Padded Walls and Matted Carpets.

Chapter One;

"Are you a cat?" Ellis asked me quietly as I stood at the front of the room and stood awkwardly, shaking my head.

"Ellis," I began and decided against starting an argument so I simply mumbled, " We're only playing a game of charades, but we are guessing movies and shows, not animals." Ellis only stared at me. Oh, Ellis. Ellis is a sweet old lady, but her memory is failing her, so her family had sent her here. To this 'Safe House'. I wouldn't call it much of a Safe House because there are many crazies here and, trust me, they aren't always the safest. Just this morning my dear friend Jax, an old college student who got sent here due to attempting to get a young girl to 'shoot up' some of his heroin, it was later found out that he only had problems with his life when he was at a young age so that's how he ended up here. Seems safe doesn't it? Well, somehow he had managed to get a needle here, evidently it was hidden in a book or something, and he had been in the process of tapping his forearm and held the needle between two fingers, willing a vein to pop out I'd presume, as someone from the Staff walked into his room. Jax had missed morning games and activities, which literally took place at six thirty. Every morning. And someone from the Staff decided to check on him, to make sure that he was doing fine, and Jax had attempted to jab him with the needle. Not even 'jab', it was more of a stabbing motion, from what Joanne had said. Here in the Safe House we thrive off of gossip almost like we're all a bunch of teenage girls who are in high school again. I, sadly enough, haven't even experienced high school. I was barely in fifth grade when I had gotten sent here and now I'm stuck here. What did I do, you might wonder. Well let me tell you a little story about how I could hear voices and I decided to tell someone about it, that someone being my mom. Mom was furious because she hadn't ever believed in the 'super natural' or anything. I don't blame her. It does seem a bit bogus, after all. If I was her, I would have definitley sent myself away as well: an eleven year old hearing the voices of her dead father and sister. That seems like it'd be a good headline of a popular newspaper if anyone had found out, don't you think?

I guess that I probably should tell you who I am. My name is Andrea Faux and I'm an extremely unlucky seventeen year old girl. I have average features including dark hair and brown eyes, although my skin is paper white and seems to be nearly translucent. Under my white, papery skin you can practically see my bright blue veins and on my high cheekbones you can see that my face is scattered with faint freckles. Nothing important there. I'm short, just over five foot and I'm built very awkwardly. My shoulders are like those of a linebacker, or a quaterback. Whatever those men are called that play football. I'm not skinny, not even close. I'm closer to being obese that I am to being overly thin, but I don't have a problem with that. I barely eat and I still seem to add on pounds fairly easily. I'm not unhappy with how I am, would you like to know why? It would simply be because I can't change who I am. If I wanted to change, I'd ask to dye my hair an unnatural color or get tattoos all over my body to hide my features, not that that's why many people get tattoos. It's just what I'd do. It's who I am, I guess.

"What are we playing? Parades? Dear, we can't play parades." Ellis said finally, cupping her hand around her ear, almost as if her hearing could get better by the simple action. Ellis is such a simple minded person it's almost cute. You know, in an old-woman-losing-her-memory way.

"Oh, Ellis. How about we go and do your hair? I'm sure that the Staff won't have a problem with that. You do have those curlers in your bathroom, don't you?" After I spoke, Ellis had only stared at me. This day is already off to a 'good' start and it's only eight o'clock in the morning.

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I laid in bed and stared at my ceiling. It was a light purple color, which was one of the things that I was given a chance to change when I first got here. I used to have cartoons that I'd drawn on the walls or I'd have pictures of kittens taped up, now I have small pictures of my favorite bands and pictures from when I was younger, pictures of my family when everything was good and when everyone was happy. When I was happy.

Ellis is practically my only friend because I can rant to her about anything and pour my feeings into her and she won't remember it not even five minutes after we've spoken. Do I sound like a bad person yet? When you've been alone, away from everyone that you once cared about more than anything, for ages it is somewhat hard to be a nice person or care about others as much as you once did. When I think of Ellis, I think of a poor old lady who no longer has anyone to care about. She remembers her husband and when she speaks of him, or her children, she sounds so happy. I'd like to imagine that's how my mom acts when she speaks of me. I wonder if she ever thinks of me.

After I'd been staring at the ceiling for what seems like forever, I turn to my side and stare out of the window, located beside my bed, and I could see the moon in the distance. Along with many, many stars. Whenever I feel like I can't fall asleep or that I should stop thinking, I stare at the stars. It helps calm my nerves. I turn eighteen in a little less than a year. When I turn eighteen, does it mean that I get to leave this place? I know there isn't anything wrong with me. If I went home, I'd willingly take any medication I would need to take or go to therepy, I would do anything as long as I don't have to be here alone. I need to rest, my mind is wandering and I can't allow myself to do that. If I don't get any sleep, or try to get sleep, I know I'm going to be stuck yawning the whole day tomorrrow. I haven't gotten much sleep recently and I have actually talked to one of the Staff members about it and they'd told me that I might have insomnia, but they had also said that the chances were very slim. I close my eyes and slowly pull my knees to my chest, curling into myself as I had started to silently cry myself to a half sleep.

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"Andrea?" I heard someone call out as I sat on the couch, facing Ellis. Ellis and I had been chatting about her family, how her husband acted towards her and how they had first met, how he had died from cancer. Ellis told me about her children and how they now had families of their own. I had felt my eyes start to glaze over, especially because of how I felt like I was going to be stuck in this place, this Safe House, until I had eventually kicked the bucket or, in a better term, fallen over dead. I felt like I wasn't going to get that chance of freedom or that chance to raise a family of my own. I was alone now. Why wouldn't I be alone later on in my life?

"Andrea!" I heard someone call out again and I had figured that I might as well get up. I didn't move the first time I was called, If I was needed that badly then I might as well leave Ellis on the couch so she can be left with her thoughts, even if they wouldn't last that long for her. After I stood up, I had stretched my arms above my head and slowly began to walk up one of the many stairs until I was finally standing by the front door, staring at the Staff member, Joanne, who had waved me over.

"Come here, girl! There's someone here to see you." Joanne stated, an obvious fake smile was playing on her lips. As I slowly walked over to her, I could see someone standing at the main office, handing paperwork over the counter and offered the papers to the lady who sat behind the desk. I'd never known that lady's name, but I'm sure that she known mine. "Miss?" Joanne asked, her voice prissy as she stared at the blonde woman who had been standing at the main desk. As she heard Joanne's voice, she'd turned around and looked directly at me, tears quickly rolling down her cheeks. God, she looked like a trainwreck. Her makeup was so evidently caked on and she was only ruining by letting her tears roll down her cheeks.

"Andrea?" The woman asked me and I rose a brow, staring at her as she walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I might have been sent here because I was crazy or whatever, but if this lady isn't being sent here, she needs to be. She definitely is acting much more crazy than I had ever been seen as.

"Yeah?" I asked and I knew that I had sounded instantly annoyed. I'm not used to anyone touching me, so when she hugged me it took me a couple of moments to awkwardly hug back.

"Andrea, I'm-" The woman started to choke up and wiped her tears, pulling away to look at my face. "I'm your mother."

Shock coursed through me and I stared at her, more confused than anything. "Mom?" I asked and soon my own tears were rolling down my cheeks as my mother and I stood there for God knows how long and cried into each other's arms. The thing is-- she doesn't look like my mother at all.