Falling for a Psycho

Chapter Two

We pull up in the small silver Honda my mom owns to the large, metal gates in front of NIJCI. Mom rolls down her window and hands the paperwork to the guard standing there. He looks in the back of the car at me and I attempt to smile.

He lets us through, and we drive up the dirt road to the front office. There are eight buildings total, like a gym, and a cafeteria, and a library. We pull up to the main building, and park in the small parking lot.

Mom and dad get out of the car first, and I sit in the car for a moment, hoping that I could just stay here. I don’t want to have to leave.

Mom makes me get out of the car, and I walk behind them, holding the picture of us that I’m allowed to bring. I can’t do this. I’m a guy, and if I break down and cry like I want to right now, people are going to look at me and think I’m weird.

There’s a whole group of nurses and armed guards waiting out front. I look at my mom, and she’s holding back tears. I hug her, and she laughs.

“You look upset, mom,” I say.

“I am. My little boy isn’t going to be at home. It makes me sad, Donovan. I love you,” Mom says. She’s shorter than me, and I still manage to rest my head on her shoulder.

“I’m going to miss you, mom,” I say. Mom starts crying, and that makes me cry. I can’t do this. I’m going back to the car. I’m not going to leave my parents to go to a mental institute for crazy criminals.

After really painful, tearful goodbyes, my parents leave and I go inside with the nurses and the guards. The first thing to happen is a very uncomfortable pat down search. I’m not carrying any weapons with me. I assure you. They give me a pair of grey sweat pants and a large grey shirt and I go change in the bathroom, and then give them the clothes I was wearing previously. A pretty, dark haired nurse walks up to me, and I look at her.

“I’m Julie, and I’ll be showing you around, Donovan,” She says. I follow her down the halls of the building, and I am looking at all the patients here. They’re all my age, but I’m still a bit intimidated. I’m really intimidated.

I’m honestly not listening to Julie. I’m just looking at all of the other people. All of the girls that walk by stare at me. I smile, and keep following Julie.

“This is your room. We’re having lunch in an hour in the cafeteria building,” Julie says. She walks away, leaving me in a large room with plain white walls and a small bed in the corner. There’s a bathroom with toiletries, and no shower curtain on the shower. Go figure.  I set my picture down on the metal bedside table, and sit down on the bed, touching the hospital grade bed sheets that are welded down against the bed frame. I can lay under them, but I can’t pull them up.

A kid walks in my room. He has blonde hair and is my age.

“You’re the new kid, aren’t you?” He says. “I’m Everett.”

“I’m Donovan,” I say, standing up.

“Did Julie show you around?” Everett asks.

“Yeah, but I really wasn’t paying attention,” I admit. Everett laughs.

“No one ever does. I’ll give you the real tour of this hellhole. I’ll introduce you to some people,” Everett says. I stand up, and walk over to him. As usual, I’m taller than him. I’m taller than everyone I’ve ever met. I’m taller than my dad, and he’s tall.

“So, what are you here for anyways?” Everett asks.

“Um, schizophrenia, pyromania, and Rapid Eye Movement Behavioral Disorder,” I say. “I’ve gotten in some trouble. I set a school on fire. That was my big thing.”

“I’m recovering from alcohol addiction, I’m a kleptomaniac, schizophrenic and clinically depressed. The schizophrenia caused me to rob a couple banks. I was unsuccessful at that, and the kleptomania landed me here for obvious reasons,” Everett says.

“How long have you been here?” I ask.

“Five months,” Everett responds. We turn a corner and walk into another hallway. A girl, who has black hair with a pink streak, walks up to Everett.

“The only thing that makes this place cool is that I met Chrissy,” Everett says, putting his arm around the girl’s waist and kissing her.

“She’s a mute, who only talks to me, and has depression. She’s also schizophrenic. A lot of people here are,” Everett says. We keep walking, and Chrissy walks the other way, towards the library.

“She hangs out at the library a lot,” Everett says. “She’s quiet but I love her.”

Everett introduces me to a bunch of other people, and I’m being my shy self and not really introducing myself to anyone.

There’s a lot of schizophrenics, pyromaniacs, and kleptomaniacs here. I guess those fit into the criminally insane category, but there are some people who have disorders that I’ve never heard of too. No one has ever heard of RBD, anyways. I’m the only person I’ve met so far that has it. It’s not particularly dangerous, it’s just a little bit scary. I mean, I don’t intentionally hurt anyone. I don’t intend to. That’s not what I want to happen. When I set that high school on fire, no one was hurt. I did it because I can’t control my urges sometimes. Well, that happens more than sometimes.

I am trying to listen to Everett as he shows me around. He shows me the gymnasium, where the teens will play dodgeball against the pre-teens. The little kids are in another part of the building, and there aren’t many of them. It’s mostly teens that get put in here.

Everett also shows me the grassy area behind the gym where some teens will go to, well, have sex behind the bushes, and I know that I will never go there because I’m never going to get a girlfriend anytime soon. Not here.

There are some girls who look at me while I’m walking down the hall, but most of them seem a little too insane for me.

However, I’d learn that no one would be more insane than the girl I end up falling for. No one.