Troubled Souls // 5SOS

I ∞ Freak Show

• Beth •

"Beth, I warned you about this," my mum says. I look out the window, away from her. "I told you that, if this happened again, we'd have to go to the group that your therapist suggested."

"I don't want to be here, mum," I mutter. "I don't need to be in a support group. One-on-one with a therapist was bad enough, do you really think I wanna broadcast the freak show to a bunch of other kids my age?"

"Beth, every single one of the kids you're going to meet today is going through something, too," she replies.

"Why do they think it's such a good idea to mix a bunch of disorders and illnesses together?" I exclaim, turning to look at her. "That's like pouring a bunch of random chemicals into a test tube just to 'see what happens.'"

"Beth, please," my mother begs. "Just go in, you're going to be late. If you hate it as much as you assume you're going to, we'll stop coming, but at least give it a try. It'll be a good thing, I promise."

"For me?" I snap back. "Or for you?"

Before she can reply, I open the door and hop out into the heat of the December day. The therapy group is meeting inside the hospital in the psych ward. I open up the heavy glass door and feel the cold air flood onto my body. It's overwhelming.

"Hey, can you hold the door?" I hear someone call from behind me. I keep the door open and turn to see who called out.

I see a tall, skinny boy with tan skin and big brown eyes running towards the door. He's dressed in a blue and grey flannel and black jeans. He runs a hand through his dark hair and presses the other one against the door when he reaches me.

"Thanks," he says with a smile. "Are you here for the support group, by any chance?"

"Yeah," I reply. "I'm Beth."

"I'm Calum," he says, pointing to himself with his thumb. We walk inside and Calum approaches the front desk.

"Psych ward's on level three," Calum informs me after talking to the front desk lady.

We walk to the elevator together. "Did you ask for a room number?" I question as the elevator starts to go up.

"Room 304," he replies. There's a pause. "Did your parents make you come?"

I smirk. "Do you really think I'd be here if I had a choice?"

"I guess not," Calum replies with a chuckle. He speaks with a little bit of a lisp.

The elevator dings and the doors open slowly, releasing us into the hallway. We walk down it, passing nurses and patients until we find room 304, which currently has its door sitting ajar.

"Ladies first," Calum offers. I scoff and let myself in, leaving the door open so he can follow me.

I'm greeted by a mostly empty room with a wood floor and cream-colored walls. Directly in the center is a circle of purple and black padded chairs, almost all of them full by now. I observe each member of my new support group carefully.

The first person I notice is the woman who appears to be our adult supervision. She's relatively young, maybe late twenties, with shoulder length blonde hair and a small smile. Her eyes, I notice quickly, are two different colors; her right eye is golden brown and the left one is blue. She grins up at Calum and me when we enter.

Directly to her left is a skinny, pale boy with red hair. And I don't mean ginger red; I mean bright, unnatural red. His green eyes are focused intently on the floor and his little pink lips are pursed into a tight frown. His eyebrows are furrowed together, making him look like a disappointed, confused child with a black eyebrow piercing. He doesn't look up when he hears the door open, but I see him shift slightly, his small fingers lacing together in his lap.