And on this day, a new horror novelist emerges!

I go by many screennames, though my most recent is Skittles! I'm an 18-year-old who has been writing for nearly a decade. I've always been really good at making people cry with the way I word things, and I'm best at writing tragedy and angst, though I'm expanding to horror.

I have many interests and fandoms. I adore dinosaurs, and I can tell you basically anything there is to know. I am also into gaming and anime, which the influence for most of my writing.

A few more personal things. I love rock and metal music, as well as some K-pop and J-pop. I am also autistic, which helps with retaining mass amounts of information. I'm also lesbian and I have a sweet girlfriend (@GearFeathers) who helps me with what I do. We play video games and watch anime together, and she reads everything I write.

I don't have any social media except for Discord. If anyone wants to get ahold of me, message me and I can give you my user!

I’m making a Fanganronpa novel. What’s a fanganronpa? Well, it’s a fanmade Danganronpa killing game! These take a ton of planning to get ready; the writer needs to pick a protagonist, traitor, and mastermind out of sixteen characters, as well as a list of motives to make the students kill. Each character also needs to have an “Ultimate”, which is a talent or career the character possesses. Here is the cast list!

~ Aiko Jinka (Novelist)

~ Chiharu Kurosaki (Baker)

~ Izanami Kaizo (Mythologist)

~ Shika Itou (Zoologist)

~ Hoshiko Yoshimura (Astrologer)

~ Kohaku Ohkada (Paleontologist)

~ Kazuko Nakagawa (Pianist)

~ Kiyumi Shimizu (Jinx)

~ Natalia Simmons (Graffiti Artist)

~ Daiki Kurosaki (Brass Member)

~ Fumio Eguchi (Polyglot)

~ Kanagi Shigeki (Occultist)

~ Koji Nakagawa (Interpreter)

~ Henri Armand (Fashionista)

~ Akimitsu Tanaka (Dictionary)

~ Ryou Tsuji (Illustrator)

This cast list is extremely diverse. Each character have a different sexuality as well, as well as one transgender character and a nonbinary character. One character was raised in a foreign country, two characters are only half-Japanese (as well as one American POC and one French), and there are a total of 6 disabled (or handicapped) characters. These disabilites, for anyone curious, are:

- dissociation disorders

- schizophrenia

- deafness

- autism

- severe anxiety

- depression (our protag, though this won’t affect her behavior)

Each character also has a specific design! If you want to get to know a specific character before the novel finishes (or even after!), the best way to get ahold of me is on Discord. My Discord tag is: Skittles#5819. Please add me and ask me anything! <3

Hi hi! It is I: FreakyWeeb! I have come today to share a message with my lovely, lovely followers!

Okay, enough with the dramatics.

So, I just wanted to explain my absence. I have been moving quite a bit and I moved to a new city in the state I was already living in. I have traveled south! But some things have happened that have cut down on my activity quite a bit (obviously). It's probably none of anyone's business, but I'm going to share anyway.

So I had moved because of bullying at school. When I moved, things got better, then the semester reset. I was being bullied again and was taken out of public school to be homeschooled. In that period of time, I was also attacked by my now-ex boyfriend. Things got better, though. I graduated school a year early! I have applied for my first college here in Georgia. I also have made a ton of internet friends to make up for the ones I don't have because I wasn't in public education, and I even found a wonderful girlfriend who will always be my biggest fan.

That said: yes, this is a happy ending, but there's still lingering problems. I am now undergoing therapy for trauma and social skills, and I also have had no will to write. I'm restarting some things, however, and starting some new! So, I really hope everyone enjoys what I can come up with! <3

There was a war between humans and monsters. Upon being victorious, humans trapped monsters under a mountain--Mt. Ebott--using magic. Years later, a child falls in. The king and queen care for them and their own son, the prince, as if they were siblings. Eventually, the child falls ill and dies the next day. Stricken with grief from losing his best friend, Prince Asriel takes them back up to the land of humans, using their soul to go through the barrier temporarily. The humans are afraid, thinking Asriel murdered the child, who was named Chara, and they attack him. He doesn't fight back and lets them attack him. Once done, he returns Chara and leaves to Ebott, but dies before returning to the palace. The king, Asgore, is outraged, and is looking for six souls to shatter the barrier and redeclare war. You are the seventh human, the last one, Frisk.

