Dan took a seat beside a blonde girl in the circle. She had dark bags underneath her eyes, and freckles dotted along her cheeks and crossing the bridge of her nose. Her blonde hair curtained the sides of her face, and her jagged cut fringe scattered different directions. Her back had an arch in it, and she had horrible posture, the reason behind her slouching. She fiddled with her fingernails, and started to claw at her hands.

I snapped out of my trance, as a sharp movement interrupted the still sight. Dan waved me over to sit beside him in the circle. I hesitated at first, and didn't want to join the other patients, but I really had no other choice or I'd be punished. And I really didn't want to find out what that experience would be like.

I slowly scuttled over towards the circle, and took a seat next to Dan whose legs were crossed. I pulled my knees into my chest, and weakly swung my arms around them. Each hand clasped onto both elbows, and I begun to listen in to the conversation. The instructor of whatever we were doing was female.

She had brown, auburn like hair with piercing green eyes. My eyes used to be piercing like hers, before I lost all of my dignity. Her hair was tied in a braid that ran down her back, and she had square black glasses. Her legs were covered by black dress pants, and she wore a purple blouse. She had a black blazer over top. I examined her tag from a far.

Mrs. Simone The name tag read.

"Ah. Thank you for joining Dan, and... Sorry, I haven't gotten your name yet?" She directed the question at me.

"My name's Cecily.." I said, shying my head away.

"Well, thank you for joining Dan and Cecily. As I explained to the others before you arrived, We will be going through the process of getting better. Since this is a start to the new year of this program, we're starting from the beginning so the new comers have a chance to catch up."

Each of the patients understood, to what it looked like. They slowly nodded along as she spoke.

"Today, we'll be introducing ourselves, and stating our current conditions. I find that sometimes it helps to get things off of your shoulders. Reminder that there's nothing to be ashamed of. Chances are, you're all going through the same thing to a certain extent. So no one will laugh or point fingers. No one will make fun of you, this is a safe environment. We'll start in a clock wise rotation, starting from Alyssa here, on my left. You'll all say your name, your age, you reasons to be here, and your goal. The last person to answer will be Cody, to my right." She explained in a professional manner.

We all nodded in agreement. I counted the amount of people that were sitting together in the circle. I scanned each and every person, and came to the conclusion of 14 people. I was the 8th person in the circle, and Dan was 9th. Alyssa cleared her throat, and began to speak.

"My name is A-Alyssa.. and I'm 16. Um, I'm h-here because I suffer from PTSD, Anxiety, depression, and was suicidal..." She said slowly.

"Your goals...?" Mrs. Simone pondered.

"Um, My goals in life? Or my goals for here..." Alyssa asked.

"Your goals for life." Mrs. Simone confirmed.

"Um, my goal in life is to go to university, and graduate to become a physiotherapist, so I can help people like me in the future." Alyssa hinted at a smile.

"Awe, what a lovely and kind goal. Your turn, Connor." Mrs. Simone instructed the nest person.

~
People were ranging from many different disorders, from the start. PTSD, OCD, Bulimia, Anorexia, depression, so many things. I looked to my right to see that this so called Lorena finished speaking.

"Your turn now, Cecily." Mrs. Simone smiled at me from across the ring of patients.

"Um, my name's Cecilia... but I'd prefer to be called Cecily? I-I guess that counts. I'm 19 years old, and uh... I'm here because I suffer from PTSD from family r-reasons..." A list of my 'disorders' began to scroll through my mind. I soon became lost in thought, thinking of which ones to say next. I caught up with ym train of thought, and continued speaking. " I was diagnosed with Bulimia, depression... self harm, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, basically I have to count everything I see... And uh, Anxiety.." I finished.

Mrs. Simone was right... it did take a load off my shoulders.

"Your goal?" She pestered.

"My goal? Well, my goal is... well, one is to get out of here healthily. Another? Is um, Well I want to be married in the future... maybe a child. And I want to work as a director, or an animator." I bit my lip.

