The institution of SMiLeS | Sanders sides human AU | angst

The institution

Patton's POV

I got out of the car and grabbed my suitcase. We were parked outside of a colorful building called The Institution of Smiles. It was a place for 'bad kids'. It was like a... A reform school, or a boarding school.

"Mom, do I have to go?" I asked.

"This isn't up for discussion," My mother was a... A not nice lady. She always wore red acrylic nails, had a leopard print purse she always carried, red lipstick, and chewed gum all the time. Her red dress was smooth and had a golden belt. She was looking at her phone.

I sulked inside, messing with my blue shirt and grey sweater which was tied around my waist, dragging my suitcase in my other hand.

"This is my son, Patton. I called about him yesterday," She said, not looking up from her phone, as we walked inside.

A pretty lady with long, black nails smiled at us. "Of course! Just sign here, Mrs. Hart,"

She took the clipboard and signed. I looked at the pretty lady. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she had a black dress. Her eyes were really dark black. Her voice was kinda scratchy. She looked kinda scary.

My mom looked at me disapprovingly. "I'm leaving," And she did.

"So, Patton, how old are you?" Said the scary pretty lady.

"None of your business," I looked around at the bright, colorful room.

She grabbed my face, her nails digging into my skin. She asked through her teeth-

"How old are you, Patton?"

"12," I was about to cry.

She let go of me and took note of it on her clipboard.

"Do you know why you are here, Patton?"

"No," I rubbed my cheek.

"You are here because you are a bad kid. A year or two here can make you better," She put a smile back on. Definitely more scary than pretty.

"Um, I think I'm here because I tripped while I was holding a butter knife and my mom thought I was trying to kill her,"

"Are you talking back to me?" She snarled. She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into an adjoining room and down some stairs.

"Er-"

"This is going to be your room," She shoved me into a small room, like a prison cell.

"Wha-"

"Your cell- Roommates will show you to the cafeteria at lunchtime," She waltzed out of the room and the door closed behind her. It had a mechanical lock. I turned around and could see the whole room easily. It was the size of a large walk-in closet, two bunk beds at each wall, and a closet at the back. I always wanted a bunk bed. A kid, older than me, sat up from the top bunk and jumped down. He grabbed me in a hug, his hand buried in my blond hair, his other arm gripping my waist.

"Do I know you?" I asked, stiffening.

"I don't think so," Said the hugger. He was wearing a red shirt and jeans, and his brown hair was fairly short. He was tall.

"Why are you hugging me, then?"

"All I have for company are these two grumpy- people. They don't like hugs and I am very touch-starved,"

The other kid, from the bed the hugger came from, bottom bunk, sat up-

"Dude, I agreed to date you even though I thought I was straight. I am gay for you, man. Hugs are crossing the line," He wore a black and purple hoodie and black jeans.

The hugger let go of me-

"You were always gay, I just brought it out of you!" His voice carried and was dramatic, "So, my name is Roman, that's Virgil, and that's Logan," He pointed at hoodie kid and a tall kid on the other side, laying on the bottom bunk facing the wall. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans and looked asleep.

"How'd you guys get here?" I climbed up to the bunk above Logan.

"Oh, what we did?" Roman went up to his bunk. 

"So- I'll start. I got here last month, but my brother came a year before. My brother was my mom's favorite, I was my dad's. My brother was jealous and pretty much psychotic. He tried to kill me, and my dad sent him here. A few weeks later, my dad died. That takes us to a month ago when my mom kinda went crazy. She sent me here, blaming me for what my brother did. To make matters worse, she sent me here on my birthday. 14," A single tear went down his cheek.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I got here 'cause my mom's bad too. She asked me to make a sandwich for her, so I went to the kitchen, got a butter knife, but I tripped on the stairs, and she accused me of trying to kill her,"

"That's wack," Virgil laid down, hands behind his head, looking up.

"What about you, Virgil? If you don't mind," I asked.

"Sure, I guess. I'd just turned 13, two months ago, and I was at school, like any normal day, and some kids were bullying me, as they do, and I got mad. I yelled at them and ended up almost breaking one kid's arm. Dunno how, or even why, I'm not that kind of person, but I did. My parents jumped at the opportunity to send me here,"

"Wow," I was amazed by how bad their lives were, and at the same time felt lucky that as far as I knew, I wasn't rooming with murderers.

"If you think that's something, then you haven't heard nothing yet. Logan- well, he- Fine. I'll tell you, but don't tell him I did," Roman prepared himself-

"Logan was five. It was his birthday, and all his family was there for the party, and he was a genius. Could've won the noble prize in a few years. But there was an accident with the candles and the house caught ablaze. Only he and his aunt made it out. You know that lady that brought you in? That's the dragon witch. At least, we call her that. She's the aunt. She got custody of Logan, along with all the money in his family's wills that was left to him. She built this place with the money, and Logan's been here ever since,"

Logan sat up, still facing the wall-

"You had no right to share that story,"

"Shoot," Roman's eyes widened.

~Time skip brought to you by I like fiction~

After Logan laid back down and told him off, still not showing his face, Roman began to propose a plan.

"I have an idea! We can escape this place now that we have four people for the plan!"

"No, we can't," Logan sulked.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I've tried. You think I would stay here for 11 years of my own volition if I could escape?"

"No, I guess not. How do you know this plan won't work?" Roman asked.

"I've tried it. I've tried it all,"

"Can you elaborate? Even Virgil isn't this secluded. You never even showed us your face, always getting away at lunches and sleeping facing the wall and junk!" Roman was mad now, and Virgil looked put off by the use of his name.

"This kid Janus came here 5 years ago. And Remus, last year. And Emile, he came around the same time as Remus. We tried to escape together. We didn't know about the electric fence and tried to scale it. At the top, it shocked us and we fell. Emile- Emile died because of my plan. Remus broke his arm. Janus has scarring all over the side of his face and body, and I- I'll just show you," He turned around, his voice bitter, and I heard Virgil and Roman suck in their breath.

Logan had a scar, from his forehead to cheek, going over his eye. He was half-blind. There were scars on his arms too. His hair was long and hung in his eyes.

"Satisfied?" Logan's voice was scratchy and strained like he was about to cry.

"Logan-"

"Shut up,"

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Ooh, some nicely placed Logan angst! Let's see what happens next...