Chapter 1

The story of the main characters recovery.

     I walked down the dull, white hallways of Bears Den mental institution on my way to my weekly therapy session. On a normal day, I would have passed only one or two staff members, but today I must have passed at least ten. Yesterday one of the kids here was reported to have tried to kill herself. Overdose, I believe. Because of this incident, the number of staff on each shift has been doubled and were ordered to keep an eye on the residents. Also, each resident was required to be escorted by a staff member, mine was a young girl named Luna. Luna was shorter than me, about five foot eight, medium brown hair, with bright green eyes.

     "Are you going to go inside?" Luna asked. I was in such deep thought, that I hadn't even noticed we stopped walking. "Go on in, I'll be waiting out here for you." I nodded and went inside.

 

     "Good Morning, Eva, how did you sleep last night?" Asked the middle-aged woman sitting in the leather chair at the far end of the room. "Please, come sit down." She said waiving to the chair in front of her desk.

     I looked at her, and began to walk around the room looking at the pictures like I always did, every time I came into her office. Dogs playing cards, a racehorse with the number 4 on its side. There were many different pictures around her office, but the one that I always studied the most, was the one on her desk. A small four by seven frame, it depicted a young girl, around the age of seven, holding onto a small stuffed animal crying. I have only been here a few weeks, and she should have known that I wouldn't talk. I never did. I just sat in the uncomfortable chair, unmoving staring at the picture on her desk trying to figure it out.

     "I see you are still looking at the picture on my desk. Would you like to know who that is?" She asked sitting back intertwining her fingers around each other in her normal 'thinking' position.

     My answer, was a simple shake of my head and the rest of the session went on in silence.

     "Time is up. I am putting in a request to have you in my office more than once a week. I am going to request that I see you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Have a good day." She said dismissing me from her office.

 I got up out of the chair stiff. I stretched, went to the door, and left the room.

 

   "How did it go?" asked Luna. She also knew not to expect an answer from me, but she asked anyway in hopes that I would finally start talking, but my answer came only as a shrug. "Well then, your therapist kept you a bit later than she usually does, so we are a little late for lunch, are you hungry?" She asked with her usual caring tone.

     I shook my head, but she simply told me that she was hungry, and started leading me off to the lunchroom.

 

  The lunch room, was like that of any school. Tables lining the middle of the floor, each full of residents of Bears Den. Mostly, the lines were empty so I went into the far left line where they usually had something good to eat. Today they were serving nacho's. I got my plate, and went to my usual table only to find that there was someone new sitting there.

     "Hey, Eva!" My friend Jess waved me over. This is Matt, he just got here yesterday he's cool, Matt, this is Eva. He never talks, so don't expect an answer from him!" she laughed.

     "Nice to meet you Eva." Matt said sticking his hand out expecting a handshake, but eventually put his hand down after noticing that I wasn't going to offer my hand as well. "So, Jess," he said changing the subject. "What are you in here for?"

     "Oh," She muttered, "I, uh... I'm a 'skitz.' My mom got fed up with my talking to people who weren't there and sent me here."

     "Did your dad not fight to keep you in the house..?" He said clearly interested in Jess's story.

     "He left when I was three, I was just old enough to remember him..." She took a moment to clear her eyes, because she started crying some. "But, it doesn't matter."

     "Oh... I'm so sorry..."

     "Its fine." Jess said quickly wiping a cloth across her eyes.

      The rest of the day was mostly dull, we went to our after noon classes and ate dinner, then went to our final evening class, and went to our rooms for the night.

Author's Note

Completed, comment with your thoughts and ideas, THANKS!!! (ALSO... I need a new title for this story... ideas in comments please thanks!!)

Reviews

[Sleepless]

why is he so quiet ?! but i like his chaacter though :P like the chapter :P

[TL Boehm]

dialogue is solid in this first chapter moving the storyline forward, and my curiosity is piqued.

[A.D. Wilson]

Great idea for a story. The characters are all very interesting and I am excited to learn more about them, especially the main character. Why doesn't Eva talk? What happened to him? I can't wait to find the answers to these questions.

[Bailey C. Writing]

The lunch room, was like that of any school.
The comma in between isn't needed :)

The characters feel so real, I feel like I'm there and I'm listening to them talk, and seeing Eva's session myself...that's the quality of a good book, feeling like you're there, meaning that you've done an excellent job here. A good author catches their reader in the first chapter and leaves them wanting more, and for me you've done exactly that. Excellent job :)

[Legacy]

S.T,

It seems I am not the only who wished this story to completion or at least a powerful beginning and follow through.

Amazing you seem to know which keys to hit and in which order, I sit her pondering in on the characters mind.

This is a very good story "epic" as I read - a perfect word upon finishing of the book itself.

Only thing I would do is ...( and you may have intended it this way to portray the monotony of it all) the word WENT in the close of the chapter. Too much or on purpose.

Other than this, I can not give you enough props on your grammer, format and character description.

Bravo.

Legacy