Malcolm stood in the doorway and ushered each patient into the room. "Please sit in the chair with you name tag. Dr. Ashton will be with us shortly." He smiled at them reassuringly while trying not to yawn. The only goo thing about group therapy was that he would finally get to see his beloved Katherine. She had been out of the Sanitarium at some kind of medical convention all morning. This would be the first tie that he could speak to her since the new arrival got here. He had some questions about what she wanted to do with her and her treatment. He knew he should probably just ask Dr. Ashton about it since he was in charge after all but quickly vetoed the idea. He had always used Katherine as a buffer between him and Fenris. The Dr. was always polite to him and professional but something about him just gave Malcolm the shivers. Maybe it was because he reminded him of a high school acquaintance that had went to jail for killing his family. The look in his eyes was eerily similar. He shook his head as Nurse Riley came inside with Laura. "I've got her. Go back to your paperwork. I know you are behind since you were out sick yesterday. This way you can catch up and wont have to stay late." He said with a smile. She nodded to him gratefully and handed Laura off. He guided the still groggy girl to her seat and got her situated against one of the far walls. He kept an eye on everyone as they filed on but didn't really see them. All of his thoughts were now on seeing Katherine and when she would finally get there. ------------------ Winter grinned at Alice when she was so accepting of Summer. She was the first one here really that had believed her and did not think she was weird. She could see Summer jumping up and down with joy and doing a little dance off to the side. Winter opened her mouth to ask Alice about her sister when the nurse came and told them to go to group. Sighing a bit, she got up and saw Summer leave. For some reason Summer never stayed during group time. Winter could not really blame her. It was always messy and uncomfortable and a waste of time in her opinion. Sitting there sharing their feelings and such when the group had so many troublemakers that always seemed to disrupt it was stupid. She would much rather have a one on one session alone with Dr. Ashton or one of the other doctors. She walked through the door to the meeting room and was told to go sit down at the chair with her name tag. She sent a look to Alice and said, "I guess we can talk again later. It seems like we are not sitting together this time. Dr. Ashton likes to change things up and we always have new seating assignments during group." She gave her a quick hug and went to sit down. She looked to see who she would be sitting by and froze. She would be sitting down between Dr. Ashton and Ryan. [i]Oh pooh. I do not know if I can handle this. Being this close to the Dr. and Ryan as well is a bit unsettling. They are both so strong and outspoken. I just wish that Ryan was a bit more cheerful. He always seems to be in a bad mood. [/i] She took a deep breath and calmed herself. There was really no need to get flustered. Things would work out. She just knew it. At least she was not sitting next to Chris who seemed to be in one of his states or Evan the firebug who had totally ruined group last time. [i]That's right. Just be positive. All will be well. [/i] She started to relax when she heard her twin's voice say quietly, "Yeah right. You are such an idiot Win." Rolling her eyes she ignored her ad started to daydream. ------------------------- As he walked with Dr. Ashton to the meeting room, Ryan felt himself start to calm down. He still wanted to beat Chess's ass but the urge was not immediate anymore. It could wait until he could get the little shit alone water. He glanced back at Liv and Chess and was satisfied that they were a nice distance away from each other. he turned back around and tried to ignore the thoughts in his head that always seemed to be so dark and violent. He knew that he had anger and control issues, that was why he was here in the first place. But still he just could not help himself when people were so goddamn annoying and stupid. It was like they deserved to have him take his aggression out on them as some sort o karmic retribution for being dumb-asses. Dr. Ashton stopped n the hall and told him to go on inside that he had something he needed to do first and Ryan was a bit relieved. He was still on edge and if the Dr. stayed he might have started to relax even more. Staying on edge all the time was the only way that he had made it in life so far Even around Liv he had to keep his guard up to an extent. He did not think that he had ever really been relaxed and calm in his whole life ad that was fine with him. He walked into the room and heard that nurse guy tell them to go to their seats with their name tags. He sneered at him as he passe by. The guy always got on his nerves. He was weak and not worthy of respect in Ryan's opinion. Getting to his chair he ripped the name tag off an tossed it on the floor. He looked to see who he was sitting by and was relieved to find that it was Liv and Winter. He didn't really know what to make of Winter. She was always so spacey and happy and such. It was like she was a fucking alien or something. He just did not gt her at all. Still she did have something about her that intrigued him. He bet if she ever lost it that it would be spectacular. Just the thought made him shiver happily. He shook his head and looked up to see Chess and Liv come through the door. Chess was laughing about something as usual. The moron. Group today was going to be a pain in the ass today he could just tell. Every time someone new showed up they always had to put their best foot forward. Like it really fucking mattered since everyone was fucked up in some way and nobody was really good at hiding that. Sighing and slouching down in his chair , Ryan wished he had a cigarette to help him get through this bullshit. ------------------------ "Well that was not fun at all," Chess muttered to himself. Just when things were getting interesting the damn doctor had to show up. Why was it that adults always had to fuck up the good times? First his parents by betraying him, then the nurses by being so easy to manipulate and then Dr. Ashton; none of them let him ave any fun. He watched as Ryan and the Dr. left the room and said to Live, "Let's go shall we?" They followed a bit behind them and all the at Chess made witty banter while inside his head things were much different. [i]I am so sick of this damn place and these people. There is not enough fun to be had. If I had unlimited reign then maybe I could make some real mischief but as it is I kind of just want to set the whole place on fire and watch it burn. Of course I would spare the girls but they would be immobilized so that I could have my fun with them without all that struggling. Well, unless that is what I wanted at the time. Laura would be one sweet treat indeed. I can't believe that Liv bought that like a sister shit I fed her or about being an only child. Laura is the most desirable chick here. Evan is nice but too problematic. Liv is only fun cause of how it pisses off Ryan. Winter is nice but not as nice as Laura. The new girl we shall have to see. However, while all these adults are around I doubt I will get to play with the girls like I would want. I guess I will just have to amuse myself in other ways and wait for an opportune moment if it ever arrives. Besides, right now if I did try for Laura it would just get me in more trouble that I want at the moment. With Dr. Ashton always around it just is not feasible.