The sunny stay sanitarium

Chapter 1 Class time distractions

From the start of our story, Rose knew she would have to make a choice...
Did this choice bring the balance of good and evil into question? Perhaps it held the fate of the universe? The world? No, at least not to roses knowledge.
The choice was a simple one, yet it would hold consequences either way.
The cute drawing of a puppy Cerberus on her notepad would not finish itself even though the dilemma held in front of her might not spell out the end of the world.
Her choice, you ask? Either Listen to her Professor drone on about the war or draw a cute puppy Cerberus. Undoubtedly, the will to listen would typically be negated in the face of a half-drawn Greek underworld puppy. As of now, she was quite interested in what her Professor began to talk about, so the decision was made.
She would listen
And listen, she did, quietly closing the notebook to focus in on her Professor's voice, sending a silent promise of completion to the half-drawn canine within.
The topic of the Great war flew eagerly to her ears as her Professor began to explain how the united planets under the empire of the Earth came into contact with the great military Might that was and still is, the Allron dynasty. Rose sent a sidelong glance around the room, taking note of all the Allrons that sat with her in the lecture hall—trying to gauge their reactions to the retelling of the first gory encounter the two Races made. All those hundreds of years ago.
Most of the carnivore cast were predictably enthralled, but Rose was surprised to find her fellow omnivores seemed just as interested in the gory details. Her eye-catching an Allron covered head to toe in fur. Many hairy tail-like appendages whipping around gently in what Rose could tell was enjoyment. Now don't get her wrong Rose, like most of the world at this point, simply accepted Allrons a fact of life as well as fellow persons, just like any human. Though their culture may vary greatly, as omnivores, humans were customarily treated as equals.
The teacher, slowly for an hour and a half, moved from the topic of the human Allron first encounter. To the treaty's made after the long and horrid border battles between the two warring Empires.
He also explained the only reason the Allrons agreed to the overly complicated agreements was the simple fact they had never encountered another semi-violent, space-faring race.
Thanks to their experience only destroying non-space faring races as well as planets uninhabited by any sentient life, they were caught totally unprepared for the surprisingly violent human race. Thus, leading to the treaties. The most extended and arduous set of agreements ever made in the history of either race, the long and the short of it ended in more of a merging of the two Empires than a simple pact of peace.
Allowing trade and dual "citizenship" for both Humans and Allrons; that soon made the two Empires ever more intertwined. With Humans being the semi-nomadic creatures they are, many ended up living on planets within the Allron dynasty even with crazed laws and prejudices that reigned supreme on Allron soil, with a few thousand Allrons ending up in a similar situation on a few of Earth's many colonized planets. they found Earthen rules odd but much more survivable.
However, soon, Rose found it hard to focus on the seemingly endless lecture, as a distinct ringing broke out. At first, no alarm bells rung in her head as the relatively common bought of tinnitus swept through her ears. The occurrence has been prevalent since childhood. Never had it gone on this long however, and once a spear of pain lodged itself behind her eyes, she began to feel a prickle of unease.
That prickle turning into a full-blown Sting, as the 'bought' of tinnitus seemed to stay for much longer than Rose could ever anticipate; this was not what sent her running from the lecture hall, however, Ignoring her class on the great war, no. What sent her dashing out of there was the odd noise that seemed to accompany the now growing static-like buzzing in her ears.

Whispers.

