Author's note: Yes, I know my chapters are short. I just feel that it is better to post a little bit at a time than wait until I have a few pages, which usually turns out to be months. By that time I will have forgotten about the story and it never gets done. So… baby steps.

Enjoy!

Max is waiting outside your office to take me to my room, just like he does every Friday. Lakeview Psychiatric Residential Facility rules. Only levels 4 and 5 can go places without an escort and I am only a level 3. I don't mind though. Max is cool. He doesn't seem to care that I never talk. He just waits outside your office until I come out. "Ready?" he asks, and I nod my head. We walk down the labyrinth of corridors in silence, the only sound being the squeak of our shoes against the linoleum. When we get to my room, Max always says, "Laterz," and walks back down the hall to his own ward.

After Max leaves, I wait for an orderly to unlock my room. Patients are only allowed in theirs rooms at certain times. The rest of the day, our doors are locked and we need to have them opened by a nurse or orderly if we want to get something from our room. Since my room is right in the line of sight from the nurses station, I usually just stand by my door and they see me eventually and come to open the door. I look up when I hear the nurse's station door open and the jingle of keys.

"You want to get in there to get your paper, don't you, baby?" Gayle asks. Unlike most of the staff, Gayle actually treats the patients like regular human beings instead of criminals under investigation or a puppy that just made a mess all over the carpet. Gayle is probably the only nurse or orderly who still talks to me without expecting an answer. She opens the door and waits outside to lock it when I come out.

For being here almost a month, I have very few belongings. In fact, when I got here, the only things I was allowed to keep were my toothbrush, (but not the toothpaste) my comb, my socks, my favorite picture of my mom and I, and 5 large packages of origami paper. Everything else got taken away or sent back home with my father.

I take the box of paper from the shelf. This is my last box of paper and it is only half full. I always knew in the back of my head that this would happen. But now that I only have half a box full, I am really starting to worry about what I am going to do when I run out. It's not like I can go out and buy more.

"You know, I got better things to do than to wait for you so I can lock this door," Gayle calls to me.

I close the box and hurry out of my room, giving her a small smile of thanks before heading off to the dayroom.

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