Monday

“ Class, we have a new assignment.” Mrs. Maude said and I rolled my eyes. I turned to Jacob and whispered a comment. He laughed and Mrs. Maude’s head snapped in our direction.

“ Jacob, do you have a problem with this?” She asked, eyes narrowing. Jacob twitched and shook his head.

“ Good, because anyone who does have a problem with this assignment, has to write a 50 page essay on the forest.” She smiled menacingly and we all settled down. “ Now this assignment is different from the rest. We will visit somewhere once a week. Yes we will have a bit of writing to do. But listen to the rest before you start groaning. We will be visiting a mental institution every Thursday. You are all assigned a person. We will start this week if all permission slips are turned in tomorrow. Any questions? There should be a lot...” Carla raised her hand as always.

“ Dork.” I whispered to her. She ignored me and the teacher called on her.

“ Why are we doing this?” She asked in a snobby tone.

“ Why are we doing this?” I mimicked her. Jacob laughed, and threw a spitball at her. She ignored it and looked intently at Mrs. Maude.

“ Well Carla, we are to learn the functions of an institution like that and you will have a large report on this. Beside your person, you will also talk to the caretakers and the nurses and such. That is why the school is allowing us to go.”

“ What if we don’t like the crazies?” I blurted out.

“ They are not crazy, Tom.”

I shrugged and crossed my arms. I didn’t want to go to a crazy house. Personally, I was afraid of those kind of people.

The bell rang and Mrs. Maude glared at us. We stayed in our seats. She swiftly went around, handing each of us a piece of paper. She then nodded and we left. Jacob nudged me and looked at my paper.

“ Who do you have?” he asked.

“ What do you mean? I thought this was a permission form-”

“ Look on the bottom. It has names and our I.D. numbers.”

I looked at the bottom and there was a list of names, all followed by our numbers. I traced down the list and found the name.

“ Autumn Hall.” I said to Jacob. He laughed and smirked.

“ Too bad I have a guy. Greg something or other. You get a girl.”

“ If it is a girl. These days you never know...” I said as we got to my locker. I turned the combination and looked up. Jessica Loft was coming our way. I could hear Jacob making little panting sounds and I kicked him.

“ You have a girlfriend.” I whispered to him. Jessica came nearer and nearer then, walked past us.

“ Damn.” Jacob muttered. “ I wanted to get a look-see.” I kicked him again but laughed. The whole school wanted a look-see, and she had a boyfriend. I must admit, even I wanted to go out with her, but she wouldn’t even breathe the air of which I had exhaled.

“ Dude! Did you see her hold her breath as she walked by us?” Jacob asked, leaning against my locker in a semi-macho way. I shook my head. Wouldn’t even breathe the air I had exhaled.

It was sixth period and time for lunch. Jacob and I grabbed our seats at the back tabe where we usually sat alone. We weren’t quite the losers at the school, but definitely the outcasts. I was trying to open my broken backpack when a shadow fell upon me. I looked up and saw Cybil. Jacob looked up at her and moved to make space for her. Cybil smiled and shook her head slyly. She then proceeded to sit on his lap.

“ You two disgust me. I should switch tables right now.”

“ Aw, Tom.” She said indignantly and reached out to pet my hair. I pulled away in fake disgust.

“ Stick to your boyfriend.” I said smiling and Jacob made a face at me. Cybil grabbed Jacob’s cheeks and pinched.

“ Jakey, you are cuter than Tom anyway.” Jacob blushed. Cybil was the only person who called him Jake, besides his mother, but she had died three years ago.

I smiled and envied them. They were so happy, and have been since I can remember.

“ So do you guys have to do that whole mental institution thing I’ve heard so much about by now?”

“ Yeah... I have a girl and Jacob has this guy...”

“ Named Greg. So don’t worry honey. I won't go cheat on you with a crazy.” She didn’t laugh.

“ Tom, who is your person?” She asked me.

“ Autumn Hall.” I said, surprised that I remembered. “ We think it’s a girl.”

“ She is. And she went to this school.”

I pulled back in even more surprise.

“ Really?”

“ Yeah. They took her there after she was mutilating herself and other things.”

“ What do you mean other things?”

“ Well, I'm not talking shit about her because I was her friend, but she used to carve strange phrases onto her dog, the window pane, her nightstand. Anything she was near to. They still don’t know why she did it. But she wanted to go there. She was afraid of the world. But she’s not as bad as some patients there. I’d say that she is the most normal one there, compared to others.”

I blinked and shrunk back.

“ That sounds pretty scary. I’m not sure I want to go anymore. I don’t want her to carve on me.”

“ Tom! I told you, she’s better now. She’s a nice girl.”

“ How do you know?”

“ My aunt works there.” Cybil said, pulling her hand though her half-shaven head. I watched her hand go through her hair and noticed that it was a different color.

“ Hey you dyed your hair purple!”

“ Yes, indeed I did. I felt I needed a change.”

Jacob smiled at her and hugged her.

“ You always do.”

“ I love you.” She said as they started to kiss. My eyebrows popped up and I turned away. I watched the school move around and everyone talking. The girls were gossiping and the guys were talking about sports. I was never into the things that guys were into. Jacob once was, but permanently injured his leg and couldn’t run anymore.

