Theo Chang's Story

Theo sat back against the leather seating and stared out the left hand window in pure boredom. She reapplied her third layer of light pink lip-gloss since the ride began and sighed halfheartedly. Needless to say, she was...nervous. As to why she wasn't exactly sure.

"You okay back there, miss?"

Her chocolate brown gaze snapped towards the rear-view mirror, where she could see the worried taxi driver staring at her. "Wa... hai sā."

It took a moment of him staring at her to realize she'd spoken in her native language, and she resisted the urge to quite literally palm/face herself. "Ah...I meant yes sir."

He smiled kindly at her, lines appearing around his old eyes that made her smile herself. "Not born here, eh?"

"No sir," she answered as her attention returned to gaze out the window. Normally, she wouldn't have minded speaking to the old man about her home. But she was nervous, a little scared, and given where she was going...it would probably only bring bad memories to the surface.

She supposed that was kind of a good thing, in a way. Bring it all to the surface so that she would be willing to talk. But the truth was...she didn't really want to.

She looked down at the lap where her letter of acceptance was sitting. It was well worn from being read, folded and put way, then brought back out and unfolded so she could read it again. Again, and again, and again.

She folded it once more, following the lines that would soon disappear and make the letter fall into pieces. When she looked up again the only thing surrounding the view from the windows was trees. Millions and millions of trees, and dirt, and flowers and green plants with names she would never remember.

Here we go...

She tried to calm herself by remembering that she had sought out help. That it had been her decision and that she knew she needed it.

That didn't help.

"What do you have to do way out here?" The cabbie asked her, looking at her once again through the mirror.

She checked her phone one last moment for the time. It worked enough to tell her she was running late, but not enough to show her any bars. She sighed softly and looked up. "Just need a quite vacation..."

He gave her a throaty chuckle and nodded. "Don't we all."

She smiled a little sadly as her gaze returned outside the window. Ten or so minutes later a large home was coming into view. All old brink and high windows. Old, by the look of it. She smiled a little, already liking the taste.

"You're staying here?" The old man asked as the taxi came to a stop. He didn't kill the engine, just stared. She only nodded as an answer. "Looks haunted to me..."

She laughed softly at that, but he didn't. In fact...his sweet personality had changed completely. "I'd offer to get your bags miss but..." he cleared his throat a little, never looking away from the house.

"I've got them," she replied softly as she stepped out of the cab. She pulled her bags out with a bit of a smile. Only two. She was oddly proud of herself for that. When she went back to the drivers window, she paid her tab and a bit of a tip.

With a smile on her face, she bowed as much as she could without losing her bags. "Arigato."

He seemed to understand a 'thank you', even in another language, and attempted to give her a smile. Then He was gone.

She sighed a little and readjusted the bags on her shoulders, then started her walk up to the front door.

"Koko de wa idō shi te i masu ... " she thought to herself. (tans: here we go...)

Seth

He stood awkwardly for a moment, his fingers fidgeting with his pack straps, as he looked about the entrance. He wasn't exactly pleased with the way things were going. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own little worlds. He frowned, growing slightly irritated. This was why he wasn't a people person. He was nice enough to put himself out and crack the ice a bit, but no one was willing to bite. He gazed about the corridor, taking note of the age of the building. It was beautiful, he wouldn't deny that, but something about the place felt..unnerving, as if he could feel eyes upon him. He shook the feeling away and mentally kicked himself. Yeah, great idea, genius. Freak yourself out. He chuckled at himself, noting his sudden uncertainty of exploring the halls now. Last thing he wanted was to stumble upon a body, or ghost, or whatever spooky shit he could think of. This was definitely the building for it.

