ANATHEMA

chapter four: kitchen sink

Ashley led the four of us to the cafeteria, an area Dr. DeLonge had failed to show me.

It was fairly big, about the same size as the main room. Again, the floors were covered in carpet, this time a dull white. Long tables in rows of four were placed in the room, some people already sitting. There was a small fridge filled with bottles of water, which was strategically positioned right next to a nurse who was holding a tray with little cups filled with different pills.

The four of us filed down the line; taking the bottled water, taking our designated cup of pills, then taking the tray of food.

I followed Josh and Ashley, who seemed to have already had a spot picked out. We went to the table farthest from the fridge and the pills and sat at the four seats farthest from the entrance. We sat in the same order we did in the main room; Josh and Ashley next to each other, and Tyler and I across from them.

"So," I start. "What's with the carpet?"

"Once, we had this guy called Jon Walker who just banged his head against every hard surface he could find, including the floor. He ended up hurting himself pretty bad, so the people in charge decided to replace all the tiles with carpet," Ashley said, her mouth full with pasta.

"Huh."

"Yeah, I watched it happen."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it was gross."

Josh and Ashley continued talking about Jon, but I zoned out.

When I looked around the room, I saw that Strings was still nowhere to be found.

Which was bad, very bad.

Strings was always there, in the corner of my eye. Taunting me, laughing at me, driving me crazy - literally.

I looked to the ceiling; their trademark black ooze wasn't falling, dripping down from it.

I looked to the windows; they weren't flying around, flaying woodland creatures left and right, like they usually do.

I tried to distract myself by picking up my fork and stabbing my own noodles. It tasted like cardboard, but I kept feeding myself.

My empty hand started shaking, and noticeably. I jammed it into my lap, hoping to stop it's movement, but it did nothing.

I could feel hot tears forming on my eyelids, but I refused to let them fall. That would only be bait for when Strings comes back.

I knew they would.

My thoughts soon dissipated, however. I felt a small finger, a pinky finger, snake it's way to mine. It wrapped itself around my own loosely; not tight enough to be like a pinky promise, but still there.

Tyler had somehow noticed my panic and was trying his best to console me.

I looked down at the two separate fingers, intwined together. The sight filled me with such happiness, such amusement, such...hope. I had barely known this boy for an hour, yet he was doing his best to comfort me.

I heard a tiny, ripping noise, and looked over to Tyler's other hand. He was tearing out a small corner of his notebook, a small message already written on it. He slowly set the paper on my knee, then slid his pencil to my opened hand.

'Are you okay?'

I smiled slightly at his worry, and wrote my reply:

'I don't know...I can't see Strings and that would be good but I'm scared they're gonna do something to me when they come back.'

I gave the paper and the pencil back to Tyler. After a few seconds of reading, his pinky tightened around mine. I felt a surge of an unfamiliar emotion, but I ignored it. More bait for Strings.

He began to slide the paper back to me, but a sudden, booming voice, shouted, "Dinner's over. Time for bed!" Several patients screamed, some cheered. Tyler's finger disappeared.

"Hey, Ophelia," Ashley called to me over the noise. "Do you know where your room is from here?"

"No, actually," I muttered, throwing my uneaten food into the trash and setting the tray on top of it. "I was hoping to get a guard to help, or-"

"What's your room number?" she asked. I told her what I vaguely remembered, to which she said, "Oh, I know where that is! Do you want me to take you there?" I nodded fervently, a smile breaking my face for the first time today. "I'll see you later, guys," she said to Josh and Tyler. Josh waved and sent us a smile. Tyler just looked up at me and smiled slightly and quickly. Ashley took my hand and headed out of the cafeteria.

Eventually, we headed down a hallway, the doors opened automatically. We paused outside my room, but before I could walk in, Ashley stopped me.

"Hey, um," she murmured. "Are you alright? I saw you on the verge of tears at lunch, and you barely ate anything."

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes, saying quietly, "I guess it's just since it's my first day here, like high school, or something. I miss home, that's all."

"Are you sure?" she asked, worry etching itself into her eyes. I nodded, trying to smile and convince her. She chewed on her lip, but nodded, content enough with my answer.

The next thing she did threw me by surprise.

She grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a hug, her arms wrapped around my waist.

I didn't know how to respond at first. I don't think I've actually been hugged in quite some time. I slowly placed my arms around her, dipping my head into the crook of her neck.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"No," Ashley murmured, breaking apart from me. "Thank you. I know, I just met you and all, but I like you, I like you a lot, so does Josh. I'm not sure about Tyler, I normally am when it comes to him. But, I know he doesn't normally acknowledge people, not even the two of us, and we're his best friends. But, you've managed to somehow communicate with him through his notebook. He doesn't let anyone touch that thing, let alone write in it. He looks at you and smiles at you and everything."

That warm feeling that spread throughout my body when Tyler held my pinky came to me again. I felt a slow, stupid grin spread through my features. Ashley squeezed my hands once, then turned and walked back down the hallway.

I let out a sigh, and walked into my new room.

I tried to ignore the blood dripping from the walls, and the corners of the room bursting into flames.

I tried to ignore Strings falling from the ceiling, their stupid laugh echoing in my ears.

I slipped into my new bed, the mattress tough and the blanket itchy.

I turned to face the wall, away from the gore my mind was creating.

I fell asleep with tears rolling down my cheeks and onto my pillow, hearing Strings scream, "You'll never get rid of me. I will allllwayssss beeee heeerrreee..."