"Beautiful. Your turn now, Daniel." She smiled at me, then directed her attention to Dan.

He sighed, and opened his mouth to speak. His eyes sunk to the ground, and he looked there as if trying to concentrate on something.

I watched him as his lips perfectly shaped to form every word.
"My name is Dan.. I'm 19, like my best friend Cecily over here... I'm here because of Anorexia Nervosa, good old depression," he sarcastically smiled. " self harm..." he took a glance at his sleeve covered wrists, then back at the same spot on the floor. "and finally insomnia, making every night sleepless." He trailed off. "My goals in life are to, as well as Cecily, get out of this place. And... make videos. Maybe upload them to youtube? Only after this place though, after I save up for an apartment with my other best friend Phil, if he's up for it. I'll make videos to entertain an audience, if I get one. Maybe later on in life, someone will actually like me, and I can get married, start a family..." His brown eyes glistened with the slightest bit of hope.

He lifted his head a couple of inches, but his eyes remained hidden under his dark brown, straightened fringe. His eyes now spoke sadness, and emptiness... and any lingering spark of hope had vanished, and was probably hidden by the self hate I'm very well familiar with. I realized I had been staring at him for a good 3 minutes now... He shifted uncomfortably, meaning he must've noticed it as well. Dan's eyes trailed up to meet mine, as I quickly looked away, blushing intensely.

I payed my attention to Mrs. Simone again, as she finished up with the rest of the patients.

"Well thank you, guys!" She cheered. "This concludes today's session. We have another one tomorrow at the same time for anyone who didn't know. " Mrs. Simone stood up collecting her clipboard. She started to walk off, as everyone in the circle stood up slowly.

I noticed that none of the other groups were getting up, and I started to grow confused. I drew my eyebrows together, as I tried to think of an explanation as to why we were the only group standing up.

"It's because they have more advanced things to do whilst we're only on level one. They have to stay longer." Dan whispered into my ear as we walked out of the room together.

"Seriously, can you read minds or something?!" I gawked.

"Haha, no. I know because when I first came here, I had all the same questions." He chuckled.

"Oh... Yeah, that makes more sense." A smirk appeared on my face.

My hands were hanging loosely by my sides, and I hate having them doing nothing. I had to occupy them with something, or I'd turn into a big twitchy mess. I didn't have anything that I could figit with, so I just crossed my arms over my chest. I did that a lot. Trying to hide myself from people, it made me feel safer if I was covering my body and such. My half smile soon faded into my signature straight face.

I looked up at Dan who had both his hands

jammed in his black skinny jean pockets. His eyes were watching his feet as we walked along, to where I didn't know yet. He noticed my gaze, and turned to look at me.

"Why do you keep watching me?" He said sadly.

"I just uh... want to know what you're thinking. You always seem so in thought..." I mumbled.

"Oh... I'm not really thinking, more like listening to everything else."

"What is there to listen to?" I asked.

"Well, the conversations everybody is having, the sound of feet pattering on the cold ground, people having fun, stuff like that. Mostly ambient sounds though, like cars driving quickly past this building." He explained.

"Oh..."

"I also like listening to your voice.." He blushed.

I smiled, and had my cheeks turn rosy red. "But why?"

"I don't know... it just sounds so relaxed, and it's pretty." He smiled at me.

"Thanks, I suppose." I bit my lip. "Dan?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you're improving?" I asked.

"Um," he started to think. " I think I may be, yeah."

I saw a small smile creep onto his face.

"That's good.." I smiled.

"Yeah.. yeah it is." I saw a glimmer of happiness sparkle through his chocolate brown eyes.

"You want to go find Phil?" I suggested.

"Sure." He smiled at me, and I returned it.

He got up, and stood in front of me. I looked at him, with a puzzled expression, before he stuck his hand out in front of him. He extended his fingers, so his hand was open. I blushed, and took the offer. I carefully slid my hand onto his, and he grasped it, pulling me from my seat.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Any time." He chuckled.

He held my hand, firmly, as we walked off to find Phil.