Following the abrupt end of group therapy, Lita was bored to say the least.

And with boredom, sometimes came various memories, along with the somewhat insatiable desire to kill everything & everyone in sight. Although, she hadn't had one of her "episodes," as the orderlies so chose to call it, in awhile, Lita wasn't in the mood to spend the rest of her day & night in the five-point restraint system. She & Malia were both very familiar with spending their nights stuck in overly tight handcuffs, unable to sleep due to the pain & numbness from lack of circulation.

So, in attempt to distract herself whilst Malia remade her bed ("blanket nest" as Lita liked to call it) with fresh sheets the nurses had brought by, Lita had declared she was going for a shower. She'd gotten a clean set of clothes from the nurse, collected a stupid little bottle of shampoo (which wasn't even close to being enough for her hair- that hadn't been cut once through her almost three years of residency in the nut house) & informed Malia of where she'd be.

The blonde had provided Lita with one last piece of advice to "use the shower in the boys' room. it's twice as hot, and the orderlies don't go in unless there's a fight" before returning to her previous activity. At first, Lita wasn't all that on board with the idea, but after a quick walk by the girls' showers, (where she'd spotted one of the Jesus freaks, a girl having a conversation with the shower head & an elderly woman cussing out a nurse who was attempting to help her) she decided to take Malia's advice.

Fast forward fifteen minutes, & Lita found herself standing under a heavy rainfall of scorching hot water, which oddly enough, felt good for a change. She'd grown far too accustomed to the mildly warm temperatures of the girl's showers, but now that she knew she could have this, she wasn't going back. Even better, the boys' room actually had curtains, (Lita guessed because it was partly a bathroom as well; much like the girls' room, which for some reason lacked decent curtains. Maybe it was because she tried using one to suffocate another patient after the girl had made a bitchy comment about her? Lita wasn't sure.) so at least she could go unnoticed for the most part.

The curtains distorted it enough so they could only tell she was girl if they stared, (it wouldn't surprise her) which would lead to her calmly getting her towel to wrap up in, and then proceeding to punch whoever decided to creepily watch her shower. Unless they were attractive. In that case, she'd mentally contemplate the idea of asking them to join her, which, due to her very seldom having a filter between her thoughts & words, would likely end up spoken aloud. Not that Lita would be embarrassed; she was well aware that she was one of the more attractive psychopaths on the premises, and she was fairly confident the offer wouldn't be turned down.

The soft scuffing of slippers against the aged tile flooring managed to ease her mind away from it's previous thoughts & back onto the dreary setting around her as she rinsed the last bit of shampoo from her hair (which hadn't been more than a quarter-sized amount in the palm of her hand to begin with, seeing as how the tiny bottles they provided were meant to last an entire week until the cleaning staff made their rounds). From what she could tell, without removing the steam-coated, blurry curtain from obstructing her view, the figure has posed in front of one of the mirrors, hunched over as though he were contemplating a life choice.

Lita knew the feeling- she contemplated life choices all the time. But, luckily for her, she was incapable of remorse, so she quickly resorted to her usual agenda of plotting & scheming to steal from the orderlies with Malia. Although, the boy at the sink didn't appear to be doing either; if anything, judging by the silence (excluding the heavy rainfall of shower water) he seemed almost sad, worried, maybe.

As curiosity soon got the better of her, Lita found herself peeking around the corner of the curtain in attempt to put a name to the blurred figure. Her eyes quickly scanned over his tall frame, taking in the sight of the familiar patient attire, accompanied by the all too familiar head of dark, messy hair; a style caused by the constant running of his hands through it. Within his hands, she could faintly make out a small shape, tinting a hint of the mirror's fog a bright orange, almost as though it were meant to draw her attention.

