Gone Mental

Chapter 3 : Making a friend?

Chapter 3

The next day...

Riker POV

I spent the night under my bed. I really didn't get much sleep though. I was scared.

My door opened, and Matt bent down to see me hiding under here.

"Riker, I have some new clothes for you. I want you to change, and then have some breakfast, ok?"

I shook my head no. But he grabbed my hands, and pulled me out. I stayed curled up. But he made me stand, and handed me a change of clothes. It was just a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a white T-shirt. He put me in the bathroom, so I changed.

I came out, and Matt was gone. So I crawled back under my bed. But then he came back. He pushed a tray of food under my bed towards me, but I wasn't hungry.

Later...

Riker POV

"Time for group therapy," Matt said, pulling me out from under my bed.

I was clinging to his arm the whole way down the hallway. He brought me to the same room as yesterday, and made me sit down in the circle of chairs. I begged him not to leave me, but he said he had other things he had to do.

I was all alone in a circle of strangers. I pulled my legs to my chest. And I guess I leaned back a little too much because the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, and the chair was on top of me.

Someone took the chair off of me. I looked up, and saw a girl about my age.

She helped me up. I curled up in my chair again. She sat next to me.

Later...

Riker POV

When group therapy was over, Matt came back, and took me to some lounge area thingy. I begged him to let me go back to my room, but he said no.

I curled up on the end of a couch. I wanted to be in the corner of the room. I felt safer.

The girl that helped me earlier sat next to me.

"Hey, I'm Ericka."

"I-I'm R-Riker," I said, almost whispering.

I curled up even more.

"You ok?" Ericka asked.

"I'm really tired, and I just want to go back to my room, but I'm not allowed..." I said, quietly.

"Yeah, they're making me stay here too."

"A-are you g-going to hurt m-me?"

"No. Why would I hurt you?"

"Because everyone wants to hurt me..." I whispered.

"Well I promise I won't hurt you."

"Ok..."

All of a sudden, the fire alarms went off. I let out a yelp, jumped up, and tried to crawl behind the couch.

"Riker, come on. We have to go!" Ericka said.

She grabbed my hand, and pulled me out. I clung to her arm. One of the nurses led us outside.

"Just so you know, this is only a drill," Ericka told me.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Every week we do one."

"Oh..."

Matt came over to us.

"You doing alright, Riker?" Matt asked.

I just nodded a little, and then Matt walked off somewhere.

"When can we go back inside?" I asked, quietly.

"In a few minutes," Ericka said.

"Ok..."

After a few minutes, they let us go back inside. I went back to my spot on the couch, and Ericka sat next to me.

"So you're new here, right?" Ericka asked.

"Um... Yeah..."

"Do you like it here, or do you totally hate it?"

"Hate it..."

"Yeah... When I first got put here, I hated it. I didn't want to cooperate with anyone. I didn't want to listen, or even try to let them help me. I was just angry and upset that my family put me here. But once I accepted it, and let everyone help me... I've been doing a lot better. So... You should give it a chance. It really helps."

I just looked at her. I wasn't sure if she was lying or not. But... She seemed like she was telling the truth, so I sort of believed her. But I'm not going to cooperate if they're going to hurt me. No way.

Matt came back, and took me back to my bedroom. I crawled back under my bed, and pulled the sheets over me. I was still really tired from barely sleeping last night.

I couldn't help but think about Ericka though. Part of me wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know why she was here. She seemed fine. But obviously, if she's here, there's something wrong with her. But what?