Spence felt herself start to cry. She had been doing less and less of this the last 2 months she had been here. Dr. Chilton believed she had been abused. Dr. Haven suggested bipolarity with a touch of manic depression and a dash of ADD. During her eighth day in the facility, four doctors diagnosed her with nine separate afflictions, each requiring three pills each, all to be taken under the watchful eyes of a nurse, from the usual clear plastic cup, followed by a shot of water from a thin paper cup. After each swallow, she would scrunch the feeble, soaked snow-coned shaped cup in her palm until her knuckles turned white.

Across the quad, the sun bathed the giant white granite wall that lined the facility. It was tall, over 20 feet high, making it impossible for escape. It actually seemed quite ridiculous, seeing as one could check themselves out at any time, providing they weren’t intending to kill some poor bastard or themselves. Oh, and you had to be eighteen to leave on your own accord.

Last year, three patients had somehow managed to off themselves during the night. It happened once, every month, for three months in a row. The patients thought the hospital, whoops, resort, was haunted or some shit like that. Spencer wondered if one of the victims had somehow managed to cut through their jugular with a spork, only to be found head down on the lunch table, having spent the last hours of the night bleeding to death. The tapioca alone was worth slitting your wrists over.

She felt a bit of a tingle as Mrs. Carlin approached, her hand clutching her big white hat that threatened to be taken away by the wind, her flower print dress fluttering and clinging to her legs as she walked, waving her hands about, recognizing a few patients as she made her way over to the bench.

Her dark sunglasses reflected the sun towards Spencer and she had to glance down to avoid the glare. The hole in the blanket seemed to have grown within the past ten minutes.

Behind her mother a shout could be heard, as a man had fallen to the ground and several nurses ran down the granite steps towards the motionless figure.