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F34 dahliahasthorns November 19 2009, 14:03:44 UTC
That was the worst.

This morning she'd gotten up foggy, but relatively sane at best. She wasn't scoping out people and trying to figure out ways to manipulate the hell out of them or twisting people around her fingers or helping sociopaths kill other people. She was just a normal person with a fucked-up head, but damn it, she was getting better. She was getting better and that son of a bitch, that asshole attorney (was he really an attorney? She made that up in her head, didn't she? Or he made it up and she rolled with it?) came up and now Linda got blasted from her happy seat.

She spent the entire fourth shift locked up in her room, alternating between raging and sobbing.

She wanted to be normal. She wanted things to be better and she said she was sorry. What the hell gave him the right to criticize her when he was locked up in the same damn asylum with her anyway? She just-... Ugh ( ... )

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vitale November 19 2009, 18:36:47 UTC
The talk with Junpei had been a nice one, and Bella found herself feeling slightly better about the whole Landel’s situation as she was led to her new room. The nurse in front of her was babbling about her roommate, saying what a lovely girl she was and how she was sure she would enjoy her stay with her, but she wasn’t really listening all that well. She’d nod ever now and then to make it seem like she was, though ( ... )

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dahliahasthorns November 19 2009, 19:11:36 UTC
Her sniffles had mostly stopped by the time the nurse arrived with her new roommate, which was a plus. She didn't want to look like a total mess in front of a stranger, asylum or no. But Kate? What happened to her last roommate ( ... )

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vitale November 19 2009, 19:19:53 UTC
Had she been crying? Bella stared at the girl for a few minutes, feeling the awkward tension between them. And why was the girl calling herself by the name the nurse had called her?

“Oh, I’m … uh, okay. Just arrived here a few hours ago, so I’m still kind of just getting used to this whole thing.” She stared down at her food, poking at the shrimp tempura for a moment before bringing it to her mouth to nibble on quietly. After a few moments, she looked back towards Linda and frowned. “… Are you okay? Your eyes are … red.”

… Had she been given a legit crazy roommate? Augh, she didn’t want to think about it.

“Oh,” she suddenly said, putting the shrimp down so she could turn and look at Linda. “So what’s your real name?”

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dahliahasthorns November 19 2009, 19:32:22 UTC
Well, that got her attention again. "What?" Damn it, did she look that transparent? Or, in this case, red? She let out an awkward laugh as she rubbed at her eyes with the side of her palm. It was going to be okay. Bella could tell that, right? She wasn't going to go crazy on her or anything hopefully. "No, no. I'm fine. I just... I just ran into a huge jerk at lunch. It's nothing."

A huge jerk who she suddenly didn't blame herself for pretending she scarred for life. What a douchebag.

It was a little sad that Bella had to be here, though. She looked like a sweet, normal girl. She was actually really pretty. ...but then again, Linda had pulled that same card too, hadn't she? She hadn't exactly been very nice over the last couple of years, and if Bella was here too... She sighed, staring deeply into her tempura sauce. "It takes some getting used to."

But oh great, now she was prodding about her name. She was telling the truth this time! Really! "It's Linda. Linda May."

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vitale November 19 2009, 19:42:47 UTC
“Oh,” a pause, and Bella frowned. “I’m sorry.”

Lame, but she had no idea what to say. If Linda were her friend, she would be able to comfort her, but … well, she didn’t know the girl. At all. All she knew was that she had red hair and insisted that her name was the one given to her by the nurse, and that wasn’t enough to draw out a personal opinion (well, she could think of one, but it wasn’t a good one so far. If only she had said a different name, she wouldn’t have thought of such a thing.)

Quickly changing the subject, Bella nodded her head, nibbling on the tempura once again. “Linda. Okay. How long have you been here for?”

Something was weird, but Bella just couldn’t place it. She didn’t want to push it, especially since the other girl looked so unhappy … and since she had apparently had a bad lunch, she didn’t want to make her have a bad dinner, too.

