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"A lockup," she said, cracking her knuckles

I stared at her blankly

"A secure residential treathed "You kno this place is a feeder for the Horizons inpatient prograram, and then they tell our parents whether they think we’re sane enough to hack it out here or whether they think our issues are serious enough to need inpatient treater "The Horizons RTC is inpatient, but you get to o fro up, you’ll see Anyway, that’s a normal RTC At the secure RTCs, you’re basically locked in your rooet you You’re followed everywhere Lakewood’s in the ood food and counselors who actually care It’s pretty much the last stop before state institutionalization" She cocked her head to the side "You’re new to this troubled teen thing, aren’t you?"

I looked over at Adam with new eyes "Apparently"

"Veteran," Stella said, and shrugged

I was curious what she was in for, but she didn’t volunteer and this wasn’t exactly prison

"Well, Adam," Brooke said loudly "If you don’t want to participate, I’ to have to let Dr Kells know and you’ll have to do it with her"

"He doesn’t belong here," Stella said quietly as Adam and Brooke walked back into our circle I wanted to ask her more, but Brooke was ready toany of my real (and valid) fears of the Jude and supernatural varieties by rattling off a bunch of benign, nors and needles Jamie attempted to ruffle Brooke’s patience with answers like "intellectual bankruptcy," and "sea an earnestly volunteered every phobia I’d ever heard of and several I never knew existed ("Doraphobia" is the fear of fur)

This earned an obnoxious co a fear of "physical inadequacies" of a very private nature, which resulted in what I thought was an unjust scolding from Brooke and also caused another Ja for Jamie to land a well-deserved punch to Adaot too exciting Stella irl I unintentionally caught a glance at her fear journal but saw only one word ("voices") before I quickly looked away

Hmm

When ere finished, we all handed our notebooks back to Brooke and she then asked for volunteers for a "flooding session" Megan’s hand went up, bless her, and I had the non-pleasure of watching the poor girl’s big, brown eyes go ith terror as Brooke talked her through scenario after scenario in which she would encounter and then be confined in san sat there and i next to it Then in it Then Brooke guided her closer and closer to one in real life When the fear threatened to overcome her, she said a word that told Brooke she couldn’t take it anyh; a True Believer She really did seem to want to improve Admirable

When the session ended, we all applauded and offered our encourage!" Exclamation points included

We broke for snack tiarten!--and I pulled out ned: pick an eer, but I would draw a kitten instead Nor for my sketchbook, my hand closed over that stray piece of paper

I withdrew it Unfolded it I read what it said as the hair rose on the back of my neck:

I see you

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