Chapter Text
I walked slowly creeping over the leaves and twigs.
”gosh you would think that they would make an orphanage in a city not a woods.” luke growls, pulling his foot out of a mud puddle.
i roll my eyes and step in a small creek. “dang it!” i cry. luke
starts laughing. i take my hand and smack him on the back of his head. I see a large building up ahead. smiling i run up to it.
Luke runs with me. “see we made it.” i smile and look at him.”let's go in.” at my words he paled. “what, you want to go in? what if we run into someone!” i start laughing. “what are you, a chicken?” i ask him. “no!” he states. “but with your sickness shouldn't we move slowly?” he snaps back. i sigh. “my sickness is in my mind i’ll be fine.” he looks at me and walks up to the door and opens it. “fine, ladies first.” he growls.
i laugh and step in. he looks around the place. It looked abandoned and forlorn as if the kids and adults were hopeless when they lived here. I move slowly as if not to draw attention to me and him. there was a large hallway with rows of brown doors. I start walking down it, i noticed i heard three pairs of footsteps instead of two i stop and turn around. Behind luke was a small girl with one arm. she looked at me and raised her one arm. she was holding a knife.
”luke watch out!” i cry. He turns around, but the little girl disappeared. luke looks at me. “luna we should probably go home, you’re seeing things again.” he states, reaching for my arm. “no i saw a girl, i swear!” i protest yanking my arm away
i continue walking down the hallway. “of course he thinks my sickness is getting worse”I thought.
I saw a door to the left of me, except like the others it wasn't brown it was red. i open it, within the room there was a group of children playing a game. i saw the girl with one arm, she smiles at me and puts her hand up. all of the kids stopped playing and looked at us and smiled.
“why hello there!” one of them says happily. “would you like to play with us?” another asks sweetly. “sure!” i ask, happy to let the subject of my sickness go. I slowly step up to the small child.
“So what's the game?” i ask. the small kid chuckles.
“The game’s called ‘circle you circle you’!” she exclaims.
I smile that was a game i played when i was a small child. I nod, stepping forwards into the circle. i feel a blindfold cover my eyes.
“Ok, try to guess who's behind you.” one of the kids states.
I smile. “is it the little girl with the one arm?” i question. i hear a small giggle.
“That's correct!” the girl exclaims happily. i hear luke chuckle as well.
“Hey luna, i think we just made some new friends!” he calls.
I slip the blindfold off of my head and turn around and smile at luke. just then a phone goes off, scaring me half to death. Luke picks it up.
“Hello? Oh howdy ms. Walker, oh yes she's fine, also we might be gone for a month or so depending how long this expedition takes, of course i will, alrighty bye miss walker.” luke hangs up and looks at me “that was your mother. she wanted to make sure you weren't acting out again.”
After he says that i glare daggers at the phone. luke and my mom cared too much about my mind than their own. Someone tugs at the hem of my shirt. I look down, and there was a young child standing beside me.
“Uh miss what is your name?” she questions me sweetly.
I smile at the small child. “my name is luna.” i respond calmly.
She smiles. “my name is cara nice to meet you!”
The others start moving towards me. cara points to a small boy that had a bandage wrapped around his lower jaw. he starts signing to cara and she translates what he is saying.
“He says ‘My name is jack, nice to meet you’.” the child extends his hand so i can shake it.
“Nice to meet you jack.” i say sweetly.
Another child walks up to me. she had a bandage wrapped around the left side of her head.
“Hi my name’s sara.” she states, shaking my hand. she giggles. “you're very pretty.” “thank you!” i exclaimed.
Then another little boy walks up to me. “hello my name is brian.” i smile and shake his hand. Finally the girl with the one arm walks up to me. “hello luna my name is sammy.” she states and walks away. Luke chuckles.
“Well look who doesn't like you.” he teases.
I playfully swat him on the head,he noogies me. I smile at the kids that were watching us.
“So who wants to play outside?” i ask them. they all nod and start out the door, but they get stuck all at the same time.
I start laughing. “how about we go out one at a time?” the kids start laughing. “right!” they all say at the same time.
We walk out into the forest. the small children suggest a game of tag. luke and me instantly agree. as we played some of the kids would call a timeout and we all would take a short break.
“This is fun the most fun we had in years!” one of the children cry happily i smile and giggle at the statement.
“I'm glad you're having fun.” i say happily. one of the kids look at me and start to speak.
“How about we go inside and play a board game” she suggests “yeah let's do that!” one of the kids shout out. i nod. “let's go.” as we walk back inside a feeling of hopelessness kicks in. “come play with us” a voice sounds in the back of my mind. i swallow.
“Luke get me my pills, it's happening again.” he looks at me. “what?” he asks. “get my pills now!” i shout at him. he quickly rummages through his backpack and pulls out a small bottle.