He had a pill bottle; and Lita was willing to bet it was filled with something that'd be of use to her in a plan to steal a free ticket out of the nut house, for both her and Malia. A smirk soon inevitable found it's way onto Lita's lips as she slowly began to turn off the water, purposefully ensuring that it emit any loud, unneeded squeaks, (courtesy of the outrageous amount of rust, which no one seemed too motivated to fix) that could accidentally draw his attention to her.

"Okay, just gotta stay awake, Stiles." He muttered softly to himself, shaking his head lightly as he tucked the bottle of pills back into his pocket. "You just gotta stay.."

He trailed off as Lita intentionally twisted the tap forcefully, triggering it to emit the dying-cat screech she knew was coming. Still wearing the same smug expression, neutralized to the best of her abilities, she pulled back the curtain & reached for her towel that she'd conveniently on the bar of the shower next to hers, in order to keep it relatively dry. A quiet laugh escaped her lips when she noticed Stiles' posture straighten just enough for her to notice as she took her time wrapping the beige towel around her body.

"Don't worry, you didn't accidentally walk into the Girls' room." The Mitchell girl spoke, twirling her hands through her hair in attempt to wring out some of the excess water. The orderlies didn't allow patients to take towels back to their room in fear that it'd be torn up & turned into a rope, for a variety of uses; and of course, she wasn't permitted the use of a blow-dryer, (unless the hand-dryer counted; although, it barely felt like a summer breeze on a good day) meaning if she was incapable of getting as much water out as possible, she'd end up drenched.

"Thank God." He exhaled, clearing his throat nervously before shooting back with a question. "Uh, okay, so what are you doing in the boys' room?"

"Showering." Lita deadpanned, glancing down at the towel she'd put on less than a minute ago.

"I can see that." Stiles nodded, whilst Lita raised a brow suggestively. She couldn't help but let her dark little mind wander the possibilities- was the curtain less blurry than she'd initially thought? Not that she minded, Stiles was the newest & officially most attractive lunatic in the asylum, and Lita had no problem openly admitting that she'd happily invite him to shower with her. In fact, Lita had no problem openly admitting just about anything, that was the beauty of not feeling remorse or regret for her actions.

"I mean, I saw that." He corrected, instantly knowing he'd once again used the wrong words as Lita's smirk became more evident. "I-I didn't see anything, really. There was too much steam to, uh, I mean- not that I would prefer there to be less steam.."

"Stiles, I don't care." Lita rolled her eyes, leaning against the sink counter boredly. "Really. If you want a better view, I can turn the water back on & you can join me-" she paused, taking note of how his eyes widened considerably at how straightforward she was being "or, we can talk about why you're really in here."

"I-It's a bathroom." Stiles shrugged, putting up a facade laced with a hint of his signature sarcasm. "Y'know, there's usually only two reasons people come to a bathroom.."

"Three." Lita corrected, taking a step closer to him. Her hand soon found it's way to his pocket as she fished out the pill bottle, holding it out in the light to get a clearer view of the prescription. Her brows furrowed almost instantly as she eyes scanned over the small printing, analyzing it's meaning in less than a second. "Amphetamines? What are you, an addict?"

"What? No!" Stiles hissed, grabbing the bottle & stuffing it back into his pocket. "How did you know about those?"

"I was watching you; and honestly, now that I know they're amphetamines, you're a lot less interesting." She sighed, wringing the water out of her hair once more, this time into the sink rather than adding to the growing flood across the floor. Not that she cared about Eichen's cleaning staff; she just worried that if the flood reached the door, it could end up drawing the unneeded attention of an orderly.

"What were you expecting?"

"Sedatives." She responded nonchalantly, a hint of disappointment still lingering in her tone. "If you had the chance to grab some pills, why'd you go for amphetamines? They'll keep 'em awake. If you want to get past the guards, you need to slip sedatives in their coffee."

