"go ahead and cry little girl,
nobody does it like you do"
'in which diego meets a girl with extreme anxiety in a mental asylum in the 60s.'
or
'in which diego hargreeves, the insane, falls in love with cynthia tayl...
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cynthia taylor thought that july 1st 1961 would just be like any other day. boy was she wrong! it was the early afternoon and cynthia wasn't expecting the seemingly normal saturday to take the turn that it did. she knew that the events of the day were to happen at some point, but it's like when it happens it still surprises you, even if you were expecting it. it's like christmas, the anticipation and build up is nine times out of ten more exciting and anxiety inducing than the actual day.
the build up, in this scenario, was more tense than anything. cynthia had only left her house to go to work. even at work her colleagues would stare at her but quickly avert their gaze once caught. she didn't mean to lose her shit at poor gregory in the town hall, but she still stood by the points she made, even if she'd put them across differently if given the opportunity.
when she'd said to her mother however many years prior that she was better and capable of living on her own in a new, big city she'd never really been to before, she was 100% lying. considering the fact that gregory, the local grocer, had only proposed a simple idea and cynthia had stood up and immediately protested and started to bring unrelated feelings into their debate, she knew that the events of the first of july were bound to happen sooner or later. considering the literal neighbourhood watch party that the small town on the outskirts of dallas had constructed.
she'd started the day by going into the office in which she worked at, but her boss had excused her from work after she passed out in the lobby before even doing anything. after she'd gone home and gotten changed she was on the couch contemplating why she'd collapsed earlier. she didn't eat anything bad last night. she didn't feel any of her usual symptoms of a panic attack. she'd taken her meds- oh. she never took her anxiety meds this morning. shit.
she rushed out of her seat and immediately began rummaging through the cabinet in her bathroom for her meds. she truly started panicking when she couldn't find them in their usual place. she hurried to the kitchen and sighed in relief when she saw the container open on the counter and the contents of it strewn across the surface, the typical state you'd find cynthia's house in. she grabbed two of the pills and started to pour herself a glass of water when she heard the heavy knocks on her front door.
she turned to the door in a panic, quickly took the pills, sighed, then made her way to the door. she knew who it was. obviously. who else would it have been? her mother? no chance. she didn't know anyone else either. sure she'd made friends through work and town events but after the town hall incident none of them spoke to her. it wouldn't have been her boss checking in as he would still be at work, and he quite frankly didn't care either. so it could only be one person. or group of people. oak valley institution for the mentally ill.
"good afternoon is there currently a cynthia taylor within this residence?" the man at the front seemed nice enough. cynthia enjoyed looking at him, he was easy on the eye. he had brown hair and glasses, cynthia could sympathise with him due to her also horrendous eyesight. although she did have to glance at the clock on the wall after he'd said it was the afternoon. time flies when you're having fun, hey? "you're looking right at her, sir. why? did she do something bad?"
cynthia had tried to crack a witty joke in the hopes that the nice man at the front would laugh or think she was actually mentally sound and leave her be. because in cynthia's little mentally ill mind, her and mr. frontman were already best friends. this clearly shows that her tactics would be far from successful.
"what do you think miss taylor? do you know who we are and where we're taking you? if you would please put on some flat shoes and step out of the building that'd be spectacular." cynthia's friend, mr. frontman, had turned really serious and started asking her sarcastic rhetorical questions and so cynthia begrudgingly complied. although she stared at her messy shoe collection for about a minute trying to decide which ones went best with her outfit. but she didn't know what the dress code in the hospital was so it didn't matter in the end and she chose some white ones. she didn't particularly want to leave her house behind just like that and so in her panicked state she began to question the men.
"so where exactly will i be going? like i don't know where this place is located and i need to plan an escape route. that was a joke. how long is this for? wait who set this up and why did it take this long for anything to happen? oh my god, do i get to keep my glasses? because i can not see without them, you'd understand. am i gonna be fed? do i have to pay, oh my gosh?! will i be in uniform? like a dress code? is this more culty or more casual? how should i act? oh no everyone's going to be way older than me. i'm representing the youth." as cynthia was panicking on her porch the men had grown tired and grabbed the girl and forced her into the backseat. as they had done this cynthia's glasses ironically fell off her face.
as the car door slammed behind the girl, she realised her glasses were absent from her face and began pounding on the window so the men would realise and pick them up. she couldn't see much out of the window but when the door opened and her glasses were thrown in and the door was slammed again she was able to breathe. she sat calmly in her seat for around five seconds until she put her glasses on and saw the men inside of her house. she noticed that mr. frontman had made his way into the drivers seat and began to bombard him with questions. poor mr. frontman.
"hello mr. frontman. oh sorry that's the name i gave you in my head. anyways, what are your friends doing in my house? are they going to see my embarrassing board game collection? oh my goodness i never cleaned, my meds are everywhere. i mean not mine they're like my friends. yeah my friends, her name is... celia? she's real i guarantee you. but yeah, what are they trying to find? like i'm right here they've already gotten the prized possession. what else could they possibly need?"
mr. frontman sighed and honked the horn as if to signal to his colleagues that he wanted out of there, "listen kid you know i cant tell you all of this but please just keep calm. i don't care if you're feeling sad, anxious, happy, angry or god forbid you're horny. but please just shut up it'll all be alright. i promise." cynthia smiled at him, satisfied with his answer and leaned back in the seat.
some of the men got into the car behind and some into the car the young girl was in. but she sat there staring out the window ready for whatever shitshow was about to ensue. whatever the universe had planned for her next. it wasn't looking too great but cynthia was trying her hardest to focus on the positive. new friends who possibly had similar experiences to her!
she never ever would'veguessed what she was about to experience, though.
:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧
AUTHORS NOTE... you guys!! the rewrite is happening alfjwodnkwjdjs. i'm so excited. clearly. i'm so ready to build out cynthia's character properly instead of just adding her to scenes which is what it felt like i was doing before. i like to think my writing skills have since improved. anyways ily all! <3 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ jess
