The Mental Hospital

Eleven

  A/N: Last chapter until this weekend. D:

The sun shines in my eyes, making me wake up. I groan before rubbing the sleep out if my eyes. Jake is still sleeping. I go to the bathroom and start the shower, steam filling up the room. I then get in, letting the hot droplets of water roll down my back. Jake knocks on the door, scaring the shit out of me. "Forest, can I come in?" He asks, his voice groggy.

"Yeah, sure." The door opens and then shuts. "Morning," he mumbles. "Hey." I say. I can hear him peeing and I mentally shudder. Soon after he cracks the door so the steam can leave the room and I assume he's doing his hair and such. He finishes before me and leaves.

I come out of the bathroom and put my stuff in my suitcase. Alex is making his bed. We still have an hour before breakfast according to the clock. "You wanna go wake up the the guys and Luna?" He asks. I shrug. "I guess."

With this he frowns at me. "C'mon. Maybe seeing the guys will make you a little less depressed." I cock my head to the side. "Why do you care how I feel?" I ask. He shrugs. "I dunno. Just do." He leaves and I follow him to wake up Taylor and Alex.

***

Taylor is uncontrollably sobbing. Alex gets out of bed to reveal he's in nothing but boxers. He goes and sits next to Taylor, wiping the tears from his eyes. "No, no, no. Baby, please don't cry. It's okay. I'll come and visit every day, I promise." Taylor shoved him away. "You don't get it! You're a patient! They don't let you come back for six months! I'll be back in Hood River by then!" Alex's lips parted, but then closed. He didn't know what to say. Hood River was a small town in our state, Oregon, a couple of hours away from here. I don't know where Alex lives, but I'm assuming far away from Hood River.

The tension in the room was so thick, I swear you could cut it with a knife.

"When did you guys get together?" I ask, breaking the silence. "Last night." Alex says. "And you didn't even think about where this would go?" Jake says. "I mean, come on; you met in the looney bin. We're all fuckin' crazy, but we all get out at some point. I mean, really. Some of us are only here for a couple days."

This makes me upset. I leave. I can feel tears make their way down my cheeks. People only stay here for three days? I have to stay here for at least two months. This proves you can't do anything. You screw up.

  I stay in my room until Luna comes to get me. "Hey, Forest! I have good news!" She says cheerily. I frown at her. She returns the frown. "What's wrong?" She asks and sits on the edge of my bed. "Lots of people just come here for, like, three days. I have to stay here for two months."

She frowns and looks guilty. "Oh." She says. "You're getting out soon, aren't you?" I ask. "That was the good news, wasn't it?" She nods. "I'm sorry Forest. But, maybe this is a good thing. Everything happens for a reason, you know?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I just want to get out of here so I can hurry up and kill myself." Luna frowns at me again. "Forest...You're an awesome person. You have a pretty good life."

I suddenly feel really bad. Luna was here because she self-harmed. Her dad beat her, and her mom, which made her depressed. "Shit, Luna. I'm sorry." I rub my eyes and sigh. "I'm so selfish. You have it way worse than me. Where are you even going once you get out?" I say.

"My mom found an apartment about and hour from here." She says. "And you're not selfish. I wish you could see how awesome you really are." She leans in slowly. Her lips are about a centimeter away from mine when I pull back and land on my ass.

Luna frowns at me. "Sorry." She says. "Luna," I start. "You're a great girl. I just don't wanna end up like Taylor. Maybe when I get out of here, but...I can't. I can't deal with heartbreak. I'm already fucked up enough."

"Forest, stop it!" Luna screams at me. "You are not fucked up! You are perfect and every single fucking way, okay?! You're beautiful and cool and interesting and nice to have around! Why can't you see that?! Huh?! You always complain about no one caring and no one loving you, but maybe it's because you don't let people, Forest! You don't let people love you! You don't let people care!" She moves her face closer to mine. "So why don't you let me?" She whispers.

Tears are pricking at my eyes. Luna leans in and kisses me. Not a hungry one like the other night, but a loving one. To show me she cares. I don't kiss back. She pulls away and looks at me. She then gets up and walks towards the door. "I love you, Forest." She says.

"You don't know what love is!" I scream at her like she did to me. "You've only known me for three days! Three days!" With that she slams my door as I break down in tears.