[/i] Liv said something mildly amusing and he laughed as they went into the meeting room. He blew her a kiss as he walked over to his assigned seat and winked at Ryan who was too busy moping to see. With a little sigh, he sat down. Looking to his left and right he saw he was beside Chris and the new girl Alice. [i]This could be fun. Group usually is. And Chris is in his playful mood too. Nice Today might still prove interesting after all.[/i] He clapped his hands together a few times and grinned. Sitting up straight, he waited for the Dr. to come and get the party started. -------------------------------- A tap on the shoulder broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see one of the nurses standing before him. "It is time to go to group, Daniel." she said. Looking around the room he saw that he was the last one left. He must have been really out of it to not notice everyone leaving. "Ok." he replied quietly and headed out the door and down the hallway. He quickened his steps as he approached the room and slid inside, hoping that no one was staring at him. He heard that he had assigned seating this time and cringed. He hated when the Dr. did that to them. It never seemed to work out well for him. In fact, when he finally looked up and saw who he was sitting between he grew pale and started to shake. It was like his wort nightmare come to life. He was stuck between the psycho twins. Sitting beside just Chris would not have been too bad but with Evan on his other side as well he was totally screwed. [i]Fuck fuck fuck!!!!! Why did I get stuck between them? The Dr. must be a fucking sadist or something to do this. The asshole has to know how Evan treats me. Does he really think that this is a good idea? If he does then he s dumber than a fucking box of rocks. Son of a bitch!! Maybe it wont be so bad. Maybe she will leave me alone since the Dr. will be there and everyone else. Then again when has that ever stopped the red-headed twat? Hopefully she wont draw blood this time is she does act up. I can't wait until the day is over! I just want to go to sleep and pretend that I am somewhere else. If I don't get out of this place soon I don't know what I will do! [/i] ---------------------------------- Laura looked around her with hooded eyes. She was still a bit groggy from whatever she had been injected with but mentally she was more aware than she had been in days. She could actually focus on what was being said around her instead of it all seeming to be in a haze. She looked over at the new girl and her eyes widened. She was someone that she had seen before. Of course she had seen her earlier but that is not what she meant. She had seen her before in a dream. In the dream Alice had been in a strange place filled with weird creatures and talking animals. She didn't remember much of it just that Alice had been there and it was the same Alice that she now saw sitting across the group from her. [i]I don't know how that would be possible but I do know that it is her. If I told anyone that though they would just think it was one of my ramblings. I don't know why my words get so confused when I talk. If only the voices would quit talking to me so much then maybe I could think. Why won't they just be quiet?[/i] She shifted on her seat and looked over at Liv. She smiled a shy smile at her. Liv was always so nice. She even brushed her hair for her sometimes. She leaned closer to Liv and away from Evan. She did not really know much about Evan, except that she loved to pick on Daniel. It was a shame. Daniel seemed like a nice enough guy. He was pretty cute even. If she could ever think straight long enough she would try and become his friend. She snuggled even closer to Liv and hoped she was not annoying the girl. She just made her feel safe for some reason "Love you." she whispered to her so softly that she doubted Liv heard her. Liv was as close to family as she had even had. She jumped when Dr. Ashton walked into the room and took his seat. She had not heard him walk in at all. It seemed that group was about to begin. ------------------------- After leaving Ryan in the hallway, Fenris had doubled back to his office for a minute. He got his clipboard and assorted papers and a pen. But he really had no need for them. He just liked to make everyone wait for him to arrive. He smirked to himself as he sat down at his desk and kicked his feet up. He would wait about 10 minutes then go down. While he sat there, he thought about what he wanted to accomplish in group today. The main goal would be to introduce Alice and to see how everyone reacted to her. Then he would see if anyone had anything to share. That was always fun for a laugh or two. He had made sure to make the seating optimal for his purposes. He wanted her to see just what the patients here were like. She would see that getting cured and getting out of here was the best thing for her. Unlike most of the others, she had family that he knew would be checking up on her. He would not be able to experiment on her like he had at first hoped when her case file had come across his desk so must be cured as soon as possible. She would have been the perfect experiment too. She was basically just troubled by night terrors and such and sane for the most part according to what he had read. If he could use those night terrors and some some medication to drive her over the brink into insanity it would have been so glorious. However, he might be able to make some little tweaks to her with his hypnotherapy and drug regimen that would not be too noticeable until needed. He sat up as he saw that it was time to go down now. Stretching, he made the short journey in record time. He saw Laura jump and exchanged a quick glance with Daniel that almost made him smile but he quickly reigned in the impulse. The fear and disquiet on the boy's face was enough to make him hard. He pushed it away for remembering at a better time He sat down in his chair and arranged his things on his lap before looking up and clearing his throat. "Hello. Today in group we have a new face so I believe that introductions are in order. I am Dr. Ashton. Over by the door is Nurse Malcolm and yet to arrive is Dr. Katherine. We are just a few of the people here at Wonderland that you will be seeing either for treatment, counseling or to provide basic care and assistance. We hope that everyone that comes to Wonderland will make a full recovery and lead full productive lives with their new mental well-being. He turned to Alice and said, "Alice would you please start off the introductions with your name and anything you would like to share about yourself." He smiled as charmingly as he could as he waited for her to speak.