… Plus if she was actually crazy she didn’t want to be attacked or anything like that.

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dahliahasthorns November 19 2009, 23:30:39 UTC
Linda shook her head and gave a little dismissive wave. "I'm alright now. Don't worry about it." She wasn't going to think about that jackass anymore either, so why should Bella?

But the next question was actually a pretty good one. "Um. A few days. Almost a week?" God, why didn't she remember? "It kind of blurs together after a while." Or it did when you spent about five years in another asylum before being shoved in this one. But it must have been doing her some good, right? She was feeling better, after all...

So, okay, awkward train of thought again. Linda pushed herself out of her chair, deciding she'd popped as much shrimp into her mouth this night as she was gonna, and sat down on her bed. She promptly pulled her legs up with her and crossed them together, nervously twiddling her thumbs in the middle of her lap. God, what could she say? 'Sorry that you're crazy too?' 'Watch out, I have a sociopath persona that may reemerge and try to use you, then kill you?' 'Nice hair?'After a minute, she went with the basics. "So, where are ( ... )

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vitale November 20 2009, 00:09:58 UTC
Almost a week? Bella shuddered at the thought. “That’s … a long time,” she said with a frown, leaning back in her chair after she had had enough of the tempura. She wasn’t really in the mood to eat.

“I’m from Forks, Washington. United States,” a pause, and she smiled softly. “It’s a really small town - almost always raining or overcast. You’ve probably never heard of it before, not many people have.”

All at once she missed her small, unheard of town. She missed her father and his crinkly eyed smile, she missed her ancient computer. She missed the rain and the cold - as shocking as that sounded - and she missed her rusted behemoth of a truck. She missed everything she once dreaded returning to, and the thought made her smile.

But most of all, she missed …

She didn’t want to think about him. It would just make it hurt more.

“What about you?” Bella asked, turning to look at the red haired girl with a slight tilt of her head. “And how old are you?”

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dahliahasthorns November 20 2009, 00:45:36 UTC
...Really? Linda leaned back in her spot and pressed her back against the wall, trying not to look as uncomfortable as she felt. A week was a long time to Bella? She was suddenly very glad she neglected to count her total institutionalized time for her.

God, just the thought was making her feel like a loon again. Who the hell gets stuck in an asylum for years with no sign of recovery? Only those psychos in the movies, right?

Ugh, change of subject, change of subject... "No, I can't say I have." Bingo. Her smile meant a little more now that that wasn't the main focus. What was it with pretty, crazy girls and small towns? Maybe there was something in the water. "I'm from LA. I mean," she stopped, shook her hand in front of her face with a little laugh, "I was born in Kernville, but me and my dad moved when I was little. It was a pretty tiny place too.

"Oh, and um. I'm," she paused. Shit, she was drawing a blank. How old- oh, oh yeah. Heh. "25. You?" She looked so young.

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vitale November 20 2009, 01:05:36 UTC
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Kernville either,” Bella said with a smile of her own as well, and she moved quietly over to her own bed, sitting on top of it as Linda sat on her own. “I live with Char- my dad, too.”

When she revealed her age, Bella’s eyes shot wide open. “Wow, really? You look pretty young. I’m eighteen.” Only on the outside, of course. Inside she was practically an old women - or at least, she was. She was learning to embrace being young, slowly but surely.

Hm, she had to be on her toes. She reminded herself to still keep check of herself - she still remembered that the girl was calling herself “Linda.”

She’d need to think of something else.

After a few moments of silence, Bella ran her fingers through her hair, letting out a soft sigh. “So, are you ready for … tonight?”

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dahliahasthorns November 20 2009, 15:34:15 UTC
It was kinda nice, having similarities like that. Well, sort of. Was Bella's dad more attentive than Linda's? She hoped so. Or maybe Bella was just making it up. They were all crazy here, after all.

Which was maybe why that compliment wasn't as wonderful as she thought it could be. She tilted her head down again and brought her hand to her mouth, hiding the fact that her smile warped into a frown. "Thanks..." Because she definitely wasn't feeling that young right now. And considering the dwindling redness in her face, well...

