Institutionalized

Howie, Day 7

Weird things went on in the hospital. I caught people staring at Mac and I all the time. Everyone did it, and Mac said he noticed it happening to him too. I hadn't noticed anyone else staring at anyone else, either.

And there were some sort of gangs or something. Certain patients formed two groups that were posed against one another. Mabel, Kieth, Daren, and Yosef were on one side, and Sam, Tyler and Vincent were on the other side. They got in fights all the time. It just seemed odd that they were so against one another. One thing I did notice was that one group consisted of all anorexic people. I thought maybe that was why they were teamed together. The other group seemed like mostly bipolar people. I recalled the fight from this morning:

Tyler politely asked if Mabel was going to eat her apple at lunch.

"Hey, Mabel, my girl, you don't seem very hungry. I was wondering if you planned on eating your apple."

Daren glared at him,

"Yes, fatass, she was. You have your own food, and you know our food is specially formulated for better nutrition; we're not allowed to give away food anyway. Why would tempt her, an anorexic person, to give away food? Do you know how hard it is for us to deny that offer? And don't ever call her 'your girl' again. Got it?"

Daren was edgy as fuck. Both physically and mentally. He was admitted after eating once a week for 2 months and dropping 70 pounds. He joined the group a couple days before mac and I, and he was still extremely skinny. He was also extremely rebellious and angsty. He was also deaf with hearing aids implanted in his head.

Tyler scoffed and frowned, "Damn, I was just asking. No need to be such an asshole about it." Tyler grumbled.

Sam spoke up, making sure Daren could hear, "Don't mind him, Tyler. Daren is always an asshole," he snickered.

Mabel started to look uncomfortable. She knew it was going to get ugly.

Yosef rolled his eyes and put down his spoon, "Says you."

"I'll fight you right here, little girl." Daren lashed.

Let me clarify: Sam was female to male transgender. And let me tell you, he was insane; by that I mean spastic, aggressive, and reckless. Although, he might have been delusional. He acted like a wild animal sometimes, and I wasn't really sure if he was messing around or not.

Dayo got involved. She also knew where this was going.

"Alright, both of you, in your room right now."

Both of them ignored her and stood. They were on each other in an instant, quicker than I'd thought was possible. Ashley showed up then, and the two of them dragged the boys apart. Sam came away with a bloody lip, but he clearly won, as Daren had a broken nose and a bloody bite on his arm.

That's right, a bite.

One strange thing that was pretty unnerving: animalistic behaviors. From a lot of them. Drool was a thing. Tyler, Sam, and Vincent, all drooled when they ate. And like I said, biting. I'd caught a number of them biting themselves instead of scratching. I was noticing this more and more.

Mac seemed a little suspicious of the patients. He mentioned that he thought perhaps something was going on, But it was hard to be sure while he was on his meds. It was for the best though, I told him. I reminded him of the last time he didn't have medicine and gestured to my wrists, and he agreed it was a bad idea.

After the fight, everyone finished breakfast and went about their daily routine. Mac and I started a game of chess. While Mac got his check up, this girl named Julia sat next to me in Mac's seat. I didn't know anything about her. She was quiet and never shared about herself at group, only responded to other people to give advice. You could tell who was attracted to girls by how they interacted with Julia. I thought she was good-looking too, even though she wore the same unisex t shirt or long sleeve shirt and pyjama pants. Her dark hair was styled similarly to Rafael's and had a mysterious look in her dark eyes, like she knew your secrets.