Part 6 (2/2)

”What about Screwed Up Life, Management?” laughed one of the other kids.

Dr. Bent laughed and said, ”That's a different kind of group.”

”What time is that group, Dr. Bent?” Daniel said as he laughed with everyone else.

His eyes squinted slightly when he laughed. When he squinted, it made his eyes glow between his lashes. It was amazing to look at. Those eyes made me smile.

”I don't know, but I think we should all go,” Dr. Bent said as the laughter subsided. ”Okay, everyone, calm down. Who wants to go next?”

There was silence, and everyone looked around the room at each other. Tai was in better spirits and she kept messing around with Janine. She grabbed Janine's arm and tried to make her raise it in the air.

Dr. Bent ignored them and looked at Cadence. ”How about you, Cadence?”

Cadence slid close to Daniel, and Daniel scooted away from her. She licked her lips and nodded at Dr. Bent. Dr. Bent smiled and we all waited, but the weirdo didn't say anything. She just stared at Daniel, smiling.

Daniel finally said, ”What's your problem?”

He got up and sat in an empty chair next to me. I shuddered and tried not to look at him. Cadence was staring at me again. This time she looked like she wanted to kill me. I looked down at my shoes. My shoelaces were untied. I started tying my shoes. I zoned out and tuned out everything around me. I didn't know that Dr. Bent was trying to get my attention until I felt someone tap me, which startled me so badly that I jumped, and it made Daniel jump, because he was the one that had tapped me.

”Ouch,” Daniel said as he jerked back. ”Your s.h.i.+rt's got static. You shocked me.”

”Sorry,” I whispered, not sure if he heard me. I kept my head down as I tied my shoes.

”Dr. Bent's talking to you,” I heard Daniel say. ”Are you sleeping?”

I looked up and everyone was staring at me. Cadence wasn't in the room anymore. Dr. Bent must have kicked her out. Dr. Bent asked me my name. I told her that my name was Kristen. She wanted me to go next, but Janine stopped me.

She said, ”Dr. Bent, this is her first day. Maybe it would be better for her to listen until she is more comfortable. You remember how I was at first.”

Dr. Bent nodded. She asked me if I wanted to listen for now and maybe talk later on. I nodded and looked back down at my shoes. Janine gave me a playful nudge, and I rocked slightly. Dr. Bent made Janine share because she had saved me. Janine started going on about a woman who'd cut her off in traffic while she'd been taking her driver's license exam. She confessed that her response had been yelling out and calling the old woman an ”old, stank bag wench”. Which Dr. Bent told her was probably the reason she failed her test, not because it was the old woman's fault. She said it was a negative consequence to a negative action.

Daniel laughed when Janine said that she had called the lady an ”old, stank bag wench”.

Daniel said, ”That was definitely not the right way to react, Janine.”

”Shut up,” she said as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. ”I get to try again next week.”

”If you are out of here,” Tai said.

I didn't really believe Janine's story. She elbowed Tai in her side and made a silly face at her. Daniel laughed along with them. Everyone seemed connected. I felt out of place.

CHAPTER 8.

”Nick? Where are you?”

I felt my chest rise in pain with each breath I took. It was almost as if my heart was trying to escape from my chest. Tears were streaming from my eyes. I was moving in slow motion. Nick was lying on the floor, naked. It was too dark to see him clearly. It was late in the night. I was tired. I'd wanted a drink of water, so I headed for the kitchen. I'd been pa.s.sing by Nick's bedroom when suddenly I'd stopped.

”Nickyroo? Why are you on the floor?”

I slowly peeked through the door. I could almost see in.

”NICK!”

I suddenly opened my eyes. I looked around, and I saw Janine laughing with Tai on the sofa. I had fallen asleep on the floor in the living room. Cadence was watching television with her doll and Chris, along with a few other kids. Everyone was in his or her place with other people. I was alone in my place. I looked up from under my arm and I saw Daniel coming towards me. I smiled. He sat down on the floor next to me. I tried to sit up and listen to him as he started talking, but as soon as he got out two words that sounded like, ”What are-” Dr. Cuvo appeared out of nowhere. I was actually glad to see him.

”Are you ready, Kristen?” he asked me.

I jumped up off the floor and followed him to one of the empty rooms used for group therapy. Before he closed the door completely behind us, I started to give him a piece of my mind.

”I want to go home,” I said.

Dr. Cuvo sat down quietly in a chair and opened my chart.

”Come on and sit down, Kristen”

I sat down, impatient and a little upset.

”Please, Dr. Cuvo. I really don't belong here.”

”Yes, I heard you, Kristen. I can't do anything about you wanting to go home. You have to stay here until it is safe for you to go home. You have not even been here twenty-four hours yet. The first twenty-four hours are for observation. You haven't even gotten into your therapy.”

”What is my therapy? Morning medication? Anger Management? Sessions with you? More of everyone-” I made myself shut up.

”More of everyone doing what?”

”No, Dr. Cuvo.” I felt dumb again. I couldn't get out what was locked in my mind. Mr. Sharp was pressing in on me. He was close by; I could feel him creeping in on me.

Dr. Cuvo pressed in on me too.

”What are you feeling, Kristen? What do you feel that everyone in here is doing?”

”Everyone: Janine, Tai, Cadence. They are all talking about me. They are calling me ugly when I am not looking, and they are laughing at me. I hear them, and I can't just go to that place. I can't just go in my room and get away from them. I don't belong here. Can I just go home?”

Warm tears started running down my face. I felt stupid. Maybe they weren't talking about me, or maybe they were, because I'd seen them laughing.

”Let me tell you something, Kristen,” Dr. Cuvo began. ”I know that kids can be cruel. I know that, in your experience with your peers, a lot people have been very mean to you. If you feel that anyone in here is talking about you, you should go to that person and ask them what their problem is. I can bet that the problem that they tell you is not you. You are probably the furthest from any of these kids' minds. Also, I don't think that any of them have any reason to laugh at you because they are no better than you while you all are in here.”

”Why do I keep feeling like they are laughing at me?” I asked him.

”I think it is because you are used to that happening from when you were in school. Understand, this is not school. Bent Creek is not a place where you have the cool clique and the rejects. This is a place where everyone is equal. Everyone has imperfections and feels insecure. There's no hiding it. So, instead of taking the laughter that you hear and using it against yourself, why don't you take it as an invitation to laugh with them? Share yourself the way they are trying to share with you. I think it will help you to see what's really going on.”

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