Oh, Linny. No looking a gift roommate in the mouth. Besides, she said you looked young, not good. Stop being so bigheaded.

Sigh.

Ready for tonight?

...Okay, if that didn't require a weird stare and awkward smile, she didn't know what did. Ready for what? "...for bed, you mean?" Oh god, please say Bella wasn't having the same delusion everyone and their mom had about the doors unlocking at night. That was stupid. How could see believe that junk?

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vitale November 20 2009, 18:48:13 UTC
That was all the information she needed on the mental state of her roommate - she had been there for a week or more, and still didn’t know what happened at night? Meanwhile, she had just been awoken a few hours ago, and she was already up to speed …

Two versus one.

Backtrack, Bella. Backtrack. Now.

“Oh, uh, yeah. … What I meant was that I kind of talk in my sleep at night, so if you get woken up by me don’t be alarmed or anything.” An awkward, forced laugh escaped her lips, and she ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes looking towards the door as if pleading for some kind of distraction. After a pause, she turned to look towards Linda again. “Someone told me about something happening at night, though. You don’t believe that kind of thing, do you?”

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dahliahasthorns November 20 2009, 23:16:58 UTC
...yeah, okay, she wasn't believing that 'talking in her sleep' story for a second.

Why did she leave her tray on the desk? Now she couldn't prod uselessly at anything to take her attention off how weird her roommate was. Why was she believing that junk? Then again, if she thought her name really was Bella, then...

Poor girl. Maybe one day she'd start feeling better too.

"Look, I've been here for a while. It's just a stupid rumor." People would believe anything when they didn't want to believe the truth. She believed it too! Or Dahlia did, anyway. But she wasn't Dahlia. And she wasn't an idiot, either. "Nothing happens, okay? Don't let it get to you."

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vitale November 20 2009, 23:34:42 UTC
Bella’s eyes narrowed slightly at Linda’s words, and she kept her mouth shut. A stupid rumor? Even she didn’t believe it. Something was up with her roommate, and she wanted to know what it was.

“Right, okay. Anyway, let’s change the subject,” her eyes watched the girl carefully, and she pressed herself further into the bed until her back was pressed against the wall. Careful now, Bella, she said to herself, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment before speaking once again. “If you don’t mind me asking … why are you here?”

It was a risk, but she had to take it.

If there was ever a time she wished she had Edward’s mental ability, it was now.

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dahliahasthorns November 21 2009, 00:12:13 UTC
Linda averted her eyes the second Bella's narrowed and she soon decided that this called for major thumb twiddling. Bella didn't believe her. It was kinda funny in a weird way: when she was crazy, no one believed her fantasies, and when she was sane, no one believed the truth.

"My father sent me here. I was," god, what was she supposed to say? Bella was too wrapped around her own little delusions to trust her. Nothing she said was going to be taken seriously! "I was sick. Really sick." Like, manipulating people constantly for money, dumping them, pretending she murdered them, starting up false rumors about her own step-sister's death, and overdosing to prove an imaginary point kind of sick. Really sick.

She looked back up at Bella, looked her right in the eyes. She wasn't crazy. This nightshift thing was the crazy shit. "But I'm getting better."

There had to be something in this girl who knew she was here for a reason. "You?"

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vitale November 21 2009, 00:31:39 UTC
“I see,” Bella said softly, averting her gaze from Linda once more to look at the door, then to her desk, then back to the girl. “That’s great.”

And when she asked her … Shoot. What did that nurse say this morning? - oh yeah.

“I don’t really remember much, but the nurse told me this morning when I woke up that … something tragic happened, and I guess I just … couldn’t handle it.” Or something like that. Either way, it was plausible. Her nurse had said something about a tragic event happening and being put in the institute by not only her father, but her mother as well. Did that mean that the nurse was trying to tell her that her parents were still together? It was impossible.

“So it’s good, I guess, if whatever happened was so bad it made me just completely … forget everything.”

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