Primrose Complex, Chapter 2

A little warning: The eyes change from EA default to a new default halfway through, sorry! Also, all of the characters featured in this chapter are simselves of my amazing friends.

Also, if you chose to not read the previous chapter, here is a summary: Primrose is seen as popular at school, but she does not choose to be popular. In fact, she is a loner and would rather spend her time alone. She is very depressed, and she tried to commit suicide, but was found by her brother.

My aunt, Iris, paid for me to go to a "very nice" Mental institute in Twinbrook, called Blossomview. It's surrounded by a tall wall with towers, with a menacing door. The building itself looks like a castle. In fact, it is a renovated castle.

As I walked across the --get this--drawbridge, a young woman stepped out of the house.

"You must be Primrose!" She said excitedly. As I climbed down the stairs at the end of the bridge, she climbed down the stairs of the house.

"I'm Emily. Your psychologist, or rather, all-around friend."

I nodded at her, "Call me Prim," I said politely.

"Alrightly then, Prim," she smiled, "Shall we go inside so you can meet the others?"

"Sure," I said, although I knew I had no choice. I would much rather be home right not. Or, even better, dead.

As we walked inside, I was traumatized.

"I was on freaking level 20! Doyou have any idea how long that took?!" A blonde main yelled at another adult, "I have to get started now. If I get back to level 20 tonight, I might be able to finish the game by next week."

"What's the point of finishing a game, when it's not going to make anyone's life any better," said a man with short brown hair, bent over in a chair, his voice empty of all emotions.

"Guys," Emily yelled before the blonde main could respond, "relax. Come meet Prim."

None of them moved, but one of them turned around.

"Pleasure to meet you, Prim," said the man in the chair, although his emotionless voice said otherwise, "I, am Alistair."

"Name's Nick," said the blonde man who had turned around, "And this ass standing behind me is Ambrose."

"Nice to meet you," Ambrose said, giving Nick a look of dsapproval, "And Nick, we'll talk about this more at your private session. For now, no computer."

Nick let out a scream and stormed towards me, before turning and going upstairs.

"Where's Daniel?" Emily said, as he stamped his feet up the stairs.

"Upstairs, still trying to help Roslyn give JC her medicine," Ambrose answered, before turning to Alistair, "Instead of sitting there, Alistair, wy don't you go paint or read?"

Emily led me upstairs as Alistair responded, "What's the point?"

As we climbed the second flight of stairs, I heard Ambrose say "no reason" with a sigh.

"MROW!" I jumped when the loud cat noise came through an open door, "Hssss!"

"JC!" A woman's voice scowled, "if you don't behave, why should I give you a cookie?"

I followed Emily into the room to see a strange girl sitting on the floor like an animal. She was making a sad, whiny, noise.

"Besides, don't you want to meet your new roommate?" The woman, I assumed Roslyn, asked.

Oh, God...I was rooming with a girl who thought she was a cat? How am I going to get out of here sane?

The girl perked up and nodded. She immediately ate something out of Roslyn's hands.

"Hello," Emily said when she was done.

JC turned around. When she saw me, she came bounding on her arms and legs, towards me. "Mrow?" she said. I put my hand out as I would for a stray, and she sniffed it, then rubbed her head against my leg, letting out a purr.

"Hello," the woman said, "I'm Roslyn."

A man walked in a few seconds later and closed the door behind him, "She took the medicine?" he asked.

"Yes, so she could meet Prim," Roslyn said, "By the way, Prim, she's JC," Roslyn nodded at the cat-girl.

"I'm Daniel, Alistair's psychologist," he shook my hand, then patted JC's head, "Good girl. Would you like a cookie?"

JC nodded and mrowed many times before he produced the cookie and let her grab it with her mouth.

I couldn't help but wonder how expensive it was to send me here, and if Aunt Iris could get a refund.

***********

After a quick tour and an explanation of the schedule, we ate dinner. Nick and Ambrose weren't there, there. Apparently, Nick wasn't doing too well in his therapy and was being given extra therapy.

I ate the whole meal looking down, ignoring the others unless directly asked a question. After dinner, we had weekly group therapy.

"Primrose," Emily started, "Why don't we start with you, and then we will touch base on how everyone has been doing this past week."

 "Um, Okay," I mumbled, "I, uh...I'm here because I tried to kill myself."

JC seemed to stop breathing with a loud gasp for a second, "Wait a sec," She said.

She looked around confused for a few minutes, pointing at everyone and mumbling something, before getting to me and narrowing her eyes, and then repeating the process, as though she was trying to place me.

"Wait a second," She repeated, then did another quick head count, ending on me, "You're Prim, right? How come I haven't met you until now?!"

I didn't really understand...how was I supposed to answer her?