“ OW!” I heard Jacob scream. I turned around and saw Cybil laughing, and Jacob clutching his eye.

“ What now?” I asked him, and sighed.

“ My eyebrow ring! It’s gone... she pulled it out!” He said panicking. He desperately looked around and I started to laugh.

“ What?” He growled.

“ Your lip ring is gone too.” I said, and Cybil stuck her tongue out with the ring on it. Jacob turned to her and her mouth closed. She smiled at his tilting her head.

“ Open your mouth.” Jacob commanded. She shook her head quickly and looked at him with her brown eyes shining.

“ Where is my eyebrow ring, then?” Jacob asked her sweetly.

She shook her head and shrugged.

“ Open your mouth honey.” Jacob said, losing patience. Cybil opened her mouth and there was the lip ring. He took it and I made a gagging sound.

“ Shut up Tom! Cybil, where is my eyebrow ring?”

She sighed and looked down.

“ That I don’t know. You dropped it somewhere. I'm sorry. And if you do find it, be sure to wash it, I don’t want you getting infected.”

“ He’s already infected!” I spilled, and Jacob hit me on the head. He didn’t want me to reveal his big secret. He was planning to tell her someday, in the midst of passion. With a condom I suppose.

I rubbed my head and saw someone coming towards us. It was Jessica. I smiled at her but turned away so people wouldn’t think I was some pervert. She walked to Cybil and held her hand out. Cybil looked it, then at Jessica.

“ What?”

“ The chemistry homework. Now.” Jessica spat out and examined her nails. I rolled my eyes over to Jacob and he kept his arm around Cybil. I saw him draw her tighter to him. Cybil pawed through her backpack. She pulled out a small packet.

“ What do I get?”

Jessica made a noise and rolled her eyes away. “ Whatever.” She said in a bored tone.

Cybil shrugged and gave the packet to Jessica.

“ You owe me. Give it back to me before class.” Jessica made yet another noise at this comment and walked away.

“ That’s one hell of a bitch.” Jacob smirked. I laughed with him but Cybil watched Jessica walk away with a strange look on her face.

***

“ Thomas, did you do your homework?” Mom asked me skeptically. I made a shocked face.

“ Mom, how could you even suggest that I didn’t do it?” I shook my head as she laughed.

“ Go do it.” She said, and walked back in the kitchen. I crept up the stairs and looked into my sister’s room. She was sitting on the floor, playing with her toys. She turned to me and giggled.

“ Hey little girl.” I crooned. She stood up and held her arms out. I picked her up and swung her around. She giggled again and I sat down on her small bed. My chain got caught on her side-guard and I jiggled a bit to get loose. She laughed and clutched me as she bounced around. Finally I sat down, with her on my knees.

“ What did you do today?” I asked her, knowing she wouldn’t answer. Eve had a strange condition where she wouldn’t speak. She never has. And she’s seven now. Mom tried desperately to get her to say anything, but she just won't.

Eve shrugged her small shoulders, and hopped down from my lap. He grabbed her toys and shoved one in my lap. I picked it up. She waved me to the floor.

“ Eve, I can't play right now. Mom is going to pop a cap in my a- I mean butt if I don’t do my homework.”

She giggled silently and nodded. She grabbed my hand and led me to the door. She pushed my butt out the door and closed it. I put my ear to the door and heard her creaking around and then sitting down to play. I smiled and went to my room. On the way, I passed the guest room, where most of Jacob’s stuff was. He came here almost every night because he lived with his father and when he got drunk, Jacob needed an escape. So he practically lives here. Which is a good thing, because I need someone to talk to. But today, it seems, he isn’t coming, otherwise he would have been here by now.

I walked into my messy room and pulled out my homework. The permission slip fell out of my binder, onto the floor. I picked it up, and read it. Suddenly I got a queasy feeling in my stomach. I don’t like those kinds of places, they really creep me out. but I couldn’t tell anyone, or they would think I was a wimp.

I heard a loud noise at my window and rolled my eyes. I went to it and opened it, as a large rock hit my head.

“ Ouch!” I looked down rubbing my head. There stood Cybil instead of Jacob. “ Cybil?”

“ Yeah... is Jake there?”

I shook my head no, and she jumped up and down in anguish.

“ He’s not at his house, or here, so where is he?” She shrieked.

“ Don’t panic, I’ll be right down.” I shouted to her. I grabbed my hooded sweater and ran out the door.

“ Cybil...”

“ Tom! He’s gone, just gone! He disappeared somewhere otherwise he’d be with you...or he would have his cell pone on!” She was starting to freak out.

“ Calm down. I'm sure he has to be somewhere. Lets be rational here.”

“ Rational? Do you really want to walk around in this weather looking for him?” She said as I felt a cold gust of wind blast my face. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“ Well then, come in. I’m sure my mom will know what to do.” I said as she nodded and I gently guided her inside. “ Mom!”

“ Yes honey?”

“ Jacob is missing and Cybil and I don’t know what to-”

“ Hello again Cybil. How is your mother?” My mom asked her smiling.

“ Fine, Mrs. Lawrence.” Cybil shifted her weight uncomfortably. “ But we need to know what to do about Jake.”

“ Want me to call his father? How about you two go around and look and I’ll call some friends houses.”

We nodded, and headed outside.