A section of blank wall was the first thing I saw when my eyes begrudgingly opened. The fog in my head parted like curtains as I remembered the situation I was in.

I forced my heavy body into a sitting position. Straightening myself, I could see there wasn't much in this room. Across from me, there was a high-mounted flat screen. The screen had some almost bubble-like protective barrier around it. I questioned it but was quickly met with the answer of the people thinking I was crazy. To my right there were two chairs; one that looked stiff and wooden and another that looked like it would pull out into a small bed. To my left, there was a large row of cabinets all of which had locks on them.

As I sat up further I could make out a black man sitting on a small metal chair. We made eye contact and he stared at me. He shouted something down the hall.

A woman in scrubs was followed by my mother. My mother looked tired and scared.

"Harper, we will need you to take off all of your clothes and put on these."

My eyes glided over the ugly, blue, matching shirt and pants she held. They looked like they were made out of paper and would drown me.

"Sorry, we only have the large sizes right now," the woman said, noticing my gaze.

I sighed, "Do I have to wear those?"

"Yes, you have to take off your clothes because they could be a hazard to you. Things such as the underwire of your bra are dangerous."

Just as I was about to protest, my mother spoke up.

"My daughter is not taking off her underwear. She is already being put in the adult section which is dangerous enough as it is."

I looked from my mom to the woman. A tension had seemed to have formed between the two already. I knew my mother could be very stubborn and from the looks of it, this woman was too.

"We understand that ma'am, but we cannot allow your daughter to do that for her and others' safety."

"No, I don't think you understand," my mother said in a dangerous tone. "Harper will keep her undergarments on whether you like it or not."

With that, my mother shuffled me out the door of the room, to the bathroom down the small hallway. I kept my eyes focused on the open door, and not the sounds of the other patients as I walked by. There was a short woman with brown hair seated in another metal chair by the bathroom.

"She will need to be watched in the bathroom."

I recognized the voice as the woman from earlier. My mother looked furious, She was about to open her mouth and say something I knew was bound to be rude.

"Okay, that's fine," I said, cutting her off.

I blew past everybody into the bathroom. The door was kept open a crack. I turned around for the optimal amount of privacy and began to change. As I suspected the clothes were huge on me. I had to roll up the legs of the pants multiple times before I could even walk. A pair of blue socks were also given to me. They had these weird grippy things on the bottom which felt weird under my feet.

When I was done, I pushed open the door to see my mother. She pursed her lips together and turned around. I followed her as she led me back to my tiny room.

I sat on the bed facing the two chairs. I felt my mother sit beside me. She put her arm around my shoulder. I leaned fully into her and hugged her.

"We're going to figure this out, Harp. Things will get better as soon as we know what is going on."

I sighed deeply, "You won't, mom."

My mother pulled me away and made fierce eye contact with me, "I know that you think that there is no possible way that anybody could know how you are feeling. But there are so many people with Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and so many other mental illnesses. It doesn't;t mean they are stupid or less than a typical person. they just need more help."

I stayed quiet, it wasn't like my mother would listen to what I had to say anyway. She thought anything that I said was some mental disorder.

"Your father and I love you no matter what."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"So then why isn't he here? Don't you think it is kind of weird how he convinces you that I need to be here and then just leaves?"

My mother looked at me confused, " Harper Mae, you know that he loves you. He just couldn't be here because he has-"

"Business?" I asked, smugly. "Yeah, I mean, if his business is having sex with other women then he should be getting a huge promotion soon."

"Harper, that is enough. I understand that you are in a tough place, but that is no excuse for you to badmouth your father."

I darkly laughed, "He couldn't see the tape and now he can. If you could see it you would know. Only sinners can see it, Mom."

"Stop with this tape! All I hear about is this tape, Harper. There is no way in Hell that you can see anything from that tape. It is just static. That is all it is."

"It's not."

My mother threw her hands up in the air, "Yes, it is! I don't know what I need to do to prove that to you."

I said nothing. I laid back on the bed only to be met with an awful crinkly sound. If only my mother could see the tape. Well, there was one way that she could see it. She could see it if she sinned. How could she do that without changing her entire life though? I'm not sure which sins even cause people to see the tape.

"Harper, you are going to be transferred soon. You're going to a hospital with a kid's mental health ward. They are going to help you sort this out. You don't have a choice on this one." My mother sighed deeply into her hands.

My eyes bulged, there had to be a way out of this. I wasn't crazy! I didn't need to be in a place with crazy kids. My mother needed to see what I saw.

The blond woman popped her head in, "The ambulance is here to transfer her."

I flew off of the bed and grabbed my mother by her narrow shoulders. I could faintly see the woman start to move to get somebody.