Lucius--Luci--ran as fast as her paws could take her. Not exactly paws, but clawed feet--talons.

"Over there--a beast!"

"Seize her!"

Luci stopped running. She was 10 feet from the creek where they met, but now the grass was dyed red. There laid the dragoness, slain.

Credit to CircusP for coming up with the lyrics. Note: I'm a literal Vocaloid fanatic, and this song came out a few days ago and I've maybe listened to it 20 times in 2 days. Oops.

Oh man, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Are you just as excited as I am?

Because I've been dying to see you, dying to see you, dying to see you.

You know you weren't the one who got infected

You built immunity to your own poison

I guess you thought that I would be different

Kept it a secret

People believed it

I'm your dark, edgy, past mistake

Said I kept you awake

But that was all fake, right?

Pray no one digs up the grave

"Here lies the man" lies the girl

If only in your world

Filling up my lungs

I'm six feet under, cast asunder

Yet here we are

Now, I've just begun

Your pity party can't start without me

So here we are!

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve

I've been practicing like you wouldn't believe

Isn't it nice to feel your own vice

Fill your chest just like you filled mine?

Thought you'd lock yourself away

'Cause there is no other way

Fill your lungs and just breathe

Fill your lungs up with me

I'm your dark, edgy, past disgrace

Said you're crushed by the pain

But that's not the case, right?

Pray no one digs up the dirt

"He'll rest in peace" said the priest

"But, man, that had to hurt."

Filling up my lungs

I'm six feet under, cast asunder

Yet here we are

Now I've just begun

Your pity party can't start without me

So here we are!

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve

I've been practicing like you wouldn't even believe

Isn't it nice to feel your own vice?

Fill up your chest like how you filled mine?

Filling up your lungs

You're six feet under, cast asunder

And here we are

Now, I've just begun

Your pity party and sad sob story

Won't get you far

I've got a few tricks up my sleeve

I've been practicing like you wouldn't even believe

Isn't it nice to feel your own vice?

Steal your life just like how you stole mine?

Just like how you stole mine?

Just like how you filled mine?

Back when I was in 8th grade, I realised I had some interest in girls. Bi? Pan? Les? I had no idea, but I knew it was something. My mom had this "every time we move, she's straightened a little" kind of mindset, so we moved back to the city neighboring city of where I grew up in right before my freshman year of high school (as I'm writing this, I'm in my junior year). My freshman year, I was at a new school with new people. I only knew two people--one I had a class with--from where I grew up. So, with crippling anxety, I had to make new ones. At this point, I had jumped the gun and proclaimed myself as lesbian (I was wrong, FYI), and that's how I associated myself. Now there was this hella cute girl in my little "clique" who happened to be bi, and I asked her out. I didn't want to go through the fear of telling my mom again that I liked a girl, nonetheless, dating one. My mom suspected it, though, because I talked about her more than I thought, and I was really upset when I found out she was moving. My mom sat me in the living room.

"You kissing girls?"

"No, mother."

"The dog?"

About this time, my dog jumped in my lap, licking my face.

"You'd be happier to know it was the dog rather than what you don't know."

And that's how I came out.

"Callie?" I turned and looked around, waiting for my best friend. She ran up to me from not too far away, then stopped to catch her breath. She then looked up at me, doubled over with her hands on her knees, and smiled.

"Ava, you run too fast," she whined, and I giggled.

"No, I don't! You're too slow!" I turn and run back down, Callie trailing behind me. Her braids bounced off of her neck as she took staggered steps descending the grassy hill. Soon enough, though, she lost her footing and tumbled forward and into me. I yelped, plummeting forward as well and rolled down the hill. I twisted my body and we stopped, then looked at each other and giggled. She was sprawled over across my stomach now, and I was lying on my back, facing her. My smile faded as I noticed a bump forming on her forehead, and I reached out to it. My fingers lightly grazed it, even though I could have sworn that I had more force than that, and she flinched. "You have a bump," I told her, and she nodded, sitting up and off of me.

