Insane?

Chapter 22:

*SOPHIA'S POV:

I'm now on my second week into the program. Getting up was becoming much easier; I'm not much of a monster anymore. I decided on a simple maroon dress today with flats to match, wearing my hair and makeup pretty much the same per usual. I threw my lunch in my bag that held my other necessary belongings and headed out with Mom. Carpooling was easier for the both of us.

I noticed new things on the ride to and from the hospital. Only little things, like a tree or the cracked window of an old barn. I've seen Karen and Manny quite a few times outside their house, but I never saw Shawn. I was tempted to jump out of the moving car and ask them questions, begging and pleading them to let me see him, but I wanted to respect Shawn's decision. (Plus, I knew that I'd end up killing myself if I actually did jump out of a movie vehicle. I'm not exactly coordinated enough to be a stuntman.)

The guards didn't even question my mom and me anymore since we were regulars. Mom pulled up to the entrance and I gave her a quick goodbye before hopping out of the car and up the set of stairs. Putting my ID card up to the scanner, I heard a click of the door. After opening it and sliding through with ease, I greeted Carly at the front desk.

"Dr. Collins is running a little late today, Soph. She said you could either head down to her office or the kid's room. Honestly, though, none of the kids are here right now."

"Alright, I'll head down to her office then. Thanks Carly." I waved.

"No problem, hun." she said, continuing her paperwork.

I slid my ID card to open the next set of doors, walking down the usual workers wing and to the office. I set my bag in the usual spot, grabbing my notebook, pen, and phone. I had split up a large notebook into two sections: notes and entries. The front half of the notebook is where I had my questions and answers, and the second half is where I wrote diary-like entries of my days here. I flipped to the journal part and started a new passage.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Woodsley. I'm sorry I'm late, my car wouldn't start." Dr. Collins said, entering the room.

"Oh it's fine, I just got here, too." I shrugged, flipping back to my notes section.

"What's on the agenda for today?" she asked, glancing down at her annotations. "Let's see, you've adjusted very well with the kids. They absolutely adore you! And you've met some of the teenage patients, correct?"

"I've met quite a few, yes. I've met all the children as well."

"Thank you for the refresher. You can probably start appearing in the cafeteria and recreational room about now. It's really not that much of a difference. You'll be fine." she said, scribbling something in her notes. "So, anything you'd like to discuss today? A certain topic or question, perhaps?"

I've been wanting to ask millions upon millions of questions about Shawn, but never found an opportunity that flowed into the conversation smoothly. I guess now could be my chance. "Yes, actually." I answered, flipping to a certain page in my notebook. "I'm gonna try to explain this without it getting confusing, so my apologies if that occurs."

"Go ahead, I'm listening,"

"I- let's say I have this friend, and this friend just randomly started showing behaviors that he's never shown before." I started, "I'd like to try and understand what the problem is, but he doesn't know either. I'd love to hear your thoughts."

"What's going on with this said friend?" she curiously asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the desk.

"I know him like the back of my hand; we're really close and have been for years. I know his quirks and his personality and everything, so when things got different, I noticed—he noticed. It started out with these horrible night terrors, and—and random waves of nausea, like he would just feel like he had the flu in the middle of summer. It gradually increased into hallucinations, disorientation, violent outbursts, etc. The slightest things would set him into fits of rage and he's not an aggressive person whatsoever. And when these things do happen, it's like he wasn't even there. He recalls nothing unless he's really good at denying."