You're Not In This Alone.... The Only Hope For Me Is You.

"Serafina Li-Rose? Your mother packed you a small bag. She mentioned you used to draw?"

"Yeah... Oh, and it's just Serafina Rose, drop the Li."

"Will do. You will receive some of these things when we approve that it's ohkay." The nurse at the front desk spoke up as Ronnie walked her to her room. The halls were long and lined with bared doors.

"These doors are only bared so we can make sure you all aren't harming yourselves. You'll be fine.." He finally spoke up. "Well no, I can't even say that. You'll be fine when I'm here, the other guys here aren't as nice as I am. Stay clear of them.

"How... How did you know......"

"Your face said it all." He laughed.

"What do you mean?" She asked. There's no way he could have known that from her face.

"If I told you I'm a mind reader, would you believe me?" He paused.

"Maybe....."

"Hm. Interesting. Well here you are. Your new room for the next 6 months." He unlocked the door letting her into a medium sized room with two beds on opposite sides of the room. "Hello Penelope." Ronnie said. Serafina didn't even notice anyone else in the room when she first walked in. But sure enough there was a girl sitting on her bed. "Penelope, this is Serafina." The girl scooted to the front of her bed and smiled weakly. "I'll let you two get acquainted and then can you please show her around Penelope?" He smiled at the girl and then at Serafina as he closed the door.

"Hey." Penelope said.

"Hi.."

"So, Ronnie's pretty good at making things awkward." She laughed dryly. "Um how old are you?"

"Nineteen. You?"

"Twenty-two."

"Why... Why are you here?" Serafina looked down at the ground.

"My parents put me in here when I was 16. I've been here ever since."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal, it's not that bad here when you get used to it. Plus you get fed three times a day, have a place to sleep and it's better than being on the street." She said cracking her knuckles. "When they found out I was lesbian they completely lost their fucking minds and just like all the other hypocritical Christians they threw me out."

"......."Serafina sat in silence.

"I ended up in here because they took me back in. Then sent me through a series of tests with some asshole European doctor to fix me. When he determined that he couldn't, they sent me here. Haven't heard from them since." She laughed. "It's ironic.. That I'm the crazy one. What's your story kiddo?"

Serafina sat and thought for a second.. What was her story? She didn't even know where to begin, She was always sneaking out, staying out late and got drunk with her friends. Smoked, popped pills, skipped school. Just a whole bunch of stupid shit she knew she shouldn't be doing in the first place but she had always been drawn towards the darker parts of life and really anything that took her mind off of the terrible nightmares that turned into long sleepless nights. "I'm some what of a fuck up, I guess. After my dad died..." Her voice trailed off, as she laid back on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Well things happened. Most of it I can't even remember, I've tried, but it's all gone."

"Well... What can you remember?"

"Just small bits and pieces, smells mostly. I just remember being somewhere dark and wet for a long period of time."

"That's weird." Penelope sat forward, invested in the tale of the younger girl.

"Yeah.. Well my mother remarried a few years ago and my step-dad's a total fucking asshole. There's something seriously weird about him."

"What do you mean?"

"My older sister Delilah is scared of him, he said something to her and she just moved out. She wouldn't tell me, because she knew I'd make a big scene about it..."

"Wow, that's crazy."

"Isn't it? I wanted to tell my mother, but she's so in love with him. After my dad died.... My mother feel into a deep depression, I just don't want to see her that way again. So I kept quiet..." Serafina trailed off again, zoning out for a second. Realizing that she was rambling on about her crazy suspicions of her step-father. "I guess I'm in here though because I tried to kill myself. But I don't remember doing that..."

"Ah, you're a suicide kid. Gotcha."

"Yeah.." Serafina laughed awkwardly.

"I didn't mean to.. sorry." She said quietly standing up

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Serafina?" She didn't notice that the door was open until Penelope called her name. "Come on."

They walked down the long hall. Serafina followed behind Penelope as she talked to everyone who was leaving their rooms. She went on about visits and daily activities with a girl name China, something Serafina knew she should be paying attention too but couldn't. She kept hearing a soft sound bouncing off of the huge white walls of the hall. As they moved further down the hall, the sound got louder until she realized it was singing. A familiar sound, but she couldn't figure out where she'd heard it from. Frantically searching, she glanced in every room to fit the voice to a face. The hall was coming to an end as they started to walk past the last room on the right, looking in she scanned every area until her eyes came upon a thinning pale boy with a head full of dark hair sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest. "To the right is the court yard and to the left is the dining room... Serafina are you even listening to me?" Penelope turned around to see Serafina not following behind her anymore, but instead the raven haired girl was standing in a doorway. Sighing, she started towards her.

Serafina walked into the room and kneeled down in front of the boy, who had yet to notice her. She thought about reaching her hand out and tapping him, but she didn't want him to stop singing. It was such a soft voice and so sad, her heart slowly broke with every word he sang. She began to quietly sing along with him. "Hey... Wait... I've got a new complaint. Forever in debt to your priceless advice....."

The boy looked up and jumped back a little not expecting to see someone sitting so close to him.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again..."

Notes