His attention shifted as an other person entered from outside. He turned, welcoming the distraction, and smirked. Another chick. Damn, this place was going to be brimming with girls if this keeps up, He chuckled softly to himself, And people think guys have more issues.. Either this was going to be horrible, or this was going to be heaven. Stuck in a building full of females may be one man's dream, but Seth could see the downside to that. Girls had a habit of either grouping together or making their female counterpart's lives miserable, in turn making everyone else miserable, and heaven help everyone during their 'special moment', as they call it, when they become crazier than normal. They weren't human. What creature could bleed for days and not die, honestly? That and since everyone here seemed to have some sort of 'issue'..things definitely wouldn't be dull.

He watched as the new girl walked by, seemingly shaking her head at him. Well, screw you too, he thought, grimacing when he caught wind of her cigarette smell. Ugh. Definitely lost hot points. He frowned, watching as she sat down upon the floor. It was a shame too. She was kind of pretty. In fact all these chicks weren't that bad looking, he thought as he scanned the group once more. He just hoped they all didn't smoke. Last thing he wanted was to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in a place that stunk of cigarettes. That or possibly be tasting it..one never knew. Females may be one of the stranger things to walk the earth, but, damn, they could give a guy a good time.

Ongaku men ni shi te i masu ... (trans: Time to face the music)

Theo sighed as she finally looked up from her walking. She could see others around, but the first one that caught her attention was a guy not far in front of her. She figured he hadn't arrived much sooner than she had. The thing she noticed the first though was his hair..."Mohawk!"

It took her a moment to realize she said it out loud, and a blush crept up across her cheeks. She sighed to herself, but then realized she'd at least said it in English. Japanese would have been a lot more embarrassing. "Ah, I'm sorry," she mentioned as she stepped up to the male. She wondered what was wrong with her, normally she was a lot more fun and more outgoing than this.

Nervous. She was too nervous.

She forced a smile onto her face and relaxed. "I was just admiring the hair. It's awesome."

She'd always wanted to do something cool to her own hair, but it was naturally dark black and it worried her to mess with it in fear of ruining it. So instead, piercings and tattoos were her go too for a little bit of fun.

She pulled her eyes from him to look at the others. The next person she noticed was another guy. Tallest that she'd ever seen. She couldn't see his face from where she was standing, but she could see the girl standing next to him. Pretty, but tiny.

There were three other girls too. Mostly seemed lost in their own thoughts. She couldn't blame them, if she hadn't looked up and awkwardly blurted a word she would be lost in her thoughts too. Nervous little thoughts...

"Fun..."

Looking up at the male she had passed earlier, she saw the expression on his face and spoke up. "I don't know you, I'd say hello, but I'm still wondering about the taxi driver that tried to shoot my brains out with an empty gun. Tried," she repeated to herself.

She looked around and she stood to her feet, she had a small fear of women and yet she found every one of them to be quite attractive.

"Mohawk!"

She smiled at the girl that blurted out to the mohawk-sporter. Seeing the girl's face become embarrassed, Salice said to her, "It happens to everyone. As long as you don't do that during sex, things will be pretty good." She spoke in a joking manner and she smiled a little more.

The look on her face became a little more 'pleasant' to be around. She asked both the mohawk male and the Japanese female, "What are your names? I'm Salice." (Sal-iss) She hadn't really cared for the ones that she didn't see. Her mind was stuck on the two near her and she asked another question. "Why are you here?"

As she looked at them, her head began to feel heavy, but she kept a decent smile to her face. This was only normal for her. It only happened when her mind felt it necessary to switch to what she called, 'lying impulsiveness'.

This means, very much like an addict would be addicted to any kind of thing, she was addicted to lying. She couldn't help it and the fact that she had been working on being more truthful- well... that in itself became instant trouble.

