As Donghae stepped further up the walkway of his new home for the next year, his mind didn’t really have a true thought to it. He would think that most people would question why they were being sent here or even try to run away but Donghae knew why and knew he had to be here. He would never try to run from his problems, never again at least; not like the last time.

            The door creaked open and a strong hand from the rather large man who has been leading him from his mother’s van grabbed the back of his arm and pulled him forward; the grip around him was tight, unnecessarily so- it’s not like he was resisting at all. His mother was following them close behind, her never ending tears and sniffles into her soaked handkerchief made Donghae almost sick to his stomach, the last thing he wanted to remember his only parent by for the next year was her annoying sobbing. Donghae didn’t get a chance to look to see what the building looked like; he had a tendency to walk with his head facing his feet. The large man pulled him into a small waiting room just inside the entrance and pushed down both his shoulders into a lonely chair, on the other side was a counter with a glass on top like in a dentist’s office. The beige walls had paintings of flowers on them and next to Donghae sat a tall potted plant, it all looked like it was trying too hard to be a normal place. The large man said something to his mother and walked through the entrance back outside, most likely to grab Donghae’s things. His mother waited at the counter not two seconds before a fairly large woman wearing a nurse’s outfit, glasses, and her hair in a bun came walking up with a stack of paperwork on the other side of the glass. Donghae heard their conversation but every word to him was just gibberish; everything at the moment wasn’t really registering in his head and he had a hard time thinking in general.

            What he was able to register was the fact that his mother refused the woman’s pen and instead went digging into her hand bag to grab her own, just so she didn’t have to touch one that other people have already touched. It made Donghae want to punch her in the face.

            The scribbling of her pen made his ears ring and he covered them with his hands, his dark brown hair being pressed into his face while he did so; he also decided to lower his head slightly so he wouldn’t have to look at any further antics his annoying mother would do. The thought that her son was about to leave her for a year yet she still cared about small things like germs on a pen made him want to pick up the chair and throw it at her head.

            After a minute or two, the large man once again came walking in through the entrance holding one small suitcase that contained only about three pairs of Donghae’s clothes, his toothbrush, and hair comb. Donghae reached out his hand to take the suitcase from him but the man only scoffed at him and walked through the door on the other side that lead into the rest of the building, taking the case with him; Donghae tried glancing through the door but could only see a white wall. He shifted down in his seat a bit, rubbing his dirty Converse together; his tight pants were slightly ripped at the knee and his black shirt had bits of milk on it from breakfast still. He didn’t look too put together to be going to his new home for a year but he figured that at a mental hospital, no one else looked too good either.

            His mother turned to him and gestured for him to follow her; groaning, he stood up and walked the three steps over to her. The large man came walking through the door again, this time he had another man with him who was nowhere near his size; he was about Donghae’s height, pout, and in his mid-forties, wearing glasses and a white lab coat.

            “Hello there, Donghae,” the man said with a loud tone that made Donghae want to cover his ears again, “welcome to Sooman’s Academy for Deviant Individuals.” The man stuck out his hand for Donghae to shake, he placed his hand in his palm and felt the rough calluses on his fingers and was instantly put off by him; not a good first impression. “Hello Mrs. Lee,” the man continued, shaking hands with Donghae’s mother but that is where Donghae lost the conversation before he became distracted again, noticing that the door had six locks on it. The two men turned and walked through the door, Donghae and his mother following them.

            On the other side was another world; the walls were crisp white with absolutely nothing on them, the floors white like in a cafeteria at an elementary school. It was just a long hallway that led to double doors with no windows and a strange locking system that Donghae couldn’t tell how it worked. The large man punched in a code on a pad that sat on the wall, and the doors clicked and he opened up the right one for them all to walk through. It was just another hallway but this one had lines of doors on either side and another set of double doors at the end, Donghae was too distracted trying to see if any of them were open to notice that his three companions started walking up a flight of stairs that sat next to the double doors they just entered in.

            “Donghae,” his mother called from the bottom step. He cringed, the sound of her voice made him want to slam her head into the wall.

            He turned and followed them up the dark stairs (the large man behind him) that had walls on either side of it; it was so cramped with the four of them, especially since the average man was in front and since he was explaining things about the hospital to Donghae’s mother he was walking pretty slow. Donghae stayed about five stairs behind his mother, not wanting to smell her perfume, and the large man stayed a stair behind him, literally breathing on him. This place didn’t give a very good first impression.

