Obsessive, Compulsive.

Nine.

I looked around the corridor wildly, yearning for an excuse not to go into the common room.  "Antonia..."

She turned round. "Yeah?"

"Can you show me your room?" I asked nervously.

Luckily, she didn't seem to know that I was avoiding everyone and just thought that I was interested. "Of course!" She said excitedly, earning a sigh of relief from me.

She lead me down the corridor toward a room at the other end, opening the familiar blue door and strutting proudly into her room. The flaked white paint on the walls was covered with posters and photos. Every photo was a repeat of the previous: friends laughing and smiling, eating ice creams and pulling funny faces. I noticed that Antonia wasn't in any of the pictures herself, but I didn't mention it.

"What do you think?" Antonia sat on her bed. "In Saltridge, your bedroom is a reflection of your personality. It's something to work on when you're bored. You've got to decorate it with whatever represents you. Do you have any pictures or posters with you?"

I shook my head, watching as she dug around in a cardboard box by her window. After a moment, she produced a few posters of bands that I probably wasn't that interested in. Looking through the delicate posters, I tapped the corner of each one four times.

When I reached one poster in particular, I stopped and grinned. In my hand was a poster of a band called Apathy. A band full of Kai's best friends: Felix, Tyler and Dylan. They had gotten more popular recently, but I didn't know that they were this popular.

"You like Apathy?" Antonia looked starry-eyed. "I love them! Tyler is so dreamy, don't you think? And Felix, what a singer! His voice!"

I giggled. "I know them. My brother is friends with them, and his girlfriend's cousin is dating Tyler."

Antonia's jaw dropped. "You've met them?"

"Often." I nodded. "I've known Felix for years, actually. And his girlfriend."

Antonia squealed and started talking desperately. "What's your favourite song? My favourite song is 'Max', it's so sad and emotional and I relate to it. I can't believe you know them! Holy crap!"

"They're not that famous." I laughed, thinking about the goofy bunch of guys that often sat in my lounge and ate chocolate. It was funny to think that Antonia took them seriously, especially as I had seen first hand that they were the least serious people on Earth.

Antonia paused. "You look happy when you think about them."

I shrugged. Kai's  friends were my friends too and I looked up to them all. It had been less than a day, but I already missed my brother. Even so, I denied these feelings and swallowed them down. I wanted to be angry at him.

Antonia approached me and took the posters from my hand, putting them on her bed. "Come on. Let's meet everyone. You can take the posters into your room later."

"But..." I didn't want to see everyone just yet.

"You have to at some point." She encouraged me.

"I know, but-"

"Come on." Antonia ran her skinny fingers through her hair. I saw a few strands of hair fall out of her head, but she didn't seem to notice. "They'll like you."

What could I say? "I don't-"

I was interrupted by a scream from downstairs, and Antonia took off running. She took my arm on the way past and dragged me out, stopping at the top of the stairs to watch what was going on.

Robbie was standing on the reception counter, shouting. Various members of staff were quietly trying to get him to calm down.

Antonia giggled next to me. "Watch what they do. This is what they call a 'Restraint.' You'll see loads of these."

We were suddenly surrounded by about nine more people our age, all running out from the common room and watching with us. No one seemed to take much notice of me, much to my relief. Instead, everyone looked down at Robbie with held breaths.

Suddenly, the calm became frantic, as three male staff member descended on Robert, dragging him to the ground and holding him there. Robbie was kicking and shouting, clearly wanting to be set free.

A low cheer rung out between the small crowd that had gathered, and Antonia giggled. "Damn!"

"That's gotta hurt." A male voice said from somewhere behind me, earning whispers of agreement.

My jaw dropped. I stepped forward, but Antonia grabbed my shoulder. "He's fine. They're doing it so he doesn't hurt himself." She assured me.

He wasn't fine. He was being held down and he didn't like it. He needed me.

Breaking free from Antonia, I sprinted down the stairs straight at the small group where Robbie was being held. Before I could get there, however, I was put to the ground myself. Another cheer came from upstairs.

I lay there, slightly winded, staring up at the ceiling. The member of staff that had restrained me was a kind looking woman who looked at me with pity. She shook her head at me, holding me down gently so as not to hurt me. I craned my neck to look at Robbie, who was staring at me in shock, no longer thrashing around.

"Let her go." He said from over on the ground. No one did anything. "Let her go." He warned again, this time sounding fiercer.

The staff exchanged glances and I was suddenly being helped up. I brushed myself down and frowned over at Robbie. He relaxed slightly as I panted to regain my breath.

Antonia was suddenly by my side, slipping her hand into mine. "She's new! You can't just restrain her on the first day!" She fumed at the staff around her.

The woman that had held me down sighed. "I'm sorry, we had to. We didn't know your intentions for coming down here. I'm truly sorry, love. Go upstairs and chill out for a bit." She looked up at everyone else. "That goes for all of you."

After complaining mumbles, everyone started dispersing up into the common room. As Antonia led me upstairs, I couldn't stop looking behind me to check on Robert. "What are they going to do with him?" I asked her.

"Nothing. They'll wait for a bit until he's definitely safe and then they'll put him on the acute ward for a couple of days." Antonia shrugged. "Do you want to go and sit in your room for a while?"

"Acute ward?" I questioned.

"It's the corridor down there." She pointed to our left. "They send the most severe patients there for twenty four hour monitoring. They do it for the ones that are the most dangerous, but hardly anyone's ever there except Robert."

Sighing, I followed Antonia into my room and collapsed onto my bed. She looked sadly at me. "Stop worrying about him. He's alright. You'll see him at mealtimes tonight anyways."

"Can I sit with you at mealtimes?" I asked.

Antonia went bright red and then deathly pale. She shook her head. "Sit with Eve or someone... I... I don't sit with everyone else for mealtimes, I go in a different room."

"Oh!" I looked at how thin she was. "Okay."