July 4th, 2006. It's the fourth of July, but the ward wasn't doing anything special. The only thing they had planned was to create decorations during art therapy. (First Name) felt someone grab her sleeve and turned her head to see who was tugging on her for her attention. She smiled once she saw who it was, "Hi, Michael. Did you just get your medication, too?" She asked as she held a tiny paper cup of water and her meds in her other hand.

She took her meds and drank the water before tossing it in the trash. She felt him grab her wrist and squeezed it twice. "You know you're going to get in trouble again..." She whispered lowly enough where only Michael could hear her. He released her wrist, but (First Name) grabbed his hand. "I don't want you getting thrown into solitary again." She told him worriedly. Michael yanked his hand out of her hold and glared at her before he pushed her. She tumbled forward and whined, "You don't have to be mean about it!" He rolled his eyes when he watched her go to art therapy before him. He huffed as he followed after her with a scowl on his face.

He entered the room and found (First Name) sitting with one of the younger kids. He sat down next to her, but she didn't acknowledge him since she was focused on the kid. "It's scary on the first day, but I promise you, you'll adjust quickly once you find some friends." She told the boy. The ginger-haired boy played with his fingers as he mumbled, "I-I am no-not v-v-very go-good at m-making fr-fr-fr-friends. I get b-bullied o-o-over my st-stu-stu-stutter a-and it gets w-worse when I'm n-n-nervous."

Michael was irritated by how long it took the kid to speak, but (First Name) smiled softly at him the entire time. "I understand what it's like to be bullied," She tossed a glance at Michael. "So you don't have to worry about being bullied by me. I'll always wait for you to finish your sentences, Tripp." The said ginger-haired boy flushed happily and stammered out, "T-T-Th-Thank yo-you..." The dirty blond-haired boy glared at the newcomer as he didn't appreciate him taking (First Name)'s attention from him.

Tripp noticed Michael's glare and immediately averted his gaze to the table. (First Name) noticed Tripp's sudden change of mood and turned her head to see Michael scowling at the 5 year old. She frowned at Michael and opened her mouth to quietly tell him off, but one of the nurses' shouted, "Okay, everyone. We will call one table at a time to come pick up their supplies. Remember to not push each other and wait for your turn."

(First Name) was extremely unhappy as she stared at the blank plate she received to draw on. She wanted to draw on a normal blank sheet, but Michael forced her to get a blank plate as he did. What made her even more upset was when a nurse pulled Tripp to a different table when she noticed how Michael was staring at him and told them that he should be with kids his age.

Michael tugged on her shirt and she turned to him with a frown. Michael tilted his head when he saw her pouting face and he mocked her expression. Her eyes widened when he copied her and ended up snorting. "You're so mean." Michael stopped mocking her and let his face relax once he saw her smiling at him. "So, why did you make us get paper plates?" She asked. Michael brought the plate to his face and (First Name) hummed, "I don't think the nurses' will give us scissors though." He grabbed a crayon and pretended to stab the plate where the eyes would be. "...I'll just go up to the nurses and ask them to cut open eye holes for us once we are done."

(First Name) grabbed some crayons and grabbed Michael's plate. He glared at her, but she covered his face with the plate and said, "I'll draw a dot where your eyes are if you can point to where you're looking." He blinked and held his hand out for her to put her wrist in his palm. Once he felt her wrist, he guided her to where his eyes were. She placed two dots and pulled the plate from his face. Without her having to ask, Michael did the same thing for her.

"Thanks." She thanked him with a small smile and began to draw. He watched her draw eyes where he put the dots and another eye above the unibrow. He lost interest in what she was doing and began to focus on his own mask. He wasn't quite sure how he wanted it to look, but he eventually came up with an idea.

"Marianna, can you cut out the eyes for our masks, please?" (First Name) asked as she held both the plates. The said woman grabbed the plates and used her keys to poke holes where the eyes were. After she was done, she used a hole puncher on each side for both plates and gave her some string. "Thank you!" The 8 year old beamed and jogged back to the table Michael was at.

They slid the strings through the holes and (First Name) pointed to his mask, "I'll help tie it for you." Michael placed the mask to his face and turned around for her to be able to tie it. After it was tied, he faced her and stared at her excited expression. "Your mask is so cool, Michael. Will you help me put mine on?" Michael turned her around for her and grabbed the ends of the strings to tie them around her head. He turned her back once he was done and stared at her mask.

Her mask was feminine, the three eyes had heavy top lashes with no lashes on the bottom. The third eye matched her eye color, but the pupil was red. She drew giant, pink circles where the cheeks were. She attempted to draw a nose and for the lips, the top lip was black while the bottom lip was red. Michael made an attempted replica of his clown mask from Halloween 2 years ago.

