Author's Note,
Trigger warning - this story contains what on the surface looks to be a rape. It is not. I explain it a little better in part 2, and, of course, all will resolve in the end!
Thanks,
Pentopaper
*
It's mid-morning and the sun is shining. It's late spring, but like so many other days like today, the weather in Indiana is frequently confused. This confusion isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on which direction the confusion runs.
For instance, it might be mid-spring according to any wall calendar, but if the weather thinks it's still late winter, Instead of dodging raindrops in our rain gear, we're forced back into our winter coats we've already sent to the cleaners to be cleaned, and we're again slogging through slushy ice puddles in our winter-weary snow boots.
Thankfully, today's weather error was made in the correct direction. Temperatures are supposed to be uncharacteristically high in the mid-80s, and Mick Mickelson, the local tv weather-guy-in-training who sounds like he's not quite finished going through puberty, urged everyone to wear sunscreen this morning.
But I say, fuck that.
I work in a building all day. I'll see the sun at some point probably, sure. But it will be over my half hour lunch break sitting at a picnic table under various leafy trees in what passes as the back yard. The amount of sun I'll get even then will be negligible. And any other dreams of the coming summer will have to be satisfied by looking out my tiny office window, or maybe by putting down the convertible top on my old car, and hoping it will go back up again when I want it to.
"Hi, Lyndsey," our nurse-on-call says. We pass by each other in the hallway. She's a perfectly styled, fake tanned, Malibu-Barbie-like blonde, and therefore, she's a bitch.
I smile at her disingenuously, and just when I think I've successfully avoided a conversation with her, she grabs my arm, stopping me. "Have you seen Allyson Dare?" she asks. The little crinkly white cup you'd normally pump a dollop of ketchup into at the local Arby's is the reason for her question. This one she holds contains a couple of white pills.
I take the cup from her and roll my eyes. "No, Trina, I haven't seen anybody just yet because I just got here. But I'll find her," I add.
Even though I've just told the Queen of the Mansfield inpatient Juvenile Mood Clinic "no", it's the right kind of no. Trina is a terrible records-keeper, and I know she needs the extra time to get the paperwork on her desk under control. She might be a beautiful girl, but people don't let nurses get away with that sloppy kind of shit around here.
Her face breaks into the kind of smile that probably had all the college boys kicking off their flip flops, dropping their tan carpenter shorts, and waggling their dicks at her. "Thanks, Lyndsey. Have I told you lately that you're a lifesaver?" She gushes.
"At least every third day, babe," I say.
She giggles, and it's a sound that I doubt she often makes in the company of girls, but she's gotten what she wants, and so she hurries down the hallway, going to her clinic/office.
I make my own way out of the maze of hallways that house the offices, and into the common area. There are some thirty kids here of both sexes, all varying ages from 18 to 20 years old. A TV blares on one side of the room, and Judge Judy is berating some poor man who is claiming he shouldn't be responsible for his dog biting his daughter's best friend. A few kids sit watching TV, but the others are engaged in various activities around the seven circular tables. One table hosts a rousing game of Dungeons and Dragons. Another has a complicated game of Scrabble in progress. Other table occupants are playing poker, Sorry, or working on 1000 piece puzzles.
If there's one thing everybody has here, it's time.
But I don't see Ally Dare anywhere in the common room. It's too late for lunch and too early for dinner, and there are no visiting hours on Tuesdays, so there aren't a lot of other places she could be. I check her room, but nobody is there, not even her roommate.
There is one other place to check before I start a thorough door-to-door search, and so I head to Keesha and Z's room.
Keesha Is one of the few African Americans in the program. She is 250 pounds of strong-willed girl, and she loves to throw her weight around, sometimes literally. I'm not sure if it's her physical size or the size of her personality, but she has quite a following here. Her strong drive and pluck helped her successfully keep a $500 a day heroin addiction going strong for two whole years. Her black, wiry hair shoots out at funny angles since she keeps it cut way too short, and usually she keeps it at bay with a red paisley bandanna tied around her head like a headband.