“Here take one.” he reminds me. i grab the pill and swallow it, not caring that i had no water. One of the small children looks at me. “Are you ok?” she asks. i take a deep breath and smile at her.
“Yes i'm fine it's just that my sickness got the best of me.” i respond. the other kids look at me as if the wanted to ask me what i meant. i sigh. “i have schizophrenia and mine is so terrible to the point that i see things, and hear things that aren’t really there.” i pause and continue. “when i was younger i nearly killed my little brother and had to be taken to a mental hospital. and after that i nearly committed suicide because i felt hopeless in a way that made it hard to live.” as soon as i finish luke takes over. “that's why she freaked out so badly, and why we have to move slowly. if we don't, she could become unstable. and that's also why i'm always with her.” after he said that the kids looked at me sympathetically. sammy looks at me and steps forwards. “ we know how it feels to have a mental illness. we were experimented on when we were younger. that's how i lost my arm, and part of my sanity as well. before you came we hated people from the outside world to the point that we would kill them if they came in here, but then you came here and brightened our world and showed us that some people can be kind and caring, and for that we thank you.”
I smiled at sammy and the others. “ if you help me help you clean this place up, i think i can make it that when i go home after this month, i can visit you every week because i dont have school. and i could bring my other friends and my mother and i'm sure they'll adore you.”
Sara smiles. “you really think so?” she questions.
“I promise” i say looking at her with kind eyes “however we should probably clean this place up.” i state looking around at the place there was layers of dust everywhere. The kids nod “there is a mop and broom with a dustpan in the closet over there.” cara says pointing towards a closet i walk over and open the door and sure enough there they were neatly leaning up against the wall. I grab them and shove them into luke's arms.
“Here take these.” i state earning a disgruntled “hey” from him “ok where's the sink?” i ask them jack smiles and starts signing and cara translates “there's one in the kitchen.” she responds i smile “thank you jack and cara.” i walk away mop bucket in tow as i walk away i start singing a sad japanese song i knew about a kid that is abused by his mother and in the end his mom breaks his neck . As i sung i felt a chill go up my spine,i felt someone tug at my shirt i look down and see sammy “sorry i scared you but you're going the wrong way.” she informs me “oh thank you.” i say after i had recovered from the scare she smiles at me “oh could you sing a different song one that sounds happy but isn't?” she asks me i think of a song and the only song i can think of is “solitary hide and seek envy” and i start to sing it as sammy starts to clap to the beat i tap my feet to the beat as i walk the song had a cheerful beat but if you knew the words you would never look at it the same.sammy smiles and stops clapping as soon as i was done “that was fun!” she cries happily we walk upon a small door “here it is.” she states opening the door. To my surprise the kitchen was neat and clean i walk over to the fridge and there was fresh food in there,”woah do you guys go shopping?” i ask looking at the food “oh no we have and computer and we use it to order food and we get money buy doing surveys online.” sammy says cooly i smile and nod,
“For a second there i was about to ask if there were adult that live with you but i'm glad you guys buy food for your selves.” i respond walking over to the sink and turning it on i knew it would take awhile to fill so i started to chat with sammy “do you ever order a pizza?” i question sammy nods “oh yes all the time!” i look around there was a neat pile of dishes on the counter. “So how do you pay the bills?” i ask sammy looks at me “the government does.” i laugh “really?” i hear water splashing and look over the bucket was overflowing “shoot.” i growl sammy starts laughing i take the bucket out of the sink and pour some of the water out and sigh “let's take a break do you have any soda?” i ask sammy smiles and nods pointing towards the fridge i open it and there was a wide arrangement of soda i pick up a dr.pepper and and take a sip closing the door and leaning against the counter “so do you guys want to order a pizza tonight?” i ask “sure that will be nice.” she responds i smile and nod after i finish my soda I walk out slowly to let sammy catch up. We started walking down the hallway. Singing another song called secrets of wysteria, sammy sings with me i hear giggling in the main room as we walk in we see luke on the ground rubbing his head and the were others cleaning.
“Hey guys i got the water can i have the mop.” luke tosses it at me from his place on the ground “what was that for?” i question he smile “nothing luna i just wanted to do that to you.” he teases me i smile and roll my eyes and chuckle i start to mop as i do i hear sammy sing a song to lighten the mood more. I sigh remembering the time i nearly killed my little brother “were these kids really that sick?” i ask myself i discovered that sometimes my thoughts could be my worst enemy, “hey luna?” a voice calls
I snap out of my daydream to see that i had moped all of the floor and that cara called me “yes cara?” i ask “um do you think that we could stop for tonight and continue in the morning?” “yes”
The kids show us to our room “good night guys” she calls. i smile “good night” i respond