Unveiled

Disclaimer: Lilax Syndrome is fictional along with the characters.

Veile Strauss, 32 and recently kicked out of her parents’ house due to her parents no longer being able to take care of her. Veile had a very rare form of psychosis called Lilax Syndrome, or a disorder in which the patient hallucinates both auditory and visually, has emotional breakdowns, mood swings, psychotic episodes, self harm streaks, suicidal tendencies, addiction disorder, crying spells, and a very special super power. Veile hadn’t wanted to live for years. When she was kicked from her parents’ home and moved to House of Hopes, the group home, she finally was able to do what she couldn’t do around her family—die. Suicide is what got her kicked out in the first place. Her parents were sick of her hurting herself under the same roof. Having said that, Veile tried and tried again for weeks, but it seemed like something was keeping her alive; like something wanted her here on earth. It’s like she was destined to be here and the other group home patients—very optimistic and happy they were, showed her that she is mightier than her restrictions, stronger than her illness, greater than her mind. The patients might just be on to something…

Preface:

“Veile, I think you’re just… you’re just too much for us right now.” Sage gives a sad look on her face toward Veile’s father, Pillar, and Veile.

“I understand. But, where will I—oh, the group home,” Veile let out a massive sigh with a solid tear streaming down her left cheek.

“Look, baby, you know this isn’t what we want, but you’ve given us no choice. We love you. We’re honestly scared for you.” Pillar holds her palm gently.

“Mom? Dad?”

“Yes?” they both answer.

“I love you, but I will never forgive either of you for this.”

They stare at each other, Sage gulps silently.

“Well, Veile. We will never forgive you for telling us you went to the doctor and they told you that you had pneumonia just so you could stay home from vacation to hang yourself last year. You are so lucky we came home early because Yennia got heat stroke at Six Flags. We came home just in time.”

“No, mom. I wasn’t lucky. I should have done it earlier like I planned. Unfortunately I decided to eat that leftover baked chicken. Well, it’s not my fault you are such a great cook.”

“I don’t know whether I should take that as a compliment or not. You are sick. Very sick.”

“Well, we’re here.” Pillar turned the engine off.

“House of Hopes? How generic!” Veile chuckles.

“Okay, V! Let’s get your luggage!” Pillar winks.

“Alright, alright,” she scoffs, not happy about the move whatsoever.

Veile picks up her Louis Vuitton luggage, stares into her supposed destiny, and heads up towards the door and rings the doorbell.

“Hello, can I help you?”

“Hi,” she trembled, “my name is Veile.”

The doorman gave Veile an odd look.

“Oh, we’re her parents, Sage and Pillar Strauss. We talked on the phone with Dee Braddock?”

Suddenly, a beautiful middle-aged woman appeared in front of the door.

“Dee Braddock? That’s me.”

“Hi, I’m Sage Strauss?”

“Oh, yes, I remember you. It’s a pleasure.”

“You have a bed for my baby, right?”

Veile rolls her eyes.

“Of course!” Dee smiles.

“Well, call us when you get settled in, my love. I want to know all about this place. I’m sure it’s going to be ten times better than your best mental hospital experience! You just wait!”

“Just… go, mom.”

Sage pauses her breath, looks down into her eyes, and whispers , “I love you.”

“Okay, mom. If you loved me, you wouldn’t have kicked me out.”

“V, that’s exactly why we love you. Cool your shit. Let’s go, Sage. Stop babying her ass. That’s what got us here in the first place.”

“I love you, dad.”

Pillar pats Veile on the shoulder and gives her a side hug. Sage hugs Veile fully and kisses her cheek.

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you, baby.”

Veile watches her parents leave, then turns and looks at Dee.

“Welcome to House of Hopes!”

Veile sighs and shrugs her shoulders, then walks into the house.

|Welcome|

“Hi. My name is—oh my! Did you do that to yourself, girl?” asked a girl residing there.

“Um, yeah! Duh! I’m a cutter! What, like you’ve never seen this before? Nobody else in this God-forsaken place is a cutter?”

Veile looked around and everyone looked concerned. A girl grabbed Veile’s arm and led her to her bedroom.

“Let’s just go to your room, sweetie.”

She slumped down her luggage and they sat down on her bed.

“Look, you have to have tough skin to make it in this place. Our last cutter, Vicki, well, she wasn’t so tough. She was found in her bedroom tied to the ceiling fan. Hence why we don’t have ceiling fans anymore. We’re not here for suicide, they say. Because not everyone here is that way. But if you want to talk about your problems, girl, go ahead. It will only give you tougher skin. And if these girls give you hell, kill ‘em with your kindness, kid.”

