Psychotic Tendencies

Chapter 1

Lacey was not ready. She had just been released from a heavily guarded mental institution, one where she had barely ever been allowed out of her cell, much less outside.

She wasn't ready to be in a large school of over two thousand students.

She wasn't ready to have to keep up the ruse of normalcy in front of people she had never met or even seen before.

But most of all, Lacey wasn't ready to go back home to Mother.

Mother was only good when Lacey's dad was around. But when dad would leave to drink away his sorrows, Mother wasn't good anymore.

Mother hurt Lacey, and Lacey couldn't tell anybody.

Nobody would believe her anyway.

Mother was an upstanding woman, a frequent churchgoer, a philanthropist to major charities. Mother was a trust fund woman, never working a day in her life.

But Lacey knew much more about Mother than she cared to admit.

Lacey knew about Mother's many affairs.

Lacey knew about Mother's schemes.

Lacey knew enough about Mother to put her in a jail for a long time.

But Lacey would never tell anybody.

Lacey was too scared.

Because Mother hurt Lacey.

And Lacey didn't want to get hurt again.

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It had been an unceremonious return to the large house next to the forest. Mother had given her a short hug and a quick hello before going back into her office. Dad had gone down into his office, and Lacey was left to take her few belongings up to her attic bedroom.

Lacey was nervous. She was going to a school and was going to meet new people for the first time in seven years. She had had a tutor during her time at the institution, and wasn't worried about the academics.

No, Lacey was worried about the people.

Mother had made sure that no one knew her daughter was being sent to a mental institution, instead telling everyone Lacey had been sent to an esteemed boarding school in Europe. It had cost a lot to bribe them into saying she went there, but Mother always told her it was worth it.

Mother didn't want anyone knowing she had a freak for a daughter, she had said.

Lacey wasn't worried about them knowing where she had been.

No, Lacey was worried about talking to them.

Lacey had hardly ever needed to talk at the institution. She was never really talked to, only during the everyday sessions with the counselor where she simply needed to nod yes or no. The tutor had attempted to talk to her for a while, but soon noticed that Lacey seemed unable to remember how.

Lacey knew she would have to remember for school, and forced herself to stand in front of her bathroom mirror, reciting every word she could remember.

Her voice was hoarse and her throat hurt from the words, but she kept on saying them until it sounded right.

But they just wouldn't.

She tried quietly repeating the words she heard the most, the words said in quiet whispers outside her cell door when they thought she wasn't listening. But Lacey was always listening, and Lacey heard everything. That's how she knew she was being sent away two weeks before they told her. That's how she knew when she was going to be let out two days before they told her.

Lacey took one last look in the mirror at her too-pale skin and her washed out hair.

No direct sunlight for seven years will do that to you

Lacey recognized the voice that spoke from the back of her head. She nodded her agreement and laid down in her bed, finally being able to fall asleep in a room where she felt safe.

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Aiden hated his mother.

Aiden hated his father.

Aiden hated most everything.

He hated his mother for being a prostitute, for bringing new men home every night.

He hated his father for trying to kill him once when he was seven, and again when he was fifteen.

He hated everything else for never giving a shit about what would happen to him, for letting his sister die.

But Aiden was lucky.

Aiden had learned from a young age to deal with the voices, with the breakdowns. Aiden had learned to survive.

Aiden had adapted.

Aiden saw himself as prepared for anything. He was always ready.

Aiden knew that school would be starting soon.

But Aiden didn't know that he would be starting with someone brand new.

And Aiden could never have been prepared for this.