Seth

“Yeah it’s creepy as fuck, but it’s free.” The new voice drew his attention and he turned to the girl who now stood beside him. He tensed some, startled by her sudden appearance, and took a step back. He didn't like that she snuck up on him without realizing, but he managed to keep himself composed and merely smiled awkwardly upon her Psycho impression. Free? Did he hear her right? Was she here as some kind of test subject or was she here for help? He knew he wasn't paying for any of this, it was all coming out of the state's pocket, so he was unsure just what exactly she meant. If she was some sort of test subject that wasn't going to sit well with him. What sort of place would endanger a volunteer by sticking her in with a bunch of possibly violent psychopaths? Not anyplace he wanted to be 'treated' in that was for sure. He opened his mouth to ask her straight out, but she seemed to have other things in mind. So, instead, he watched, in confused amusement, his head tilted some, as she bounded away and began conversing with an old painting. Well, that settles that question, he decided, snickering as she eventually sat down. He shook his head and shrugged. Not like he was one to judge, him being here as well. This was a place for crazy people. Who knew what she thought. For all he knew, everyone else here was thinking they were standing in friggin' Candyland, singing with cartoon kittens and such. He laughed at that thought, turning once more as more newcomers made their way into the building.

His smiled disappeared upon seeing the male and was replaced by a look of distrust and disapproval. The way he held himself, his ragged, sickly appearance..either this guy was sick or he was coming off something. Growing up with drug-addicted parents made things a bit easier to see in that area. Junkies weren't hard to point out. That and seeing as this was supposed to be a 'treatment' center, he could bet this guy wasn't suffering from the common cold. Though that in itself made him think twice. The guy wasn't twitching or spazzing out, so he possibly wasn't that hard of a user. That and him being here meant either he or someone was trying to change something in his life. Either way he supposed was good, but that still didn't take away the unease he felt of there being a possible drug abuser in the building. He unconsciously traced his fingers along the scar which tore across his neck. Drug addiction was no game. It fucked with people's lives.

"Mohawk!" Again, he was jolted out of his thoughts as yet another girl made herself known. His smile returned with full force, realizing she appreciated the hair. It was something he was usually scorned about. Knowing that there were some people who understood the term 'different' made his hope for humanity raise..just a little bit. "I was just admiring the hair. It's awesome." He nodded his head in agreement as she stepped up to him. "I know," he grinned, shifting his pack. He didn't like most people, but that didn't mean he didn't like being the center of attention. He was about to say something more, when the girl from before spoke out. "It happens to everyone. As long as you don't do that during sex, things will be pretty good."

"Heh," He laughed at her unexpected bluntness. He was surprised to see things already heading down that road. He couldn't help but raise his brows upon her remark about the driver pulling a gun on her, quickly casting the Asian girl a questioning glance. "A gun, huh?" Whether the chick was telling the truth or not, he didn't really care, but he supposed he'd try to keep things nice before they all really got to know each other. Thus, deciding it would be in his best interest to skip the "Why are you here?" part, he introduced himself. "Name's Seth," he nodded, unconsciously clicking his tongue, "I dunno about you guys, but I'd like to hold onto my little bit of privacy whilst I can. I'm sure we're all gunna find out our 'dirty little secrets' later." He emphasized 'dirty little secrets' whispering sarcastically.

Theo felt her nervousness disappear just a little as the guy with the mohawk not only grinned at her, but nodded as well and agreed with her. Not that he wouldn't, but an 'I know', was much better than a 'yeah idiot, that's why I have one'. Not that she didn't appreciate sarcasm she was just...not in the mood or mindset.

She smiled at the girl that blurted out to the mohawk-sporter. Seeing the girl's face become embarrassed, Salice said to her, "It happens to everyone. As long as you don't do that during sex, things will be pretty good." She spoke in a joking manner and she smiled a little more.

Her attention was quickly pulled away when she heard another girl's voice. She recognized her appearance from one she'd blankly looked over from before, and scoffed out a laugh. "That's names. Particularly the wrong one."

She went to sit as she placed her stuff down and looked up at the new girl. Salice...that was interesting. "I'm Theo," she explained, but her accent gave a little twist to it.

She caught mohawk-guys questioning glace when the girl talked about a gun, and her small eyes went wide when she shrugged slightly.

She herself was actually going to answer the question about why she was there, but after Seth's answer and a quick glance towards him she agreed. So she turned her eyes back towards Salice. "Sorry but...I gotta agree with him..." Before the girl got a chance to answer, a large door opened, demanding the attention of the room.

