The Asylum {Rewrite}

Ch. 1: There's a New Life Ahead.

     Sixteen-year-old Edward Gold, commonly known as 'Edd', was in his room, or his closet, to be exact, drawing on his drawing tablet, he loved that tablet, it was the perfect size for the short teen, the pen was just the right size for his larger-than-average hands, it was easy to use, it was just perfect for him. Edward was drawing an apocalyptic scene, for he loved horror like that, as a guilty pleasure, despite being very jumpy, and that one time he cuddled him mum, Sarah Gold, sobbing in fear.

     Anyway, there Edd was, cooped up in his closet, drawing, when there was a knock at the front door, Edd was about to offer to get it, when Sarah shouted "I'll get it, hon!" Edd nodded as if his mum could see him and called back "O-Okay,".

     And that was that, or so Edd thought, for due to the Gold's politeness towards each other, offering to answering the door whilst the other continue doing what they were doing, ignoring the constant knocking at the door before someone called "Anyone home?" eventually lead to the rule: Whoever offers to answer the door first answers it.

     So, the door was answered by Sarah, and Edd continued drawing his apocalypse, not paying attention to the conversation Susan was having with the man outside... Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen, then twenty. Edd could only tell the man was still there because his phone had died playing music, so he was drawing in silence, except for being able to hear the slight muffles of conversation through his closed closet and bedroom doors.

     "Hey, Edward?" Sarah called. "Y-Yea?" Edd asked, kinda worried because his mum only used his formal name at home when something was urgent. "Could you please come out here? Governor Smithson was at the door and he'd like to speak with you. Alone." Edd almost choked, Governor Smithson?! The one on the news?! The most trusted governor in the British Army?! Edd's mind began racing, and he almost forgot to answer Sarah. "Y-Yea, g-g-gimme a s-second!"

     Edd scrambled out of the closet, clumsily jamming the closet door for the longest thirty seconds in his life due to him rushing awkwardly. He set his drawing tablet and pen on his bed and opened the door to his room, and walked up out of the basement in which housed his room, the basement wasn't a dark storage kind, it was one of those homey, second living room kinds of basements, with a restroom and a bedroom, which was Edd's room.

     Edd almost tripped over the last step, he felt kinda dizzy, the kind of feeling he had when he was dragged to a social event by some classmate with good, social intentions, only to realize Edd's social skills were much below the typical 'Shy art kid' title. Usually Edd could kinda handle talking to a stranger holding up a decent 'I'm just shy, sorry!' facade, but today was different...

     By the time Edd was looking Smithson in the face, he was sweating bullets, silently hyperventilating, and feeling even dizzier than before. Despite his body sending so many red flags to him, Edd forced himself to be polite. Edd reached out his right hand, "N-N-Nice t-to m-meet y-y-you, sir.." Smithson shook Edd's hand firmly "You too, Mr. Gold." He replied poker-faced.

     "Well, I'll leave you two to it, just call me if you need anything," Sarah said as she escorted the two to the couch, and went upstairs to her room. "Sit." Smithson ordered as he sat down across from Edd. Edd obeyed, and remained silent, still sweating. Smithson then handed Edd a waver for a government-run mental hospital for people of all ages, races, and backgrounds, and ordered Edd to read it.

     It seemed like a normal mental facility, there were pictures of an orange building, and patient interviews after being treated and before/after pictures of said patients. The waver said that the facility treats mental problems from Psychosis to Binge Eating Disorder. As Edd read, he didn't see anything wrong with it, but he was confused on why Smithson had wanted to show this to him...