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You wake up to shrieking. You roll over to glance at Karkat. He has pulled his blanket farther over his head and is vibrating with irritation. You get up and put on a t-shirt and socks, and go to investigate the noise.
Down the hall, laying on the floor, is some kind of clown with gaudy purple hair, emitting piercing screams. Weirdly enough, it sounds as if he's screaming "honk". Nurse Harley is grabbing at him as he suddenly pops up and takes off in a sprint.
"Gamzee!" she hisses. "It's 6 a.m., honey!"
Other patients are peering out from their rooms. Nepeta is wrapped in a robe with her curls a tangled mess. Kanaya, her roommate, energes in a kimono. Equius bats at his face with a towel, and Eridan has a sleep mask that he is pulling off of his eyes.
Karkat remains in bed. You turn to Feferi, your next door neighbor. She is, as always, full of energy.
"Who ith thith guy?" you ask sleepily.
"Ooh, Sol, that's Gamzee. He's like, the craziest one here! He was kind of..." She drops her voice. "locked up for a while. He like, flipped out and attacked Tavros. He tried to go for Nepeta, but Equius? He's like, super protective of her and he pinned him down. It was like, so scary! Glub!" she hiccups after the last part, having spewed quite a stream of words.
You nod, taking in what Feferi had said. Then something hits you.
"Wait, so is that why Tavros..."
Feferi looks shocked. "Oh, glub! No, he was paralyzed before he came here. The attack like, really got him down, though!"
"I can imagine."
Tavros isn't out of his room yet. Probably traumatized or something, you think.
Finally, Nurse Harley grabs hold of the wriggling boy, and leads him back down the hallway to what you've come to understand is pretty much solitary confinement.
"Tho what'th hith deal?" you ask, internaly wincing at your obvious lisp.
"I think he's schizophrenic? Or has, like, multiple personalities? I don't know! He got 'put away' on my second day here."
You nod and walk back into your room, where Karkat has his blanket wrapped around himself and is sitting up on his bed. He looks upset.
"Kk, what'th wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, buttlicker," he snarls.
Clearly, though, something is, especially judging by that weak insult.
"Theriouthly, Kk. I don't know what kind of life you've had, and what kind of people were in it, but I care."
As you say the words, you wonder why you're being like this. In the week you've been at Skaia, you haven't really developed any personal bond with Karkat.
Karkat looks shocked. "He just... used to be my friend. He just flipped the fuck out one day." Karkat pulls his blanket tighter around himself. "It's hard to be friends with someone one day and see them at their worst the next."
You nod. You don't really have the experience, but you can imagine.
"I just forget that the people here are crazy sometimes," you hear him murmur.

Later that day, everything is back to normal. Tavros finally rolls out of his room looking nervous, and Karkat gets out of bed. You have group therapy, which you're not really looking forward to, since it gets kind of weird with the patients at Skaia.
The group therapy guy's name is John, and he is the dorkiest person you've ever seen, which is quite a statement coming from Sollux Captor. John is overly smiley, an has big, rectangular glasses. He wears t-shirts that reference movies, and next to him, next to all of these people, you feel normal.
You all gather a bunch of chairs in a circle. The odd number of you, especially being eleven, makes partnering up difficult. Someone usually partners up with John. Today, Karkat is that lucky someone. His scowl seems to deepen a bit.
You are partnered with Aradia. You had kind of been hoping that Feferi would be your partner, since she's kind of cute, but she is partnered with Eridan. Kanaya is partnered with Vriska, Tavros with Terezi, and Nepeta with Equius. Today, explains John, you are all going to do a roleplaying exercise.
"I love roleplaying!" shouts Nepeta. "I used to roleplay all the time befur Skaia! I used the username arsenicCatnip, and I was a kitty with two mouths! It was so much fun!"
"Shut up, Nepeta," growls Karkat. "You are annoying as shit! No one wants to hear about your roleplaying fuckery."
"Karkat, apologize to Nepeta," says John, frowning.
"I'm sorry, Nepeta," mutters Karkat.
"Anyway," continues John. "That's not the type of roleplaying we'll be doing! We're going to act out a scenario with our partners, then afterwards we'll talk about it. Everyone understand?"
Everyone did. You turned to Aradia, wondering how she'll be as a partner, considering her emotionless state.
"Hi, Sollux," she says flatly.
"Hey, Aa."
You give nicknames to everyone, a habit of yours.
John assigns your scenario and you and Aradia stare blankly at each other. You move to a corner of the room to discuss the scenario further.
"What are you in for," says Aradia. It was probably meant to be a question, perhaps even a humorous one, but her voice lacks the inflection to indicate this.
"I thtopped being able to function, I gueth," you find yourself answering. "I got deprethive mood thwingth a lot, and awful migraineth. The voitheth in my head got louder, too." Aradia remains expressionless. "Shit, you probably think I'm crathy."
"Not at all."
You raise your eyebrows. You suppose she has You topped for crazy.
"I have voices in my head, too," she says.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. They warn me of my demise. I have never listened much, but I should have."
"Why?" you ask, suddenly curious.
"Because," says Aradia evenly. "If I did, I would not have died."
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