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aguuA/N: Not done, either that or I just wanted to make this for fun. xD This isn't the start of the entire back story thing, but it is helping me figure out her inner workings. <3 Thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
northernharrier for helping me flesh out Browning's character.
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There was a little girl wandering through the white-washed walls of St. Jude's Institution for the Mentally Challenged, a senior nurse noted, while a woman followed her. It was a blustery day in August, and a woman wearing entirely too much perfume and pearls had walked through the hallway, avoiding the retarded, the rambling, those simply labelled as "insane" and clumped together in one place to be cured.
"I would like to place my daughter in your care." The woman had a high, clear voice. The senior nurse nodded and peered at the girl, who looked about six years old. "What's wrong with her?"
The little girl had blood-eyes that colored a snowdrop face, as if someone had embedded snow into the pores of her skin. She had long white hair that hung limply upon her shoulders.
"She doesn't speak much, and I've caught her wanting to kill herself, twice." The senior nurse gently touched the girl's arm and whispered, "Let me take a look, sweetie." The girl trembled but gave her arm, and she saw several neatly made lines, even a happy face. "...she looks a bit young for this institution."
"Oh. She's..."
"I'm nine years old." The girl said quietly, her voice disappearing into the floor tiles.
"Why do you think you're in here?" The nurse asked the girl, not really expecting a serious answer.
"...because everything would be better without me."
After that, she was wordlessly took in by the senior nurse, where they assessed her mental state. Her mother, the odd woman would stop by every few weeks. After three months, she stopped coming altogether.
~~
The first few days in a new place was always a scary thing for children. But when Adrianna, Elizabeth's assigned ward psychiatrist walked on her evening rounds, she thought she heard the sound of laughter. Peering into Elizabeth's room through the small, square plexiglass hole, she saw the girl had propped up pillows and was seemingly talking to it, and laughing. She thought she even saw the girl thrusting a metal spoon against the pillow.
"Elizabeth? Sweetheart? What are you doing?" She knocked before the little girl looked up and opened the door cheerfully, a white-red ghost swathed in the baby-blue dress of all the residents. "Hi lady...do you want to join the tea party?" Adrianna looked at the pillows, and saw that they all had crayon markings scrawled all over them, forming some sort of crudely drawn face.
She noticed that one pillow was thoroughly punched through until the feathers had popped out, strewn all over the floor.
"What happened to that one?"
"Oh," Elizabeth said, smiling even brighter than before. "That's mommy. She didn't want to join the tea party."
Adrianna said quietly, "I'm sure your mother didn't mean to reject your invitation."
Elizabeth shook her head and sighed. "Lady, my mother didn't reject my invite. She ignored it, like she always did...so I punished her."
"All right." Adrianna mentally considered what she's been taught to say to children that had...unique problems. "So do you think we should let your mother lie there, or bury her?"
"Just let her rot." The white-haired girl looked up at her, her smile completely gone. "Could you please go now? I'm sleepy."
northernharrier for helping me flesh out Browning's character.___________________________
There was a little girl wandering through the white-washed walls of St. Jude's Institution for the Mentally Challenged, a senior nurse noted, while a woman followed her. It was a blustery day in August, and a woman wearing entirely too much perfume and pearls had walked through the hallway, avoiding the retarded, the rambling, those simply labelled as "insane" and clumped together in one place to be cured.
"I would like to place my daughter in your care." The woman had a high, clear voice. The senior nurse nodded and peered at the girl, who looked about six years old. "What's wrong with her?"
The little girl had blood-eyes that colored a snowdrop face, as if someone had embedded snow into the pores of her skin. She had long white hair that hung limply upon her shoulders.
"She doesn't speak much, and I've caught her wanting to kill herself, twice." The senior nurse gently touched the girl's arm and whispered, "Let me take a look, sweetie." The girl trembled but gave her arm, and she saw several neatly made lines, even a happy face. "...she looks a bit young for this institution."
"Oh. She's..."
"I'm nine years old." The girl said quietly, her voice disappearing into the floor tiles.
"Why do you think you're in here?" The nurse asked the girl, not really expecting a serious answer.
"...because everything would be better without me."
After that, she was wordlessly took in by the senior nurse, where they assessed her mental state. Her mother, the odd woman would stop by every few weeks. After three months, she stopped coming altogether.
~~
The first few days in a new place was always a scary thing for children. But when Adrianna, Elizabeth's assigned ward psychiatrist walked on her evening rounds, she thought she heard the sound of laughter. Peering into Elizabeth's room through the small, square plexiglass hole, she saw the girl had propped up pillows and was seemingly talking to it, and laughing. She thought she even saw the girl thrusting a metal spoon against the pillow.
"Elizabeth? Sweetheart? What are you doing?" She knocked before the little girl looked up and opened the door cheerfully, a white-red ghost swathed in the baby-blue dress of all the residents. "Hi lady...do you want to join the tea party?" Adrianna looked at the pillows, and saw that they all had crayon markings scrawled all over them, forming some sort of crudely drawn face.
She noticed that one pillow was thoroughly punched through until the feathers had popped out, strewn all over the floor.
"What happened to that one?"
"Oh," Elizabeth said, smiling even brighter than before. "That's mommy. She didn't want to join the tea party."
Adrianna said quietly, "I'm sure your mother didn't mean to reject your invitation."
Elizabeth shook her head and sighed. "Lady, my mother didn't reject my invite. She ignored it, like she always did...so I punished her."
"All right." Adrianna mentally considered what she's been taught to say to children that had...unique problems. "So do you think we should let your mother lie there, or bury her?"
"Just let her rot." The white-haired girl looked up at her, her smile completely gone. "Could you please go now? I'm sleepy."
