I Promise it Gets Better

Chapter 5

"The essence of lying is in deception, not in words," -John Ruskin

"Time to wake up!" one of the nurses say.

It's 7 AM. I know that because the brochure with my schedule says we wake up at 7 AM and take a shower. On the brochure this is referred to as "hygiene time". I wake up immediately.

"You can get anything that you need from the office and then take your shower when you're ready," the nurse informs me.

"Okay thank you," I reply.

I realize I don't know where the office is so I ask the nurse. He points me to this little room that I thought was a break room. There is another nurse inside that hands me my bag that I brought with me. I go back to my room. There is a bathroom connected to the room. It looks weird. The door has a slanted cutout on the top and bottom. There is no doorknob or lock, just an indent in the door so that you can push it open and pull it closed. I walk into the bathroom. It looks normal, small but normal. The knob in the shower is a cylindrical shape. I finish and brush my teeth. Then, I go out into my room to dry and brush my hair. The nurse from earlier says he's going home for the rest of the week and says goodbye. A new nurse comes in to inform us that breakfast is ready. Me and Alyssa walk out into the main room. Apparently there is no cafeteria so we all just eat in the main room. I just drink my apple juice and don't eat anything. The food looks gross and I honestly don't have much of an appetite. Today I actually meet everyone there are two boys, Trey and Tristan, Alyssa, and two little kids, Max and Blake. Trey is on anti-depressants because he tried to kill himself on multiple occasions, Tristan got into a fight with someone and ended up here, Max tried to suffocate himself and his mom found him and called 911, and well, we don't really know why is here. We all have theories, he has serious anger issues, he may have tried to kill himself, he may have hurt someone. The list goes on. Trey thinks he tried to kill his parents. We eat and then I read in a corner. Later, we go outside and I sit on a bench and read. Blake throws a tantrum and the nurses have to talk to him. When we get inside we have group time. This means we make a little book and fill it with healthy coping mechanisms. We talk and get to know each other.

"I can't wait to get out of here. My grandma's supposed to pick me up today," Alyssa says.

We all nod our heads except Max and Blake.

"I actually like it here, I don't want to go home," Max says.

"Well, what's wrong at home?" Alyssa asks.

"Um, nothing"

"Well something has to be bad if you don't want to go home"

Max just shakes his head and stays silent.

We finish our books and the lady who was in charge of group leaves. We have some time to do whatever so we all just play Uno with the staff. Tristan is sent to talk to a psychiatrist and Max and Blake play Jenga in the corner, so it's just me, Trey, Alyssa, and the staff people playing. Then, we eat lunch. Well, I don't really eat anything I just drink my sweet tea.

"Why are you a vegetarian?" one of the staff people ask.

"Well, I don't like meat," I say.

"So is your whole family vegetarian?" Alyssa asks.

"No, it's just me"

"How long have you been a vegetarian?" Trey asks.

"Since I was six"

"Do you eat fish?" The staff person asks.

"No, I'm not a pescatarian"

"Wait, what's a pescatarian?"