Institutionally Romeo and Juliet

Chapter 1

Alana's P.O.V.

I'm awakened by a distant yelling in what I believe is the kitchen of my parents' house. I don't know why I said it like that because I don't have a house or apartment myself even though I'm 19 years old. They tried to send me to college, by they I mean my parents, but with my little sister Amy still in high school I knew I couldn't leave her behind with them. 

"Meredith, we have to send her there she's losing it!", I hear my father scream at my mother. 

"But we're going to lose her, too." My mother said calmly.  

"She's already fucking gone..."

With that statement, I knew I had to start packing before they came storming into my room to tell me to. I'm not dumb, maybe mentally insane but definitely not stupid. 

I get up from my all-too-comfy bed trying not to squish the tiny dog that was still laying sound asleep at the foot of it. Bandit, a yorkie, has been in my life since I was about 8 years old. We have a mutual agreement that I won't wake him if he doesn't wake me at the crack of dawn. I mutter a small apology to him as I start shuffling around my room packing what clothes I can. I highly doubt that wherever I'm going has a good sense of style, let alone my comfortable style. I grab some more skinny jeans, hoodies, and the pair of vans that I've traveled most of my troubled roads in. I slide them on because this is yet another road that I don't want to go down without them. They now fit the to mold of my feet to where I can easily slip them on and their once bold black is now a faded weird black color with a darken white stripe on the side of them. 

As I leave my room, an overwhelming sense of sadness surrounds me, but I hold back my tears. I'm not going to let them see that they are very close to pushing me over my breaking point. I pass by Amy's room and think about waking her up to tell her bye but I'm hoping I will be back in less than a week because I know I'm not as crazy as they make it seem that I am.  

As I enter the kitchen both of my parents glare at me like they forgot that I can actually hear. I look at both of them and with the backpack on my back and my vans on my feet they know that I'm ready to go. 

"Well, I'm ready, let's go." I mutter as I walk by them to go to the garage where my trusty stead of a car awaits. 

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"How much longer in this god forsaken shit show?" I yell from the backseat of the trusty stead.

For what I believe has been over 6 hours of driving into the depths of hell. No one has spoken a word since we left, like they weren't just talking shit about me this very morning. No one responds like they don't want me to know where I'm going so I can't come back. 

I honestly could care less where I am going, it's more like I would love to know when we will get there seeming so that I can get out of this car. My ass is numb, and I don't think I can sleep anymore. It's funny because when I used to play soccer we would travel to different places around the country and I wouldn't have a single complaint about the drive. That was different though, I knew where the team was going every single time we stepped on that bus.

This is the fear of the unknown. It's what drives our minds to go to places we can't imagine and form thoughts that aren't sane. It can make us do the unimaginable. 

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We've been in Indiana for a while now and it now seems like we're getting off on an exit that looks like it leads to the middle of nowhere that's right beside a cornfield. 

I've only been to Indiana once for soccer and I can tell you there's not much here. Soybeans, corn, and multiple roads that lead to the middle of nowhere. Most of the country people are nice here but once you go into the city it's a whole different atmosphere. 

Most of the state is small towns that know everything about each other and some of the most heated rivalries you could ever encounter. 

Anyways, no one has talked since I asked when we were going to get to wherever we were going. Well, if you count when we stopped at a McDonald's after I shouted I was hungry as hell. 

As I sip on my sweet tea, we pass by old houses that could easily be buildings. They're all old and some even look vacant, just waiting to be explored. 

I see a barbed wired fence that has to be over 10 feet high rolling by the road that seems to have nothing in it until, almost out of nowhere, a brick building the is at least four stories high and windows everywhere. The windows, of course, had metal bars on the outside of them. The building looks like it's been there before time itself. I can see lost people roaming about inside the fence which seems to close before it gets to the front door. 

My intuition is right because turn down the driveway up to the house. A new anxiety starts in the pit of my stomach that slowly creeps to the rest of my body. I suddenly wish I was in this car just a bit more than what I have been. 

I gather up my phone and my backpack so when the car comes to a stop I can get out easily and fast. I honestly have no idea whether my parents are coming inside with me, and I couldn't care less. 

The car comes to a stop and I walk out and head straight for the old-time doors that look like they need repainting. As I walk in the front desk nurse stands up to welcome me and I hear my parents close in behind me. 

I smile as I say, "Let's get this motherfucking thing on a roll, shall we?"

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