Crazy For You

Chapter One

This is fucking ridiculous.

I voice my thoughts. "Watch your language." My mother scolds me from the front seat, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. As soon as she looks away I flip her off before returning to my oh-so exciting activity of staring out the window. There is nothing but trees. Tree, after tree, after tree. I just got here, and I'm already sick of trees. I jump in my seat as the car drives over rocks in the gravel road. How old is this place? You think they would have put a proper street in by now, or something. It is only the 21st century.

"We're here." My mother announces. As if I couldn't figure that out myself. The trees part before us (finally) and reveal a large house. The sign in front of it reads:

Hallow Hill Psychiatric Institute for the Mentally Insane

Did they really have to add in that last part? I mean, isn't it a given with the "psychiatric" part? My mom parks the car in front of the building and stops. We sit in our seats for a moment, silent. I glance in the rearview mirror to see a crease in my mother's forehead.

"If you were going to get all sad about this, then you shouldn't have brought me here in the first place."I say.

She turns around, frowning. "This is for the best, sweetie." I cringe at the pet name.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I mumble under my breath as I pull open the door and step out of the car. It's surprisingly nice out, considering it's nearing the end of summer. Most of the leaves in the trees are still green, but there's the occasional gold and brown one mixed among them. A soft wind blows my long brown hair in my face, and I brush it away.

I hear the slam of the car door as my mother exits the car and opens the trunk, retrieving my bag. If I'd known she was going to send me here before we got on the airplane, I would have packed more. Then again, if I knew beforehand, I would have run away stat. She probably realized that...god damn.

My mom carries my bag to the front door and rings the doorbell. I hear footsteps from somewhere inside before a frail old woman opens the door. Her face is full of wrinkles, and I can barely see her eyes. She looks like she's 200 years old. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but she's still pretty old. She's wearing a pale blue dress that reaches the slippers covering her feet.

"Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you! Why don't you come in?" She greets us in a surprisingly loud voice. We follow her inside. I take one last look behind me before the door is shut to the outside world, possibly forever.

We walk down the hallway and into an office. A desk takes up most of the room, along with one chair behind it and two in front of it. The three of us sit down.

"Welcome, welcome." The old woman says. "I trust you had a safe journey here?"

"Yes, we did, thank you." My mother replies, smiling. I keep my lips shut tight. My mother always told me 'If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything.', so I'm not.

The old woman turns to me. "My name is Ms. Anita Ashworth. I run this institution. And you must be..." She glances down at some papers on her desk before looking back up at me. "Luna. Luna Chase, yes?"She waits for a response, but I just glare at her.

"Ah, yes, she is." My mother responds for me. I cross my arms and look away from them. The wall is covered with old photos and paintings, all of Hallow Hill, as this place is supposedly called. What a weird name. Who calls a place Hallow Hill? Sounds like 'Hollow'. Maybe because it's empty of anything remotely interesting.

"It's lovely to meet you."I see Ms. A smile at me out of the corner of my eye. I pointedly glare at the wall. She starts talking to my mother about how things will work here, and I zone out. No point listening. It's not like I care. I shouldn't even be here in the first place. My mother is being completely overdramatic. I mean, just because I stopped going to school and didn't leave my room for a month and tried to kill myself a few times doesn't mean I should be sent to a fucking loony bin...right? Right. Exactly. This whole thing is ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

"Goodbye Luna, I'll visit when I can." My mother smiles at me before leaving. Yeah right. She just wants me out of the way so she can spend more time with whichever guy she's banging this week. Well, good riddance. I'll be happy to never see her again. Bitch.

Okay, I realize I'm being a bit...well, I'm just bitter, okay? I mean, how would you feel if you were forced out of your home to another fucking country to stay in a mental hospital?! My mother told me that some rich friend of hers recommended this place, which is why we've come all the way to the middle of butt-fuck nowhere; because of a recommendation. God damn.

I do love my mom. I really do. I just...how could she do this to me? She's betrayed me on so many levels. I don't know if I'll ever forgive her. Not like I'll get the chance to now...

I follow Ms. A out the door and down the hall. We pass more closed rooms and head up some creaky stairs. She leads me to a washroom.

"This is where you will shower." She hands me a plastic package. "Inside are your clothes. You have to wear these pyjamas from our institute for the first 24 hours. After that, you may wear whatever you want." She smiles at me, which I return with an endearing blank face. She doesn't seem to notice. "We hope you have a pleasant stay here."She walks away.

'Pleasant', my ass.