Echo Creek Mental Institution

Chapter 9: Mountains out of mole hills

As much as I love my parents and as much as my parents love me, there is a slight disconnect when it comes to our bond. I lie to them. A lot. It's not a real lie like 78.9% if the time it's accidental but it constantly happens because I keep telling them I'm fine.
But I don't do it on purpose I don't walk downstairs with the intention of lying to them it's just, when I see their tired faces from a long day at work, I just can't bring them down. They count on my stories of the day to help bring them into the next one. My moms a CEO at Mewni Corp. which she inherited from her mom. They manufacture kids toys there. But she's so above it I don't think she's part of the design team anymore, which is why she agreed to join the company in the first place. She loved designing and making kids smile and laugh but I think that dream died with her mom, which is why she even took over the company. She actually could be part of it, but all she does is complain about her coworkers and how much work she has. I don't actually know if she likes her job anymore and that thought is terrifying.
My dad on the other hand just worked for a company. Whenever I asked him what he did, I get a grumble that it was whatever the boss wanted him to do. He comes back late cause of work while my mom just needs to be the last to leave. It's stupid.
The main problem I have with my parents and their job is that they are very detached from anything going on in my life. If you're not home by 8:30 at the earliest and work on Sundays, how the fuck do you have time for a child? I firmly believe they shouldn't have had one, or at least had ones years earlier so I'd be at college by now. Honestly, I get the feeling that they don't really care about me, because clearly it took me standing on a roof with a lightning rod for them to do anything. I asked them for a therapist about a year before now. I still never got one. My mom was always "working on it". I knew she just wanted me to believe that so I didn't realize she didn't care.

I followed the other kids to the visiting area. It was just at the other side of the long ass hallway I saw when I first walked in, the pale yellow still annoying me.
We rounded a corner to a shallow room with lots of windows. There was a terrace with plants. Lots of plants. We were several floors up, I don't know how they got all those plants up here. Did they have to drive super fast, lest they die? Are they real? How fast do plants die? Is it jut like us, three days without water and a week without food? Would they die faster?
"Star!" My thoughts about plants and death is unknowingly interrupted by my mom running over and giving me a hug. Funny, I thought she had work to do.
"Hi mom!" I smile and hug back. I was always happy for live from them, it did make me happy. I just didn't like what comes next in our interactions. Maybe it would be different, given the setting.
We sit down in some chairs that littered the room. Some had tables between, others were just clustered in groups of two to five. Half empty decks of cards were in the center of one of the table where this girl Kelly sat. She had green hair and glasses and a purple sweater on. I wonder why she was here.
"So..." my mom seemed weary of questions. Or maybe I was just being paranoid.
"So it's fine." I say, knowing what she'd ask. "How are you and dad?"
"It's boring without you." She days with a smile. "But were glad you're here."
That's a line that someone in a book would've stuttered awkwardly after. The whole 'well not glad you're here, happy you're gettin help. Well not happy you need help but...' and so on. I'd have to interrupt them. My mom assumed I knew what she meant which is stupid since half the time I don't know what anyone is talking about.
"Yeah it's uh..." I try to think of the word I raise my hands up and push them down to try to signal my meaning. If eyes were our strongest sense, why do we talk so god damn much?
"Relaxing?"
"No." I keep gesturing.
"Calming?"
"Simpling." I say. "It's very simpling."
My mom raised an eyebrow. "Honey that's not a word."
"Well it should be."
"It's a good word." My mom confirms. English is so feeble like why couldn't I make up a word? Did it really matter? Like 9/10 people wouldn't be able to tell me that simpling wasn't a word.
"So what's it like in here?"
I didn't want to talk about this but, social rules. "Oh boring. We just do art and meet with psychologists and they make sure we don't self harm or what not." Whatever I just said was 100% wrong. Why'd I say it like that? I was having some fun right? Why do I have this need to make a mountain out a mole hill!?
"Oh do you like your psychologist?"
I think back. "Yeah. I do she's nice."
"Oh okay good."
"Yeah." I think harder. I have to keep this conversation going. Society rules. "Uh oh I met Tom! He's a volunteer here. He started cause of anger management. Isn't that funny?"
"Oh yeah." My mom sorta smiles. "I assume he's good?"
"Yeah." I nod.
"Oh okay I'm glad."
Theres this pause and then my mom begins about her work and such. My mom had a way of talking that took up time and yet she never seemed self conscious she was being annoying. She asked about me a bit. "Any new friends?" I talked about Janna and Jackie and Marco and Pony and the others but didn't mention the whole Marco debacle because if I don't say it, it never happened. I would say it soon, I always do. It's stupid.
Anyways visiting hour ended. I told my mom I needed new clothes and fuzzy socks and to ask if I could have a stuffed animal of some kind. She agreed to all three and we left with a hug and a kiss. For a moment I caught an orderly's eye and I jumped to the conclusion we weren't allowed to hug. But then I caught myself and realized this isn't prison of course I can hug a loved one. We were supposed to get better.
C'mon Star, think normally.

IM BEYOND TIRED UGH I WISH I WASNT WRITING THIS
OKAY GNIGHT
WOLFIE CYPHER