damned_institute | Day 36: Waiting Room, Lobby 2

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Day 36: Waiting Room, Lobby 2

Celes had actually relaxed enough, speaking to Naminé during lunch, to allow herself a small smile. It thinned into a line, of course when her nurse materialized from nowhere and swept her off, giggling over her 'surprise.'

"Oh won't it be nice?" she chirped as they walked into the waiting room. "You'll be so happy, I am absolutely sure of it." Celes's small smile thinned itself into a line and she was plunked into a chair to await her visitor. Perhaps I shall be lucky, she thought, looking at some ridiculous motivational poster. It won't be anyone I know, not really. Her nurse wandered away and Celes folded her hands on the table, the picture of impatient waiting.

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There she went about that 'Arkham' place again, and it sounded like most of the girl's delusions had just been transferred to this place. Pamela supposed she shouldn't really have expected any different. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire; if anything, these delusions were worse. She'd have to talk to the nurse to see what they planned to do about it, although they had warned her that patients sometimes got worse before getting better.

Pamela sighed and leaned back further in her seat, frowning at her friend. "No, people back home were worried about you," she corrected. "We hadn't expected that last heist of yours. Armed robbery, Amy? Really?" They had always joked about it, but Pamela had thought that jokes were all it had been, aside from those few times she'd gone along with the unarmed robberies. Amy had always been a joker. "And that poor guy that you mistook for your 'Mistah J' this time...you're lucky you got sent here instead of the state pen."

She shook her head, then gave her friend a wry smile. "Still, bugs aside, that sure sounds normal for a place like this. Most men are creeps, you know. I just came to make sure you were doing okay, so I don't really have any plans. Just go along with what the nurses say, and try to get better. They've got your best intentions in mind. You'll be fine, kid."

"...Huh?" Ivy had now gone from confusing to making absolutely no sense whatsoever. The more she heard Red say, the more visibly distraught Harley seemed to become. 'We?' Who was 'we' and why wouldn't they expect any kind of armed robbery from her? It was really the least of the things she and the boss had ever... Wait.

"What guy I mistook for Mr. J? ... I didn't mistake nothin'! How could I mistake anyone for my puddin'?" Her voice was raising in volume the more she spoke, though not in anger. What was going on? "You're not makin' any sense, Red. What are you talkin' about? ...And why do ya keep callin' me Amy?"

A sick feeling was forming in her stomach. There was something very wrong about this. Nothing made any sense, and on top of that Ivy almost sounded like she actually wanted Harley to stay there. If her friend was playing a joke on her, it wasn't very funny...

So much for gentle. She hadn't meant to upset Amy so much. It kind of worried Pamela that her friend insisted that she wouldn't mistake anyone for her 'puddin', but the redhead had no clue how to break it to her that he just wasn't real. To conjure such an abusive boyfriend...well, the girl had issues. If she could just get past that, then they'd probably let her out.

Pamela sighed and brought a hand up to massage her temple for a moment, and looked apologetic when she lowered it again. "Nevermind. It's not that important right now." She paused, then realized that she should probably at least answer one of the questions. "But why wouldn't I call you by your name?" she finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

The pit in her stomach knotted up even tighter, and Harley found herself standing up from her seat, staring at Ivy looking both angry and hurt at once. That... That right there, that gesture combined with that look... Harley had annoyed Red in the past, she definitely had, but never did she give her that look. That was the same look her doctors gave her. The look she used to give sometimes, a long time ago.

"Not important?" She balled her hands up, trying not to shake. "No! It's important! Tell me! What are ya talkin' about? What mistake did I make? Huh?!"

No, no... This was all completely WRONG!

"And my name's not Amy! You know that! What kinda stupid name is Amy anyway?! Bad enough I gotta hear all the stupid nurses callin' me that! Now I gotta hear it from you, too?!" Yes, she was starting to throw a tantrum. At this point, she didn't really care. She just wanted answers.

Pamela just blinked as her friend stood up and began to get louder. It was her fault, really, and this was definitely the opposite of the way things were supposed to be going. What stung the most was her expression coupled with the refusal of her name. She sounded almost like a child, with the way she called the name stupid, and it had only been a recent thing. There wasn't much she could do about it other than just go along for now, right?

The nurses were looking their way again, and finally Pamela reached up to grab Amy's arm, tugging on it. "Alright, alright. Just sit down," she said firmly. "Keep that up, and they'll make me leave first. I'm just calling it as I see it."

She took a deep breath, then started in on her explanation, carefully avoiding using her friend's name. "It's not the first guy you've mistaken for him. There were a couple other random strangers on the street, and a friend or two of your family. Everything you told me about your Mister J, they certainly weren't." Pamela hesitated, then tapped at the side of her skull with a finger. "There's no other way around it, kid. Mr. J just lives up here."

Harley sat back down, allowing Red's pull to guide her down to her seat again. Even upset and confused, she couldn't help but calm down a little. Ivy always had a way with words, even if she was being stern. That blunt, down-to-earth manner of speech was one of the things she liked most about her friend. Right now, however, was proving to be an exception.

