My Daylight Monsters Read Free

medication,” Mum says.
    “I will, I promise.”
    After another quick hug I find myself being led away by the nurse as Mum and Dad back away. This is it. I’m an in-patient.
    “Now, love, my name is Frances Granger. You can call me Frances, you can call me Nurse Granger or you can call me Nurse Frances. You cannot call me ‘Nurse’ or ‘Miss’. We’re not like that here. We’re a community. You cannot call me ‘Mrs Granger’
,
either. That’s my mother’s name.” She chuckles as we walk away from my parents. I glance over my shoulder and see the thin man showing them out. Nurse Granger continues chatting away. It’s like she’s trying to distract me from everything. It’s nice of her. “This is the communal area.” We turn a corner into a section divided by dull-grey sofas with bright cushions—desks and tables that could be from any classroom at any standard school—and an ancient television. There are about half a dozen girls and boys about my age. They all wear loose jogging bottoms and hoodies. Some simply stare into space. “There’s a bookcase with plenty of reading material. Board games and card decks are found in the chest next to the book case. You must rotate the games between you. Some patients felt like using them all day, so we hand out tokens now.”
    We pass a group of four people playing cards. They laugh and joke like old friends. Maybe this place won’t be so bad. But then I spot other patients sitting on their own, muttering under their breath. I can’t help it. I get scared. I want to get away from them.
    “This corridor leads through to the rooms. There are toilets on the right. You can see the sign s for male and female. You’ll be sharing with another girl. The boys’ rooms are further down the corridor. On the left, through those double doors, are showers and bathrooms.” She stops outside a door with a narrow glass window panel. It’s frosted. “Knock! Knock!” she says in a cheery voice.
    “What?” comes the reply.
    Nurse Granger opens the door a crack. “It’s just me, Lacey. I’ve got your new roommate here.”
    “Another lamb to the slaughter,” says the voice. It has undercurrents of menace and the hairs rise on the back of my neck.
    Nurse Granger clucks her tongue and opens the door wide, letting me enter. “Oh, stop it , Lacey. Really, Mary, she is not as bad as she makes out.”
    I step reluctantly into the room. Lacey sits on a mes sy single bed on the right side of the room. She has a mass of platinum blond e hair spilling over her hoody, which is pulled right up to her chin. Her nose is in a book and she doesn’t move, not even to stare at me.
    “You ’re still wet from the rain, dear,” Nurse Granger says. “I’ll get you a towel and some fresh clothes.”
    “When will I get my things?” I ask as she turns to leave.
    “Once we’ve checked everything through. I’ll leave you to get to know Lacey. Dr. Harrison will want to see you later, to have a chat. All right?”
    I nod and she leaves, closing the door behind her. Lacey dumps her book on the bed and leaps to her feet.
    “Let’s have a look at yer then.” Her eyes trail my body. Up and down, twice over. “You don’t have that glazed-depressed stare. You’re not fidgety enough to be an addict or a manic. What are you in for?”
    I don’t really want to tell a stranger. “It’s complicated.”
    She snorts. “I bet.”
    The fluorescent strip light flickers overhead. I try to move away from Lacey’s black-lined panda eyes and instead focus on the window at the back of the room. There’s a bedside table in front of it, with cupboards beneath. The glass is dirty and frosted. Outside, the rain pelts down.
    “You’ve not got the crazy eyes of a psychotic,” she continues. “Voluntary or involuntary?”
    “A bit of both,” I reply, moving over to examine the wardrobe. The hangers are plastic. As I’m seventeen, I’m no longer a child, so it was ultimately my decision. But Dr.