The Institute

By Cassidy Klement

They said that I was schizophrenic. But what do they know? After all, they’re just doctors. And, hey, I swear that creepy man that was stalking me was real! I just did not tell anyone about him sooner because I’m sixteen, I should be able to take care of myself.
He followed me home every day after school and hung around in my backyard, daring me to come out and join him. I yelled at him to buzz off a couple times but he just smiled his nasty smile and shrunk into the shadows. When I got fed up that the guy wasn’t leaving me alone, I did what I had to do: I told my mom. Naturally, she freaked out and wanted to know everything. So I told her. I told her everything about him. The way his yellow, dirty fingernails curled up into claws. How he always wore a hood so I could only see the bottom half of his face and how his mouth was always sneering at me.
My mom called the police, Dad, my grandma; she even called the neighbors to warn them not to come out of their house...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304208521

Book preview

The Institute

The Institute

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Prologue

They said that I was schizophrenic. But what do they know? After all, they’re just doctors. And, hey, I swear that creepy man that was stalking me was real! I just didn’t tell anyone about him sooner because I’m sixteen, I should be able to take care of myself.

He followed me home every day after school and hung around in my backyard, daring me to come out and join him. I yelled at him to buzz off a couple times but he just smiled his nasty smile and shrunk into the shadows. When I got fed up that the guy wasn’t leaving me alone, I did what I had to do: I told my mom. Naturally, she freaked out and wanted to know everything. So I told her. I told her everything about him. The way his yellow, dirty fingernails curled up into claws. How he always wore a hood so I could only see the bottom half of his face and how his mouth was always sneering at me.

My mom called the police, Dad, my grandma; she even called the neighbors to warn them not to come out of their house. When the police showed up, there was no creepy man with claws. At least, they couldn’t see him.

Chapter One

I woke up to my first day at Great Falls Psychiatric Institute. I woke up knowing that this was probably what I was going to wake up to every day for the rest of my miserable life. Quite a view if you like a closet for a room. Or stained off-white walls with the paint chipping off. Or the barred windows that let just a sliver of sunlight come in for about ten minutes every day. Or the lack of carpet on cold, bare concrete floor that, if you stand on it with no socks or shoes, you can kiss the use of your toes goodbye. Quite a view indeed.

I sat up in the bed and my hand flew to my head. I had a killer headache and looking at the sad thing they called my room wasn’t making it any better. I heard the door to my right open with a creak. I whipped my head around a little too fast and almost fell out of the bed. I hoped it was my parents coming to get me from this nightmare or at least to visit me. It wasn’t. It was a fat woman wearing a bun and white clothes. She was carrying a stack of clothes in one arm and a couple cups in the other.

Good morning, Jeremy, she said.

What’s so good about it? I grumbled. She ignored me.

I’m Nurse Linda. You met me briefly yesterday afternoon while your parents dropped you off. Are you ready for your medicine? she asked.

No, actually, I’m fine. I don’t need medication. But thanks for the offer. I rolled my eyes and watched as she blushed then walked over to me and handed me a small paper cup with two pills: a green one and a pink one.

I don’t want it, I insisted, knowing I was going to end up taking it anyway. I know, Jeremy, we all have to do things we don’t want to, but this will make you better. She pushed the cup into my hands and handed me another, bigger cup with water filled halfway. I sighed and put the pills into my mouth. I quickly moved them around until they were under my tongue and raised the glass of water to my lips. I pretended to take a sip and then swallowed. Nurse Linda smiled then took both cups from me. She handed me the stack of clothes.

These are your clothes. They do not permit us to keep bureaus in the patients' rooms, so we give you a new, clean outfit each morning. Get dressed and when you are done, walk down to the cafeteria. You were shown where that is yesterday but just to clarify, go out the door and turn left. Keep walking and you’ll see the cafeteria on the right side of the hall and the common room on the left. You can eat breakfast and I will explain the rules to you. She turned and hobbled out of my room.

I turned away from the door and spit the pills into my hand. They were the size of my pinky fingernail. I walked over to the sink in one corner of the room and put the pills in the drain. I turned on the water and washed both pills down.

I’m not crazy, I mumbled. I turned and walked over to the small table and chair in another corner of the room and