Close your eyes.

Everything that makes you who you are, is now gone. Your friends, home, and family are no longer here. Instead you find yourself in a new home, and different town. A town where everyone knows everyone and you are well known more than others. You are the youngest of two. And a star child with perfect grades, manners, and life. You are going to follow in your father's footsteps as he did his father and so on. You are going into psychology and help your brother take over the family business, a Mental Ward. But don't worry. You have to finish college before you do any of that. Oh, and high school. But don't fret, you have time. Just don't forget to study hard. Don't spend too much time with your friends. In fact, only go out on Sundays. This way you have six whole days to study. And be mindful of how you act. People are watching and you are from a highly respected family. Don't want to scuff the family name by childish acts. Ok. Got it all? Good. Now welcome to Hilde Schbeicker's life.

"I was always told I'd be here one day. Ever since I could remember. Funny. I never thought it would be this way!"

"And what way is that my dear?" Hilde leans back on the couch as she draws her legs closer to her chest. She starts breathing heavily. Dr. Po stills herself as she watches the young girl ball herself up.

"I can't take it any more! I think I'm losing it! Ah!" Hilde balls herself up and she forces a panic attack upon herself. Dr. Po rushes to her side.

"What is it? Hilde what's happening?" Hilde grabs the doctor's shoulders and shakes her.

"I can't take it any more! I want it all to end!!" Hilde falls back on the couch and drapes an arm over her eyes. "Why oh why! Someone take me way! Death! Come to me!"

"Hilde please! Your parents won't like hearing about this! You don't want to die! Now what is it that we can do to make you better?" Hilde peaks at the good doctor. A sly smile crosses her lips.

"Wendy's." She croaks out.

"Who?"

"Uh, not who!" Hilde sits up, annoyed. "Wendy's! You know. Spicy Chicken sandwich with a Mr. Pebb!" Dr. Po crosses her arms over her chest.

"Hilde! I thought you where going to kill yourself!"

"Oh. No. I hate the sight of blood." Hilde now sits up and plays with the rim of her hospital gown. She has been in Newberry for over two years. Ever since her breakdown at the end of her junior year in high school.

"Really now." Dr. Po walks back over to her chair. "I heard about you." Dr. Po. Dr. Sally Po. Is new at Newberry. Only been here for a month. The other doctors gave her Hilde as a test. Because if you can survive Hilde, then you have it made. "I know how you really aren't insane. You just act like it."

"Really? And here I thought it was the pudding along! Damn pudding. Why must you be so good!"

"You act sane but every time you go before the board you flip out!" The Board. Here at Newberry, all patients must go through them in order to advance or to leave. You can't move anywhere without their consent. "Then they throw you back here and we start all over again!"

"Eh . . ."

"Hilde. Why don't you want to leave?"

"Drugs."

"WHAT?"

"And pudding. Very good pudding. Have you had any?" Dr. Po glares at her. "Guess not. That's not a happy pudding face."

"Hilde. If you are not going to behave and take these sessions then I have no other choice but to ask you to leave." Hilde stares at the doctor. "You may go." And with a flash, Hilde is out the door. Sally sighs and gets ready for her next patient.

"Boy oh boy! What a bore!" Hilde says as she walks down the hall to her room. She swings her arms as she takes big steps down the hall. As Hilde walks she takes the time to look into each room she passes. At daytime all doors must stay open. When Hilde comes to her room she comes to a stop with a hop. She turns to enter but stops when she sees a certain blond sitting at her computer.

"Uh . . ." She says, getting his attention.

"My internet is down." The blond simple says. Hilde shrugs and leaps onto her bed.

"Very well. Knock yourself out."

"You know they'll send you back to the 'Resort'." He says knowing perfectly well that sessions last for about two hours. Hilde has only been gone eighteen minutes.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever Quatre." The 'Resort' is another name for the metal ward. Hilde's parents think calling it that would make it seem like a better place and bust people's esteem. Newberry Asylum is the second part of the Resort. Here you aren't as watched and drugged as you would be over there. Plus you get free days once a month, meaning you are aloud to leave campus grounds.

"I'd listen to him if I were you."

"Hello Amy." Amy has been at Newberry for ten months now. She arrived here after her six-year stay at the 'Resort'. Amy is of Irish blood and that can be seen with her bright red hair and pail skin kissed all over with freckles. She is a short woman but not someone to overlook. She'll beat the snot out of you if you rub her the wrong way. The woman has poor eyesight, a sight she wasted away in countless hours making clothes for her four little girls. But her hearing picks up where her eyesight lacks. Which works for the best for her seeing how Amy is a very noisy person. She has the need to know everything and does seem to do a good job because she does know everything.

