Paranoia (Open)

It was only very seldom that Cat had grown so upset she tried to harm herself, and it was only very often that she had to be hospitalized from it. Cat, after witnessing the murder of her sister and the attemptive suicide from her father, whom was dragged to Azkaban, and later gotten the Dementors Kiss, would grow so angry she would harm those around her and herself.

Cat stared at the wall in front of her with empty eyes, hearing the Healers talk in hushed vices, throwing glances at Cat. She picked up every other word or phrase, hearing "Distrought" and "Mentally impaired" and even "A threat." The last one finally hit Cat, and she laughed maniacally, feeling like she was no threat to anyone but herself. Looking down at her wrists, she had received muggle stitches, after she sliced them with her own wand. "It should've worked this time. It should've." Cat screamed to herself angrily, which received attention from the healers. Thrashing about, Cat screamed, trying to throw them off. They handcuffed her to the bed she was sitting on, and she laughed, the same maniac laugh that she used when the stupid healers called her crazy. "Of course I'm crazy, what else would I be?" Cat asked herself, arguing with her own mind.

Those laughs turned to tears, and Cat felt her shoulders heaving, hiding her face in her hands. She never cried like that. Cat wasn't the type to do so. After seeing the murder of her sister, she didn't shed a tear. Not even a single one. Not when her dad was taken away, not when she was found in the broom closet, never. The healers had said it was from the shock, but they never saw a shock that lasted so long.

A healer cleared his throat, and Cat looked up, not bothering to clean up her face. He looked at her nervously, and she challenged him with her eyes. "Catalina?" He asked, frightened. Cat just continued staring, waiting to see what he wanted. "You, you have a visitor." He squeaked out, not bothering to stay to see how she was. Cleaning off her face, Cat had no idea who would even know she was in the hospital, as her mother didn't even seem to care about her anymore. Her days involved working and sleeping with random men, drinking, dancing, and using drugs.

"I'd like to see all of your documents regarding the Green Itch."

The secretary stared at Teddy and the girl stared back, completely serious. The woman glanced around, looking for a hidden camera and said, "I don't think that's allowed."

Teddy pulled up an ancient book, opening it and pointing. "Under the law, the public has a right to ask for any information regarding any illness so long as no particular information is disclosed about specific patients." Teddy slammed the book closed. "The records, please."

The secretary rolled her eyes and stood. "One moment please." She walked away and down a hall. Teddy looked around and then slowly made her way to a chair, sitting and glancing around. She spotted the secretary drinking a cup of coffee. They locked eyes and the secretary walked away. Teddy scoffed- typical. She stood to find someone else, when...

"Yes, Catalina Malcolm. It's not her first time."

"Fifth year and multiple suicide attempts- we really need to get her talking with the psychiatrist."

Teddy's ears widened and she stood, casually walking towards the nearest bathroom. As soon as she was inside, she scrambled through her bag, finding a bottle of instant black hair dye from her favorite witch beauty store. She set about using such products to alter her appearance- black hair, brown contacts, tying her hair back in a ponytail, putting on fake reading glasses, using make up to give herself a ton of freckles. Perfect. She looked completely different.

She quickly left the bathroom, finding a random Healer. "Hi, I'm here to visit Catalina Malcolm. I'm a friend." She smiled.

The Healer led her to the room and announced her. Teddy entered and beamed. "Hi Catalina! It's Liza Ackerman! I'm a third year in your house. Hi! Mind if I come in?" Naturally, no girl named Liza Ackerman existed, but most people were to polite to insist they had no idea who she was.

Cat stared at the girl, a grin creeping on her face. Catty, here's a way out. Play the game, make it convincing. It wont be too hard, you're insane anyways! "Liza, of course! Come in, come in!" Cat waved the girl over with the one hand that wasn't chained to her bed, and waved to the new Healer that came in, this one obviously not scared of Cat's presence. "Catalina, this is a friend of yours?" He asked with a raised brow. "Of course!" Cat exclaimed delightfully. "I love Liza!" Evidently satisfied, he walked away.

"Listen here girl, you have exactly three minutes to explain before I start screaming. You think im joking? Im not." Cat grew angry, and she wasnt sugar coating anything. "I don't know you and you don't know me. For all I know, youre here to kill me. Liza Ackerman? Puhlease." Cat snorted. "Terrible name.But I have to give you props, they believed it. Now, down to business." She straightened up, staring at the girl with fire in her eyes. "What are you doing in my room?"

The girl had not been tricked by the fake name, but she did not know she was Teddy. Teddy knew this girl and her had never run into each other so Teddy decided to play it up. "I'm Liza. You probably don't even know me. I think I borrowed something from you in the loo last year- a compact or a quill or some other odd or end. Who knows. I was a silly second year, I was terrified of everyone. When you stay silent in the common room you get to know everyone's name."

