Dr Jardine and I walked only a few steps, before we arrived at a door which looked exactly like mine. The female knocked on it three times, before entering.
"Alex, your new friend is here," she squealed in an overly high-pitched voice.
This was the thing I hated about mental institutions. The patients were treated like children, who did not understand a thing you said to them. Even though, with some of them, that was the case, it did not mean that everyone else was that way. And, from how Alex looked, I could tell that he wasn't like that.
Averting my gaze from the ground, I glanced up to see a boy, around my age, sitting up on his mattress. His hair was brown, choppy and not brushed. It was pretty early still, so maybe he had just woken up a while ago. The boy had warm, deep brown eyes, which had a homely feeling to them. In addition his face was lit up by a contagious, million dollar smile.
"Tay, you never said he would be so awesome!" Alex jumped up from the mattress and skipped towards me, engulfing me in a hug and almost knocking the air out of my lungs. That boy had a grip. I awkwardly wrapped my arms around him too, not sure what I should be doing, as Dr Jardine – I wondered why Alex called her 'Tay', maybe it was short for something like Taylor or Taya or Tayla – gave me a reassuring grin.
"Uh, hi, Alex," I greeted, letting my arms drop, however the other boy did not let go. This was a lot more uncomfortable than I would have expected.
"We are going to be best friends! We're so alike. I mean, we're in a mental hospital for psychopaths together, we both have bipolar disorder and, look, we basically have the same hairstyle as well. You have this weird bit in yours though." Alex pulled away, scrunching up his nose, as he fumbled with the few strands of my hair, which I had previously dyed to a blonde colour. This made me want to kill something; I hated it when people even as much as laid a finger on my hair. "But that doesn't matter, we're still like twins! You're so wonderful, Jack."
"This is Dr Barakat, not Jack," the only female in the room scolded and Alex rolled his eyes at her comment.
I was once again, pulled into a deadly embrace and I struggled for air. This boy was strangely hyper; maybe as well as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, he also had some sort of impulse disorder like ADHD. It was very likely because, if he had two illnesses, it would be easy to develop a third one, especially if he was bipolar. Poor guy.
"How about you two go and get breakfast?" Dr Jardine offered and I was puzzled.
"What? Already? I've only been here for like 10 minutes," I argued. In all honesty, I was still slightly afraid of Alex. Sure, he seemed friendly and all, but could I seriously trust him not to hurt me? I knew that there were many dangerous people here and he could be one of them.
"Jack," Dr Jardine said in a warning voice.
"This is Dr Barakat, not Jack," Alex mimicked the woman's previous words, in a high pitched voice, and her face reddened with anger, while I snickered. However she decided to ignore his snide comment.
"Alex needs to have breakfast and you are going to take him there."
"Fine, mom," I muttered under my breath. Luckily she didn't hear, but Alex did which made him melodiously giggle like a child. He grabbed my hand and I tried to flinch away, but he intertwined our fingers and pulled me out of the room. I followed behind, cautiously but quickly, as he dragged me through a few corridors, until we reached the room which I had walked through just minutes ago. However, this time, there were actual people there.
Just like I assumed, it was the cafeteria. Unlike most of the other rooms in this building, the walls here were a hospital green – you know, the kind of colour which makes you sick from just looking at it but, at the same time, relaxes your body. There was unquestionably a lot more people than could possibly fit on just the ground floor, so I assumed that there was only one cafeteria in the whole building and all patients ate here. It made sense: patients on suicide watch were not allowed to go to the higher floors, but there was no harm in the others coming down.
Alex led me to a queue and we quickly moved forwards. The boy insisted that I got something to eat, even though I wasn't hungry, so I settled on a small and refreshing bowl of cereal. Alex got himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and we made our way to an empty, circular table. The two of us sat beside each other.
Alex happily munched away at his sandwich, while I sluggishly prodded my cornflakes with my spoon.
"So, what's happening after breakfast? Do you have a set timetable?" I asked, my words cutting through our silence like a blade.
"Don't you remember how this works? I thought you have been here before, a few years ago..."
"I have, but I just forget some things really quickly. My bipolar disorder makes me have slight memory loss and I don't remember much from that long ago. It kind of sucks sometimes, but I can live with it." I shrugged. As I averted my gaze from my bowl of cereal to Alex, I noticed something flash in his eyes. It almost looked like he just had the best idea in the world and I expected one of those cartoon light bulbs to appear above his head and light up but, to my slight disappointment, it never happened. Alex quickly returned to normal and answered my original question.
"Well, yes. We do have timetables. And today I have to..." He trailed off, biting down on his bottom lip as if trying to recall something. "What day is it?"
"Wednesday."
"Well, on Wednesdays I usually have a meeting with Tay-"
"Dr Jardine," I corrected, which made Alex glare at me playfully.
"Anyway, I usually have a meeting with her straight after breakfast but, yesterday, she told me that I didn't have to come and I could spend time with you!"
The boy did a cute little dance at the end, as if he was really looking forward to it. Was he being sincere though? Why would he want to spent time with me?
Just as I was about to ask another question, a tall, skinny boy approached the table we were sitting at. He had dark shaggy hair and his eyes were framed by a pair of glasses.
"Doctor, why are you sitting with him?" His brown orbs flashed between Alex and I, making me confused. Was he talking to me? I guessed that the news about me being a new 'doctor' had spread pretty quickly.
I looked to Alex for help, having no idea how to answer that question, only to see my new friend glaring at the other boy with such ominous eyes that it honestly sent chills down my spine. Alex looked like he was almost daring the other male to say another word.
"Because," he said through gritted teeth, "the doctor and I are allowed to sit together. Now go away, Brendon. Don't you have to see Dr Armstrong anyway?"
This so called Brendon stared at Alex confusedly, and so did I. What just happened?
Slowly Brendon backed away until he was fully out of the crowded cafeteria. I was speechless. Alex, this overly joyous little boy who had, so far, been nothing but kind and playful, had just completely offended another patient. Maybe there was more to him than the eye could see.
YOU ARE READING
Source Of Sorrow [BoyXBoy]
Fanfiction[Jalex] In Clearwater Low Security Mental Institution, no one seems to be able to understand Alex Gaskarth. That is until a lonely student, named Jack Barakat, takes on the role of a doctor, in order to help his family financially. [WARNING: Contain...