All In The Mind

A strange little story that I wrote on a whim.

            I looked up and down the desolate hallway a dreary gray color with false, fading gray-brown paneling. This was supposed to be a ‘high end’ place? That was what my mother said while we were driving here. It certainly just looked like run down, out of money poor excuse for a waiting room to me. The shrink’s office at the end of the hallway I was currently inspecting wasn’t much better either, dull red instead of gray and darker false paneling. At least the chairs in her office were comfortable, the ones in the waiting room, like the one I was currently occupying, were unbearably hard. With a sigh I resumed my vigil, waiting for my mother and the shrink to emerge from that run down office with the verdict on my sanity. The door cracked open a bit,

 

            “This will help her?” I head my mother ask. Did the shrink give me pills then? I heard the other woman’s voice but couldn’t make out her words. My mother seemed relieved but apprehensive at the same time, I waited patiently although it was getting rather nerve wracking waiting for her to come over and tell me I really was insane.

 

            “Thank you, yes we will. Thank you again.”  My mother said reverently and came down the hall, the shrink’s door closing with a pert snap behind her.

 

            “Come on. We’re going home.” My mother said a little coolly, she didn’t now how to deal with me anymore. Not that I blamed her, most of the time I was cold and introspective but when I wasn’t well that was never pleasant to deal with.

 

            “Are you going to tell me what she said?” I asked my first words of the day I think. I had written all my answers to the shrink’s questions, I don’t like to talk much.

 

            “She recommended a school.” My mother replied shortly. It confused her more when I acted normally. I however was curious, I’d recently been kicked out of public school, which was one of the reasons we were here. If I got an official statement from a doctor that there was something wrong with me my mother might be able to claim disability money. Something we desperately needed she often reminded me, while drinking her expensive wine and lighting up a cigarette.

 

            “School?” I echoed trying to get her to tell me more. She looked back at me for a moment; I knew that she hated having to look up at me. She wasn’t short by any means, and was proud of her static height of 5 foot 7 inches, but my abnormal height of six feet bothered her greatly. I never really figured out why, maybe because my mystery father was tall and she blamed my strangeness on him? It was only one of a few theories I had devised while absently sitting in my room.

 

            “Yes, this school has a program for…people like you and if you get accepted they’ll pay us fifteen dollars a day while you attend, it’s a boarding school too.” She explained finally, looking away again. I fought a small sense of panic, was she selling me off finally? I hoped not, or if she was wherever I was going would be better than with her. I ducked into the small car, she’d purchased it less than a year after I reached six feet tall, it was a rather tight fit. I immediately picked up my sketch book and bowed over it. Today the image of a boy around my age poured out, a strong chin, thin lips, a strong widow’s peek over sparkling eyes. If I had color’s his skin would’ve been a light mocha, eyes deep brown like chocolate and sun kissed brown hair.

 

            ‘Hello Cyrus.’ I thought at the picture, feeling the familiar stirring in my own mind. The fogging over as either I stepped closer to insanity or formed a new personality within my mind.

 

            ‘Hello.’ The ghost voice replied, soft for a boy who would be around eighteen. There was a natural kindness in his voice, and an innocence that she’d never created before.

 

            ‘What do you think Cyrus? About this school?’ I thought I’d long since learned to stop talking aloud to the others that no one but me could see or hear.

 

            ‘Could be good… could be bad. Maybe we should agree to the meeting first. We can always run away again, this time we wouldn’t be caught. I know the way.’ His dreamy voice replied, I agreed mostly. The last time I tried to run from her mother the police had picked me up not ten minutes later, but I had done the silly thing and left in broad daylight right under mother’s nose. This time I would know to run at night while she was sleeping that would give me more time. Nodding I closed the notebook, thanking Cyrus before I put him away, and settled to take a nap before we got home. I knew the first thing she would do would be to arrange a meeting, today if possible. We got home and mother instructed, like always, that I go to my room and remain there until she called me. I agreed and headed up the stairs, I had a room in the attic, I truly didn’t mind I liked being up that high and I got to decorate the room however I wanted. I had fallen asleep when she finally called me down, presumably for lunch.

 

            “Hurry up girl!” mother called getting annoyed and I moved a little faster. Stairs were tricky for me to go down; my center of equilibrium was much higher due to my longer limbs. I made it down to see hastily made sandwiches on the table, mine was on a blue plate, and my food was always on the blue plate. Incase she had something else.

 

            “Eat quickly, we have an appointment with that school.” She said absently eating her own sandwich. I nodded and began eating. She shooed me back into the car and began driving, a bit wildly in my opinion, this time I didn’t take out my notebook, I wanted to see where we were going. It was a good distance away from home, the building was huge. I stared in wonderment; surely this place couldn’t be a school. Tall towers and white bricks made it look more like a castle, never ending fields of green with other students, I guessed, littered about. I was so enamored that I almost missed the heavy wrought iron fence that enclosed the entire estate, at least I presumed it did I couldn’t see the end. We were greeted politely, mother was asked to wait while I interviewed with someone called ‘The Dean’. He was a tall man, a little over two inches taller than me I guessed, with dark eyes and hair. A nicely sculpted face, I absently thought that he’d be a challenge to draw.

 

            “Hello Ahita, please take a seat.” He greeted gesturing to the heavily stuffed chair; it was a tasteful blue plaid. This office was grand compared to the one I’d been in earlier; deep blue walls and a red wood trim all through ought the room.

 

            “Do you know why your here Ahita?” he asked after a moment, he’d probably been waiting for me to greet him back. I nodded slowly; he looked expectant so I spoke.

 

            “Because I’m ‘not quite right in the head.’” I said quoting my mother. He looked startled glancing at the file on his desk. Did the shrink have time to already send him my file, I wondered.

 

            “No, no you’re here because your special, and we are a school that supports the needs of the special children in our communities.” He assured me. I tilted my head, how was that any different from what I said?

 

            ‘Now Ahita, welcome to Faniar’s School of the Unique.’ His voice said I looked at him startled. His lips hadn’t move and it had felt like when I spoke to the others. What the hell was this place?

Author's Note

I just wrote this there was no editing, nor re-reading of it so I promise there are errors that I will fix eventually. I also never write in the first person, I know it's supposed to be easier but I find it harder than all other views.