"I like your mask, Michael." The said boy stared at her with half-lidded eyes. "Do you like mine?" He grabbed her wrist and squeezed twice. She frowned under her mask, but she gave him a fake, happy laugh. "Wow, you're such a bully." Michael tilted his and tugged her close to his mask. He stared into her eyes and she watched him raise up his hand to reach towards her eyes. Her eyes widened in horror as she pushed him away from her without a thought.

Everyone went silent when they heard (First Name) shout after he was pushed to the ground, "M-Michael!" She stood up abruptly which caused the chair to scoot back loudly and moved his chair to help pick him up. Michael glared at her through his mask and grabbed her hand to roughly bring her down. Her eyes widened as everything felt so fast. She was brought to the ground and felt her back along with her head slam against the ground. Michael lifted her head up high to repeat the action, but the nurses ripped him off of her before he had the chance to do serious damage to her.

At the end of the day, Iris walked with (First Name) back to her room and the nurse glanced at her what felt like every second as (First Name)'s mood only seemed to sour more and more the closer they got to her room. "Hey... Are you still bothered about what happened earlier with Michael?" She asked. (First Name) looked up at her nurse and answered, "Will you take me to him?"

She heavily frowned at her patient as she believed that wasn't a bright idea and she couldn't comprehend how she could like being friends with a boy like him. "Why?" "I want to tell him it was all a misunderstanding." Iris arched an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean?" She questioned. "I thought he was going to hurt me like last time, but I realized he was pointing at my eyes because they were wet." (First Name) explained. "Why were you crying?" "I wasn't crying, yet. I was hurt that he didn't like my mask because I made it to make him happy."

The nurse really couldn't figure out what was going inside her patient's brain and she really wanted to know how (First Name) saw Michael. Iris rubbed her arm nervously as she debated if she wanted to take the risk of taking (First Name) to solitary to visit Michael. (First Name) could tell she was worried and said, "You can tell my uncle that I threatened to hurt myself if you didn't take me to see him." Iris' gawked at the child and didn't appreciate that she wanted to take the blame if they got caught.

With a heavy sigh, she gave in and bent down to (First Name)'s height to whisper to her, "Stay close to me the entire time, alright?" (First Name)'s eyes sparkled as she beamed at Iris and nodded her vigorously. She grabbed the bottom hem of Iris' shirt to keep close to her nurse. Iris nervously smiled at her as they began to head to solitary.

They made it to solitary without any issues, especially after a nurse saw the two. However, they paid no attention to the two when they saw (First Name) because they were the nurse who had put her in solitary in the past. They assumed Iris was taking her to solitary and didn't care to see if they were being sketchy or not.

"His room is right there." She said as she pointed to the room they were nearing. She noticed that (First Name) seemed to perk up, but she looked a bit anxious at the same time. They stood in front of his door and Iris quietly greeted him, "Hello there, Michael. It's Iris and (First Name)." (First Name) heard chains which made her frown and she looked up at Iris as she waited for her to open the door. Iris noticed her look and shook her head, "I don't think it's a good idea... Just say what you want to say and we need to leave." (First Name) glared at her and stomped her feet, "I saw I wanted to see him, not just talk to him.!" She whisper-hissed.

Her nurse frowned as she tried to hush her. "Please calm down. I am only doing this for your safety." (First Name) stomped on Iris' foot with all her might, the nurse bent down as she covered her mouth to cry in pain. (First Name) took the advantage to swipe her keys off her neck and opened Michael's door. The cell door locked from both sides and (First Name) locked herself with Michael.

Michael stared at her as she walked up to him and ignored Iris' cries and banging. He noticed she slightly kept her distance, but she sat on the ground with him. "Michael, I'm sorry I got you sent to solitary." The said boy tilted his head and waited for what she had to say. "I thought you were going to poke my eye out again and I panicked... I'm really sorry." She apologized with slumped shoulders and teary eyes as she looked down at her lap.

She heard his chains wiggle and she looked up to see he was reaching for her. (First Name) was hesitant, she crawled towards him and yelped when he brought her closer. He brought his face close to hers and she watched him flicker his eyes from one of her eyes to the other. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to stay still when he brought his hand close to her eyes.

Michael gently glided his finger under her eye to wipe the tear and looked at it before rubbing his fingers together. He repeated the same process with the other eye, except instead of rubbing his fingers together, he licked the tear. His eyebrows furrowed from disgust and (First Name) stared at him in puzzlement. "Do you not understand crying?" Michael looked up from his fingers to (First Name) and reached for her wrist to squeeze it twice.

