will this never end? [open]

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron walked down one of the more deserted hallways, thinking to himself. So, here he was, in a mental hospital. They'd taken his shoes (among other things) because they thought he'd hurt himself.

Well, they might not have been totally wrong. He cast his eyes down to his arms, criss-crossed with the cuts he'd made at the rave. He ran his fingers over the injuries, feeling the sweet relief he'd felt when he'd cut himself, not the pain he knew anyone else not doped up on shrooms, ex laced with god knows what and weed would feel.

As he walked, he noticed something wrong with the hallway. It was starting to twist. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the end started to swirl more quickly. What was even worse was that it was twisting until it disappeared. The whole hall was compressing, making itself smaller to get sucked into the void. It went faster and faster until...

He sank to the floor against the wall, tears streaming down his face. Even after the rave, he'd been experiencing what the doctor had called "flashbacks." He said that with the amount of drugs Aaron had done in the past, the flashbacks would happen unexpectedly for the next four years or so, but get less intense as time went on.

But he didn't care about any of that now. He knew that he was in a prison until they said he was better.

He sat against the wall, hugging his knees and wishing he could be somebody else.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

Hayley walked aimlessly around the hospital. Not really sure what she wanted to do. She noticed a guy sitting on the ground about.. oh.. 20 feet away? Maybe more. She wasn't exactly sure. She thought for a few seconds if she should go talk to him. What if he was some crazy killer? Oh well, he looked scared. Might as well go and talk to the poor guy. Right? She quickened her pace until she was near enough to him that she could kneel down and reach her arm out to his shoulder. She didn't touch him quite yet though. She kneeled down slowly, not wanting him to freak out or anything. "You okay?" She asked, starting to get a little worried. It was only her second day here and a lot of the stuff still made her jumpy.

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron looked up when a voice rang through the darkness that had surrounded him. Not only had the hall not just vanished into oblivion, there was a girl standing there. He wiped the last tear from his face.

"Uh, yeah. This place is kinda getting to me," he said, keeping his seat on the floor. As glad as he was to see another human being, even though he wasn't sure he was one right now, he didn't know her. She could be one of those certifiably and dangerous crazy people. He didn't know, and until he found out, he wasn't moving.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

"Yeah. I can understand that." She rolled her eyes "I'm Hayley." She sat down, crossing her legs under her. "Andddd.. you would be?" She studied his face. Not bad looking. Not the cutest. Nice hair. She tilted her head to one side and bit the right corner of her lip. "What are you in for?" She asked, curiously. She was expecting him to say he was a Scitzo.. or really depressed. Or something of that nature. I mean, who colapses in the hallway, crying? Psycos. That who. She laced her fingers together, cracking her knuckles, one by one.

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron wasn't sure, but she...Hayley...seemed relatively sane...but he still didn't trust her. Still, he caught himself just as he was about to put his hand out for her to shake and pulled it back.

"I'm Aaron," he said cautiously, the ground drawing his gaze. He heard her second question and froze. The second the words "Drug addiction," it would mean that he was admitting he had a problem. A serious problem.

"I OD'ed on some drugs one night. Apparently, sane people aren't supposed to do that," he said jokingly, a hint of mirth creeping into his voice.

"Why'd they throw you in here?" he asked.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

"Aaron.. I like that name." She grinned at him. "Well, I would think. ODing is defiantly not good." Hearing his question and blantly said, "Scitzo." kepping a straight face for as long as she could and once it she couldn't help but smile, she said "Kidding. Anorexia. Can't you tell?" She looked down at her thin body. She knew she had a problem. Wasn't sure if she would be able to fix it. It's hard to break a 5 year habit. Especially if you might get fat again. Then she defiantly wouldn't be able to model.

[Aaron Martin]

So Hayley had an eating disorder. Not that it might not have been an important thing to notice, Aaron hadn't picked up on it right away.

"I don't think anorexic is the first word that came to mind when I met you. Besides, in a place like this, you have to hold people to a different standard of appearance," he said, this being the most profound thing (at least in his mind) that he'd said in a while.

"I knew they put people in here for eating disorders, but OD'ing on drugs? It doesn't seem like a mental disorder," he said, sitting cross-legged now. He didn't think that there was any reason to distrust this girl yet, so he decided that he might as well be comfortable talking to her.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

"Yeah. I can understand that. I could be like.. a crazy psyco." She listened to him talk about ODing on drugs. "Well, it depends on what you did. Like.. what you ODed on. " She studied his face and wondered about what had happened. "What happened? Like when you ODed?"

OOC:// Gah. Short. :/ Sowwyy.

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron sighed as he recalled that night. His words wove together through the air to paint a picture as he created the scene.

It was 8:13pm. He was at Mike's house, getting high as usual. They had been there since after school, so natually they were blazed as fuck.

