karma_k
These people want to help you, Kate.
Don't be ridiculous, Katie, they know what they're doing. They're professionals.
Nobody's going to hurt you, they want to find out what's wrong with you.
You'll thank us for this in the long run. Maybe not now, but when your life is back on-track and your priorities are in order, you'll realize how badly you needed this. How badly ALL of us needed this.
Katherine Aislynn DeFeo, Karma to her friends, was a medly of confusion, hurt, and anger and the words battered around uselessly in her mind like moths bumbling around a porchlight. There had been much more, she was sure...but she hadn't caught it. It was hard to catch things when a large man you'd met five minutes prior when he'd turned on your bedroom light and impassively ordered you to get dressed was escorting you out the front door.
A rehabilitation program for troubled youths, they'd said. Somewhere in....s**t, where had they said it was? Somewhere not in the United States, that was for sure. Everything had happened so quickly, she hadn't had much time to react emotionally, save for numb shock and obediance. She hadn't been about to argue with the man, that was for sure...not when it looked like he could easily wrap one hand around her entire head.
She'd heard her father say he loved her a moment before the van's door had chunked closed and they were driving. The handcuffs had remained in unnervingly-plain view on the dashboard and the stranger had told her that as long as she behaved herself, they would not need to be used. And so she had. It was simply how she was built.
The van ride lasted for nearly two hours, during which time things she would need to know about the facility were explained to her. When she arrived, she would be administered a mild sedative and placed in solitary confinement for up to forty-eight hours before being allowed to speak to a counselor to assess what her problems were and how they aimed to solve them.
Provided she behaved, she would be released to explore the facility and possibly interact with the other inhabitants. "You are NOT, under any circumstances, to discuss one another's counseling and recovery path. That is your business and yours alone." he'd said. There had been mention of penalties should this rule be violated, but no detail. The way his hands had tightened on the steering wheel, just enough to make the nagahide cover creak beneath the pressure of his fingers was detail enough to not make her want any elaborations.
When they had left the city well and truly behind them, the van had come to a stop and she had been escorted to a landing pad where a helicopter was awaiting her. Its pilot was, likewise, a large man of intimidating countenance, but he somehow seemed warmer than the van driver had been.
Karma had never ridden in a helicopter before and was saddened that the experience, instead of bringing her excitement, brought only a deep-seated terror at what was awaiting her at the mystery location. Sedatives, secrecy, solitude...what had she done so wrongly to deserve this?
The pilot had tried several times to make cordial conversation with her before deciding to simply draw into himself and fly the helicopter when she remained unresponsive to his questions and statements. The land gave way beneath them, becoming an endless glassy span of ocean which she watched pass them by at a breakneck speed, seeing it and yet not....her mind was rightfully focused on other things.
They didn't even let me pack... she reminded herself. She thought of her room back at the house. How everything was just as she left it, just waiting for her to come back to it. Her unmade bed, the rumple of clothes on the floor, the tangle of stuffed animals that sat askew on her pillows...
How safe she'd been there. How secure. It was finally this that brought tears to her eyes as she attempted to squeeze them back.
"It won't be long now." the pilot told her, having apparantly heard her sniffling. "They really are good people, Miss DeFeo. They -do- want to help." She, again, gave him no answer. Crying wasn't going to change the fact that she was on a chopper bound for nowhere for god only knew how long. Silence spanned between them once more as the helicopter began its descent.
The ocean became a yellow stretch of sandy beach and a scattering of rocks and foliage as the chopper ceased its forward motion and began to descend vertically. When it touched down, she was overcome by the humidity and the tangy scent of the surf almost at once.
"Here we are." he told her, pressing a button as the door on her side hissed open. "They're waiting for you just outside. Take care."
Take care...right. He may as well have told a baby seal 'good luck' before tossing it to the sharks. Karma remained where she was for a moment before grudgingly slipping out of her seat and stumbling for the outside, her stomach a cold icy ball within her.
