Wingspan(Paranormal, Young Adult) MAJOR EDITING**

thirteen

Except they were the real deal.

They were bad people who'd done terrible things,otherwise they wouldn't be at Starkhouse. I wasn't scared before arriving here, but I was now and I hopedthat she couldn't smell my fear.

I was sweating and could feel my heart accelerate.

Integrating myself back into a community was difficult, especially when it was an unfamiliar place. It made my stomach ache for my old school. At least there, people knew me enough to leave me alone and not ask questions.

I seriously felt like it was more than I could handle.

Dr. Cambridge thought I was ready for this but I wasn't convinced.

Even though I may have only been in the psychiatric hospital for three months, it had felt like forever because I couldn't keep track of the days. I was constantly taking drugs that had made everything hazy, in spite of what they were supposed to be treating me for. I was rusty at meeting new people and it didn't help that I was currently feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable but I had to push through it.

It was either that or return to the psychiatric institution where Dr. Cambridge would give me more tests and probe my mind.

No. I refused to go back there. I had made up my mind when I'd first heard about the headmistress and her academy for troubled teens.

I was generally indifferent because, quite frankly, I'd seen far too much to be naïve. I just prayed that I could get through the semester without having to fight anyone.I never attacked a girl before and I never would if I could help it.

My eyes lingered on

the girl in my room. If I didn't want to find out what she did to get here, I needed to break the ice. But how? I wasn't good with people and Chanel didn't count because she was the only exception.

I wondered if my roomie was sharing a similar train of thought. I mean fo

r all she knew I could have been bat-shit crazy and looking for trouble.

I didn't want that to be her first impression of me, so I clear my throat and smile at her.

"I'm Aislin." I force out words and hoped I appear more confident than I actually felt.

She doesn't look my way. Instead, she quickly unzips her jacket and takes it off before placing it onto the duvet next to her. I quickly sized her up. She was pretty slender, so I thought that if it came down to a brawl I might have a fighting chance.

I clear my throat and tried again, presuming she didn't hear. "I'm Aislin."

"Good for you," she mutters with her back still turned to me.

Was that it? I smile genuinely happy. Well, that went better than I'd originally thought it would.

At I was off the hook from getting to know my roommate. I sprawled out on my bed and sighed. I was a little worn out but each time I'd close my eyes all I could see were historical dates and the US timeline.

While waiting for sleep to come, I look at the ceiling and admire the wire chandelier. There were only so many thick crown-molding lines that I could count before I lost track and started to yawn.

Still, my body was unrelenting. As my surly roommate trotted to her cabinet that was facing the other side of the wall, I instinctively turned to watch. She opened a drawer that was overflowing with lace and other ripped materials and picked out something. Still ignoring my presence, and the fact that I was clearly trying to sleep,she slams the drawer shut and turns around with a loudhuff.

She moved into the bathroom with one folded towel under her arm and a pair of pants and a shirt in the other. She looked at me critically before she closed the door. It was like I were a bug she wanted to put down.

"You've been here, what? A couple of hours?" she rolls her eyes.

"What? Um, well, I..." I stammer.

"Save it," she snaps. "Let's not pretend that we'refriends. Its bad enough that we're roommates. I don't want you to ruin what I have going for me."

I grimace, unsure of how to respond.

"And I'm not interested in girl-talk or swapping life stories or anything like that, got it?" She glares at mewith enough malice it clung in the air like static.

She continues into the bathroom and I hear the door lock after it's closed, followed by the sound of water spouting from the showerhead. Now that she was no longer in my presence, I could relax. Though sleep was even furtheraway now. I roll onto my back and sigh, staring up at the roof again. It seemed marginal but slowly my nerves were starting to drop back down.

After my roommate got out of the bathroom she—thankfully—left. No words were exchanged and I was already in my tattered pajamas, ready to call it a night. It was six o'clock and that meant dinner was being served in the Lunch Hall, but I wasn't in the mood for eating orbeing around people.

I didn't have the kind of mentality that it took to engage in table talk with Mya and her equally bearable friends. That's when I felt a warm tear roll down my cheek. My chest heaves and my body aches. The pain was intolerable. It was like I was being severed from the inside out. Nice as they were I was in no shape to show my face and I felt a little bad because of it.

Tomorrow, I promise myself.

I closed my eyelids and rest my head on top of the one-sided pillow.

Eventually the blast of wind enveloping outside soothed me to sleep.