"Oh- you thought- I'm not-" Stiles stuttered nervously, scratching at the back of his neck as his eyes wandered around the room, purposefully avoiding Lita. He still couldn't fathom the fact that after less than 36 hours of residency, Lita had already assumed he was attempting to break out. Of course Stiles didn't want to stay there, but sneaking out would jeopardize everyone if the darkness located in the back of his mind were to regain control of his actions once more. They were only safe as long as he remained locked up within the confines of Eichen House; keeping the darkness confined with him.

"You mean to tell me you don't want out of this place?" Lita raised her brows disbelievingly, only to be dumbfounded as Stiles reluctantly shook his head. At this rate, Lita was beginning to grow more & more thankful that Stiles was attractive; because he was seeming crazier & crazier, the more she got to know him. Everyone wanted out of Eichen House; even if they committed themselves, like Stiles had done. It was only logic.

Humans may be an animal to some degree, but they aren't meant to be caged & kept in captivity. Eichen House was a Zoo of the insane, showcasing each level of craziness to whomever felt they were brave enough to withstand it. Lita had long thought herself to be the main attraction; with her blood-stained track record, and her brother as a casualty with twenty-seven individual stab wounds. She was the best & only friend of the infamous Shrapnel Bomber. She was a hopeless lunatic, and she was undeniably in love with every part of it; but her desire to escape the captivity of Eichen House would forever be insatiable.

"It's not that I don't want out." Stiles disagreed, pausing for a moment to rephrase the words in his head. He couldn't possibly make sense of the situation to someone, and nor did he want to if that someone was Lita Mitchell. "It's that I came here for a reason."

Lita opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it as she recalled the conversation she'd overheard earlier that morning between Stiles & Oliver; Stiles had seemed almost obsessed with gaining access to the basement & discovering whatever secret he believed to be buried down there. Even from a distance, with her eyes painfully unadjusted to the bright lighting at such an early hour, she'd been able to identify the look of desperation on Stiles' face. It was so convincing, Lita almost believed it to be geniune- hell, she would've, if they weren't in an asylum full of people capable of faking the most extreme of emotions in the blink of an eye.

Still, the desperation- whether it be false, or legitimate- seemed to trigger the start of a plan within the depths of her mind. A simple look at her eyes was all it took to know that gears were most definitely turning, and speeding up as seconds progressed onwards. Lita was getting an idea; and this time, it was one that may just work. "Stiles, what would you say if I offered you a deal?"

"A deal with a homicidal psychopath?" He scoffed, ignorant of the seriousness lying beneath the signature smug tone in her voice. "Yeah, I'll pass, but thanks for the offer."

"What if that "deal" got you a free ticket to the basement?" Lita shot back, cocking her head to the side slightly as she awaited a reply. If Stiles wanted entrance to the basement as badly as it seemed, then the small price she planned to ask would be nothing to him.

"What do you want in return?" Stiles questioned cautiously, his eyes narrowed slightly at her. He couldn't even begin to imagine what she wanted- but in his past experiences with people of low sanity, they always wanted something, and often times, it wasn't easy to get.

"Nothing- not now." She shrugged, a small smile on her face. "You'll owe me a favour. Is that too much to ask?"

Stiles hesitated. Owing her a favour wasn't at all what he'd been expecting, (in fact, he mostly assumed she was going to ask for pills, like any other lunatic would) and although a favour could mean many, many things; the offer was too tempting to refuse. After all, he wasn't going to be at Eichen House long enough to repay the favour if the plan worked accordingly. His friends would pull through & he'd be out, never having to worry about the "favour" ever again.

"Deal."

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oh stiles, didn't anyone ever tell you not to make a deal with the devil? wink wink. so, this was actually pretty easy/entertaining to write. i've found i write lita best when i'm over-tired, because it's when i want to kill everyone who makes noise. also, i got rid of the indents at each paragraph bc a glitch made them look like little x's when i was on the desktop site on my laptop. if any of you guys are readers of my other book unspoken, can someone please tell me if the start of each paragraph has a few little x's? if not, enjoy my shameless self-promotion, ily all :~)

as always, comment opinions!