"I can feel it now that you've pressed it, Ay-vah."

I giggled and stood up, helping her up as well. "Does it hurt too bad?"

She shook her head, then rose to her feet using the hand I offered her. "It doesn't too bad, I'm teasing you, but I gotta go home soon." We began to walk inside, but I lost my balance and fell over onto my side. Callie stopped, giggled, then helped me back up. She then led me inside by my hand and she sat in the chair.

"Hey, mom! Come meet Callie!"

My mom came in and smiled. I pointed to Callie, then my mom waved. "Hello there, sweetie!" She said, and I giggled. "Ava, we have to go to lunch, but how about Callie comes with us?"

I looked to Callie and she nodded, but my mom kept watching her. Maybe she didn't see. "Callie said she can," I said; maybe if I had told her, she would know. My mom beamed and looked to me.

"Let Callie go home and tell her mom, then Callie, tell your mom where we live." Callie nodded and ran outside, calling out for her mom. Callie lived really close to us, so she would be back soon. My head started to hurt a little, so I looked to my mom.

"Mommy, how bad is my bump?"

"Your bump?"

I nodded, then pressed on my forehead. "Callie and I fell, and I hit my head."

She frowned, then kissed my forehead. "It's going to be all better soon, okay?" I nodded, and it was already starting to go away, I could feel it. "Go get ready, sweetie."

~~~

When we got to lunch, I sat next to Callie and across from my mom. I looked down at the menu; they only gave us two, so I had to share with Callie. "Look at this one!" I said, then pointed at an entrée. She smiled and nodded.

"That looks really good!" she cried, and I giggled.

"Doesn't it? Oh wait, it's spicy."

She looked it over, then shrugged. "I don't see it."

I pointed at the fire marking. "Right there. I don't want it." I looked up at my mom. She was already watching me, smiling.

"You don't have to, sweetie. Does Callie want it?"

"I dunno," I said with a shrug, then continued to look over the menu. I found something better, hidden in the third page without a picture. "Momma! Callie! Look here!" I pointed to it, a bowl of spaghetti. That was it, but to a little girl, spaghetti was the bomb-diggidy; Callie even began bouncing in her seat.

"Please, Mrs. Walker? Can we? Can we?"

My mom sighed and smiled. "Fine, but if you can share with Calle." I squealed and put the menu away, then leaned back in my chair.

Then, it happened again. A voice in my head telling me it wasn't going to end well. What was it? Hello? Can't you hear me?

"Don't eat it, Ava. It's going to kill you."

I froze up, then looked around. Were they behind me? In front of me? Hello?

"It'll be disgusting, watching you eat that. Maybe it'll kill you."

I whimpered. Where were these voices coming from? Why can't I see them? Is it you—the person I'm speaking to now? Can you help me?

"Ava?" I whined. Was it them, or my mom? I looked ahead and saw our waiter was here, smiling wearily. I snapped to attention, then glanced to Callie, who was watching me with a concerned expression.

"What would you like, sweetie?" She asked, and I looked back up to her.

"Me? Uh..." I looked back at the menu, trying to remember what I was going to order.

"What about you, Callie?" My mom asked, and I looked to Callie, who was watching the waitress now.

"I wanna share a spaghetti with Ava," she said, looking to me and smiling, so I smiled back.

"Yeah, me too. I wanna share spaghetti with Callie."

My mom nodded, and the waitress jotted it down in her notebook, then closed it. "So, you would like an extra plate?"

"No ma'am, it's okay," I said, and she nodded before leaving.

"Ava, are you okay?" Callie asked, and I nodded, then took a sip of my water.

"I'm fine. Just really, really sleepy." Maybe the voices were here because I was tired. Eventually, the waitress came back with our food, setting it in front of us. I gave Callie her fork and we began to eat.

"No, are you stupid, Ava?"

"It's going to kill you! It's poisonous!"

"Toxin, poison, Ava. You're a moron."

"Moron is a mean word," I replied, but I felt my mom nudge me and shake her head. "Sorry," I whispered, then looked to Callie, who was watching me nervously. Was she the one saying these things? What even was in this? I began to feel sick, so I pushed our plate closer to Callie.

"Are you okay, Ava?" My mom asked, and I nodded slowly.

"I don't feel very good..."

"Can I have the rest, Ava?" Not too long after that, we left.

