I was assigned to a unit on the far south wing of the hospital. Its name was Unit Oak. It was the general unit for adolescent females.

On the way to Unit Oak, the hallways were very similar with its sickly pastel green walls and vinyl flooring. If I try to escape now, I would absolutely fail. Me and Ida had to climb 4 flights of stairs to reach the door to the unit. The stairs were almost unrecognizable with its thick cage surrounding them so that patients could not try to jump to their deaths. It gave me chills just thinking about it.

As Ida slid her card down the card reader on the side of the door, I could see through the thin window the same god-awful green paint. Ida swung open the door with an astonishing force.

Unit Oak was nothing less than unsettling, with its unfinished coloring pages decorating the walls behind the nurses' desk, and the scuffed vinyl floors from what I assumed were from patient fights. I slowly felt my heart race increase and my breath became shallow. To make things worse, I heard yet another scream, a masculine voice this time, saying something along the lines of "This place is a fucking prison!" shortly before seeing a shampoo bottle fly across my vision and into the nurses' station.

"Atlas!" Called Ida "Do you want to start yet another code purple?"

Atlas just groaned loudly in anger before storming off to what I assumed was their room and slamming the door.

"That's Atlas, he can be a bit hot-headed most of the time."

"No kidding... I really don't belong here do I?"

"You tried to kill yourself."

"Fair point...."

"Come stand over here, you need to be checked before I can allow you into the dayroom."

"I'm sorry, 'checked'?" I questioned anxiously

Just as Ida walked down the hall towards Atlas' room, two nurses, whose names were Naomi and Jessica, walked up to me wearing purple scrubs and one carrying a clipboard.

"We are just going to take you into the exam room right over here." announced Naomi.

"Ok."

Like I had any choice.

The exam room was pretty much like any other I've seen in my 17 years, it had a bed with thin paper over it, a desk, an overhead light, and some cabinets. It really was nothing special.

"Ok, we're going to need you to remove your clothes down to your underwear." announced Naomi

This shit again. In all of my experiences at mental institutions, doing this made me the most uncomfortable. Now, I'm no stranger to being half naked in front of someone, just ask my previous boyfriends. But something about the nurses being adults, and nurses, it made me suddenly very uncomfortable in my own skin.

After they counted the scars stretching across my thighs and arms and after rummaging through my clothes looking for contraband, they gave me ugly blue scrubs to wear.

"What's going to happen to my clothes?"

"Once you get seen by Dr. Danilo, you'll get your clothes back. I promise." Said Jessica.

"Don't quote her on that." Responded Naomi

After I put on my scrubs, Jessica walked me to the dayroom while Naomi walked to the nurses station.

The dayroom was a sad place, with oddly safe wooden chairs and couches with ugly plastic pellet filled cushions, it looked uncomfortable as hell. But despite the uncomfortable feel, there still were girls sleeping on the couches and on the floor.

On the small flat-screen TV in the corner of the room, old Disney shows from the early 2000's played on it. For some reason, this was the most comfortable room I saw in a long while.

"Everyone! Please welcome Margo!" Announced Jessica to the rest of the patients.

One of the girls who was sitting on the floor smiled and waved. Another nodded in my direction.

"Ok Margo, I'm going to go back to the nurses station. Call if you need anything!"

Jessica was already out of the dayroom and well across the hall before I could even turn around to face her.

I slowly walked over to a vacant chair at a table in the far corner of the room. It didn't take long for one of the girls to walk over to the table and pull up a chair.

"Hi! I'm Nancy! Nice to meet ya!"

Exclaimed the girl whose name was apparently Nancy while holding out her hand.

I chuckled nervously and shook her hand.

She smiled and asked the age-old question in a place like this.

"So, How did you end up in this joint?"

"Suicide attempt."

I say, just trying to get her to leave me alone.

"Oh, Well that makes up most of us..." Then she yelled, "Who else in this shithole is here for suicide?"

A few of the patients raised their hands while the woman watching us gave Nancy a stern glare.

Why does everybody in this place yell?

"Well, as you can see, a lot of people are here for suicide attempts. There is probably a special place in hell for us girls who want to die."

After a few beats of silence I thought of a question to ask Nancy.

"Who is Atlas?"

She laughed at my question.

"'Who is Atlas?'"

She laughed more before reducing her voice to a whisper.

"Atlas is the head-honcho, the big cheese, the top dog."

"Oh? What did he do to end up here?"

I whispered back

"Turns out, that man is the biggest slut you'd ever meet."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"Not at all."

"When he was 14, he fucked almost 20 adult men in his neighborhood. That was before he began his transition."

"And after?"

"He still slept with men, but this time, they were from online."

"Oh god..."

Just as the conversation began to get good, Jessica called while reading yet another damn clipboard.

"Nancy Megurie!"

"Ooh, Drugs!"

Exclaimed Nancy jokingly

As Nancy jogged over to the nurses station, Atlas sauntered into the room and gave me a stern stare.

"Who's she?!"

The room that once was filled with the chatter of girls grew silent. I knew I was in trouble.