Don't be ridiculous, Katie, they know what they're doing. They're professionals.
Nobody's going to hurt you, they want to find out what's wrong with you.
You'll thank us for this in the long run. Maybe not now, but when your life is back on-track and your priorities are in order, you'll realize how badly you needed this. How badly ALL of us needed this.
Katherine Aislynn DeFeo, Karma to her friends, was a medly of confusion, hurt, and anger and the words battered around uselessly in her mind like moths bumbling around a porchlight. There had been much more, she was sure...but she hadn't caught it. It was hard to catch things when a large man you'd met five minutes prior when he'd turned on your bedroom light and impassively ordered you to get dressed was escorting you out the front door.
A rehabilitation program for troubled youths, they'd said. Somewhere in....s**t, where had they said it was? Somewhere not in the United States, that was for sure. Everything had happened so quickly, she hadn't had much time to react emotionally, save for numb shock and obediance. She hadn't been about to argue with the man, that was for sure...not when it looked like he could easily wrap one hand around her entire head.
She'd heard her father say he loved her a moment before the van's door had chunked closed and they were driving. The handcuffs had remained in unnervingly-plain view on the dashboard and the stranger had told her that as long as she behaved herself, they would not need to be used. And so she had. It was simply how she was built.
The van ride lasted for nearly two hours, during which time things she would need to know about the facility were explained to her. When she arrived, she would be administered a mild sedative and placed in solitary confinement for up to forty-eight hours before being allowed to speak to a counselor to assess what her problems were and how they aimed to solve them.
Provided she behaved, she would be released to explore the facility and possibly interact with the other inhabitants. "You are NOT, under any circumstances, to discuss one another's counseling and recovery path. That is your business and yours alone." he'd said. There had been mention of penalties should this rule be violated, but no detail. The way his hands had tightened on the steering wheel, just enough to make the nagahide cover creak beneath the pressure of his fingers was detail enough to not make her want any elaborations.
When they had left the city well and truly behind them, the van had come to a stop and she had been escorted to a landing pad where a helicopter was awaiting her. Its pilot was, likewise, a large man of intimidating countenance, but he somehow seemed warmer than the van driver had been.
Karma had never ridden in a helicopter before and was saddened that the experience, instead of bringing her excitement, brought only a deep-seated terror at what was awaiting her at the mystery location. Sedatives, secrecy, solitude...what had she done so wrongly to deserve this?
The pilot had tried several times to make cordial conversation with her before deciding to simply draw into himself and fly the helicopter when she remained unresponsive to his questions and statements. The land gave way beneath them, becoming an endless glassy span of ocean which she watched pass them by at a breakneck speed, seeing it and yet not....her mind was rightfully focused on other things.
They didn't even let me pack... she reminded herself. She thought of her room back at the house. How everything was just as she left it, just waiting for her to come back to it. Her unmade bed, the rumple of clothes on the floor, the tangle of stuffed animals that sat askew on her pillows...
How safe she'd been there. How secure. It was finally this that brought tears to her eyes as she attempted to squeeze them back.
"It won't be long now." the pilot told her, having apparantly heard her sniffling. "They really are good people, Miss DeFeo. They -do- want to help." She, again, gave him no answer. Crying wasn't going to change the fact that she was on a chopper bound for nowhere for god only knew how long. Silence spanned between them once more as the helicopter began its descent.
The ocean became a yellow stretch of sandy beach and a scattering of rocks and foliage as the chopper ceased its forward motion and began to descend vertically. When it touched down, she was overcome by the humidity and the tangy scent of the surf almost at once.
"Here we are." he told her, pressing a button as the door on her side hissed open. "They're waiting for you just outside. Take care."
Take care...right. He may as well have told a baby seal 'good luck' before tossing it to the sharks. Karma remained where she was for a moment before grudgingly slipping out of her seat and stumbling for the outside, her stomach a cold icy ball within her.