~~~

"A special doctor?"

"Yep! For grown-ups. You'll get to go into the playroom."

"Can Callie come?"

"Not this time, sweetie." My mom grabbed her purse and opened the door, "but you can play when we get home."

I beamed. "Alright!" Then I darted out and into the car and buckled my seatbelt, waiting for my mom to come. She got into the car and we pulled out of the driveway.

"Ava, this is a bad idea."

"You're never going to come back. Your mom is kidnapping you. You'll never see Callie again."

"You're going to die, Ava. You're going to be ripped to shreds and die. Die...Die...Maybe it's better that way."

I whined. "Stop being mean to me," I whimpered, but nobody responded, and my mom stared at me for a second. I rested my head against the window. The drive was really long, so I took a nap, but when I woke up, we were there. My mom helped me out of the car and led me inside. She showed me where to sit, and I obeyed as she went to talk to the lady at the front. After that, she walked off into the back, and another lady came to me.

"You're Ava? Your mom said you'd like to go into the playroom. Do you want to come with me there?"

I nodded, then took her hand and went through the same doors my mom went through seconds ago. The playroom was in the very back and had toys and such along with a really long table, a TV, and had glass windows going all around it. I sat down and grabbed a Rubix cube to fidget with.

"So, how's school?" the lady asked, and I looked up.

"It's really good. My teachers say I'm very smart, but I hate reading. It's kinda hard."

"Is it?"

"Mhm," I said, looking back down at the cube, "but my best friend Callie helps me."

"What is Callie like?"

"Oh, she's my best friend ever!" I looked back up, smiling ear to ear. "She is really funny, and we play outside together a lot."

"Do you?"

"Yeah! And the other day we went to lunch together with my mom! But people were kinda mean to her." My voice softened, and I looked back down. "They act like she's not there. They stare at her funny, too...But we fell when we were playing in the backyard, and she had a bump on her head, so maybe that's why."

"Maybe," the lady said, then watched me play with the cube. I eventually gave up and put it away, then grabbed a stress ball, squishing it in my palm and watch it go back to its normal shape. "What about your other friends at school? Do they like Callie?"

I shook my head. "They're really mean, so she's mean back."

Now, she giggled and watched me. "Ava, may I ask you a question?"

"Yeah." I looked up to her and smiled a little again.

"Do you hear voices? That aren't the people's around you?"

I froze up. Did she know where they came from? They kept coming back after that day, and they were telling me really scary things like how I was going to die, and I was worthless and a moron.

"Yeah, I do. I think they hate me, but I don't know who it is or what I've done...They told me today that my mom was going to hurt me, and I was never going to come back. Is that true? I wanna see Callie tonight..." I began to cry a little, and the lady frowned, giving me a box of tissues.

"They're just mean. You'll be okay here, and you'll be able to play with Callie when you get home. Hey, I'm gonna go check on your mom, can you wait here for me to come back?"

I nodded, and she stood and left, closing the door behind her. When she came back, my mom was with her, holding a stack of papers. I smiled and got up, running to hug her.

"Mommy!" I cried, then I wrapped my little arms around her waist. She rubbed my head and I giggled. "Mommy, can we go home? I wanna play with Callie!"

"Okay, then come on." She sounded sad and tired, so I looked up. Her face was pale, and she didn't look very good.

"Mommy, are you okay?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'm fine, sweetie. Just very tired."

I frowned, then grabbed her hand. "Okay." With that, we walked back out to the car. She put the papers in the back, then came up to the front and buckled herself in, but then stared at me for a second. I felt like she was waiting, watching for me to do something.

"She's out to get you."

I whimpered and shook my head.

"No, mommy isn't going to hurt me. She loves me."

She flashed a sad look, then turned to the front and drove us home. Once we got there and out of the car, it was raining. "Ava, can Callie come over tomorrow?" my mom asked, and I nodded.