Theo turned slightly to look as an older man entered the room.



Dr. Jones strolled into the room with a smile on his face, surveying his little group of misfits. He was extraordinarily pleased with the turnout.

"Hello everyone," he stated with a little nod as he made his way to the front of the room. "We should all be here. But I'll leave this list here to sign yourselves in after a moment." He healed up the list for everyone to see before sitting it down on the counter.

"First of all, the bedrooms are all on the top two floors, so you will all be choosing these on your own later. I you feel like you need a certain bedroom, let me know and we will discuss it. You've all seen the entrance, and here we are in the greeting hall. To the left is the dining room. Everything is stalked, but if you need certain foods due to allergies or intolerance, we can fetch them for you.

"To the right is the living room and a library. Please do not abuse the books, but feel free to read them. There are outside entrances to all the ground floor rooms. The living room is where we will have our group therapy meetings. At the end of the hall behind the stairs is the family room..." He pointed to the double grand staircase when he mentioned this. "This is the largest room in the house and will be a great meeting place. It connects to the grand kitchen and the breakfast nook."

"Upstairs there are two utility rooms, one on each floor. The bathrooms are all the same size and equip in each room. There are also two hall bathrooms, one on the top floor and one in the hall here. In each upstairs floors there is a game room, which would be a good place for you to convey."

He leaned back on one of the side table and crossed his arms loosely. "You can all look around later. Our sessions will not begin until tomorrow. Privet, at first. Once everyone gets used to each other we will begin to work with groups. There will be no curfews as to when people have to be in bed, but I myself will be asleep around ten or so. Therefor respectable levels of sound would be greatly appreciated. Are there any questions?"

He had been on Methadone for the last twenty four hours - though admittedly not under a doctor's care and definitely not during scheduled times - under the impression that it would help him going into this 'treatment program.' It wasn't the brightest idea, but he was desperate. Sadly, the effects of the Methadone only slightly helped with his withdrawal symptoms and he feared he had not get enough in his system. He ached, he wanted to vomit, his head felt like it was repeatedly being rammed into a wall, and his bones felt like they were breaking over and over again. All he wanted was to shoot up again: to leave this house and find the nearest dealer. Of course, he wouldn't because what he truly wanted, in his heart, was to be clean.

Kieran noticed the uneasy stares he had gotten from two of the other people in the program. He hadn't even been here for twenty minutes and people were judging him. Not that he was any better, because he had already begun to judge the others as well. The girl who had introduced herself as Salice came across as untrustworthy, though she was stunningly beautiful. Mohawk boy had stared at him like he was some sort of filth. The girl who bore a striking resemblance to Nina Dobrev, could barely look at him at all. The Japanese girl, well he didn't have enough time to make any judgments about her because the doctor had came in.

There was something about Dr. Jones that immediately made Kieran uncomfortable, and like he should just run away from this place and never look back, but he knew that if he did that he would never get better. He knew that if he left he'd likely die on the streets from an overdose, with no one ever knowing his name. He'd be just another junkie, another statistic.

When the creepy doctor brought up a library, Kieran perked up instantaneously. He loved to read, almost as much as he loved painting, and loved tattoos. Speaking of art, he wondered if he would have any access to art supplies.

He coughed, clearing his throat. "Dr. Jones, if we wanted something like paints and canvas, is there anyway we'll be able to get a hold of these things? Or will we just have to wait until the program is over?" His voice was confident, a little on the deep side, even though it was a tiny bit weak from being 'sick.'

Salice peaked over Theo's shoulder and as she did, she watched the doctor step into the room. At first, she thought, 'Wow, he looks just as insane as I am.' but as he spoke she shut down the thought after hearing he was the doctor.

As Dr. Jones finished with Kieran and Theo, Salice asked, "Yes, I have one," speaking after Kieran. "All I want is an acoustic guitar and grapes. I understand the grapes can be dealt with, but I need some kind of music. If it's possible, I'd like it to be red. Please." She crossed her left arm over upper abdomen and used it to prop her left arm as her fingers tossed in her short, black hair.

