The blonde nurse whose name I did not bother to learn leads me to the psychiatric ward. She tells me I will only be here for a short week, but I barely listen. All I think about are the cigarettes I bought from Paul in the alley yesterday. Nurse Blondy made sure to take those away from me with a smile.

“And this is where you'll be staying!” says the nurse as she opens the doors to a faded and plain room lined with beds and side tables. “There are three others. I'm sure they won't be a bother.”

Only three other patients. I knew the hospital was struggling to get patients, but I thought there would be more. A girl with badly cut hair and the energy of someone who lives on sugar bounces over to me, smiling broadly. She has dark under eyes like me but not the redness.

“Hi! I'm Colette-” The girl glances at her hand before sticking it out for a handshake. “Colette Speilman! I like bubbles, ice cream, and my pet snail Jupiter!”

I look at her hand cautiously before shaking it and saying, “Lucia Aksel. I like not here, not life, and not you.”

Her smile bends before she runs away and returns with a slug. She mouths, “Jupiter,” and I mouth, “That’s a slug,” but she doesn't seem to understand. Colette runs away again but doesn't return.

Nurse Blondy sighs before mumbling, “I have no idea where that girl keeps getting all these animals.”

She takes me to a bed with an uncomfortable-looking mattress. I sit down and it feels like sitting on my father’s old bags of cement he used for work. Nurse Blondy pats me on the head as if I am a small child and walks away to tend to another patient. I look to my right and left. On my right is a boy who looks like the wind would carry him away and on my left is a girl who's eating her hair.

The boy lifts his frail-looking arm and waves. “Name’s Flint. Not Lockwood, though.” He giggles. “I like that movie. What about you?”

“Who's Lockwood?” I ask. “And also Flint sounds like a seven-year-old who gets excited ‘cuz his name is an item in Minecraft.”

“Ooookay. That's kinda hurtful. What's your name?” Flint says.

“Lucia.”

“Hey, I have a cousin named Lucious! How cool! Right?”

“No.”

“I don't think you were supposed to answer like that. Say, why are you here?”

I shrug. As much as I’d like to hate Flint, he has a much more calmer demeanor than Colette. He almost seems... -nice-. But he also seems like he's trying too hard to be my friend.

I look at the hair-eating girl. She looks at me with crazed eyes. I'll call her Autocannibal. Or Redbull. She reminds me of my aunt who used to drink four energy drinks and a cup of coffee every day from the age of fourteen to twenty-seven. Then she died after an overdose. I don't really remember much of her since I was only eight when she died, but I do remember her erratic behavior.

Redbull Autocannibal hisses at me then goes back to chewing her ratty hair. I bet she’d be willing to eat other people’s hair, too. I would put mine into some sort of style if I had a hair tie. But they confiscated anything that could be “harmful.”

I bet Paul will be confused as to why I'm not showing up to buy cigarettes. And probably Marcy, too. She's his wife. She likes to give me cookies and tequila every time. Snickerdoodles and Siete Leguas Reposado. I don't know where she gets the tequila. I do know that Mr. Paul and Mrs. Marcella Lales are in debt. I'll occasionally give them my cigarette money. I know they don't use it to pay off their debt.

Colette appears from under my bed and stares at me. She lays Jupiter, a dead rat, and a googly eye on my bed. I look at her before striking her across the face and yelling, “Get away from me, you filthy creep!” She scampers away, whimpering.

“Nurse Paola! Nurse Danni!” Colette wails. She must live off of sugar -and- toddler behavior (and perhaps some cat behavior, too, considering the dead rat she gave me). Nurse Blondy rushes over to Colette and a young, lanky man runs into the room.

“Oh, darling, what's wrong?” asks what I assume to Nurse Danni.

“Sia hit me!” Colette cries.

“My name isn't Sia,” I mutter.

“I mean, I bet you sing nice. Like Sia, you know?” Flint says.

“I don't. But I bet you sing worse,” I say.

I turn my attention back to Colette, who is sobbing in Nurse Blondy’s arms. Nurse Blondy tells her to calm down and points at me before saying something to Nurse Danni. He walks my way and squats next to my bed.

“Why did you verbally and physically abuse Colette, Sia?” he asks.

“Lucia. My name is Lucia. And because she put this... -unruly- assortment of things on my bed,” I reply, placing the googly eye on his forehead, the dead rat in his coat pocket, and Jupiter in his hair.

“You're difficult, huh?” is all Nurse Danni says. “Gimme some information. Basic stuff, like what would go in your file?”

I think about it before answering, “Lucia Annalise Aksel. Nineteen years of age. I speak English, Danish, and Japanese. I moved from Denmark to California when I was seven and learned shitty English before I moved to Japan when I was nine. I learned Japanese there, then moved to Pennsylvania when I was twelve. I finished learning English. I go to Paul Lales to get cigarettes and Marcella, or Marcy, Lales to get snickerdoodles and tequila. Hey, what do you think about Liete Lenguas?”

It's more like a character thing rather than a story, but whatever. Have a nice day!