Jenalyn: From the Inside (#3) [Complete]

Chapter 9: Hayden

Sunday, 2:32 P.M. EST

Sarah is a morbid little thing!

I've been sitting here with her while everyone except Ren fiddles around with the instruments provided to us for music therapy. She's got a reason and a half for why she can't play any of the instruments, including the excuse that she can't play a flute in fear of inhaling it. She explained what her last moments would be like in so much detail that it had me fearing for her life!

"I have to find one to play around with though..." she says in conclusion to her wildly gruesome rant. She picks up a triangle, scopes it out with a look of disgust on her face, and then tosses it back onto the table. "They'll mark down that you're depressed if you don't want to play. Ren is the only one that gets to sit around and do nothing."

She says the last part with resentment. My eyes immediately scan the room for Ren until I find her sitting comfortably on a chair pulled up to a table with...

Oh, that must be Evan.

"What instrument are you going to play with?" Sarah asks after a few moments of me staring at Ren and Evan in interest. "I've seen that you play the guitar... I don't know how you aren't afraid of those strings snapping up at your face with all that strumming!"

I laugh, rolling my eyes at her with a smile. I contemplate easing her mind on her whole 'Death by Guitar' thing by explaining why that's not rational; I decide not to though. For being such a little girl, she's as stubborn as a mule! It'd do just as much good talking to a wall.

"My voice is my instrument," I say after a moment, subconsciously finding any way not to participate in these silly 'therapeutic' activities. This is literally why I don't go to therapy. It's all pointless. "I'll warm up and stuff. That should do the trick, right?"

Sarah pulls a keyboard from the side of the table and shrugs her shoulders. "Who knows," she says apathetically. "For that, we could all say the same thing, and do nothing!"

She makes a point, but I don't expend any extra energy trying to find an instrument.

No one has said anything to me yet.

A few minutes pass before I notice Ren skipping over to where I still stand with Sarah in front of the table. She wears her famous cocky smile on her lips up until she reaches us, and then extends her arms while flashing us a sheet of paper.

"Guess who's got the visitor list for today?!" she whispers hurriedly.

Sarah jumps up in excitement. She grasps onto Ren's arm, immediately inquiring about if she has a visitor this week.

Ren shoves Sarah off and crosses her arms over her chest smugly; she eyeballs Sarah as if to try and hold something over the little girls head.

"You can wait until 4 to find out, can't you?" she asks with a pretentious tone in her voice.

Sarah deflates immediately. I see her eyes roll in my peripherals, and can't help myself from letting out a quiet laugh.

"What was the point of you coming over here to tell us that if you weren't going to share?" Sarah asks with an attitude I couldn't imagine to come from her tiny body.

Ren narrows her eyes, though her smile remains. She shoves Sarah gently, but it still causes Sarah to stumble back into the table anyway because she's so small.

"Cut the attitude, little girl," Ren says sternly, flashing me a quick wink before turning back to Sarah. "Your mother is coming; Your sister, too- so that should be interesting."

I see Sarah clam up immediately. Her cheeks grow flushed before she mumbles something quickly, and scrambles off without another word.

"It's her twin," Ren says without missing a beat, turning toward me with a malicious smile hidden behind her smug one. "She's super jealous of Sienna... It probably won't be a great visitation night for Sarah," she shrugs, leaving me to respond.

But I don't know how to respond.

I don't even know how she expects me to respond! I mean- am I supposed to chuckle with her because she just upset a little girl? Inquire more? Just stand here and wait for her to talk again?

Ren must sense my inability to find anything to say because, after a few moments of just waiting for my response, she pipes in instead.

"Looks like your mama bear is coming to see you today!" She says after a few moments. "How come your sisters aren't coming? Are they too good for mental wards?"

Oh... Harper isn't coming to see me.

I'm pretty sure she hates me. It shouldn't come as a surprise that she doesn't want to visit; I kind of thought she would though...
I definitely want to apologize to her. I know that if anyone, Harper deserved to find me like that the least. She trusted me, and I betrayed her...

God, I'm almost positive she hates me.

Too many thoughts start to swirl my mind, but I easily ignore them to respond to Ren.

"They're probably busy," I say after a moment, trying not to let the disappointment show on my face. "Our schedules were really packed before I ended up here, so..."

Ren nods her head as if she understands, but something odd still rests behind the look on her face.

"I bet it's more than that..." she says after a few seconds, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly before seemingly just dropping the subject as a whole. "But hey! Guess what! I have another surprise!"

The excitement on her face becomes almost contagious. I have no idea what I'm standing here acting excited for- but I quickly clasp my hands together at my chest while I ask what the surprise is.

Ren raises one brow with a grin. "Well," she says in a tone meant to make me sit at the edge of my seat. "I got something worked out for you, and I'm going to have you moved into a double room- ...with me!"

Ren jumps up and down excitedly, waiting for the same excitement to fall over me. I have to let it set in for a moment, but I do my best to match her excitement.

"Not tonight though..." Ren says quietly after a moment, a mischievous tone passing over her voice. She leans in closer to me and lowers it into a whisper. "Tonight... I have an appointment with the doctor." she winks.