"Hilde." Amy simple states. The two aren't friends but they aren't enemies either. Just acquaintances. "I see you have been to the new doctor. How is he?"

"She. Her name is Dr. Po." Hilde gets off her bed and heads for the bathroom. The purpose of Newberry Asylum is work patients back into the 'real' world. The place has six floors and thirty bedrooms on each. Hilde's room is on the corner so her room is a little bigger and has it's own bath. Some rooms have showers; some even have little kitchens (They really aren't kitchens, just a fridge and some counter space with cupboards.) while others don't have any. The point is to get people to interact with others and to learn to share, a skill that seems to be lost coming out of the 'Resort'. "I'm taking a bath now. Later."

"Oh fine. Don't talk about the new doctor."

"She couldn't tell you if she wanted to. Hilde didn't stay long."

"Still. Oh well. I guess all that really matters is knowing the sex." Quatre turns to look at the offending redhead.

"And why is that important?"

"I just need to know if it's some hot doctor guy. Oh why can't any of the doctors here be hot? Like it the TV shows."

"Aren't you married?" Hilde says as she sits down in the tub. The doors are thin so Hilde can still hear them.

"I can still have hot doctors working on me." Amy laughs as she hears Hilde's side comment about it being a fat chance. She looks over at Quatre and sees he is no longer paying attention. Sighing she looks out Hilde's window. It's a bright summer day out and Amy can see the iron fence that blocks the outside world. Just outside the gate is a sidewalk that follows alongside the fence until the fence turns down the ways. A road lies next to the sidewalk and next to that is old neighborhood. And in there lives Hilde's family. But none of that matters to Amy. What does is a young man of twenty. He walks down the sidewalk with big strong steps and uses a cane to help walk (He has an odd limp.). In his hands he holds what appears to be an ice cream cone. Amy opens the window to stick her head out to look at the man better. But she didn't need to look any further for the man has a long braid. Amy only knows one man who can pull that hairstyle off.

"Oh Hilde . . ." She says sweetly. "Looks like you boy is back!" Hilde sits up more as she tries to think of who her 'boy' can be. Then suddenly, like a flash she jumps out of the tub and wraps a towel around herself as she rushes to the window.

"Duo . . ." She growls. Her nemesis.

Duo Maxwell. Hilde and Duo have been fighting since the day they first met. And it was at a third grade picnic that they first met. The picnic was held on the first day of school. It was to welcome the students back and have them met each other. Hilde and Duo met up on the swing set. She said hello and he just stared at her, holding a lollypop newly moistened by his mouth. Annoyed by his silence Hilde turned to leave, but before she could Duo slammed the lollypop on her head and rolled it around until it was stuck to her hair. From that moment on the two have been at it. They always did pranks on each other, always trying to top the other. It went all the way to high school. Until one day Duo didn't come to school. He never did return to school, leaving around the middle of ninth grade. But Hilde still got surprises in her locker so she never questioned it. Yet she did become concerned one day, the summer before her breakdown, when she saw him walking down the street. He walked with a cane and had an odd limp.

"That bum. What's he up to now?" Hilde blocks the sun's rays with her right hand, while her left keeps the towel in place. But seeing how this isn't helping her see better she grabs for a small telescope on her nightstand.

"They let you have that?" Amy says in wonder. The staff usually takes any outside things from the patients.

"Yeah." Hilde says as she holds it up to her eye. "My father gave it to me long before I came here. It's some thing to pass on to my kids. My other brothers have one as well."

"How nice."

"Bastard! He's eating ice cream! An cookie dough no less!" Hilde compacts the lens and tosses it to Amy. "YOU BUM! DON'T YOU HAVE A JOB? OR! HOW ABOUT A LIFE!!!" You don't need a telescope to tell that Duo is laughing and enjoying every moment of his little game of torture. "Cookie dough is my favorite!" She says in a pout.

"Flash him."

"W-what?"

"You heard me! Flash the guy. Come on Hilde!" Amy leans out the window a bit to look at Duo better. "I would."

"Yeah. I bet you would! And no I am NOT flashing him or any one!"

"Fine." Amy smiles at Hilde. "I will!"