            After two flights of stairs there was another hallway with doors, and then another two flights, another hallway with doors, then another two flights of stairs until there was no more stairs anymore. The last hallway in the building Donghae figured, considering you couldn’t go up any further; it almost scared him how each floor was exactly like the other, there was no individuality at the Academy for Deviant Individuals.

            The average man led them down the hallway, talking more gibberish to Donghae’s continuously nodding mother, as if she really cared. Donghae looked all around him, there was only three brown doors on either side of the hallway, they were pretty spaced out from each other, and there was a small hanging light in between each one. Each door was numbered, 21…22…23…until the man led them all to the last door in the hall marked 24; at the end of the hallway was just another stairwell exactly like the one they came up in.

            “I’m sorry Mrs. Lee, I need to show you the rest of the hospital but Donghae cannot follow anymore.” Donghae heard the average man say, only followed by a small gasp from his mother. He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes; this would probably mean the final goodbye for a year.

            His mom turned and looked at him with her tearful eyes still, her handkerchief still clutched in her grasp. She leaned forward and placed both her arms around Donghae’s shoulders, hugging him tightly and whispering something in his ear that he couldn’t really understand because she was so choked up; he half giggled over the fact that he couldn’t understand the last words his mother would say to him until they saw each other again in a year. She let go fairly quick and kissed his cheek, Donghae cringing even more, and turned to the average man who led them both to the nearest stairwell; she turned and gave Donghae one last wave before her ugly face disappeared behind the wall.

            Instantly, Donghae spit into his palm and started scrubbing his cheek, wanting nothing to do with the wretched woman who put him in this place he already hates. But at least it’s better than home.

            The large man grabbed his arm and pulled it away from his face, muttering something about “crazies” and opened the door to room 24. Donghae felt the large hand on his arm once again and was pulled into the room, his bag thrown on the ground, and he heard the door click shut behind him as the man quickly left. It was kind of surreal what was happening to him, he was actually in a mental hospital, actually here after all those years of receiving threats from his mother to be sent here.

            The room was small, too small. It looked exactly like what a dorm room would look like actually; two beds on either side of the walls, two small dressers at the foot of each bed, one window on the opposite wall between the beds. There was nothing on the walls, except another door to the right of the one Donghae just entered that led to a bathroom. Everything was white except for the pale green bed sheets and the brown furniture; Donghae realized that he hadn’t even noticed someone sleeping in one of the beds, his face turned away from him.

            Feeling awkward, Donghae picked up his fallen suitcase and placed it on top of the small dresser at the foot of the empty bed, too lazy to put his stuff away he just left it and walked around to sit down on the bed. It creaked loudly the instant it was touched and was very hard, unlike his fluffy mattress at home, and he almost for a second wished he was there instead, but he chuckled at his insanity. Any place is better than home.

            He laid down, putting his head on the crinkly pillow, propped one leg upon his raised knee and placed both hands behind his head. Closing his eyes, he wondered why he wasn’t nervous or scared right now, normally people would be but he felt completely fine. He actually wanted to be here, he couldn’t help the way he felt; he had wanted this for years, he needed to get help. At the same time, he would rather not be here; Donghae wouldn’t necessarily call himself completely insane, he was able to function in a normal society and it scared him that there are people here who are actually absolutely crazy. He had no idea what these other people have done to get here, or what mental disease they have, or how they would feel to someone new. Then he thought about how the doctors would feel about him, he was probably just another annoyance to their lives, another boy who just can’t get over something so now they have to help him. It almost made him mad that he couldn’t help himself out of his own mental problems, and it made him sad that he was able to recognize this yet still not be able fix them.

            The bed next to him creaked and he reluctantly opened his eyes to look over; the boy had awakened, probably from Donghae settling into his bed, and he was sitting up rubbing his eyes. Donghae felt awkward, the boy didn’t seem to notice him being in there because he hadn’t opened his eyes yet, but Donghae didn’t want to come out and actually say something aloud. The boy was probably about the same size as him, maybe a bit thicker, with black hair that hung down to his eyes; he wore a plain white t-shirt and Donghae couldn’t see his pants because of the covers he was under. The boy yawned loudly, throwing his arms way up over his head to stretch before they came crashing down in his lap, his eyes were still closed from being so sleepy. , the boy turned and looped one leg out over the side of the bed to stand before he finally opened his eyes and saw Donghae.

            “Ah!” He half screamed in shock, grabbing his chest and instantly forming a smile on his face giggling at himself, “were you there the whole time?”

