Jessica (Jez) Hye Lee's Story

Few people at the institution actually knew who Death was. To most, she was just a nurse who was around a lot more often than the others. She was the doctors secret weapon, they thought that they controlled her. It was funny actually, since she was the one who planted the whole idea in their minds. But, they were men, she would let them have their way for now. When it came time they would see that, well they never had any leverage on her and really, they couldn't have stopped her if she wanted to kill them all right then. Don't worry, she didn't. The patients in the institution were important to her, especially one man. Unfortunately she had gotten here a little too late, and most of them were already brainwashed. There was still a select few though, that she had hopes for. Two mages, two werewolves, a shifter, and a vampire.

There was another man too, but that was something a bit different.

Currently, she was walking the hallways and knocking twice on each door, as per the usual morning wake up call. They all had about ten minutes then, to get up and get ready before heading down to the breakfast hall. After breakfast they were free to do as they pleased until lunch. Though instead of going back to free time, after lunch they were paired up for one on one. Usually the mages were put together, then the werewolves. Since there was currently only one shifter and one vampire, they were paired up. This was the time they got to sort of bond, talk about whatever. Though they were encouraged to talk about their recent 'episodes', in case they thought they were actually supernatural again. They always sent one of the nurses or doctors to sit with the "special" case, Galen Blare. She was usually quick to volunteer, since she had long since deemed him the one that she would corrupt. It was her goal to remind these creatures that they weren't normal.

Knocking on the last door, she turned back around and headed towards the breakfast area.

Jez was already awake when the same knock rumbled her white room; she was curled up into her blankets and the hunger that rumbled deep throughout her body was completely unstable right now. She could no longer go without food anymore; Jez has been here for about ten days now, and each passing day, she made it more than loud and clear that she didn’t want to be here. At all. When she arrived here, she could barely stop crying and screaming; the second day, she went on a hunger strike and had to have the nurses literately drag her out of bed and into the kitchen. When it came to ‘sharing’ her day with the boy, she remained silent.

Though, instead of causing a ruckus this morning like the previous mornings, she hopped out of bed and stumbled towards the door; her stomach protesting and complaining to her body. As she opened the door forcefully, Jez’s body jerked forward, obviously falling forward but catching herself by hanging on the door knob. She held her empty and growling stomach as she made her way down the hallway, running her hand through her tangled and releasing a sigh. Damn, even though she was a vegan, Jez could have sworn that she could eat a freaking elephant. Upon her arrival to the cafeteria, she could already see that the main nurse and a boy were there; both of their names slipped her mind due to hunger.

Jez plopped down lifelessly, resting her head onto the cold table; her hand stretched out in front of her as she began to grumble protests- speaking mainly to her arguing stomach. Her hair fell from her shoulders and rained along her back as she released an aggravated sigh from her lips. Jez’s eyes closed and she could almost imagine herself at school, with her friends as they talk about the latest dream they all had that involved space pirates and sea-daemons. Though, when her eyes snapped open, she was still here; still in this sucky place. Sure, it probably would’ve have been as dramatizing if she was failing, or had no future, but she did. In fact, her plan was to become a lawyer- and with her grades and luck, she was actually accepted into Harvard- that’s right, Harvard! Now what, she’s stuck in this damn place after some freak accident of her turning into a ginormous man-eating dog- which, for the record, she sworn was what happened- with everyone thinking she is absolutely crazy. Well, there goes her future. Down the shitter.

I woke up with a headache. I sat up and hunched over. I was not ready for the day. I was never really a morning person... I always liked the night... The night was mysterious and crazy... Spontaneous and Wonderful. I got up, finally noticing my stomach was howling in pain from lack of food. I felt like if I didn't eat anything I'd be sick... Yet if I did have anything I would still be sick... I reassured myself though that everything would be better once I ate. I smoothed back my greasy hair. I needed a shower, dearly. I hadn't had one in a couple days. I yawned as I walked over to the door. The routine was to get your butt out of bed and head downstairs to breakfast. I walked down the hall and headed to breakfast.