Listening to her friend's explanation, she finally understood exactly what it was Ivy was saying, but it still made absolutely no sense. Red was saying... Mister J was fake? Someone she had only made up in her head? All those years, everything she sacrificed, those wonderful and horrible moments with her puddin'? All just pretend?

Had it been anyone else, anyone else, it wouldn't have hurt her as badly as it did.

Harley stayed staring silently for a few long moments before slowly shaking her head. "No. No, you're wrong! He's real! He's really real! I know he is!"

She grabbed Ivy by both shoulders, her eyes on the brink of tears desperately searching her friend's face for something, anything, to acknowledge this fact. She shook her in a hard jerk as though trying to wake her up. "YOU know he's real, too, Red! You have to! You met him! Talked to him! You know I couldn't make him up! I know I didn't!" She started shaking her more. "So why are you saying I did?! I didn't! I didn't! I DIDN'T!"

Nothing could convince her otherwise. Because she knew, when she wrapped her arms around her angel and closed her eyes and felt his warmth, she was complete. At peace. In love. That was something she could never, ever make up.

Right?

The sound of the shouting drew the nurse's attention. She stepped over to where Amy and her friend were sitting, gently placing a hand on the distraught girl's shoulder. "Amy, please calm down. If there is a disagreement between you and your friend, I'm sure you can work it out calmly and peacefully."

She glanced over to the redhead. She didn't appear injured, which was good. That meant she very likely wouldn't need to do anything else once the blonde calmed herself. She was sure this was all just a misunderstanding between friends.

[Jen]

That certainly hadn't gone the way it was supposed to, but she also hadn't exactly gone about it in the best way. It hurt to hear Amy insisting that her delusion was real, when Pamela had seen first-hand the damage that it had caused.

When her friend shook her, almost in tears, was when she started to worry again. "Amy, calm down," she began, reaching up to grab her friend's wrists as the shaking got more violent. Thankfully, a nurse stepped in shortly afterward, and she hoped that the woman's presence would remind Amy that they only had a limited amount of time. If she kept it up, it'd be even shorter, and Pamela didn't want to leave her friend on that note. It'd be quite some time before she would be able to come back.

"Yeah, kid. We can talk about this calmly, right?" she asked, putting strong emphasis on the last word as she let her hands fall back down into her lap.

There she went calling her 'Amy' again. What did that mean? Both her and the nurses always calling her Amy and acting like she was... Well, okay, she already knew she was crazy, but not this kind of crazy! She didn't make up people in her head!

Calm down? Harley's best friend in the whole wide world was planning to leave her here in this dump, away from everything she really cared about, and was trying to tell her Mister J had been a figment of her imagination all this time. And she was supposed to 'calm down?'

Why? Why was she doing this? She was still staring pleadingly at Ivy, demanding any kind of answer, when she suddenly became aware of the nurse right next to her. Harley had been so focused on their little world, she hadn't even seen the woman come up, let alone actually grab her shoulder.

Every ounce of heart-broken vulnerability instantly vanished as soon as she pulled her eyes away from her friend and onto the nurse. She was far too oversensitive at the moment to view the nurse as anything else but a threat, an unwelcome interruption to something that had nothing to do with her.

"Back off!" Harley immediately threw her elbow up towards the nurses face, her other arm flailing wildly as though already trying to keep back anyone else who might try to grab at her. "Get away! This ain't none of your business!"

Already she looked like an animal trapped in a corner, wild eyed and ready to scream. It was obvious she planned to fight tooth and nail should anyone get close to her.

The nurse didn't have time to duck the blow before Amy's elbow connected with her nose. She stepped back, motioning for backup with her left hand and checking to see how bad the damage was with her right - and was dismayed to find it was broken.

A moment later, a second nurse and a pair of orderlies stepped up. The orderlies took the girl by her arms, allowing the second nurse to quickly prepare a syringe while she said, "I've got this. You get that taken care of."

She swabbed the girl's arm with an alcohol pad, then injected the sedatives, as she said "Amy, we hate to have to do this, but you've given us no choice."

"Amy, calm down!" Pamela leaped up from her chair, moving to restrain her friend from causing any more trouble when the other nurse and the orderlies appeared to take care of that for her. The redhead couldn't help but feel a little twinge of guilt as she watched them sedate her. It had been Pamela's fault for bringing the topic up in the first place, but if only Amy had tried to calm down. Then maybe...

Well, it was kinda late for that. She knew better that Amy was sensitive about her imaginary boyfriend, and blunt sure hadn't worked. The redhead just had to go on what they had, and hope that the nurses didn't end this visit prematurely. Somehow, though, she got the feeling that wouldn't be the case.

"Is she gonna be okay, nurse?" Pamela asked, looking at her friend with sympathy. She would have taken her out, if she were able, and definitely didn't want her to have to stay here much longer.

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Day 36: Waiting Room, Lobby 2

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