"JC," Roslyn scolded, saving me from needing to answer, "Do not talk out of turn. You would remember meeting her if you had taken your pills when you were supposed to."

JC blushed, "Sowwy," she said, "I guess I forgotted."

"Don't forget again, sweety," Roslyn said. She couldn't help but crack a small smile, but I found no reason to.

"Let her keep her innocence," Alistair said, keeping his head down, "She is just playing pretend because she doesn't want to remember how cruel this world is. I wish I could do the same."

His voice was still as emotionless as before, completely and totally lifeless.

 "Shut up!" Nick practically screamed. "Let's get this stupid meeting over with. I just want a chance to at least get to level five tonight, or have time to play the Sims or something!"

"Yes, I agree," Emily finally got in a word, "Now, in these meetings we usually set up a few goals. Some are weekly, while other times we establish longer term goals. First, let's get some long term goals set."

"Uh...like what?" I asked.

"Like, what do you want to accomplish by the time you leave?"

"I guess..." I shrugged, "Be able to enjoy life?"

"That, um..." Emily struggled to find a kind way to tell me that the goal sucked, "It's a good start. We'll work more on goals later."

I nodded, hoping that they'd start moving on towards the other three patient's goals, leaving me be.

 "Why're you so sad?" JC asked, "You can has some of my cookies to be happy, if you want!"

"JC," Roslyn said, "You've never offered to give away your cookies before! This is very good progress!"

"Prim-prim needs to be happy, though!" She nodded wisely, "Happiness is important! Oh, oh, Nicky or Ali want cookies? JC give nommies to all, if they wants! As long as more can be made...if not, all noms are mine, 'cept maybe one for Prim-prim and Rosie."

Alistair sat up, and leaned his body against the sofa, leaving his hand out awkwardly in the air. He snapped, and spoke angrily through gritted teeth, "My name is Alistair, not Ali. And what's the p-"

 "Alistair!" Daniel interrupted, "Do you want them, or not?"

Alistair's face went blank, and he shook his head. I stared at him for a second but looked away before he could notice.

"I'll take a cookie," Nick said softly.

Roslyn produced three cookies. She gave one to Nick, who nodded his thanks politely, one to me, and one to JC. Once we finished eating, Emily spoke.

"Is there anything else you would like to share with us, Prim?" I shook my head, "Alright, In our private session, we'll talk more. Would anyone like to share next?"

"I think we should share your goal , Nick," Ambrose said.

Nick grimaced, but waved his arms in large motions, "I'm going to...going to start a hobby."

"And..." Ambrose promted, when Nick stopped.

"Spend at least three nights a week doing that...instead of gaming."

JC clapped quickly, "That's great! What're you gonna do?"

Nick shrugged, "Read, or paint. Maybe write."

Again, she nodded wisely, "Good ideas. I suggest reading, though. You can nom on cookies while reading."

Everyone but Alistair and myself laughed.

"Alistair," Emily said when everyone stopped, "Have you made any progress?"

"No," He said shortly, staring at Nick and JC with dead eyes.

 "I'm afraid he refuses to talk to me anymore," Daniel admitted, "This has been his worst low yet."

 "We should be seen as friends, Alistair," Roslyn said, getting no response.

"Yeah, Rosie's my bestest friend!" JC nodded over and over again very quickly, "She's super awesme and gives me lots of cookies almost whenever I want!"

Alistair snapped out of his lifelessness again, and with more emotion than I though possible, retorted, "They aren't your friends. They're paid to take care of us. I don't need to be here, I should just leave. And I would too! Except my stupid family..."

He finally stopped, choking on his tears. Ambrose stood up and walked towards him to help him out of the room. Instead of going with Ambrose easily, Alistair faught back. Finally, Ambrose produced a syringe and, after a short gropple, stuck it in Alistair's arm.

"I'm sorry you had to see this on your very first day," he said, as the medicine that had been pumped into Alistair's veins started making him fall asleep, "It's very rare, that he gets this bad. I promise, we nearly never use unnecessary medicine like this."

Alistair was taken out of the room by Ambrose and Daniel.

"I'm so sorry, JC," Roslyn said, seeming completely genuine, "You know I care about you. I'm sorry we had to end the meeting before your turn to share."

"I know, and it's okay," JC shrugged, "Can I have another cookie, though?"

Roslyn laughed, "I'll go get some more now."

 

"So...um, can I go play Sims now?" Nick spoke up, once she had left.

"Let's start this week off right. How about you go get a book to read?" Emily offered.

Nick sighed, and as he left, mumbled about some girl named Jodie and some story named Intergalactic Chaos. I started wondering, but decided I didn't want to know.

JC, Emily and I sat for a few minutes before we heard Roslyn outside the door, "Nick, shouldn't you start that Hobby?"