"And about the noise, what happens if we wake you up? I can see where it would be quite rude, but I am just wondering. And what is a group session? Can we skip out on it?"

She laughed inside as she came up with constant questions, but she couldn't help herself. She knew what she was doing as the annoyance level of her own soon annoyed herself. She stopped and smiled. "Sorry, a bad habit of asking questions without getting answers to the one I asked before."

She looked down at her shoes, 'playing' a pretty convincing innocent embarrassment. "Sorry folks," she whispered.

Seth

He watched as the older man finally introduced himself. Everything about this whole damn situation seemed scripted: a group of young, crazy kids, a creepy, old house in the middle of nowhere and some old coot.. Call him superstitious or just plain paranoid, but things just didn't feel right. Add that on with the fact that he didn't want to be here..he was finding it difficult to keep complacent. However, he didn't feel much like sticking his neck out and bringing unnecessary attention at the moment, thus, he held his tongue and listened to the man's words. He was actually surprised by the old goat. He was sure this place was going to be co-ed and he figured rules were going to be much stricter. Considering he was here due to rather unpleasant circumstances, he could only assume others were as well. Thus, the leniency this guy was giving them seemed a little too good to be true. That and these so called 'punishments'?-Things will be taken away if someone is 'bad'? He scoffed the thought. He wasn't a child. None of them were. At least, physically, emotionally or mentally he had no idea where some of these people stood. How was this doctor going to keep everyone leashed? Surely, he couldn't be the only one here? What's to stop he and the others from joining up and causing some kind of riot? One thing for sure, if someone pushed him far enough, it was going to take a lot more than a slap on the wrist to keep him from what he thought was right.

He wasn't going to push his luck, but he wanted to know more about this place and what it was he was getting into. At least therapy would start off private. It wasn't anybody's business why he was here and he sure as hell didn't feel like walking on eggshells or having to explain himself. He was happy the old timer was allowing questions and he perked up some. He was happy to hear someone else had some interest in art, so at least that would be taken care of. He impatiently waited his turn, when Salice barraged the poor guy with her questions. He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Grapes, really?" Though her onslaught of questions were irksome, he couldn't help but find some of her desires amusing. Just how spoiled was she? She must've grown up lavishly, if she thought she could bark out exact details of what she wanted and expected to get it that way. He did agree with her on music, though. If anything, that was one thing which helped him cope. When she finally stopped yammering he took his chance to ask his questions, before she started up again.

"So, uh..who else is gunna be babysitting? You're not the only 'caretaker' here are you?" He pulled his pack higher up on his shoulders and shifted his weight. "And just how much are we allowed to look around the place? Can we go outside and are there any places we're not allowed?" Regardless of rules, he wasn't going to allow himself to be locked inside. He wasn't a prisoner, that was what he made sure of by choosing this instead of jail. He had a darkness and it needed to be kept in check.

After looking down and hearing all of her questions answered, she smirked, but felt the eyes of more than one person on her. Growing uncomfortable, she pushed her hair back again- this had been a habit of nervousness since she was young.

She turned to see if anyone was looking at her and she spotted Amelia and her eyes passed her to dart toward the others and she looked to Seth as he said, "Grapes, really?".

She whispered to him, "I can't eat anything else." Her eyes darted around the room again, passing each person; Stella, Theo, Kierun, and stopped at Tam who was behind her and seated. After Dr. Jones answered her question she looked to him and asked her final question, "Doc? Would it be possible to turn me invisible?" Of course, her question was a simple joke as she continued in a slightly sarcastic manner, "A lot of people here tend to keep staring at me, I'd rather not go through that. It makes me kind of... anxious." She smirked and shook her head a small laugh escaped her lips and she didn't care who looked.