I walked into the dining room spotting Jez was it? And I believe the boy's name was Luke? I gave them a silent nod, acknowledging them... Even though I was stuck here with them didn't mean I had to talk to them or be ignorant of their existence. I walked to the far end of the table, hoping to avoid conversation. I saw Castiel... I grinned and gave her a smile. She was odd but I managed to give her a smile, the most I could offer someone in this place. "Whats the Sludge today?" I asked, trying to amuse myself.

The two knocks were a welcome interruption to Galen's morning. For the past eight hours, he had stared at the wall as still as a corps, barely even breathing. he was not even sure if he was breathing at all, or whether he had even blinked once the entire time. Of course his psychologist would insist that he was breathing, and that he had to have blinked. but Galen had no memory of either, which he found odd considering he remembered everything. He had done this every night for a week, and did not feel the least bit tired. His Physician said that he suffered from an advanced form of insomnia, but he would fall asleep eventually. Galen was not so sure. He felt as if he never needed to sleep. So when the two knocks came, he jumped off of the bed, and all but ran out of the door. He hated that room with a burning passion. Mainly because he had to sit in his bed and stare at the wall for eight hours every night.

When he saw Castiel, he nearly smiled, wanting to be glad to see her; that oh so familiar face. But then he remembered. this was not the woman he loved. His psychologist had been extremely adamant about that. Galen's fiance died several years ago in a car accident is the middle of a storm. First, he went into a psychotic depression, and convinced himself that his fiance did not die, but was death itself. He came up with an elaborate story that told of him first dying, then meeting a beautiful woman named Death, then finally becoming immortal. He had immersed himself in this fantasy so deeply that he had a full recollection of the past 6,000 years of history. This was easily explained by him having a masters degree in world history. Even now after three years of intense psychological therapy, he struggled with the memories, and had to constantly convince himself that they were fake. Now he was at a second phase of the fantasy, which he was at least becoming more realistic, and was projecting his fiance onto this woman, the only new employee since his arrival. Every time he looked at her, he wanted to wrap his arms around her, and hold her, swearing to never let go again. In fact, this was exactly what he did the first day he laid eyes on her at the institution. But after that, once they had pried him off of her and somehow forced him into a straight jacket as he was mercilessly attacking anyone who laid their hands on either of them, he slowly accepted that she was not his love. Even now, just like with the memories, he struggled to convince himself that she was someone else. A stranger whom he had frightened and possibly traumatized. He then wondered why she was always so eager to be the one to listen to him during the conversational therapy. he theorized that she was developing Nightingale Syndrome, but then remembered that he was the one with the mental illness. Not her.

He grimaced as he walked past her, nodding politely as he headed to the cafeteria. if sleeping hours were his most hated time of day, then meal time came in an extremely close second. The problem was just as he never felt a need to sleep, he also was never hungry, or thirsty. Even when he refused to eat, he never lost energy, and was never dehydrated. He only ate because his psychologist insisted that he was subconsciously willing himself not to feel the symptoms, even though they were there. The Nutritionist said that he was malnourished, and on the verge of starvation, but he never felt any different than normal. When he did eat, it was because something tasted good, not because he needed to eat it. He slowly made his way through the serving line and got the minimal amount of food required, while at the same time as many pancakes and sausage links they would give him. He sat down in the back corner of the room so he could see everyone who came in and out of the room. Another psychological problem he presented. He displayed all of the symptoms of a shell shocked soldier with 20 years worth of PTSD. But the problem was that he was never in the military, or experienced anything even remotely similar. He was a Wallstreet business man, his stress was all papers. nothing physical or traumatic, other than his Fiance's death, which he already suffered separate symptoms from.

And such was his life. Confusion, self deception, mystery, and chaos. He glanced around the room to the other patients. Most old, but a few new. He was mildly interested in them, all suffered something similar as him. They thought they were magical or unnatural creatures. Oddly enough, he always knew what each of them were when he saw them. That one is a Wearwolf, Vampire, Elemental, Harpy, Fox, ext. Of the new ones there was a Light Mage, Werewolf, and Vampire present. The others would most likely arrive shortly.