"WHAT!" Hilde dive-bombs Amy before she could move. "NO! DON'T YOU DARE!!!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Both women stop their fighting and look at the young nurse. Her name is Sarah and she is a nurse in training. She is a little shorter than Hilde, with light brown hair tied in a bun and lucky green eyes. The kind of eyes guys just seem to love. "Why am I not surprised to see that the loudest room here is yours Hilde." Hilde glares at Sarah. If there is one thing Hilde hates more than anything in the world it would be getting orders from someone younger than her. Sarah is only 18 whereas Hilde is 20.

"Sorry Sarah. Amy was just leaving." Amy huffs in disappointment but gets up anyway.

"Not good enough Schbeicker. Everyone needs to go." The room falls silent as all eyes cast on the forgotten boy on Hilde's computer. He has been so quite that Amy and Hilde have forgot about him. Sarah walks to him and touches his shoulder but she gets no response. He is so engrossed in what he is reading that there is no real world. Just the ones described in the pages of the story. Sarah adds a little more pressure to her grip and with a bolt Quatre is awaken.

"W-what?" Tears rim his eyes as he looks at the young nurse. Hilde walks up to him.

"Hey. You ok?" He looks at her oddly but wipes his eyes clean.

"Yes. It's just a really good story."

"Right. Well it's time for you all to leave Hilde's room. So say your good byes . . ."

"Geez Sarah. They live just down the hall." Hilde says as she retreats to finish her bath. Sarah is about to say something when she sees Duo at the gate. Walking over she asks who he is.

"Oh." Says Amy, happy to answer. "That's Hilde's man. He just came by to get a free peep show."

"WHAT?" Both Sarah and Hilde say. Amy laughs as she walks out the room, taking a confused Quatre with her.

"Hilde." Sarah growls at her.

"I was not going to! I . . . Don't even like him!" A light shines on Sarah's face.

"Really? OK then. I guess you won't mind me telling him to go away."

"Fine." Hilde says to Sarah as she walks out of Hilde's room. Trying to show she didn't really care.

"Forever." Sarah laughs know all too well that Hilde won't say anything in fear of letting her feelings escape. She walks down the end of the hall and pushes the button for the elevator. Sarah takes the time to check herself in the reflection on the doors. As she enters, Sarah thinks of what she is going to say to the cute man with the braid and cane.

After her cold bath and dinner (with pudding of course) Hilde heads back to her room for bed. She doesn't care much for the games in the Game Room. Well, the real reason is because she was banded from ever play any of the games ever since she played 'Battle Chess'. Here instead of putting 'killed' pieces to the side, they where really 'killed'. Smashed, crushed whatever Hilde could come up with. The game room became a wasteland for the scattered remains of the poor chess pieces. After that Hilde was kicked out and had to find other ways to amuse herself. Which usually is her paying a visit to Quatre.

Quatre Winner. Age 18. An odd boy. Hilde has yet to figure him out which is why she loves to talk to him. She always learns something new about him. Like how he loves to read stories online, or how he can't sleep on a bed unless it is made. He is very kind and soft-spoken. Hilde is his only friend here (Something the doctors are bewildered by.). He talks to her and often finds haven in her room (seeing how Hilde always tends to run her roommates off). He doesn't talk about why he is here, not even to Hilde, but finds solace in reading an online 'Murder Mystery' written by Author. Hilde has seen him reading it countless time but never really had the need to read it herself. However, Hilde thinks that Quatre's reason for being her lies somewhere in this story. And he has been here long. Hilde only stayed at the 'Resort' for two weeks whereas he stayed for three years. Quatre is on his second month here at Newberry.

"Hey Jeff." Quatre's roommate. "Is Quatre here?"

"Sorry Hilde. He's sleeping."

"Really?" Jeff nods. "Ok. See ya."

"Bye Hilde."

Bored out of her mind she decides she'll follow Quatre's lead and go to bed as well. She turns off all the lights but the soft hum of the monitor tells her she needs to turn off her screen. As she moves the mouse the 'Murder Mystery' comes up and for a moment, Hilde almost read it. She does want to know why Quatre was crying after reading this. Maybe it really did relate to him being here? No. Hilde decides not to read and turns off the computer. Lying on her bed she curls up around her pillow and take a deep breath. Sleep. One of Hilde's favorite things to do. Hilde hugs her pillow but instead of feeling soft sheets her hand runs over something else. Hilde lifts up her pillow and sees a note. With one quick look around the room, Hilde opens the note.

"BOO."

She didn't know how but she knew that Duo Maxwell had entered her room. The war continues.

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