"Sorry, Doc. I am a bit... well... my oddity takes over with my insanity. It happens." She turned and she looked at Seth and Tam. "Don't worry, I will be sure to keep my jokes in around you two. You guys seem so uptight about whatever it is you're here for. I mean come on, face it. You're here and if you wanted to leave, you'd be gone. I could be one of those people who go around killing for no reason and only came here to do that, but am I? Nope." She kept a serious, yet playful tone as she said those last two sentences: 'I could be one of those people who go around killing for no reason and only came here to do that, but am I? Nope.'

Her face was dedicated to that half lie. She didn't enroll into this place to kill, but she didn't have a problem doing the Devil's bidding either. She turned around and grabbed a pen from her combat boot and smirked signing onto the sheet of paper. After she signed she turned and was now facing everyone, but she just stared into air in thought.

"This will be fun." She walked toward a hall to her left and smirked. "And interesting. Fun and interesting." Not once did she feel embarrassed, but she knew if she stayed she would become angry feeling stared at. After she had signed the paper she had a small flashback of herself at age 15.

Flashback [Flashbacks are short and are only used to give a piece of my character away]:

"Hey! Give that back!" Young Salice- age 15- screamed at the top of her lungs. A child, only seven at the time, had taken her guitar and coloured all over it with black marker.

"Salice!" Her foster father had yelled at her from the doorway. "Salice leave June alone! She's a child!"

"So! It is mine and this bitch fucked it up!" She caught sight of a little girl and boy that had been laughing the whole time. They were twins- age 9 at the time. Salice was angry and she looked up at her foster parent and dropped the guitar strap mumbling, "She can have it. I have other things to do anyway."

"Thank you, Salice." The foster parent spoke with a smile to keep calm. Salice walked out and eyed both twins with an angered look.

After dinner, Salice met the twins in their room. While foster father was tending to the other children, she closed the door. They smiled and waved to Salice and Salice just grinned. She led them to their closet having told them about a treasure and they followed without worry. The closet was walk-in and Salice closed the door behind them. She smirked and grabbed each by their long blond hair.

Immediately, they screamed for help, but it was useless. Salice smashed both of their heads together knocking them out cold and she pulled a kitchen knife- her favourite weapon of choice- from the front of her pants. She smiled and as she had done to her sister a couple of years back, she slit their throats clean and left the closet, closing it again and running the knife to her room.

Dr. Jones cracked a bit of a smile when Seth disagreed with his 'violent nature' statement. He agreed, most people weren't nice, but there was a very large difference between 'nice' and violent'. Even a difference between considering being violent and actually acting on it.

He settled back in his chair as the kid asked his last question and took a moment to answer, turning it over in his mind. "Yes, you will get a clean slate. Having this therapy under your belt successfully--and that's the kicker--your record will be clean." He thudded his fingers on his desk for a moment then sat up.

"Seth...everyone has a lot to lose here. What the kids in this program needs is a lot of help, very invasive kind of help. Keep your head on your shoulders. You have more to lose than most of them..."



Theo was bored. Lonely. And...

Lost.

How had she gotten lost? She wasn't actually sure to be honest. She remembered the doctor going over parts of the house but she had no idea where she currently was. "Baka," she muttered under her breath. (idiot)

She sighed to herself as she slid down one of the walls and sat there alone on the wooden floors. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, but just like the doctor had warned there wasn't even a hint of a signal.

She dropped her hands into her lap and rested her head back against the wall. "Sutāto shi te shi te i masu ... subete no hito ni sugure ta hōhō shi te i masu ... ga sugure te iru kanō sei ga ari masu. Shizuka na masu. Watashi no atama no naka de wa mada shi masu. Watashi kono o nyūshu suru koto ga deki nagai hōhō o shitte iru ... tabun watashi mo kongan shihajime masu ... ichi nin de iru koto ... no chinmoku ni shi te i masu ...." (What a great way to start out...all alone...might be better though. Quiet. No one in my head yet. Who knows how long I'll get this...maybe I'll even start to crave it...being alone...in the silence...)

Was talking out loud to herself another sing of insanity? She wouldn't be surprised honestly.