"Just one game of Solitaire! That's all I want!" we heard him groan.

I saw Emily try not to smile as she yelled out to them, "Off the computer, now, Nick."

JC stood up then, looking as mad as I had ever seen her, and started jumping up and down like an ape with her hands balled into fists. I started worrying if this was one of her other personalities, until she yelled.

"Forget about Nick and his stupid games and gimme my cookie! RAWWWWWR!"

***********

The next day, I had my first private session with Emily. She talked about different things I could do to help me release pent up tension. We made some goals, too. My first goal was to be able to write an entire 20 item list of good things about myself or in my life.

Today, I wrote down one: My aunt cares enough about me to put in a lot of money to try to help me 'recover.'

I'm supposed to try to find a hobby, just like Nick, too.

And so I do. I try everything I can think of trying in this house, from painting to cooking to reading. I use every resource I can. In the few days after the horrifying group meeting, Alistair started painting, and Nick has become obsessed with two different series', the Hunger Games and Delta Nine.

I find that painting isn't my style, and although reading is fun, I wouldn't say it's a hobby of mine, either. I've fallen in love with Delta Nine. It's this amazing story about a spy, and it's written by a guy named Raliq Kain. Emily doesn't consider reading one book series as being seriously invested in an activity though.

At our second meeting, she tries to get me to delve deep into the depths of my despairs and find the reason. Problem is that I'm not really sure where it all began. It's been going on so long...I think I'm just a messed up person. She says that I just need to open up more, but I honestly don't have much to say.

After the first five days, I'm allowed to email my mom. I tell her what I've been up tp, and that I'm sorry for trying to kill myself. I didn't know if I was really sorry though. I just felt confused. But I did feel bad for scaring her. I guess.

"Prim," Emily said in our last private session (unless I need an emergency one) before the group meeting, "I think it's time we talk about your family."

"There's not much to say," I shrugged.

"Sure there is. What do you feel towards them? Have you always felt that way?"

"Not really. We used to be pretty close, all of us. But then...I grew up, I guess. It's just that..."


"Go on," she said softly, scrawling on a piece of paper, "What happened to change your relationships?"

 "Uh...I'm not sure. I just feel like, Briar's like, their perfect, smart, son. And I'm just Prim. The only thing I've ever done is..." As I thought, it all came to reality. "Mom told me a secret, once. She told me that I couldn't tell anyone. She trusted me, and then I told the secret to Dad."

"Do you remember why it was so important to her, that this secret was kept?" Emily spoke softly, quietly watching me with the paper and pen rolled up in her hand when she wasn't using it.

"No," I lied, sitting up and looking her straight in the eyes for the first time, "It was just something stupid."

 "Now, something you said earlier worries me. You said something about yourself being 'just Prim.' Do you believe that your parents think less of you than they do of your brother?"

"I love Briar. I just...I guess...I feel as though I can never do good enough. Like, no matter what I do..." I didn't know I had even felt this way, but I just rambled on, for about fifteen minutes, "no matter what I do, I'm always doing something wrong."

She nodded, smile wiped off her face, "I used to feel the exact same way."

 "How did you fix it?" I asked in a whisper, eyes transfixed on her as she sat up.

She skooted back and spread her legs out, crossing one over the other. She tucked her pen and paper under her leg and leaned back. She pointed the pointer fingers of her hands to the ceiling, almost like a gun, and closed her eyes.

I waited for her to answer for a moment, knowing that every word she said could change my life completely.

"I don't think I exactly fixed it," she shrugged, smiling lightly, "I guess, as time goes by, you just...realizt that you never can be perfect, and that you are fine, as long as you try your best.

*****************************

Sorry for the long chapter. Now here are some credits:

Blossomview: name provided by my cat, Blossom (without her knowing, of course. She's a cat.)

I had to put that photo of her in here. She's just too cute :)

In order of appearance...

Emily is the amazingly talented Emy. Go read Splintered Sun!

Nick is the beautiful Nichola Paparazzi, author of many great stories including Over the Frickin' Rainbow and Intergalactic Chaos

Ambrose is the AWESOME TheUsernameFound, CREATOR of the DITFT challenge, author of A Formal Affair along with many other AMAZING stories!

Alistair is by the fantastic catcrunchies, author of Piper's Dream.

JC is the absolutely ADORABLE jcnorn (seriously, she's adorable) author of The McCool Legacy

Roslyn is the hilarious Dreamy Underwood, author of Fresh Steps DITFT

Daniel is the gorgeous Deeds, author of Home is Where the Hart Is DITFT and Summer Nights EPIC challenge.

Seriously guys, they're great! If you don't read them, you should!

Also, the Delta Nine series and Raliq Kain come from the Different Rain DITFT by Orangeplumbob. Such a great story, all these guys tug at my heart!!