Suddenly, Mike answered his phone and, after a short conversation, announced that they were all going to a rave. Aaron was apprehensive at first, but drastically changed his mind when the mention of ex arose.

An hour later, they were in an old warehouse, music thumping and lights flashing. He could really dig this scene, especially since he saw people popping different pills like they were candy.

Mike was the first one to hand him a bag chock full of multi-colored pills that looked more like a bag of Skittles. Still, Aaron was satisfied. That was, until he noticed Mike handing him another bag. He was in the process of downing three pills when Mike tapped him on the shoulder. Thrusting the other bag into his hands, he led the way to a booth they'd installed along the wall. Sitting down, Aaron opened the other bag and found more shrooms than he'd ever seen in his life. Overjoyed, he started his slow process of taking the drugs.

An hour later, he was doped up on twenty pills of ex and a quarter ounce of shrooms.

It all hit him at once. The intense body high coupled with a shroom trip was enough to send him spiraling out of control. At first, it was amazing. The music swirled all around him like a sea of liquid light. He could feel every thump the bass made resonating through his entire body. He could honestly say that he'd never felt better in his life.

Until he noticed something moving under his skin. There were hundreds of them, all burrowing and moving beneath his skin. Scratching didn't get them out, but he knew he had to get them out of there. Looking around, he saw Mike at the table, slicing some pills in half with a razorblade. He looked more like a weird monster than his friend, but he was more interested in the piece of metal glowing all sorts of colors in the light.

One by one, he cut them out of his skin. One by one, they fell to the ground in a shower of blood. When they were all gone, he felt good again. With the music pumping, he went back to the table and handed the blade back to Mike, leaving a pool of blood on the table.

He turned to go on the dance floor, but stopped as his legs gave out under him and he toppled to the ground, everything fading to black.

"I don't remember anything after that. When I woke up again, I'd been in the hospital for four days. So yeah, that's my story," he said, brushing a strand of hair away from his eyes.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

Hayley was silent for a moment and then said, "Wow." It was all she could manage. Not exactly sure what to say, she frowned slightly. She fliped her hair, so it was out of her eyes and looked at him. It must have sucked. "Are you okay now?" She thought about what she had said. Course he wasn't okay. He was in a mental hospital. "What I meant is like, you're not gonna die or anything? Are you?"

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron shook his head.

"No, I'm not going to die," he said.

Unless I kill myself during a flashback, he added mentally. He didn't think that it would be that easy to kill himself in this place, but still. He could always throw himself down some stairs or something.

He also thought it was funny that she asked him if he was okay. Maybe he was. Away from drugs that could tempt him, he could clear his head, evaluate his life and see what was going to become of him. He laughed ever so slightly as he thought of his mom, who was probably (if she hadn't already) raiding his room, only to find several stashes he'd created over the years. He could only imagine her face to find all different kinds of drugs. Probably not a happy one.

"So what about you? How'd you end up in here?"

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

"Okay, well that's good." She grinned at him and gave him a wierd look when he laughed. She quickly changed her face back to a grin. "Anorexia." She paused for a moment, then continued, "The first time I went to hospital for it, I was 17. And when I turned 18 I took myself out. And then about a week ago, I was at a photoshoot.. It was a really fun photoshoot. It was an add for some shoes. And it was like.. in the woods. It was really fun. Anyways, I passed out during the middle of it. And af course, a medic crew thingy wasn't there and we were about an hour away from the nearest hospital. So pretty much, I almost died."

[Aaron Martin]

Aaron looked at the girl with a soft gaze, almost as if she might break under anything heavier. So, she'd almost died from anorexia. He didn't actually think that anorexia was a mental disorder, but she was living proof of how wrong he'd been.

"Wow," he said, mirroring her reaction to his story. It was intriguing to see how other people had come to the same place he had, although most of them came here before he did.

The look he fixed on her wasn't one of pity or sympathy...it was one of semi-fascination. It wasn't until he got up close and personal that he realized that he might have been wrong about "crazy" people. They might be crazy, but they were still people. Just...different.

[Hayley Murdock]

Let the Flames begin.

Hayley shrugged slightly and said "Well, at least I didn't die." She paused for a moment and conrinued "I got to come to this wonderful place with all these wonderful people." She looked into his eyes and bit the corner of her lip. "So how long have you been here?" She was trying to make small talk. She wanted to get to know him better. He was really interesting. But she didn't want to start asking really personal questions and then like.. scare him off.

[Aaron Martin]

"A wekk," Aaron said, answering her question.

"You?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation from completely dying. If only he could try to be a little more...normal...he might be able to hold a conversation. However, circumstances being what they were, he didn't think he'd be able to. What was the key to holding a conversation?

Oh yeah. Finding common ground to stand on.

With that in mind, he used the wall for support and got up, looking down at her and extending a hand attached to a scar-covered arm.