Prisoners of Love ☾☾ Hayley Williams + Josh Franceschi

three ☽ causing problems

The next night, after dinner had finished up, Max and I were sitting in our room. Max had showered and I was still deciding if I wanted to take one now or in the morning.

"You have to get up extra early in the morning or you'll miss breakfast and get in trouble." Max said. I groaned and got up from the bed. Max threw a towel at me, which he had brought out unused from his shower.

I got in and let the warm water wash away everything from today. Everything would still be in my memory, unfortunately. I would still wake up tomorrow and live the same thing over again. I would still have to see how broken everyone is. I would still have to accept the fact that I was never getting out of here, no matter how hard I tried.

After showering, Max and I stayed up until lights out. I felt like a little kid again, having a sleepover. Except I was twenty-three years old.

I woke up and immediately knew where I was. It wasn't my bed, and wasn't my room. I rolled over and found Max about to fall out of his own bed.

I dragged myself out of bed and opened my closet door. I pulled out a sweatshirt and jeans that were already unpacked and made my way to the bathroom. I was still half asleep and stumbling around.

When I was dressed and done using the bathroom, I went back out to the beds. Max was on the floor, face first, still sleeping. I bent over and grabbed his arm. I pulled him up and helped him to his own closet.

"Uh, Max, it's time to get up." I said. Max started patting my shoulder and mumbling stuff. He laid his head on my shoulder and started snoring again. "Max!"

I nudged him with my shoulder and he managed to prop his head up. Someone knocked on the door and I set Max back on his bed. I answered the door and Hayley was smiling at me.

"I'm here to wake Max." She said, adding a small giggle. I nodded and moved over to let her in.

"Is he always like this in the mornings?"

"Hell yes," Hayley said and walked through the room to Max. I closed the door behind her and followed her. "I've learned how to wake him up. I've been doing this for a while."

There was an uncomfortable silence. She had been here a while. A long while. Maybe longer than Max. She ignored me and continued her daily routine. I sat in one of the chairs and waited for them.

We went through the same process to get breakfast as we did for all our meals. They had my meds in and I didn't cause a huge ass build up in the line.

We sat at the same table we always sat at, in the same seats even. Apparently if things got too different, some of the people freaked out. I should have guessed.

Dan, I found out, was the guy that yelled in the hallway on the first day. Apparently he has weird outbursts like that sometimes. He doesn't mean any harm though.

I hadn't learned much about Hayley. She mostly kept to herself and that meant she kept her secrets to herself. I wasn't too nosy, but I still wanted to get to know her. And I did think she was kinda hot.

"On the weekends we get pancakes and waffles. Some quality food in here!" Max said, getting all excited and making Hayley giggle.

"It's only Tuesday." I said, killing all the excitement that was once in the room.

"Yeah, but..." Max said, dropping his head, and staring at his food. We had to stop talking and eat because we had to move on to our morning activity. What that was going to be, I had no idea. They hadn't completely got everything set up for me yet.

"The morning is usually painting. Just follow us." Max told me when we got back to our room. We met Hayley and Dan out in the hallway. I trailed behind the three of them as they walked the familiar halls.

We arrived in an open room. The walls were painted a super light green. It almost wasn't visible. There were lots of windows that let you see out into the parking lot, reminding you of what the outside world looks like.

The number of easels in that room was amazing. I didn't know they were allowed to put that many people in one room. We sat down and the ladies did name checks. My name, of course, wasn't on the list.

"What did you say your name was?" One of them asked. She was using a soft, faked sweet voice. It was like how you would talk to a baby or a retarded person.

"Josh Franceschi." I repeated for the third time since I'd been in that room. The ladies searched through papers and asked more questions. When did you get here? Are you sure you're supposed to be here? Do you know who your assigned nurse is?

I ended up just being sent back to my room. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack anyway.

I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what they would do if we snuck into the art room and stole paint. What if we painted our rooms? They were going to keep us trapped in this fucking mental place anyway, why not?

Max came back in the room an hour later. He sat on his bed and stared at me.

"They really need to sort all this stuff out. It's your third day!" He said. It was the second time I'd caused problems.

"If there was something I could do about it, it'd be done." I said, pulling the blankets up over my head.

"Come on, don't be like that." Max said. I heard his bed creak as he stood up. I felt the blankets being pulled off me.

"Max! Stop it." I said. It turned into an all-out tug-of-war battle. I ended up standing up and we were tugging in between both beds. Max somehow gained enough strength to rip it from my hands. I fell backwards and hit my head on the bed frame.

"Oh my God!" Max screamed and ran over to me. I lifted myself a little and felt the back of my head. Max looked too, and it was bleeding. "I'm so, so, so fucking sorry!"

"Dude, it's not your fault, calm down." I said, laughing a little.

"Knockity-knock-knock!" Hayley said as she walked in the room, Dan following closely behind. "What the hell happened?"

"Tug-of-war gone wrong." Max said, blushing slightly.

"Max! What did I tell you about getting along with roommates?" Hayley exclaimed. She ran over to me, and looked at my head.

"I'm sorry, Hayley." Max pouted. Dan went to go get a nurse, and Max sat on the other side of me.

"Are you okay?" Hayley asked. She looked at me with the most concerned face I've ever seen. I couldn't even speak. I nodded, and she looked back at my head again. She sighed, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked at Max. They both looked like they were freaking out.