Welcome To Your So Called Insanity - Hugs.And.Kisses (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

legs were missing from the knee down and an eye patch covered his left eye.

The boy smiled at him. Dr. McIntire smiled back. "Hello Bobby. Are you going to the dayroom?" The boy nodded enthusiastically, and the nurse wheeled him away.

"That poor boy…" Emily murmured.

"Bobby was trapped in a blizzard. Frostbite took both his legs, and his eye and tongue had to be cut out. He can't speak." Emily and Ryan both winced and looked down at Aubrey. They lagged behind their mother and Dr. McIntire as they talked.

"Ryan, I don't want to leave Aubrey here." Emily whispered.

Ryan glanced down at Aubrey. She was watching the back of the nurse who had wheeled Bobby away. Looking back up at Emily, he said, "What choice do we have? If we don't send her now, it's just gonna get worse. Mom can't keep forcing those dream suppressants down her throat. No one knows if they'll have any side effects, and they're just too expensive. The only thing we can do is get her some professional help."

Emily pouted and turned away from her brother. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." She looked down as Aubrey stopped walking. "Aubrey, what's wrong?"

Aubrey shrank away from the door they were walking by. "It's here." She whispered.

Rachel turned around to see Emily kneeling down next to Aubrey. Dr. McIntire did as well. "Emily, what are you doing?"

Emily looked from her sister to her mom, and then let go of Aubrey's hand. The little girl didn't move, just continued to look at the closed door. "She won't go past that door. She thinks something's in there."

Dr. McIntire frowned. "One of our critical patients was in there a few days ago. He died two days ago." He walked over to Aubrey and knelt down next to her. "Aubrey, what do you think is in there?"

Aubrey looked over at him, her red eyes scared. "It."

"What's it?"

"The thing that killed my dad."

He nodded. "I see." He walked over to the door and unlocked it. Pushing it open, he said, "See, Aubrey? Nothing." She didn't say anything, just walked over to Emily and took her hand again.

After Dr. McIntire had shown them around, all five walked back to the entrance. Rachel knelt down and kissed Aubrey's cheek before walking out. Emily and Ryan followed her, the prior giving her one last look over her shoulder before climbing in the backseat. Dr. McIntire put a hand on Aubrey's shoulder. "Why don't I show you your new room? All your things have already been brought up."

"Sure." Aubrey replied, following him up to the second floor. They stopped in front of a door with the number '319' written on it.

"Here we are." He knocked on the door. "Sandy, I'm coming in." Pushing it open, he nudged Aubrey forward. She stumbled into the room, looking around. The room was painted a dull, off-white, with gray tiled floor. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling had cages around their covers, and thick bars were bolted onto the windows. There were two hospital beds in the room. One was neatly made up, obviously Aubrey's, and the other had a figure sitting on it.

She was only about four seven, and didn't look very old. Deeply tanned skin was stretched just a little too tight over her frame, and dark black hair was cut to her shoulders, framing a slightly-round face. Dark emerald eyes framed by thick lashes studied both of the people who entered the room. A slightly large, rounded nose sat above thin, pink lips. "Is she my new roommate?" Her voice held a slight Spanish accent.

Dr. McIntire nodded. "Sandy, this is Aubrey. She'll be staying with you." He patted Aubrey's shoulder and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Sandy walked over to Aubrey. She was about six inches taller than her. She bent down a little so she could look Aubrey in the eye. Sandy smiled. "Hi, I'm Sandy. What's your name?"

"Aubrey." She answered hesitantly.

"You really don't have to be scared." Sandy told her. "The people here might be crazy, but they're harmless." She walked over and sat back down on her bed, patting the spot next to her. Aubrey walked over slowly, hopping up next to her. "Can I see your wrists?" Sandy asked.

Aubrey blinked, startled, but set her sketchbook in her lap and held out her wrists. "Well, you're not a cutter. That's good; we probably don't need two in one room." Aubrey noticed the pale scars on the bottom of Sandy's forearms. Sandy looked at her neck. "And you didn't try to hang yourself. What am I saying, of course you didn't. You're only, what, seven? Eight?"

"I turned eight six days ago." Aubrey told her quietly.

"So your birthday's on Halloween, huh?" Sandy smiled. "I bet you like all kinds of spooky stuff, huh?" Aubrey nodded. Sandy put a hand under her chin, looking in her eyes. "Well, you obviously don't abuse drugs." She dropped her hand and looked at Aubrey. "So why are you in here?"

"I… I have nightmares. And I see things."

Sandy nodded. "Hallucinations? Huh, I haven't seen a case that didn't involve drugs before. You don't have an eating disorder or something do you? I mean, you eat all your food at meals and stuff, right?" Aubrey nodded. "Just making sure. You're pretty skinny."