The girl kept speaking and Teddy pretended to look a little nervous. "I don't know what you're talking about. Sure I fibbed a bit- we're not friends per se, but I know you vaguely. Housemates should stick together. I was visiting my brother and I heard your name. I thought you'd like company. Would you like me to go?"

Cat let out a shriek of pent up anger, and she stood up quickly to try to walk to the other side of the room, when she was pulled back, the handcuff not reaching that far. Pulling on it with all her might, she gasped in pain, feeling the metal hit her stitches. Giving up, she sat on the ground, continuing to pull on the chain.

"Of course, Liza. My mistake. I do recall your black hair, I remember that I complimentd it even!" Cat put a hand over her heart. Looking at the girl scepticially, she had a wicked idea. "If you're a house mate of mine, which house am I in?" Cat asked innocently. Play along, Cat. Just play along.

Cat stared hard at the girl, pretending to be someone else, treating Cat like a joke. "You can stay if you can get this stupid f***ing chain off of me." Cat moved her hand around, hearing the noise from the metals hitting each other, the noise bouncing off the walls around her.

Teddy's heart beat. Alright. You're a Ravenclaw. Wisdom. You can do this. She couldn't see a Hufflepuff acting this way, and she would have known if the girl was a Ravenclaw. She had to figure out between Gryffindor and Slytherin. She saw brashness as well as pride, but the girl was less cool and more frantic. Besides, Slytherins were much too haughty for self harm.

"Well, you're Gryffindor, aren't you?" she chirped. Were she wrong, she could either say there was a Gryffindor that looked just like her, or she could always bolt. It wasn't like the girl would recognize her.

She cleared her throat. "Well, they put that on you for a reason. But I could... If you tell me why you're here."

Cat watched the girl think, and think harder. Im almost positive this girl isn't who she says she is. Gryffindor? No doubt it's a lie. Cat played with the hideous gray gown that flushed out her skin, showing off how much weight she had lost and how sickly she was. She looked down at her nails, all bloody and broken, which she had scratched off on the walls when they wouldn't let her out of the room.

Cat did a slow clap for the girl. "Yes, indeed I'm a Gryffindor. It did take you a little while to figure it out though. Are you a Ravenclaw? Those dammed brainiacs, figuring out things other people can't." Cat pulled on her hair, which was falling out because she refused meals. Holding her red hair in her hand, she felt angry tears in her eyes.

"I watched my father murder my sister when I was five. I hid in the broom closet. I've been in and out of here ever since." Cat told her secret before she thought about it. "All my fault. All my fault." Cats voice became shrill and she rocked back and forth, singing You are my sunshine over and over.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You never know, dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away." Cats voice sounded as sick as she looked, and she was shaking in pent up anger.

Looking through the girl, she held up the chained wrist. "Take it off." She mumbled under her breath, her eyes wide.

The girl accused her of taking too long and Teddy was on the ball with it. Convincingly, she answered, "Oh, sorry. I was still trying to remember what it is that I borrowed from you, but, for the life of me, I can;t remember. I'm nothing like a Ravenclaw. Bit of an airhead, really." She laughed.

The girl spoke and Teddy itched to get out a pen and piece of paper, but she could not. She listened and concluded something about the girl. She was insane. How was it someone like this could be allowed to intermingle casually with other students. The girl wanted to be released, but Teddy still had questions.

"Doesn't that interfere with the way you react with people? Are you like... violent to others? Or just yourself?"

"Right. Because when I see a house mate, the first thing I want to know is what meaningless thing I borrowed from them was. Whatever it was, it is of idle importance to me now." Cat still wasn't entirely convinced with what the girl, who claimed to be Liza, was telling her. If she wasn't using a disguise, I could find out who she was! Cat thought with clenched teeth.

A motherly looking Healer came in, and stared strangely at Cat sitting in the floor and the other girl sitting in the bed. Seeing the woman shrug, Cat figured that she had seen worse from the other patients. From what Cat was told, she was the tamest of the insane. "Catalina, honey, I have food. Healer James said you needed to eat. Remember Healer James? You liked him." The woman was far too friendly, in Cats opinion. She spoke to her as if she was stupid. When the woman magicked a heaping plate full of macaroni and cheese, bread, water and milk, Cat stuffed a large bite of bread in her mouth, just to get the woman to leave. Seeing the woman smiling at her, it nearly made Cat sick. Seeing her walk away satisfied her, and she didn't look at the food again.

Cat swallowed, feeling hungry. She hadn't eaten properly in weeks. Drinking her milk slowly, she looked over to the girl. "You ask these questions like you writing a book." Cat joked, no amusement in her tone. "I'm never violet to others unless I get that angry. Only to myself and the Healers here who piss me off." Digging into her Mac and cheese, her eyes flickered to the girl and the door, waiting for another healer to see if Cat was actually eating.