Felix had been sleeping pretty well. But of course, his ability to adapt was incredible. So his parents said at least. They had moved a few times as he grew up, and he had been feeling like home rather quickly. Even though the bed at the place he was at currently was hard, he just did his best to not think about it. Instead, he had been focusing on this one lock of white hair that had been resting in front of his amber eyes. When he heard the two knocks, he assumed that he was supposed to wake up. That was how it worked on the dorms by the boarding school he had been going to during high school. He yawned as he sat up on the side of the bed and stretched out a little. His clothes was nicely folded together on the table (I would assume there is a table there) in the corner of the room. Felix put on the pants and shirt quickly. Then he put on the jacket and shoes. He took the tie in his hand so he could put it on as he walked... Walked where? He stepped outside of the room and noticed that the stream of people walked in one direction. "I guess that's where we're going then..." He said to himself as he started to walk towards the place everybody else apparently was going.

Following the stream, Felix ended up in a cafeteria. He had been assuming that it was where people were going, considering it would be what made most sense. He looked around a little, not having a single idea of where to go now. It seemed to him like people had pre-picked locations to sit, or was supposed to sit with certain people at least. He looked around a little before he saw a girl sitting alone that appeared to be around his own age, possibly a little older. He walked over to the table and hoped he didn't mess up the seating-chart as he sat down on one of the chairs/benches. "Good morning" He said to the girl. She didn't look too happy, so he decided he wanted to try to cheer her up a little. He had no idea why she felt so down. Or at least appeared to him as feeling sad at least. The way that she was leaning over the table seemed like a pretty obvious sign to him.

Aiden flinched awake when the knock sounded on his door then groaned, he was finally able to get some rest after a whole night of tossing and turning. Actually he doubted that he got any rest at all, because although he kept counting invisible sheep and the temperature of the room was a little cold, but otherwise manageable and even though the mattress was alright too -not too hard but not too comfy either, he felt like it was filled with tiny pebbles and each position his body took was more uncomfortable than the other, he kept imagining invisible eyes staring at him from everywhere in the dark, he heard the faintest of sounds that were probably made on the other side of the globe, and only by the time the sun rays were seeping in through the curtains, was he able to slowly -the agonizing kind of slowly- fall into the embrace of shallow slumber and his brain had finally calmed down and recognized that his body was terribly drained.
He sighed and kicked his feet off his bed. He felt tired, sluggish even as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes, there was a ringing noise in both of his ears that he tried to shake off, he'll probably need coffee to be able to fully function today, he yawned and stretched his arms over his head, 'make that a LOT of coffee.'

By some miracle he managed to make his way to the dining area without falling asleep on the way, he rubbed his eyes again and bit back a mighty yawn. Most of his fellow prisoners were here before him it seemed, there was Greg sitting by himself looking a bit grumpy 'nice to know that I'm not suffering alone', the New Guy and Jessica where sitting at another table, he also spotted Galen, Luke, Mariah and the nurse Castiel.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed again, I hope we don't have to do this whole socializing thing again. He let out a snort at the thought of "socializing". He then walked to Greg's table and took the furthest seat away from him and placed his head with his arms as a cushion on the table then closed his eyes.

It was obvious to Felix. The girl in front of him was clearly shy. He could see it from the way she opened her mouth for then to close it again instead of speaking, as well as the light blush on her cheeks. Those things, and that she simply didn't seem too social to him. He studied her for a few seconds before he came to the conclusion that she was probably Asian. He ended up with thinking that she was probably Japanese, or somewhere around there. It wasn't easy to guess though, but he ended up with the conclusion that she was Japanese, not knowing he was wrong. Some people would might find it rude the way she didn't respond to him, but Felix didn't really mind. She was happy that she at least noticed he was there. Because since she did, he could see that she was a shy one, which was 'preventing' her from answer. He gave her a friendly smile as he started looking around in the jacket pockets. First in the left one, obviously without finding what he was looking for, and then the right. His hand grabbed around something, and he pulled it out. It was a small notebook with a pencil threaded through the spiral holding the papers attached to each other. On the front paper, there was a half-done drawing of a forest. The drawing itself was only in black and white, but the well used shading made it look rather realistic. Like if it was drawn representing the forest at night. Felix wasn't really hungry, but he could hear that the girl across the table obviously was. He started thinking if there was anything he could do for her as he continued on the drawing, waiting for the food to come despite the fact that he wasn't hungry.