"Okay. Let's go take a nap, mommy."

She nodded, then we went off to her room to sleep.

Due to rain and other events, I didn't actually get to see Callie until almost a week later, but by then, it was beautiful outside, so I went over to get her so we could play in the backyard. We come back over and sit at our usual place on the hill.

"Where've you been?" Callie asked, and I glanced to her.

"Mommy had a doctor's appointment," I answered, twirling a blade of grass in between my fingers, "I got to go to a playroom and we talked about school."

"We?"

"Yeah, this really nice worker and I." I smiled, scattering torn pieces of grass over my denim shorts before grabbing another blade. "We talked about school and we talked about when we went to lunch together and got to share spaghetti."

"You brought me up?"

"Well...yeah." I felt my smile fade as fear flashed in Callie's eyes. "I just said you were my best friend."

"Ava, the appointment was for you."

"No, it wasn't. Mommy wasn't feeling well, so we went to the doctor. Then she was really tired, so we took a nap. Then, we went to another one yesterday to check this place on my arm. I fell again, and the doctor says I broke it. They gave me some cool medicine and now I don't feel it hurt anymore."

"Ava, that's a lie."

"No, it's not." I began to tear up; Callie and I never argued before, at least, not over something so little. "She didn't feel good, I swear. That's what she told me."

"Then she lied to you."

"No!" I felt a hot tear roll down my cheek. "Mommy never lies!"

"Then you're the liar! Lies! Lies! She's going to hurt you, Ava! Lies!"

"Stop, Callie, please." I was sobbing now, my little shoulders trembling beyond consolation.

"You're weak! You want attention! The appointment was for you, not her! You're not making any sense!"

"You're not making any sense, Callie!" I screamed back, standing up. "I'm gonna get mommy! She'll tell you! Mom!" I got up and ran, miscalculating how far I was from the door and ran into the wall. I whimpered, rubbing my nose, then opened the door with a tug.

"Mom!" I cried again, going into the kitchen. "Mommy! Callie's being mean! She's saying I'm a liar! ...Mommy!" I went deeper inside. "Mom!" I stopped when something caught my eye. It was a piece of paper from the doctor's office. I stood on my tippy toes to get it, then pulled it down.

"Diagnosis for: Ava Walker (June 17th, 2084)

Showing signs of mild to severe schizophrenia. Mother was alarmed when her eight-year-old daughter, Ava Walker, was talking to herself and was explaining events that never happened. Ava complained about hearing threatening messages from people she doesn't see. Mother also explains that she's very clumsy and tends to fall over smaller objects."

I didn't understand. My mom came in and I heard her gasp.

"Ava, sweetie, let me see this." She came up from behind me and took the papers from me, putting them back onto the counter. I looked back at her, still in disbelief.

"Mommy, it says I have...uh..." Her face fell into a frown and she looked outside, watching. "Is it...What is it, mommy?"

"...Schizophrenia."

"Schizophrenia?"

She nodded, then looked back down to me. "It means you see and hear things that aren't there."

"But they are there! People tell me you're going to hurt me! And the kids at school are really mean to me and Callie, they really are! I'm not lying, mommy!"

"I know sweetie...But your arm. You didn't break it, it just looked like it to you."

"I felt it, mommy! Look! Look! It looks funny!"

My mom grazed my arm with a finger and it reverted back to normal. I teared up, threatening to cry again. Was I lying? "It never broke, sweetie. It's just scraped."

"Then what about the cool medicine to make the pain go away?"

"That medicine is so that you don't hear the scary voices..."

"Callie can see it! Callie can hear it! Callie!" I ran outside, looking around, but I stopped dead in my tracks.

Callie wasn't on the hill anymore.

In fact, there was no hill, but just my old swing set and sandbox from when I was younger.

I looked back to my mom, who stood on the porch, then turned and went inside.

The other chapters that are completed are on my profile. There are three other completed chapters.

-----------------------------------

I opened my eyes, then looked out the window, only to be greeted with a wave of anxiety.

