Sweet Insanity

If there was one thing in this world that Elise was bad at it would have to be warming up to people. Given her situation, it was especially difficult for her to get close to people. Ever since her father had died she began to avoid it. It was almost a secondhand nature for her.

Elise laid in bed, staring up that the ceiling tiles of her room. Carson had attempted opening up to her last night, but she basically brushed it off. Making friends was usually essential to most human beings, she knew that. In a Rehab Facility you were around strangers all of the time, unless you had visitors. She was, after all, her roommate. If anybody in this dreaded place should befriend the girl it should have been Elise.

A sigh rolled from her mouth as she turned over on her side. Carson’s eyes were closed, sleeping peacefully as ever. Careful not to wake her up, Elise slowly climbed out of her bed. Quietly as possible she managed to gather her small bag of toiletries that Brooke Hollow provided for their patients, as well as her clothes for the day. Once her slippers were placed firmly on her feet she shuffled out of the door and down the hallway to the bathroom, deciding she would allow her roommate to sleep until she returned.

After going through the easy routine of teeth brushing, make-up, and dressing, Elise was ready for the day. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her hazel eyes looked dull as ever, her face pale as a ghost. It upset her, she couldn’t even remember the last time she felt alive. She shook her head, pushing the negativity from her mind as she left the bathroom.

“Uhm, may I help you?” Elise asked as she stared at a boy she recognized as Ben from introductions the day before. He was leaning up against her door, a playful smile stretched across his mouth.

“Ello there, love, is this Carson’s quarters?” Elise couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his proper accent. Also becoming aware of her change in mood, Ben winked.

“Yes, indeed. Would you like me to have her meet you in the cafeteria? I’m pretty positive that she is still asleep.” Ben bit on his lip momentarily as he thought. He’d rather see her now than later.
“Would you mind if I woke her up then? It’d make my morning,” he laughed, his good mood becoming contagious.

She couldn’t help but laugh as she nodded her head, opening the door to throw her toiletries on her bed before heading out. “I’ll see you guys in group therapy I guess,” she smiled, leaving the room. She could hear Ben yelling “get up” in the distance as she headed towards the cafeteria.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Elise thought was she took her place in the cafeteria line. The overly obnoxious dick (for lack of a better word) stood in front of her; His hands stuffed in the pockets of his tight, ripped jeans. She couldn’t help but find it attractive, until he noticed her, that is.

“Oh, hello there, you’re the girl from the hallway last night, am I right?” His British accent was heavy on his words as he looked her up and down. “If only the lights could have been a little brighter, I wouldn’t have minded your body against mine if I knew you looked this good.” He winked, just as his companion did minutes before. Danny looked her up and down again, he was content, but Elise wasn’t.

“I know that you’re probably used to swooning the majority of girls you come in contact with, but your popularity or looks will not give you any luck with me, understood?” Elise hated being hit on, it was something that she had disliked ever since high school. She had a reputation of “shutting down” any boy that came across her as a teenager. Unfortunately for her, Danny wasn’t like the boys she was used to dealing with. He was extremely cocky, and full of himself; pestering her was entertainment for him.

A smug smile rested upon the man’s mouth as he pulled his hands from his pockets. “You say that now, sweetheart, and by the way, that aggressive little attitude of yours is sexy as hell. This isn’t over.” With that he turned around, grabbing a tray and filling it with food as he left her standing behind him. Elise glared at the back of his head as he hurried away from her. Annoyance was written across her face as she collected her food. She found a table and ate quickly before heading off to therapy.

Starting the morning off with group therapy wasn’t exactly how Elise wanted to start off her morning. Too bad she couldn’t help that. This place was going to drive her insane. Here she sat, in a circle of plastic chairs that reminded her of show and tell in kindergarten, a few others from the previous meeting sitting in silence across from her. She closed her eyes, thinking about the reason that she was in this hell hole in the first place: Her sister Emily.

If anything infuriated her it was Emily Morgan. Her only living family that she had ever been close with sent her to this place. Why? All because she didn’t think her choices in life were acceptable. If she wanted to kill herself and return to her family why should it have bothered anyone else? Suddenly Elise was ripped from her thoughts. The warm weight on her leg caught her off guard. To her dismay she found Danny sitting in the seat next to her, his hand gripping her knee.

Immediately her eyes turned to slits as she looked up at him. “Excuse me? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Awh, the pretty lady is getting a little feisty, I see.” He chuckled, sliding his hand against her jeans ever so slightly.

“Get your hands off of me,” she demanded. To her surprise, the man did as she told him.

“Sorry, I won’t promise that it won’t happen again,” he laughed, amusement written all over his face.

“Well, in that case, I won’t promise that I can keep calm if you do,” she hissed, noticing Carson out of the corner of her eye. No sooner did her roommate take the empty seat to her right did the Therapy leader begin talking. Ben hurried his way past her to take his place on the other side of Danny, and then she began to focus.

“It’s nice to see that all of you have survived your first twenty-four hours at Brooke Hollow. I’m pleased to see all of your smiling faces this morning. I’m sure all of you are still adjusting to the change of environment and your new roommates, but I can assure you that everything will get easier with time.” She paused to smile at everyone. Her happy attitude was starting to annoy Elise. She spoke to the group as if they were a group of morons. Still, she continued to listen.

“Yesterday you all stood up and explained why you were here as a form of introductions. Today, I will be pairing you with two partners. The first fifteen minutes will be spent with your roommates. You will explore one another, and afterwards you will stand up and tell us three things that you had learned about them. The next fifteen minutes will be spend with someone else in the circle, and the same will be done. I will give you the names of your second round partners now!” She was all too happy.

Bethany started calling out the pairs she had chosen. Ironic as it was, Elise had been paired with Ben, and Carson with Danny. Maybe she could find out why he was such an ass. Finally, after everyone else had been paired, it was time for session one. She turned to face a very cheerful Carson.

“Well, this shouldn’t be too hard, am I right?” Carson smiled at her roommate; it was nice, how friendly she was. Maybe they could become close.

“I agree. Now then, I’m Elise Lei Morgan. I turn twenty October the second. I like Cats, and I hate dogs. I think that this Rehabilitation Clinic should go fuck itself. I don’t want to be here. I don’t consider myself to be suicidal; I just want to be reunited with my family. I hate being close to people because I know that the possibility of them dying exists. It’s another reason that I would like to rid myself of this cruel place. That’s pretty much it.” The words flew from her mouth faster than she had intended.

“You’re here because your family died?” Carson questioned, her brow furrowed. “All of your family died?” The girl couldn’t grasp the thought of losing her family.”

“No, just my parents,” Elise confirmed, her eyes focused on her jeans.

“That’s kind of selfish, don’t you think? Making the rest of your family suffer because your parents died?”

“I don’t really think so…they were the only ones I was ever close to.” She whispered, “Anyway, tell me about you.”

She listened as Carson retold her what she had last night. She wished that she could have a sister like hers…she was envious. The session ended quicker than she had thought. After they had told their group three things about each other Elise turned to face Carson. “Could I ask you a favor?” She smiled, and her roommate nodded her head. “Find out why your new partner is such an ass?”

“Deal,” she laughed, and we went our separate ways.