The Birdcage

All Sorts

"Nice artwork. Very minimalistic in style. A self portrait perhaps?"

Nyx's rolled her eyes, turning away from the biro stick-man she'd drawn on her art therapy pad in a sulk; to look at the speaker peering over her shoulder.

A tall, dark-skinned woman stood behind her, fiddling absentmindedly with the thin braids in her hair as she gave Nyx a friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Ronnie. Don't think I've seen you here before."

"Probably not." Nyx shrugged, already trying to work out how to wriggle out of conversation with this woman. She didn't talk to the people here; that was part of her rebelling against her incarceration. It was as if by doing so, she could consider herself not a part of this; could keep herself separate until such time she could leave.
It had been working until now; most of the others had decided to ignore her, either of the bat or dropping any effort after some fruitless half-hearted attempts. "I've only been here a short while."

Ronnie shrugged. "Cool. Mind if I draw with you? Or I could make up a ten letter word and we see how long it takes for stick-man to die."

Nyx was frozen in confusion; then as it clicked in her brain she stifled a snigger. "You want to play hangman?"

"Doesn't have to be hangman." Ronnie shrugged cheerily. "Just thought you'd made a good start."

"Veronica." One of the nurses said kindly, stepping towards the girls from her position at the side of the room. "Don't distract the others whilst they're busy."

"I'm just asking if I can sit next to her!" Ronnie chirped. "It's good manners!" She rolled her eyes humorously at Nyx as she pulled up a chair and easel besides her.

***

"Whoa, do your eyes change colour?"

Nyx glanced at the girl besides her who where she'd previously been doodling on the paper was now staring at her with curiosity. Nyx blinked awkwardly, feeling self conscious as she tried to decide what to say. Should she deny it, or was it alright to tell her?

"That's so cool." Ronnie continued, almost answering Nyx's insecurity. "You're like a mood ring."

Nyx smiled weakly, not commenting; instead glancing up to the other side of the room, where a gaggle of three girls were whispering together, looking pointedly at them. Ronnie followed her gaze. "Just ignore them. Harpies, always going on like that. Don't let it matter to you."

Nyx said nothing.

"We get all sorts here, make no mistake about it." Ronnie said matter-of-factly, picking up a coloured pencil to scribble it experimentally in the corner of her paper.

Nyx still said nothing.

Twisting her mouth into a frustrated expression for the briefest of moments, Ronnie leant towards Nyx, lowering her voice a little. "Cheer up. If you don't, the Whisperer will get to you; and then there's no chance."

Nyx furrowed her brow, looking at Ronnie in confusion. "What?"

"Oh, now you'll listen." The other woman teased.

"Shut UP Ronnie!"

Nyx jumped at the loud shout from the other side of the room; and saw it to be one of the two gossiping girls, now standing up to yell. Seconds later, she and Ronnie were sent scattering, as they dodged to avoid the large chunk of coloured chalk she hurled in their direction. "No one wants to talk to you." Her voice was harsh and icy. "Go spew your venom elsewhere."

As the officials rushed to calm the situation, Ronnie took Nyx by the elbow, helping her back up onto her feet. "Want to see if we can go take a smoke break?"

It was probably very stupid of me to start another project during the weeks I can't even guarantee an on time update of the main story due to my new schedule, but I meant to do a mini-story like this, spinning off from the main story as a treat for you over Christmas anyway.
It was meant to be one about Evelyn and baby Nyx, however I find that one needs a lot more thought still, and this idea was burning in my mind.
Updates may be slow, but we'll see how it goes.