"She's in there with him!" They heard Iris shout in the distance. (First Name) worriedly looked at Michael and she went through every key to try to unlock his chains. She eventually found one that worked and managed to free him. Michael rubbed his wrists before he lunged for (First Name), her body stiffened when she felt his arms wrap around her frame. She relaxed when she realized that Michael wasn't attacking her, but instead, hugging her. (First Name) hesitantly hugged him back and rested her forehead against his shoulder. She tensed for a moment when she felt Michael write letters on her back; T R U S T

She didn't understand what he meant until they were no longer hugging, he flipped her around and placed both of her hands behind her back, and brought his arm around her neck. Right as he tightened his arm to make it seem like he was choking her, the nurses along with Dr. Loomis burst into the room. Uh oh. (First Name) thought as her eyes landed on her uncle.

"Release her this instant, Michael!" Dr. Loomis demanded, his face red with anger. Michael made no movements as he stared at the two nurses and his psychiatrist. With the arm that was "choking" (First Name), Michael pointed to the male nurse and Iris. "H-He wants them to leave." (First Name) stammered out. Dr. Loomis took a step forward and turned to them, "Leave." He ordered sternly while pointing to the door. "But-" "I said leave! I will handle this!" The nurses looked hesitant and the male nurse handed something to Dr. Loomis before they exited the room.

After they left, Michael's arm loosened and removed his grip on her wrists, but kept his arm around her neck when he felt (First Name) attempt to hold his hand. He eventually gave in and let her hold his hand, his eyes flashed an expression of shock when he realized how soft her hand was, but the shock immediately disappeared as if it never happened. Dr. Loomis furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he realized that his niece was never in danger. "What is going on here?" "I want Michael out of solitary." She answered. "You want him out or is he making you say that?"

(First Name) was irritated that her uncle believed she was being controlled by Michael. "Michael is my best friend and there was a misunderstanding between us, that's why he reacted the way he did." "(First Name), he tried to repeatedly smash your head in. What is there to misunderstand?" The little girl looked at the ground as she answered, "He only attacked me because I pushed him off his chair." "Do you have a death wish?" Dr. Loomis was caught off guard by his own words, but neither of the kids seemed to be affected by what he said.

"I-I'm sorry for saying that, I didn't mean to say that-" "Will you let Michael out?" His niece interrupted. Dr. Loomis sighed heavily and told her, "Being physically abused means the person doesn't care about you or your safety. There is a reason why you were taken away from your parents, (First Name)." Michael glared at Dr. Loomis and became hostile towards him as he dropped her hand to fully wrap his arms around her body to drag her into the corner with him. The psychiatrist mentally noted the sudden hostility when he hinted that Michael didn't really care for her.

Michael squeezed her as he tried to push himself into the corner as much as could to get away from Loomis. (First Name) was a bit uncomfortable from the squeezing, but she felt happy since she believed he cared for her the same way as she did towards him. "I want to be roommates with Michael." She declared which shocked both Michael and Loomis. "I-I-I don't think that's a very good idea..." He stammered out nervously at the idea of her niece sleeping in the same room with a violent, unstable boy. However, Michael seemed enthusiastic about the idea as she felt him squeeze her arm once up and down her arm which meant yes over and over.

"Michael is keen on the idea. 2 vs 1, which means we win and we get to be roommates." She told her uncle with a bright smile. Dr. Loomis didn't have the heart to say no to her, but he felt scared for her life. "Only for tonight... And there will be a guard by your door." Michael didn't like the offer, but (First Name) gladly accepted it without hesitation. "I'm so excited to have my first sleepover with a best friend!" She told them both.

Michael dully side-glanced at (First Name) before he released her and relaxed his face when (First Name) stood up and spun on her heel with her hands out to help him up. He stared at her hands for a moment before he took her hands and stood up from the ground. She released his hands once he was off the ground, but Michael re-grabbed her right hand and held it tight. His actions surprised (First Name), but she was happy nonetheless and didn't try to fight his hand off.

While (First Name) was helping Michael up, Dr. Loomis watched their every move like a hawk and mentally noted everything Michael did. He was caught off guard when he noticed that Michael initiated the hand-holding and as much as Michael didn't visibly express his emotions, Loomis could see it in his eyes that he had some type of enjoyment or happiness while holding (First Name)'s hand. Loomis didn't enjoy putting his niece in danger, but she was helping Michael a lot in the process and he was willing for her to receive minor injuries if it could lead to the possibility of Michael speaking and admitting his reasoning on his killings.