18 Weeks

Am I Crazy /Chapter 5

After the decision to place me in a mental institute, my parents dropped me off. It was 2 am in the morning and it took until about noon to fully check me in. Annoyed for waiting for almost 12 hours, I was finally checked in. We had a set schedule for each day. We would wake up around 7 am, then we would have breakfast at 8 am, then we would have a hour to do what ever, from 9 am to 10 am we would have group therapy, right after group therapy we would go to lunch which was at 11 am, we would have 3 hours for recreation until 4 pm which was another group therapy, 5pm was dinner, then we would have the rest of the night to ourself until lights out at 10pm. To be optimistic my favorite part  of my stay was when the group therapy did arts and crafts or games instead of just talking about proactiveness out whatever the group discussion was about. I will admit I met some pretty awesome people. They were not evil terrible people. Most of them were deeply depressed with personal issues. They were friendly and good people I did like talking to them. The one person I connected with most was an elderly woman named Elaine. She was sweet and kind. I met alot of good people. The only person I did not like was a young man named Earl, he was nice at the begginning and I always told him he looked like John Lennon from the Beatles. He was escorted out by police for being violent towards a staff member. I did miss home though. The worst part was when the staff would come into your room in the dead middle of the night with a flashlight shining it right into your eyes waking you up. A young girl about my age named Sonya told me it was because they wanted to make sure you weren't trying to kill yourself while staff weren't around. They usually slack off during the night. Well anyways it seemed logical but never got any sleep and the moment I did the bright flashlights would pierce my eyes. Alot of the time I would sit and think about home, Jason, and the unborn childs future. I tried not stressing out from thinking too much. One late afternoon I thought about Jason. He didn't know I was here. I didn't want him to think I was blowing him off. Eventually I did get to speak with him and he was very understanding. I thanked God I had him in my life. Every day I would visit the doctor I was assigned there in the hospital. He was confused as to why I was placed here in the first place. The doctor said he had scheduled a meeting with my parents to see if I could be released. Needless to say the visit went horrible and the doctors and staff decided to let me go home anyways. I had spent about 4 days in the hospital which seemed like years. I was happy to be leaving. As I drove home with my dad he was actually sympathetic towards me. I got home and was surprised to see all of my stuff back at home. My father said that it was best that I remain at home. I didn't feel like arguing. I felt like sleeping. I went to sleep hoping that everything would soon be ok.