"You need to sin, Mom! You have to see it. I can't be locked up there, Mom. Please help, I can't go."

Tears were present in my mother's eyes, "Harper, you don't have a choice."

"No, you don't get it!" I shrieked while being grabbed by a person on each side of me. " You need to see it, mom! You have to sin!"

I was dragged out of my room and to the blonde woman. She had a shot filled with something. It was most likely more sedation.

"We will need to sedate you again if you will not go willingly."

I dug my fingernails into my skin harshly and nodded.

"I'll go. Please don't stick me with that," I begged. "I just need my mom to understand that-"

The woman rolled her eyes, "You clearly need this."

My mom was silent as she watched the woman approach me with the needle. Other patients had begun to stick their heads out of their rooms. They all looked as if they knew what was about to happen.

"Please! Help me!"

The patients eyed me. I knew they wanted to help. They couldn't though, and I knew that. They were in the same position as I was; helpless and barely human.

I didn't even notice the needle stick into me as I struggled and cried. But slowly I felt my body shut down, letting me know I was sedated again.

My mother's face loomed over me. She was sobbing and her body was heaving with each cry. She looked so far away.

With one last effort, I slurred, "You need to sin and watch the tape, Mom. Promise you will."

Before my eyes closed I could see what looked like a nod. Not that there was any way to tell because of the drugs, but I hope that she had nodded. I needed that bit of hope right now.

*******************************

While still in a haze, I was forced to walk. I didn't bother to open my eyes, I was just too tired. Soon I was lightly pushed onto what felt like a bed. It was so loud and sounded like paper. I groaned and laid down. I could feel my mind begging to shut down again. I let myself drift back into a stressful, dreamless sleep.

****************************

Streams of light forced my eyes open. I could see a girl brushing her teeth at a sink in front of me. She was roughly five foot five and had brown shoulder-length hair. Glasses adorned her round face and she sported a long-sleeved flannel short with black leggings.

She noticed my staring and turned to me. She spat out her toothpaste into the sink and rinsed out her mouth.

"You'd better get up and get ready. You don't want to miss breakfast."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a schedule. You need to hurry up," she said, before walking out of the room.

I stood up and looked around the room. Her side was filled with clothes, stuffed animals, and draining. My side was empty, except for a few outfits my mother must have brought. I grabbed a random one and went over what must be the bathroom. It was just a padded door that was sealed with magnets. The only thing in the room was a toilet with a weird handle to flush it.

"This sucks," I muttered.

I quickly put on the clothes and walked out of the bathroom. I didn't have anything else, so I guessed I was going to get breakfast.

I quietly walked out of the bedroom into a long hall. There were a ton of other rooms with small whiteboards on them. All of them had names I didn't recognize on them. I turned to my door to see the same thing. Room 21, Harper and Kiley, the sign read. That had to be the girl's name then. I walked to the sounds of laughing and yelling and was met with game rooms of sorts. I was immediately bombarded.

"We saw you come in last night! Come sit with us, breakfast isn't here yet," a bubbly girl said.

She was shorter than me and very petite. She had dirty blonde hair and looked to be a few years younger than me. She dragged me to a table with three other girls.

"Morgan, don't scare the new girl already."

I turned to an olive-skinned girl with long, dark hair.

"I'm Aya." She pointed to the bubbly girl, "That is Morgan."

There was a hint of annoyance in the girl's tone that was easily missed. But I noticed it since I was famous for talking that way too.

"I'm Riana, but call me Ri," A small black girl said.

Her hair was up in space buns that made her look much younger than she probably was. Even then, I could still tell she was younger than me.

I looked at the last girl. She seemed to be about my age and blonde with blue eyes. She smiled before speaking.

"I'm Ashly, you can call me Ash though. It's your first time in a hospital isn't it?"

I nodded slowly.

She smiled again, "It's written all over your face. What are you in here for?"

The way he phrased it made it sound like we were in jail.

"It's no big deal," Ri chimed in, "I'm here because my step-mom left me here."

"I'm here because I tried to kill myself," Aya said.

"Oh!" Morgan exclaimed, "I'm here because my parents abuse me."

I gulped, "Oh my- are you okay?"

She laughed, "No."

Ash chuckled, "Same, suicide attempt, and, self-harm, which is why I always get to wear stylish long sleeves."

Even though the jokes weren't inherently funny I laughed, "Fine. I'm here because my father cheated on my mother and then said I was hallucinating when I tried to tell her."

Ri's eyes widened, "And I thought tricking your step-daughter with a shopping trip was bad.

"Dang," Aya exclaimed. "Your life is a mess. And that is saying something here."

I closed my eyes and leaned back against my chair. My life was even considered a mess in the mental hospital.

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What do y'all think? Some of this may be based off of real-life :0 ;)