I will make it one day. The world has to know about Badlands. I'll die if they don't, it's my destiny. And it sounds cheesy but, it will happen and I don't care if people don't believe in my vision, because I do."

I was speechless. And I am never speechless.

"I can't put my thoughts into words about that, Ashley. I-I..Its just. The amount of thought and time you put into your art is so dope. You took what was in your head and put it onto a wall and then transferred it to paper! And, as an artist myself, I draw inspiration from that!"

I was so happy for her. And even though she was stuck here, she didn't let it stop her. She didn't care where she was, she just wanted to come out of her head and show the world who she was. She was obsessed with that concept, and that was what was inspiring.

"I've never told anyone that. I just felt like I could trust you." She blushed and then looked down.

Ashley cleared her throat, "But enough about me, whats your sto-"

I had to stop her right there. I don't talk about my past. I relive it enough in my head every day and night, and to say it out loud would mean that some of the things I blocked would comeback.

"Is there a party anywhere tonight? I think I want to get drunk and I'm assuming that you guys don't keep liquor here."

I was lucky that Ashley got the message and didn't pry.

"Actually, there is one at Quartz's house tonight. And its not that far, we could catch a ride with someone, everyone from Field Summers High, the public high school, like, 5 miles from here, is going. And I'm supposed to be going with Nik-" At the same moment we heard someone scream Ashley's name.

Then a blonde girl with a baby face, about the same height as Ashley, walked into my room. Wrong turn, baby face.

"Where the hell have you been for the past three hours! We are supposed to be going to Quartz's party tonight and you promised you would help me pic out my outfit!"

She was getting fussy and disrupting my peace. What was with people barging into my room?!

"Hey baby face, you took a step too far into my thresh hold, so I suggest you take a couple of large steps back."