"My mom said I have a fast metabolism. It means that my body processes the food to fast and I can't get fat."

Sandy blinked. "You're pretty smart for an eight year old." She looked at the sketchbook in Aubrey's lap. "Can I see that?"

Aubrey handed it to her warily. "You probably won't like it. Everyone else thinks my drawings are disturbing."

Sandy flipped through the pages, looking at the pictures. The first was a car, driving on a deserted road. The next was of a shadow with a pair of leering eyes and a wide mouth. The next was of the car flying off of a cliff. Then of the car's crash at the bottom. The driver's face had been burned off, leaving just the skull. "What is this?"

"How my dad died, I think. He crashed off a cliff."

Sandy pointed at the burning skull. "So, that's him?" Aubrey nodded. Sandy flipped the pages. The next was of a pair of glowing red eyes sitting above a mouth full of crooked fangs. "What's this?"

"The monster under my bed. He let me see him because I gave him my doll. He likes to eat dolls. But I couldn't see anything other than his eyes and mouth." Sandy looked at the next pages. They all featured monsters and such. She stopped on the last page. The drawing consisted of a large room, with glowing neon lights in every corner. Bats consisting of glowing yellow bones hung upside-down from chains across the top. There were skeletons held in chains and in between huge clamps. The center was blank, though, the edges of the picture ending abruptly.

"That's a room from my nightmares. I've never seen that part." She pointed to the blank spot.

Sandy paused for a moment. "Wait… if that's a place from your nightmares, then… you've actually seen all these things?"

Aubrey nodded. "Except my dad's crash. That's just what I think happened."

Sandy handed her the book back. "This thing… these are amazing. I mean, I haven't met anyone who could draw so well. Not even the professional stuff that the doctors have hanging in their offices…"

"Yeah, everyone in my family seems to be talented. My older brother Ryan, he's fourteen, can play just about any sport you throw at him. He's been MVP on almost every team he's ever played on, and of course he's been on the varsity since he got into High School. He's, like, the only freshman. And my sister Emily, she's thirteen, can play the violin, piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and drums. And she's learning saxophone and trombone."

Sandy touched Aubrey's hand. "What about you?"

Aubrey bit her lip. "I can draw and sing."

Sandy smirked. "Hey, that's better than me. I can doodle stick figures and I'm completely tone deaf." Aubrey smiled at her sadly. "What's wrong?"

Aubrey shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. "I don't wanna stay away from my mom."

Sandy hugged her, and Aubrey cried into her shoulder. "Shh… it's okay…" She soothed, rocking the younger girl back and forth. "Everything's going to be okay. You'll like it here." She smiled, stroking Aubrey's hair in an almost motherly way. "I'll take care of you whenever you need me."


Chapter 2

Chapter 2

New in Town

"All right girls, lights out!" Came the loud call of the night nurse, ringing a bell that barely sounded over her call. Aubrey watched as Dr. McIntire tied a rubber tourniquet around her upper arm.

"Now, this may hurt a bit." He warned, pushing the IV into the popping vein in her hand. Sandy watched in amazement as Aubrey's face remained stoic. "This'll help you go to sleep easier." He told her, taping it.

He walked over to Sandy's bed, pulling a bottle out of his pocket. He opened it and slid a pill out, popping it in her mouth. "Swallow."

She did, opening her mouth to show him that it was gone. He nodded, satisfied, and walked out. Sandy made a strained face, and then spat a wet pill into her hand. Aubrey watched this with an interested look. "How'd you do that?"

"Lots and lots of practice." She replied, pulling a box out from under her bed. Tossing the pill in, she set it back down and kicked it under. Aubrey blinked as her vision started to blur. Sandy smiled her face distorting. "Looks like your anesthesia's kicking in. See you in the morning."

Aubrey's head fell back to her pillow, her eyes closing before she even hit the pillow.

.o0o.

"Unhh… my head…" Aubrey raised a hand and placed it over her temples. She shivered and reached for her blankets with the other one, her eyes snapping open as her hand ran over what seemed to be hard ground instead of her thin, uncomfortable mattress. She sat up, looking around.

Dead trees surrounded her, shadows dancing beyond their reaches. The ground that she sat on was hard-packed dirt, devoid of any plant life whatsoever, and a chilled wind blew past the dry branches. Aubrey stood cautiously, turning slowly to look at her surroundings. "What kind of freaky dream is this?"

Her eyes fell on the center of the clearing she was standing in. A giant tree stood there, its roots weaving in and out of the ground around it. The topmost of the branches seemed to be reaching almost to the sky, and decorating