I was in a car, going past places I have never seen before. It only seemed to get worse as I looked ahead of me to ask my mom where I was going, but she wasn't there. Instead, there were two people I failed to recognize in the seats in front of me.

My first instinct was to attack, and I went to raise my fist, only to realize that I couldn't move my arm. Had they broken it? Amputated it? What did I do to deserve this? Before I could stop myself, I tried to yell, but I just couldn't. There was obviously something in my mouth. I tried to spit it out, but to no avail.

Now, I just wanted to cry. I had never wanted so badly to go back and take the tests they had me do. They were stupid and pointless, and I know they knew that it was extremely difficult for me. I've always had trouble reading, but no one really knew why I couldn't complete that task at the age of seventeen. At least if I went back, I might be able to see my mom.

I looked up ahead of me once again to observe the driver, then I tried to head-butt his seat. It was the first time, I assume, that I've moved in this entire trip. He whipped around to face me, then looked back to the road unsympathetically. I continued to hit his seat until I broke down and began to cry. I just wanted to go home. I looked up to the person in the passenger seat, who I finally recognized to be the girl who did my testing. She had turned in her seat to face me, a syringe in her hand. I tried my hardest to scream as I attempted to kick her away, but I failed as she had injected whatever fluid was in there into my arm. I continued to try and keep her away, but then grew tired and weak, then my world came to black as I fell back asleep.

"…No. Not there." I heard muttering as I woke up. I found that I could finally sit up and look around with ease, and I felt lighter. My arm was still there, and I could feel and move it, so I tried to find what was holding me back seemingly moments ago. I looked around, then found a white jacket littered with restraints and ropes. In black marker, "#043" was written right over the breast.

I then looked up to find the source of the muttering. Before me stood a girl roughly around my age. She was pacing back and forth in the floor, her head hung low, as she kept whispering to herself. She was definitely odd, and I wasn't too sure if I could get used to this or not.

"It doesn't match the others, Kaileigh…" she kept going, then she stopped and stared at her desk. "It can't go there. It doesn't match. It has to match. This…This is too blue." She picked up a green sticker and stared at it for a long while, then set it down. "Not the right color…" Now she whimpered and groaned before she turned to face me. She smiled, almost gratefully, as she piled something in her hands as she came to me. She spilled an array of stickers and badges out over the bed I was on, then looked up to me, but I never actually felt our eyes lock.

"Good! You're awake; can you help me?" she asked, then before letting me respond, she continued by taking a green-ish blue star sticker and a very light blue sticker with a similar design. "Would you say this color can go between these two?" She then replaced the blue sticker, then gestured to the new star, "or these two?" She showed me all possible decisions, but I just looked up at her.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters!" She bit her lip and snorted. "It's very important."

I sighed, then just picked the left combination, then she looked to it. She stared long and hard at it, then she collected her stickers and moved to the desk once again, sorting them out into a journal and closing it. I stood up carefully and walked to her. I came to the final decision that she might be here against her will like me, but she seemed to be holding it up well.

"What's your name?" I asked quietly, but she didn't respond. I repeated my question, a little louder this time, but she still didn't answer. Instead, she went back to mumbling. I frowned, irritated, then turned to the door as a creaking sound filled the room. The girl never looked back; she just stared at her spot on the desk.

"They're looking for you…" the girl whispered, and I nodded. I turned and looked back at my new roommate, then walked out.

"Who was that?" I asked, and the girl watched the room before closing the door.

"That's Kaileigh. She came here when she was nine. She doesn't remember a life outside of here." She stopped and glanced to me. "She was diagnosed with a disability and they didn't find it safe for her or the public, so they moved her."

"She's not…safe?" I looked back, feeling my panic coming back.

"Well…She is," she began to walk on down the hall, so I followed, "It's just a developmental disorder. I never said the researchers were smart."

"What is it then?"

"What is what?"

"The disability. What we were just talking about."

"Oh." She flashed a small smile and kept walking. "Autism."

"…Oh." I looked ahead, watching as we went into a room with a desk and three chairs, one on the other side of the table and two by the door. In the far chair sat a broad young man. He flashed me a smile, and it was the most afraid I had been this entire dilemma. He motioned for the girl to leave, and she nodded.

