Imperfect

After dinner was ‘rest time’ when we were allowed to just chill. I was brave enough to into the game room, which was just a few puzzles, board games, TV, and a couch.
There were three people gathered there, two guys and a girl. Their caretakers waited in the background. Both boys were big, with thick shoulders like Jean Paul, but they seemed easy going.
They made room for me on the couch. The girl, a tiny pixie faced blonde, didn’t move from her spot on a cushion.
I didn’t force myself to talk with them. I allowed myself to be myself. But the boy nearest me spoke in a low, rumbling voice.
“Hey there.” “Hi.” I lifted a hand to wave. “I’m Bryan, this is Walt, and Ice Princess over there is Crystal. Who’re you?” Crystal raised her head to look at me with wide blue eyes.
She wasn’t glaring really; it was just a long, intense stare. There was no emotion in her face. “I’m Belle.” “Cool. We only have one rule here. Don’t change the channel.”
Bryan grinned at me again. I couldn’t understand why he belonged here, in a hospital for crazy people. He seemed so normal.
Then Bryan raised his arm to throw it around Walt’s shoulder, and I saw the angry scars that marked his wrist. I dropped my eyes fast as I could, but he noticed.
“We’ve all had a few problems here, right?” He winked and I nodded. It was a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Aven walked in.
“Anything good on TV?” he asked, dumping himself on the couch near me. He shook shaggy wet hair near my face, making me flinch away. “Hey!” I didn’t really mind though.
“So, you guys met Belle. She’s pretty cool, for a rich kid.” I’d been called that before, and it always made me feel bad, like having money was my fault. But Aven made it sound okay, he was just joking with me.
“How could you tell?” “Your clothes are too nice, and you’re wearing a pearl.” I wrapped my fingers around the small pearl that dangled to my collar bone.
It was a black pearl, perfect and beautiful. I’d gotten it for my 16th birthday from Annalise and Jean Paul. I’d forgotten I was wearing it, something they had gotten me.
With a single hard yank the chain broke, and I felt my heart break a little too. The last connection to my family was gone.
“Belle, why’d you do that?” Aven asked. “I don’t need it anymore. It doesn’t matter to me,” I lied. Aven patted my shoulder.
“You don’t have to leave everything when you come here. Some things aren’t meant to be forgotten.” I nodded, looking at the floor to hide my embarrassing tears.
Someone put cool fingers around my hands, clasping the pearl in our grasp. Crystal had gotten off the couch to comfort me. Her blue eyes were warm.
She reached up to whisper in my ear, “I’m a rich kid too. Forget how your family made you feel, what happened before. But if you love something, Aven is right. You don’t have to forget it. Here.”
She kissed my cheek with soft lips and stood back. Smiling shakily, I thanked them. “We’re supposed to help each other, y’know. It’s no problem,” Aven said.
When the loud, shrilling bell rang (something I could never get used to) we all left for therapy.