Chapter 2
Right after that, she lunged at me out of nowhere.
"Baby, is that you?" Esther, the woman, asked.
"Did you come to see Mom?"
I froze for a couple of seconds, then nodded hard.
"Mom," I said.
When she heard me call her "Mom," she shuddered.
Then she hugged me tightly, crying so hard that she could barely catch her breath.
"Baby, my baby..."
I was held so close in her arms that I couldn't move at all.
Her warm tears drenched my shoulders.
Behind me, Donovan gave a small, satisfied smile.
He said, "Looks like Cassidy fits right in here."
I slowly wriggled out of Esther's arms.
Then I looked up at Donovan, my voice steady and firm. "You can go now. I've found Mom."
After the lights went out, the ward fell into silence.
Except for Poopie across from me, who was having deep conversations about life with the air.
There were four of us in this room: Esther, Poopie, a silent girl called Serene, and me.
I was just about to close my eyes.
Suddenly, I felt the bed next to me gently shaking.
'"Baby," Esther whispered.
Her voice was soft and insistent, like a mosquito buzzing in the night.
I opened my eyes to find her leaning over my bed, her gaze so gentle it was almost unsettling.
Esther pushed her bed right up against mine, practically merging them into one.
She gently patted my back, humming a lullaby that was totally out of tune.
I had to admit it felt pretty comforting.
There was a clean, soapy scent coming from her.
I liked it.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, the ward door creaked open.
Footsteps echoed in the room.
They passed right by my bed.
They stopped at the bed diagonally across from me.
They stopped right by Serene's bed.
Then came the sound of something being dragged across the floor.
Serene hadn't uttered a single word or acted crazy since I showed up today.
I was seriously about to mentally boot her from the nutcase squad.
Just as I was about to sit up, Esther covered my eyes tightly, trembling all over. "Baby, don't look. There's a ghost, a bad ghost."
I had no clue what those people were taking Serene away for.
But the next day, it all became clear.
When I opened my eyes, I saw her curled up in the corner like a broken doll.
Her hospital gown was ripped and barely hanging on her.
The red welts on her skin told the whole story.
Even if I was pretty naive, I could guess what must've happened to her last night.
Watching her like that, rage just kept building up inside me.
This mental institution was rotten to the core.
Breakfast time rolled around.
We lined up with our trays, waiting for the nurse to scoop out the food.
Serene stood right in front of me.
I kept staring at the back of her head.
Her head was so round and smooth.
People with heads like that were supposed to be blessed.
Why didn't she just headbutt anyone who bullied her?
That was just not how crazy folks like us would behave.
The nurse was taking forever to dish out the food.
I was absolutely famished.
"I'm so hungry," I couldn't help but mutter.
Esther blinked her big eyes at me and asked, "Baby, do you want some milk?"
"I don't want milk," I said, waving my hand.
"And I'm definitely not eating poop," I added, since Poopie behind Esther looked like she was about to chime in.
When it was Serene's turn to get her food, the nurse suddenly swapped out the food cart for a new one.
On it, there was only a pot of oatmeal so watery that one could practically see one's own face in it.
Serene seemed oblivious to it.
"How come everyone else gets milk, doughnuts, and bread, but all we get is this oatmeal?"
I complained loudly to the nurse, clearly annoyed.
"You four are special cases," the nurse sneered.
Her eyes suddenly locked onto Serene.
"Who do you think you are? You're nothing but a plaything for the masses," the nurse spat.
I saw Serene trembling, her whole body shaking.
The nurse's voice sounded just like one of the people who dragged Serene out of our room last night.
In the next second, I grabbed the pot of oatmeal and dumped it right over the nurse's head.
The oatmeal hit with a loud splat, splattering everywhere.
Unfortunately, it wasn't something hot, or else it would have scorched that wretched nurse.
"Ah, I want oatmeal! Give me back my oatmeal!" I yelled.
Then, I pretended to lick the oatmeal off her clothes.
This amused all the patients eating around us, who suddenly perked up, as if watching a drama.
The nurse, now covered in oatmeal, looked both humiliated and furious, flailing around and trying to shove me away.
I took advantage of the chaos and started ripping at her uniform.
"Ah! Somebody help me!" she screamed at the other nurses nearby.
Poopie jumped up in excitement. She hurled her freshly mixed mystery concoction straight into the eyes of the male nurse who was rushing over.
"Bioweapon, launch!" she yelled.
The whole place erupted into chaos in an instant.*