            Donghae looked at him with a bit of disgust, he couldn’t help it though, his face was permanently like this; he nodded once at the boy.

            “They told me I was finally getting a roommate but they never told me what day or time.” Donghae nodded again at him, he really wasn’t good at words at all. “I’m Sungmin,” the boy said, pointing a bit at himself with his thumb, his one leg still hanging over the bed while his other was hidden beneath the covers.

            “Donghae,” was all he could say. The boy seemed nice but he was in a mental hospital so there had to be something that was off about him, and frankly Donghae was scared to find out.

            “Donghae? East sea?” Sungmin laughed.

            “Uhh, yeah,” Donghae said, removing his hands from behind his head to in front of his chest for a more protective and safe feel.

            “Heh, you might get a few people to pick on you for that, just letting you know.”

Donghae sat up slowly in his bed to get a better look at Sungmin, was he trying to scare him? What first impression was he trying to make upon him? Sungmin didn’t seem to care about his staring and just continued to get up out of bed, Donghae saw he was wearing sweat pants, and walked over to the bathroom door.

            “I’m Sungmin by the way,” he said standing in the doorway.

            “Y-yeah, we covered that,” Donghae said to him.

            “Oh,” Sungmin said, nodding with a smile, before going into the bathroom and closing the door. Donghae had to calm himself down a bit, this whole “roommate thing” is very overwhelming for the first time and he had no idea what mental disorder someone could have to make them forget they said something literally not a minute earlier. Hae couldn’t help but sit and just stare at the floor, he was extremely intimidated already and he had only met one person, and it was his roommate. It wasn’t another thirty seconds before the toilet flushed and Sungmin came strolling out of the bathroom door.

            “I’ll do that a lot by the way,” Sungmin said as he was walking over to his bed, “I forget easily, it’s annoying so I apologize in advance.” The boy plopped down on his bed, rubbing a hand through his shiny black hair, looking Donghae up and down. “I’ve been teased about it a lot but, it’s all in good fun.”

            Donghae really didn’t know how to talk to him, he was very nice and Hae was glad he wasn’t immediately shy to make the situation very awkward for the both of them, considering Donghae was immediately shy. He could see the forgetting thing maybe getting a bit annoying but he would rather him have a simple problem like that than a problem that could actually physically hurt him. “Is,” Donghae began, trying to choose his words carefully, “is that why you’re in here?”

            “Eh, kinda.” Sungmin said more casually than Donghae expected, leaning back so he was laying down on his bed with his head on his pillow, “that’s just a result from head trauma, not the reason why I’m in here exactly.”

            Donghae nodded, he was generally curious as to why Sungmin got head trauma but they just met and figured that it would be terribly awkward to ask him.

            “The reason why I’m in here,” Sungmin began much to Donghae’s surprise, “is because I tried killing myself by crashing my car, that’s where I got the head trauma from.”

            Donghae could only nod again, he was glad that Sungmin only tried to physically hurt himself and not someone else, and he was definitely a roommate Donghae wouldn’t mind having if it meant he could sleep in peace. Although, he was a bit put off again over the fact that Sungmin had no trouble telling Donghae immediately the reason why he was in here; granted, Donghae did ask him but he would think that he would be somewhat reluctant to tell him.

            “Look, you’re going to have to get real comfortable telling your story as to why you’re here, a lot of doctors will ask you- that’s the only reason why I’m comfortable telling it now,” Sungmin said. “Everyone in here is in here because they did something, there’s no shame honestly, so if it feels weird when someone blatantly comes out and tells you they killed someone, just try to get over it.”

            Donghae felt his heart drop into his stomach, “that’s what I’m afraid of, actually.

            “Well, don’t be.” Sungmin said bluntly. “No one’s ever been killed by someone else in the academy before, nothing to worry about.

            Donghae could hardly hear what Sungmin said over his own head screaming at him. He could just picture himself getting cornered in the small stairwell by three crazy guys and getting beaten to death, the only person who would actually remember him being here is Sungmin but he lost all his memory of Donghae and then he would disappear forever, his mother never returning for him.

            “So,” Sungmin began, looking at Donghae who was once again covering his ears with his hands, “what’re you here for?”

Woo! First chapter :D!
I don't know how long this story will be because I hardly outlined it but I'm looking at a minimum of 15 chapters :D:D!
And I'll try to keep on a schedule and update once a week too ^.^
Other than that...I don't know what to put here! Please comment~