Isabel

The sun was shining through a small window. The bars on the window made the shadows look like stripes on the wall. The room was dull, with ash-grey colored walls and no pictures or posters. A small twin-size bed dressed in grey sheets with one pillow, and in the corner was a desk and chair. Screaming echoed through the halls; agony was not rare here.

Isabel was was tired of the claustrophobic room, she wanted to finally go home. She tried to ignore the screaming and kept drawing a crow. She named the crow Roo, and she drew Roo on hundreds of pieces of paper.

Doctor Fitz told her dad it was normal for her to believe that animals like Roo were her friends. Isabel struggled with making friends, and when she did, she couldn’t keep them.

Right as she was about to draw Roo on another sheet of paper, the orderly opened the door. Doctor Fitz walked in; he smelled of peppermint and hand sanitizer. His wool brown sweater looked brand new, but his pants were wrinkled. He pushed up his oval glasses on his face and took in a deep breath.

“Isabel Burton”

“Doctor Fitz”

He looked at his watch.

“You’re still here? I cleared you to go home an hour ago.”

“My dad hasn’t come yet.”

Doctor Fitz's nostrils flared. He left the room hurriedly; Isabel assumed it was to call her dad.

After an hour, Isabel's room door opened again, and the orderly gestured for her to take his hand. She assumed it meant her dad was finally here. She grabbed the locket off the desk and took the orderly’s hand.

They walked through the long hall and saw some familiar faces she had met.

“Look, Isabel is getting out!” one voice exclaimed

“Isabel is leaving?” another voice questioned

“Tell Roo I said Izzy,” said Oliver

Oliver was the only friend Isabel managed to keep. He was in Brickgate Sanitarium because he liked to start fires, but in his eyes, he was cleansing the world of evil. He said his stepmother was evil, and he had to ‘cleanse’ her.

“I will, Ollie.”

The orderly left Isabel outside the front gate. She didn’t see anybody that looked like her dad.

“Dad?”

“Isabel!”

She looked to the far right and saw a semi-familiar face.

“Dad?”

“It’s me, Izzy”

Isabel looked confused as the man that hugged her looked like a stranger. This man had muscles and didn’t smell like cigarettes. His hair was shiny and cut, but the most confusing part was the lady sitting in the car staring at her.

“Let me look at you.”

He stared at Isabel and smiled.

“It’s been so long; you’re so big… not even my little girl anymore.”

Isabel didn’t know what to say as the man she still didn’t believe was her dad took her to his car. The woman in the front seat was fixing her makeup, uninterested in talking to or even looking at Isabel.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Who is that?”

“Oh, this is Natalie”

He opened the door for Isabel and closed it behind her. The entire drive, they all sat in silence. Isabel noticed her dad was not taking the usual route home; she raised her right eyebrow in confusion.

“Dad… home is that way”

“Yea, it used to be, kiddo.”

“Used to be? You moved?”

“Yea… dealing with the history of what happened and all, I couldn’t stay there.”

“Oh”

“Don’t worry; you’ll love it at the new place. You’ll have lots of space, unlike that shoe box room at the sanitarium.”

Isabel sank in her seat. Her brain started to whisper, and she started to hear her mother’s voice.

“Run, Izzy, Run!” It screamed in the back of her head.

They pulled up to the new house, and before her dad could stop the car, Isabel ran right out onto the wet grass.

“Isabel!”