At first, Rose thought some students had simply gotten bored, just as before; when she looked around, they all seemed to be focused on the lesson, a chill shot down her spine.
Without so much as a word, she set off to the nurse's office to find out what was wrong so it could be quickly fixed.
Her mind ran with the possibilities. Being a bit of a hypochondriac, she did her best to soothe herself, over and over telling herself that nothing was wrong.
After an hour of various tests and waiting she would find out if there was something to worry about, right? Rose was, however, sent off with nothing more than a cherry-flavoured lollipop, and a meaningless assurance that she was probably just dehydrated. That and some kind words, the nurse had found nothing wrong with her ears; much to Roses Growing confusion.
Completely done with today's events, Rose stormed off to her dorm room. Ever thankful that the tiny room was hers alone and that she did not have to share.
Phycology textbooks littered the small desk, and she gently staked them to the side, eying the vast tomes with spite; they had cost a fortune, though she found them entirely worth it if her streak of A-averages was anything to go by.
With a sigh, she made sure her door was locked tightly before grabbing her phone and turning on some music, an old habit to drown out the familiar static developed from early childhood; her favored Veola melody drifted through the small phone speaker, though a frown still sat firmly on her face as she tried to relive the stress of the day through some simple drawing.
It seems the light whispers would not be as easily deterred as the buzzing she so often had to deal with, as they seemed to hiss their garbled words right behind her, sending dark chills over her back.
You might think that a student studying for a master's degree in phycology would piece together her ailment and seek help.
Though in Roses case, that seems not to be true. As the weeks continued, the constant buzzing drifted in and out much more frequently.
A migraine always followed along with harsh whispers, she could not understand, and with that horrid distraction, she began to spiral. Her An average went down to a B, then as though gaining momentum, an F.
Perhaps seeing that bright red F on her latest paper was a sort of trigger; because from there, it only became so much worse. She began to have horrible shifting dreams that she could barely remember when waking, the whispers as her only ambiance as dark moving masses always out of sight plagued her nights.
Then, the worst happened; she began to see them, flickering pieces of shadow that seemed to just barely reach towards her out of the corner of her eye, making her jumpy, always startling at her own shadow.
This is how it all started; she began staying in her dorm as her affliction became worse—opting to play music through her headphones at all hours of the day to try and block out the ringing that came and left, as well as the voices and headaches that came with it.
It was about a month in that she finally decided on what needed to be done, thanks to one horrible event.
You see, had it happened when she was trying her best to grocery shop and replenish her ever-dwindling supply of 'student food' her headphones were in, and It seemed to be one of the better days for her ever-growing affliction.
That is until she boarded the bus. She held her bag of Mr. noodles close and gripped onto the bar in the buss as the worst episode she had ever experienced thus far hit her. It was like a title wave had appeared on a calm lake, and taken her completely by surprise, it hit her like a brick wall straight to the brain.
It was as though something was punching a hole in reality just to contact her. What could be so important, she wondered as She fell to her knees. The voices whispered, yelled, and screamed all at once. Her vision went dark and splotchy; everything seemed unreal. It was like hot needles were being dragged over her brain as the whispers desperately tried to reach her. Ever so slowly, they began to fade.
Thankfully, she came back to herself long enough to assure the bus driver, and she was alright, just lightheaded. She managed to make her way back to her dorm, slamming the door behind her before leaning her back against it, slowly sliding to the floor.
She tried to hold her hands over her ears in a futile attempt at blocking out the ever-loud buzzing, heralding another bought of whispers soon to come.
Roses breath began to burn in her chest as hot tears made their way down her cheeks. It took ten minutes for the tears to run dry and twenty more for her to drag herself to the bathroom to clean up.
Cringing, she looked in the mirror. Her shoulder-length Golden blond hair fell in tangles. And her slight frame shivered, eyes dark with lack of sleep; Rose almost began to cry again at the sight of her eyes, the purple irises looking almost black thanks to the dark bags ringing her eyes.
Rose needed to see a professional, she decided, shaking her tired head; so, she would see the only professional she knew.
Her mother.
With a smirk, she decided she would show up unannounced; she always did like to make a dramatic entrance.
as she began to mentally prepare herself for her visit, she hopped in the shower, determined to wash off all the grime she had been collecting. Turning the handle to the coldest setting, she braced herself for a moment, appreciating the icy splash before stepping fully under the chilling spray.
The cold stole her breath for a moment, snapping her fuzzy mind to clarity for a bit as her body fought to keep from shivering. After using her favoured banana mint shampoo, she decided against conditioner and just gave herself a scrub down with a bar of nondescript body soap.
Stepping out of the tub with a satisfied smirk, she slowly began to warm up, towelling off and throwing on a super long tee-shirt before sliding into bed. Doing her best to ward off the mounting anxiety at the thought of visiting her mother, when in all reality, she never wanted to see her until she had a degree to shove in her face.
With a shake of her head, she forced her eyes closed. Deciding to let herself worry about that issue tomorrow, she just prayed she would have a dreamless sleep tonight.