Cordelia often couldn't tell when she was asleep and when she was awake. Most of the time her dreams intercepted with the reality around her. But now it was clear to herself that she was dreaming. She could feel the warmth of steam on her face, the delicious smell of tea and cakes drifted through her body, and she was with her mother and father. And they were not on cell phones or frantically typing out a work email. And her brothers and sisters were nowhere to be seen. It was only the three of them, having tea. 

She was immediately shaken from her peaceful dreams by the sound of one of her older sisters screaming in her ear. "Have fun at the loony bin Mouse!" Cordelia rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was packed in her parents car, all of her brothers and sisters surrounding her. Cordelia's father was at the wheel, looking far too focused on the road and driving then to reprimand this children for their cruelty. All of the sisters and brothers began to cackle, some of them meowing or clapping their hands together loudly just to her a reaction out of her.

Her mother had a cell phone pressed against her ear, a pinky shoved into the other one to block out the noise in the car. She was talking loudly, trying to communicate with whoever was on the other end of the line. "Yes sir, I will be at work on time today, I have to run a quick errand it won't take long." An errand. Dropping Cordelia off at the mental hospital was a mere chore to her parents. Cordelia swallowed, keeping her mouth closed and her eyes cast downward as her siblings continued their belittling. 

The car ride seemed to take an eternity, and she couldn't even sleep. 

As soon as the car parked and turned off her, siblings poured out into the parking lot. They danced and laughed with glee. "Cordelia's a loon! The Mouse is a crazy loon!" Her mother, a cell phone still pressed to her ear, took a moment to cover the mouth piece on her phone, leaning over her children. "Please kids, lower the volume mommy is on a very important call." Her father simply grunted an agreement as he began to herd the wave of children towards the building, Cordelia following behind.

It was her parents idea to bring along the entire family to say goodbye to Cordelia. They currently filled the waiting room as her mother finished off the last of the paperwork, and her father typed out an email on his phone. The siblings laughed and ran around, still jeering and snorting and squeaking. Cordelia kept silent. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening, all she hoped was this was just a dream. 

Once the final paper works were completed and a nurse was on the way, her mother squatted down to have one final and tender moment with her daughter. "My darling daughter, we will all miss you so." And yet Cordelia could hear her siblings in the background, decided who would get what of Cordelia's belongings. As her mother tired to corral the children out the door, all of whom grabbed a lollipop from the jar on the receptionists counter, her father came over. He let out a soft grunt, ruffled Cordelia's hair and then left.

The sound of a door closing had never been so loud. 

Cordelia sat in the waiting room for only moments alone, for soon a nurse came for her. "Hello Darling, I've come to take you to your room." A soft voice answered her, "I've come to take you to your room." Cordelia mimicked, the nurse said nothing as she ushered her along, maybe she had already heard it all.