"Guys this is Nico. He just got here." Samuel put a hand on Nico's back and led him into the lounge. They walked past group of people, all in their teens, and towards a table off to the side. On the table there was a couple juice pouches, apples and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nico grabbed a sandwich and juice pouch and sat in a lonely chair in the corner as everyone resumed their conversations.

Samuel pulled up a chair next to him and sat down. He explained a few more things like the solitary room, the nurses, the food, and even about the one special day a month where they allow certain electronics and instruments. He also talked about how they raid the bedrooms in the middle of the night for inappropriate things like candy wrappers or eating utensils. But all they search thru is the open drawers so anyone could easily hide them anywhere else.

All throughout their conversation Nico hardly spoke. He listened to Sammy talk. He also listened to the others conversations in the hopes of using them one day. Nico's expression hardly changed. He kept his same straight-faced expression. Although his expression never changed, Samuel's did. And Nico noticed.

Nico noticed how his eyes brightened with a new topic. He also noticed several things about Sammy that he hadn't noticed before. For one; he had a long and thin scar, barely visible unless you really payed attention, across his cheek, jawline, and neck. Nico glanced down and saw several more scars along Samuel's wrists and arms along with several pink patches of skin.

Nico didn't bring it up. Nico didn't even look at the marks again. Samuel and he went to bed at 9:30 that night. Samuel instantly fell asleep, snoring rather loudly. But Nico stayed awake in his cold room, on his uncomfortable bed. He thought. He thought of his parents. His brother. His friends. He thought of Samuel. He thought of an escape plan. He thought of how he would get his revenge on his parents for throwing him in here. Eventually he did fall asleep. He was lulled into a peaceful sleep by Samuel's snores. Nico dreamt of different ways to "repay" his family.

"Nico...Nico...wake up..." Nico's eyes begrudgingly opened. The first thing he saw was Samuel hovering above him. The next thing he saw was the clock. 6:45 in the morning. Nico groaned and sat up.

"Why do they make us wake up so early...?" Samuel smiled and shrugged.

"Probably something dumb some doctor or someone came up with." Samuel shook his wet hair, sending droplets of water all around the room. Samuel looked up and saw Nico tiredly staring at him. Samuel couldn't help but notice how dark his expression was. He always looked bored and angry. It didn't help that he couldn't really see his eyes behind his mop of hair.

Nico stood up and stretched. He walked over to the open drawer next to the desk to find several new items there; a toothbrush, comb, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, a bag with his name on it, and several shirts, pants, and a couple pairs of boxers.

Nico grabbed the bag and looked over at Samuel.

"Oh that bag? Yeah that's just for your laundry. Whatever dirty clothes you have you stuff them in that bag, leave outside the door before bed and they wash them. They're back in their spot in the morning."

Nico set the bag back down and changed into one of his many pairs of black skinny jeans and a blue t-shirt. He shoved his boxers behind the rest of his clothes and brushed his teeth.

At 7:00 Samuel led Nico back to the lounge where the tables were set up and plates were piled with food. Nico sat down on an empty chair in a table at the back of the room. Samuel joined him with two plates of food. Nico thanked him and silently ate.

The others chatted loudly but Nico blocked them out. Instead he looked around. He saw Ron inside a small room that looked somewhat like a tiny kitchen. Nico made a mental note to check what was in there later on.

"Nico...Nico?" Nico blinked and looked a Samuel in confusion. "Nico, these guys are my friends here." Samuel motioned to the three people sitting across from them. Nico blinked again and slightly waved at them.

"It's cool we don't bite." A brown-skinned girl with dark hair and eyes smiled at Nico. She seemed friendly and her smile seemed bright. Next to her was a tall and fair-skinned boy. He had blonde hair with dark eyes. He grinned at Nico but the grin seemed somewhat forced. Finally another boy say next to them. He was short with fair skin and black thick hair, like Samuel's. He had blue eyes and a crooked smile across his face.

"Here" Samuel said, "let me introduce you all." He pointed at the girl. "She is Stephanie." He pointed to the tall blond boy. "He's Carl." Finally he pointed at the guy with the crooked smile. "And he is Giovanni."

The boy named Giovanni held out his hand.

"A friend of Samuel's is a friend of mine!" He shook Nico's hand and smiled more.

"Don't worry", Stephanie said. "Gio's always this happy."

"It's like he's on drugs..." Carl murmured and took a bite of food.

"Hey,the only drug i use is happiness. And that medication I'm forced to use." They all laughed with an exception of Nico. Instead of laughing along with his friends, Nico attempted to figure out why the others were here. There had to be some reason why all these people were here. But they all looked like normal teenagers, laughing and talking and so on. Nico shrugged it off and resumed his morning meal.

The rest of the day went fairly quickly. To Nico's surprise he had fun and he enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Samuel never left Nico's side all day long. He showed him the way to the cafeteria, he say next to him during meal and group therapy times, during their in between snack/break times Sammy would ask Nico questions about himself.

Right now at nearly ten at night, Nico was laying on his bed. Sammy was on the bed next to him, knocking on the wall that separated them from Carl and Gio.

Nico looked over at his roommate knocking on the wall and eagerly waiting the other's reply knock. Sammy noticed Nico's staring.

"This" Samuel explained, "is how we all communicate after it's time for us to 'sleep'." He grinned and sat up straight. Nico raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"But how do you guys know what the other is saying...?"

"That's the best part! We don't! We don't even know how to actually speak through this we just kinda...knock for fun I guess. But the nurses can't do anything to stop us so we'll keep doing this!" Nico smiled slightly and looked back up to the the ceiling and closed his eyes.

Nico's thoughts consisted of planning how to leave this god forsaken place. Sure he enjoyed himself today and would surely enjoy himself more, but he still wanted to leave this place. And he didn't want anyone here to remember him or see him leave.

After their quiet time, Nico walked around. As he walked he noticed small things like air vents and electrical wires. He thought of places where he would be able to hide certain things in those areas. He walked all around the hospital (it was quite small) until he memorised every area of it. Now all he needed to do is plan on what to do.

'This is tedious work...' Nico thought. 'This will most likely take me several weeks...god I hate when I can't do these things fast enough.' Nico walked back to his room for bed.

As he closed the door to his room, Nico saw something he never thought he would have to see. Standing beside his bed was his roommate. Fully nude.