this used to be a fun house * (open)

[eden marie shaw]

The furniture inside the den was outdated, and in some respects like a jumble sale inside a tiny room. It was clear that tasteful decoration was not the rule of thumb at The Lyle House; even as Eden sat down on the couch and blinked at the bland television screen, she could pick out a few things that desired a little modernizing. Still, she was in no place to complain, and the place seemed like it had the potential to be homely if it was filled with a group of troubled teenagers.

Troubled, of course, was a word she used loosely. She didn’t feel at all like the word could fit into a bracket describing her as a person, but something made her gravitate towards the place, whether she liked it or not.

Now, bathed in the cheap light of the den, the eighteen year old looked positively and eerily comely. Her facial features were carved delicately, almost too gentle for any adult; her skin pale like porcelain and accented by intelligent, animated chocolate irises set lightly into her head and shadowed by soft blonde lashes. Her brow was fringed by the same, outlandish brown strands that continued in the same dishevelled pattern to just above her waist, a natural hint of wave and body. The strands were thick and self-styled as in a way to promote laziness, which was quite contradictory to Eden’s personality.

It was quiet, and she liked that; the television was on a low volume, advertisements boldly flickering across the room. She picked at a hem from her dress, wondering how those who liked noise didn’t go mad in this stillness.

[emma marie van bruhnt]

'Today is no ordinary day!' Or actually it was. It was exactly like every other day, boring and uneventful. Convincing herself that it was special seemed to help keep Emma sane. At least as sane as someone with a mental disease could be. But most of the teenagers here seemed pretty sane. She shrugged and took a step into the den not bothering to pay attention to whether or not anyone was inside.

The air conditioned building felt much better than being outside in the hot weather. Sweat was not quite on the like list for Emma, or glisten as some girls refer to it. But whatever it was it was wet and felt extremely gross, so she had decided to stay inside. She had pondered just going to her house but didn't want to be bothered by the Nurses telling her to do chores. She would do them...eventually.

She sat on the couch caught in a web of thoughts and paying no attention to the fact that she had sat down beside someone. Because of this, when Emma finally did look up, she jumped about ten feet and squealed a loud, "Oh!" She clutched her hand to her chest as her heart pounded inside it. "I've really never been observant when I'm thinking."

Emma focused on the girl. She had blond hair and pretty brown eyes and was soon recognizable as one of Emma's roommates. "I'm sorry Eden! I hope I didn't scare you as much as you scared me." She smiled, her face slightly turning red. Embarrassment really was easy for her to achieve. She was always getting herself into an embarrassing situation.

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[eden marie shaw]

Eden, on the other hand, had noticed Emma entering and plopping herself down on the couch next to her, though it didn’t take her long to realise that the girl was completely lost in her own thoughts. Smiling faintly, she waited for her housemate to come to, albeit unprepared for the almighty leap she gave when she finally realised she had company. Smirking apologetically, Eden shook her head as if to shake off any apology she was given, like she was owed nothing of the sort.

“Don’t worry about it, I know how it is.” Her voice was soft, comforting; not at all like the manic beast associated with those suffering from Manic Depression. “Anything going on back at the house?” She asked, politely keeping up the conversation with her usual endeavours.

The next programme was starting up on the television, some low budgeted sitcom. The volume was down very low so the sound was almost imperceptible, but it was easy to tell that it was the kind of programme that would have an 80’s laugh track playing every ten seconds in the background.

“Or is it just the usual chores?” Eden rolled her eyes hastily, turning to Emma once more.

[emma marie van bruhnt]

Emma's eyes gave a thankful twinkle as Eden told her not to worry about it. Thankfully there was someone as nice as her in Emma's house. She was quite the sympathetic girl seeming to almost channel everyone's emotions sometimes. Or maybe it was just the imagination of the young seventeen year old who now sat on the edge of the couch practically staring at Edan.

She relaxed as Eden continued with conversation, giving herself a better position on the couch so that she would not soon find herself on the floor. "Yeah, basically just chores. I think the Nurses were going to start making lunch but realized no one was even there. And I also believe we might be having chicken for dinner." Emma's nostrils flared slightly in disgust at the word chicken. She was a pescatarian eating close to no meat except for fish. It was a better diet, plus she didn't enjoy the thought of eating another being even if it wasn't human. Why she could still eat fish remains a mystery to herself.

Emma looked toward the television that was on, most likely left on by the previous group that had been in the den. "What's on?" She asked nodding toward the television set. The volume was too low to make out much of what was being said but it looked like a only show. They did not get many channels, mostly ones that played old movies and shows and a few history channels for "education purposes". She rolled her eyes. Most of the kids here don't even care about education they just wanted to leave and make the best of it while they were here.

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[eden marie shaw]

Eden didn’t exactly appreciate the staring, but her unfaltering smile did enough to mask her discomfort until Emma zoned back in to the real world. She honestly didn’t blame the girl for her lack of focus; her own medication only made her drowsy and at times irritable, which was completely uncharacteristic of Eden. She had a feeling The Lyle House was just a scare tactic for teenagers. Get better, pretend to be better, or stay drugged up for your entire life.

She gave a yawn, nodding with understanding. “Yeah. I’m not that hungry, anyway. I thought I’d come here and see if there was anything exciting going on.” She shrugged gently, brushing her hair with her fingers, like a porcelain comb, so it fell down her back and out of the way. “Mmm, chicken.” She laughed, picking up automatically on the disgust that underlay in Emma’s voice. “Not your thing?” She guessed.

Out of politeness, she turned the television up with an apologetic expression, figuring that Emma had come here to watch something and she was keeping the volume at a ridiculously low setting. ”Looks like a sitcom. I don’t know the name of it, though… I didn’t see the title screen.”

[emma marie van bruhnt]

Chicken? Her thing? Not exactly. "I'm a pescatarian. Only fish for me, though why I still can even eat fish is beyond me. I think it's that I still need protein somewhere in my diet." She could have just had a mixture of tofu, brown rice, and peanuts to replace the fish but Emma liked fish and didn't exactly want to stop eating it. She probably could, but did not plan on doing so.

As the focus turned to the television, Emma shifted to face it rather than Eden. A sitcom, as Eden had pointed out, was playing but it was unfamiliar. Yet at the same time she swore she recognized a few of the actors even if they were probably as old as her grandmother by now. "I'm just as clueless. I don't really know what channels this place gets other than the History and Science ones. "

Again, she thought of the four years she had been wasting in this place and how she still did not know what channels they got. Then again she didn't spend too much time watching it. She preferred movies to shows and usually put in one of the DVD's or VHS's, occasionally even catching a movie that was probably playing on this exact channel.

"So how long have you been in this looney bin?" Emma didn't mean to emphasize the you, it just came out that way because of her previous train of thought. She couldn't really remember how long Eden have been here but felt like it wasn't that long. Maybe it was much longer than she thought and just didn't realize it. Whatever it was, she would find out soon enough anyways.

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