“I appreciate it. But I’d rather die.”

“You’ll have a change of heart eventually. My name is Raylen, but just call me Ray. What’s yours?”

“Veile,” she muttered under her breath.

“Cute,” she smirked.

“You’re awfully cheery for 6 a.m.” Veile sighed as she held her head.

“Well, I just figured out that I go home in two weeks. I’ve only been here for six months. You’ll probably be here for at least eight.”

“Wow. What’s that supposed to mean?” Veile raised looked over at Raylen and raised her right eyebrow.

“I’m just saying. You sound like a mess.”

“What?!”

“No—that’s—that’s not what I meant at all. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You stupid girl, you know absolutely nothing about me. Fuck you. I’m going back into the living room.”

“It’s called the conversation room!” Raylen yelled as Veiled was walking off.

“The conversation room,” Veile said quietly in a snide way in her face, then continued to walk off.

When she got back into the conversation room, everyone was sitting and talking.

“So, you met Raylen,” a girl smiled.

“Yeah, Miss Cheery Cherry is a Fucking Fraud.”

“Hmm, what do you mean?” the girl asked.

“All I know is that I want to go home. Fifteen minutes and I’m done with this place.”

“We have fun here, though. You’ll see,” another girl smiles.

“What is with all your smiles and positivity? You’re in a rehab for Christ’s sake!”

“With that attitude, you’ll never break free of this place.”

“Eh, I will eventually…” Veile deadpanned.

“What is your damage, Veile?” the girl yelled.

“What is yours?” Veile yelled back.

“You’re the one who came and rained on our parade when we welcomed you with open arms!”

“Sorry, but positivity isn’t my style.”

“You are not the only sick person in here, Veile! Look around! We’ve all got problems! So buck up, or continue to be a fuck up!” the girl yelled.

“I’ll stay a fuck up. Thanks for your consent. I think I’ll get that head cheerleader out of my room now so I can go to sleep. And a little FYI, I didn’t choose this. Fucking remember that,” Veile winked.

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. Do what you want. Group in this convo room in thirty minutes just so you know.”

“Don’t count me in.”

“You’ll stay longer.”

“What are you? My mother?” Veile asks as she walks off into her bedroom.

Veile walks in the bedroom and Raylen is lying on her bed.

“Oh, hey girl.” Raylen smiled.

“Bitch, get out of my bed!” Veile was angry; why on earth was Raylen in her bed?

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry. I really am. I thought it was okay, I—“

“Well, it’s not!” Veile interrupted.

“I see. This is how you’re going to be.”

“You’re shady and I can see right through you. Not like everyone else. Now get the fuck out of my room!” Veile pointed her right index finger towards the door.

“You just fucked up; you just made enemies with the one person who could help you; the one person who would have made an excellent—“

“Shut the fuck up and get out…” Veile deadpanned.

As Velie was napping, Dee walked in and Veile immediately hopped up as if she were caught red-handed.

“I, um… I was um, I was sleeping, yes, but I just got here. It’s time for group already?” Veile rushed her words in a panic.

“You don’t have to go to group,” Dee laughed. “I came in here to confiscate your tools, explicit clothing, drug paraphernalia, stuff like that.”

“Wait—tools?”

“Yeah. Your knives, razor blades, lighters, etcetera.” Dee smiled.

“Okay, but you can’t confiscate Blythe,” Veile panicked.

“And who’s Blythe?”

“My blade. My eyebrow razor.”

“Wow. Oh, yes I can.”

“Oh, no you can’t!”

“Why exactly don’t you want me to take away your razor? Don’t you want to get better, Veile Strauss?”

“No! I’m only here by force! I shouldn’t have to be made to get rid of the things I love just because it benefits me best. Dude, I don’t care what benefits me best. Haven’t you noticed? And everyone wants to care now, they should have fucking cared I’m the beginning. Long live my well-being!” Veile folds her arms and falls back in the bed, hitting her head on the wall. “Ow!”

“We love you, Veile. And I know your parents do, too. I’m sure your parents have always cared.”

“Nope,” she laughed. “No. They only care whenever it’s convenient. Can I have my blade now?”

Dee paused.

“I’m going to finish this up then get rid of it all, I’m sorry. We want you safe. We need you safe. But you go to group while I’m finishing this up. I don’t need you watching me and seeing where I’m taking all of this stuff.

“Dee…” Veile whined.

“Don’t do that. You’re not seven. Actually I don’t even think seven year olds do that kind of shit. Just… please go to group. You’ll learn something from it. I promise you.”

“Fine!” Veile stomped off into the convo room.

“Oh, look who decided to join us?” the group counselor smiled.