Because Jez wasn’t paying close attention, the sudden slight shake and ‘thump’ of his bottom hitting the seat cause her to slightly flinch; she instantly got up abruptly, as if he was some sort of dangerous thing she couldn’t touch. Of course, she did not mean to portray things like this. With quick and, quite frankly, clumsy steps, Jez made her way to the breakfast line, grabbing a tray and filling it with fruits and breads. Grapes poured over unto her jellied toast as the apple rolled over onto her small boxed cereal, finally hitting her bottled water.

It didn’t take her long to reach the end and turn back towards her table; her eyes carefully staring at the boy, who, to her surprise, had a notepad on the table. From the distance she was at, Jez was unable to see what he was drawing; though, saying she was curious was an understatement. As Jez made her way to the tables, her eyes looked over at the picture, and to her amazement, was a beautiful drawing that looked like something out of a picture. She set her tray down across from him before looking down at it, popping a grape in her mouth as she peered up at him through her eyelashes.

“That’s a pretty picture.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but thanks to the lack of chattering noise that had yet to arrive in the cafeteria; it was audible enough for him to hear. Despite her small comment, Jez kept popping grapes into her mouth, avoiding eye contact with him and wishing that she had one of her friends with her; at least she wouldn’t be as over dramatic as she was now.

Felix barely noticed it when the girl left to get food. It was understandable though. It was pretty obvious that she was hungry, judging the way she acted earlier. When the girl left, he was half-done with a tree. The entire drawing had a shady look to it, like if it was seen in shadows. He only marked the outlines and shadows of the trees, giving the picture a nice contrast. And nice contrasts was nice. It wouldn't make sense if a nice contrast wasn't nice. Unless it didn't fit the drawing of course. That would have been the only exception.

When he saw the girl return with the food, Felix looked up at her. He studied the food-tray she was holding for a short second before his eyes returned to the drawing. "Guess I should get myself something to eat as well" He said with the same gentle and friendly tone he used earlier. He flipped the cover over the paper and put it back into the pocket of the jacket before he stood up again. He was still smiling to her as he went off, even though she probably didn't even notice it.

The food looked rather plain and boring, which didn't really bother Felix a whole lot. He noticed some tomatoes, but systematically avoided them. He couldn't stand the consistency. There was no logic in hiding nasty juice in a nasty cover. Instead, he got some simple toast and a bottle of water before he walked back. He wasn't really that hungry, so the amount didn't matter too much.

Felix sat down on the bench again and put the plate down. he gently swung his legs over the bench so they were under the table again. He murmured something, too low for the girl to notice. That was the point at least. He picked up the toast slowly with his left hand and started to chew slowly on what would have been considered as the bottom left corner if the loafs was still put together in the form of a bread. There was some cheap-tasting cheese inside and some ham that tasted synthetic. However, he tried to not think about it and continued to eat on it.

"Guess I should get myself something to eat as well”
Jez flinched as he spoke, before he too, got up as well; boy was she going crazy? How the hell was she supposed to be communicating with a boy when she doesn’t do much, well, communicating? Jez took in a sigh before she stuffed the toast into her mouth forcefully, trying to get up her appetite so she might have a little courage. Her cheeks were now full and plump, making her look similar to a fat rabbit or a squirrel; she watered it down and swallowed just before the boy sat down once more.

Too engulfed in trying to round up enough courage, Jez didn’t even noticed that the boy had mumbled something; her eyes just plainly looked up at him through her eyelashes, her head tilting downwards as she chewed and swallowed whatever remained in her mouth. She studied his food for a while, realizing she was craving meat; despite how unsatisfying and frankly, disgusting the meat looked, it still somehow created a strange hunger in Jez’s stomach.
“Crappy food here… eh?” She said nervously and quietly, trying to start a small conversation; granted, it may have not been the best starter since he was trying to eat, but Jez tried her best as she bit into the toast once more. “I mean,” She tried again, once more. Her face turning a light tint of red from her embarrassment, “I could be better, right? Or, uh, I had better.”

Great, she had the case of word vomit and couldn’t stop to think about it before she spoke once more; though, being silent for a half of a second gave her a chance to try and introduce herself. “Um, I’m Jessica; though, people call me Jez…” Her voice was a lot quieter now, and more bashful. Damn, why couldn’t she be normal and have a normal conversation with people?