"I'm Katie," she whispered to me with a smile, then she turned and left. Once the door closed again, I looked to the man in front of me with a sigh.

"Hello, Sabrina," he said softly, and I nodded. "How do you like your room? Assuming you looked around."

"I did a little," I responded, biting my lip for a moment as I pondered over whether or not I should ask why I was there. Before I made my decision, he spoke up.

"Did testing go well?"

I looked up, then behind me at a wall, staring at it for a moment. "I suppose," I started, then I looked back to him, "but apparently not. Is this an asylum?"

He paused for a moment, then he looked up to the ceiling. He was quiet for a long while, then he finally answered with a "no". He didn't look back down as he continued to explain. "This is an institution of sorts, yes, but not for the mentally unstable. It's to protect kids and adults alike from the world outside."

"But you can't just shelter people. They—We aren't babies."

"I'm aware, but some kids are a little…less developed. I assume you met your roommate, right? Kaileigh?"

"Yeah, I did," I said, trying to keep back the fact that I thought she was absurd. "What does she have to do with this?"

"She verifies my point. She was born with a developmental delay. She's 17 years old now, but she has the mind of kid roughly 9 years old." He flashed an obviously fake smile as he continued. "If she stays here, we can help her learn everything she needs. But some kids aren't physically safe. Like Katie."

"What about her?" I was starting to get more upset the longer this conversation went on.

"She can't do too much on her own. She shouldn't have even been walking." He frowned, looking down and at a phone that teachers and workers would use, as if debating if he should call her back down or not. "She collapses at random, and if she hits something, well, you see what I mean. Lights bother her, too, as well as Kaileigh." He looked back to me, and I expected him to continue, but his thought resonated in the quiet room, undisturbed by another word.

"But what if—"

"That's it for this now, Sabrina," he said, flashing another smile. "I just wanted to introduce myself and welcome you here. I'm Luis, and I'm in charge of this place."

I nodded slowly, still upset and hurt by my own unanswered questions. I found myself standing, then gripping the back of the red and black chair.

"I suppose I'll see you tonight at dinner," he said, waving me out and grabbing onto the phone next to his workspace. "Kaileigh is never late, so I recommend you are ready before her."

The dinner hall was humongous. I almost felt like I was back at school again since the room was set up oddly similarly to a cafeteria. Kaileigh was already long gone by the time I was back at my room, but I managed to find Katie, who was sitting in a small green wheelchair. She wheeled herself beside me and smiled.

"You look so tense," she started, giggling. "Everybody is so sweet. C'mon, I want you to meet someone." She pushed my back lightly with her palm, then wheeled over to a boy, not sitting too far away from where I was standing. I watched and waited until she had stopped and motioned me over. I then forced myself to take a step, then another, up until I was standing at the table.

The boy looked up at me with the eyes of a frightened deer, and his breath seemed to have cut short. "This is Markus," Katie started, reaching out and grabbing his hand. He glanced to her, then nodded as his gaze slowly moved to me.

"H-Hi," he whispered, looking back to the table. I frowned, looking to him. Katie did the same, then moved as close as she could in her wheelchair so she could plant a small kiss on his cheek.

"Did you get anything to eat yet?"

"U-Uh, no. I-I'll go then…" He stood up quickly, then hurried away, his head low. I bit my lip as Katie sighed.

"He's not trying to be rude, he just doesn't do well with other people." Her voice was soft and almost hurt, but her smile barely altered. "He has some minor anxiety. He's getting through it, but the meds aren't worth anything. They don't help."

I nodded, then looked around for Kaileigh. It bothered me that she wasn't here, but she had left as I entered our room. I found her sitting alone in the corner, rocking and giggling as she ate her potatoes.

"She's okay," Katie said, as if she was reading me. "People with what she has often do better alone."

"Right," I said, dragging it out, then sighed.

This place annoyed me. Everyone here belonged out in the real world. They'd never learn to adapt to the changes if they stayed isolated in an asylum.

But one thing bothered me more than that. What did I end up having if I was here? Why was I here?