“Where do I sit.” Veile deadpanned.

“Well, anywhere, just pull up a cha—“

Veile pulled up a small recliner, which made noise and rattled the entire wooden floor. She sat down in the yellow and blue, striped and suede thing afterward and put her left, black-polished index finger to her chin, widened her eyes and bit her upper lip.

“Ready to proceed?” she asked.

He cleared his throat.

“Yes.”

“Proceed then.”

“I was about to, thank you, Veile.”

“Mhm.” she smiled sarcastically.

“Well, Veile. My name is Carlson. I am the group counselor here. I’m a funny guy. I like jokes, just ask the kiddos, I—Veile! Veile!”

Veile then sat staring at the window, completely ignoring Carlson and uninterested in the conversation. She twiddled her thumbs, then started clawing her arms, hoping nobody would notice, but Carlson pretended to look away then caught her.

“Veile!”

“What? I wasn’t doing anything.”

“What’re you talking about? I caught you! You were clawing!”

“Well, so?”

“So?! We don’t do that here!”

“Yeah? What’re you going to do about it, big guy?”

“Dee! Get in here, please!”

“Yeah?” Dee rushes into the convo room.

“Veile was clawing—I caught her,” Carlson stares at Veile.

Veile makes a half smile, trying not to laugh.

“That is it!” Dee yanks Veile’s arm. “I am sick of you trying to cause chaos around here!”

“What’re you gonna do, huh?” Veile laughs.

Dee took her into the bathroom and grabbed fingernail clippers.

“What? No—no! You can’t! Please! Not me!” Veile panicked.

“Sorry!” Dee shrugged her shoulders.

“Please! These nails are my life, you don’t understand!”

Dee clipped each and every nail off, one by one.

“You monster!” Veile exclaimed.

Dee sighed.

“Okay, look. I’m going to tell you a story that might give you a change of heart—make you want to get better.”

“Fine. But only because I know nothing will change my mind.”

“You can’t die anyway, am I right? You have that one superpower that keeps you alive forever regardless?”

“Yes. Infinite life. But I still try. I’m fact, that’s why I try. Why doesn’t anyone get it? I want to see if there’s more. It’s not fair that others get to die and I don’t!”

“I see your point. But it’s not worth it.”

“Well, how do you know? Have you ever killed yourself? Besides, I’m not here for suicide, I’m here for self harm, why are we talking about it?”

“Darling, you got onto this conversation,” Dee chuckled.

Veile snorted.

“I’m going to tell you the story now…”

“K,” she sighed. “What’s it about?”

“It’s about a girl who self harmed and she got clean.”

Dee smirked at Veile widely. Veile smiled back and slightly chuckled.

“Recreation!” yelled the group leader..

“Oh, great. This is going to be fun,” Veile said sarcastically.

“Why are you always negative?” a girl asked.

“Because I can be. I have that right.”

They got into the rec room and Veile sat down at the table with her forehead on the edge. The group leader saw Veile and figured she needed something to do.

“Hi, Veile. My name is Kayla. I’m the rec counselor.”

Veile looks up from the table.

“Look, you can’t just sit here and do nothing. It’s group. You must participate. I’m sure there’s something here you like to do, or want to learn. Ever played guitar?” she grinned.

“No,” Veile said angrily.

“Well, now is the perfect time to learn!”

Kayla picked up the guitar and tuned it, started strumming, then showed Veile simple chords such as A, G, and C. Veile was a natural. Veile ended up loving the guitar and it gave her a new hobby, which kept her coming back for more at the group home,

She loved guitar so much that it became I huge coping skill for her and it was enough to keep her from harm. Literally.

Eight months later…

Veile was finally good enough to go home. Though she jumped for joy, she knew she was going to miss each and every one of the girls. Being there made her a complete better, more positive person and changed her point of view. It made her see things in s different light. No longer did she want to die, no longer did she want to hurt herself. As for her Lilax syndrome and infinite death, they’ll suffice.

She got her Eight Months Sober chip and got the hell out of there.

“Oh my God, Veile,” Sage smiled and hugged Veile. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Hi, mom.” Veile looks over at Pillar. “Hi, dad.”

“Hi, honey. I’m sorry. About everything.”

“Same.”

“And I’m so proud of you,” Pillar constricted her.

“Thanks, dad.”

“Let’s go,” Sage grabbed her luggage.

They got into the car and everyone came outside and waved; Veile waved back and became teary-eyed.

“You really did great. I see you’ve made friends.” Sage smiled from the front seat.

“Yeah, they’re the best.”

“So, how do you feel about dying now?”

“Dying?… Not worth it.” Veile smiled.