I never really liked my blue slippers. They were half a size too small and the soles were so thin that in the winter I could feel the cold tiles on my feet. And they itched. Every time I wore them they itched, and even when I wore my socks, I would have scrapes and scratches all over my toes. That's why I never wore my slippers. I always just carried them around.

My slippers always itched because I took the lining out of them. That way, I'd know that they were mine. If you weren't careful, the crazies would try to take your things. The nurses didn't care about it. They tried to trick you. Just like they did Jimmy.

I liked Jimmy better than anyone else in the hospital. Everyone said he was crazy, but he just didn't want to take his pills. He said they made him feel dead inside. He stopped taking them, and he hid them in his mattress. The nurses found out and they tricked him.

They stopped trying to make Jimmy take his pills. But one day, I saw them put something in his orange juice. The next time I saw him, I told him what they were doing. Then he got sick. Jimmy wasn't crazy. I miss him.

When Jimmy left, I decided I would never let the nurses trick me. I didn't mind taking my pills though, so I didn't think they would try anyway. But I tried to make sure they wouldn't. One day, when I went back to my room after group, I couldn't find my slippers. I started yelling that someone took my slippers and then Nurse Heather came in.

Nurse Heather was young and pretty and she always wore her hair in a ponytail. She always smiled to me when she gave me my meds, and I would  smile back. Sometimes I would think about her when I went to bed. She was my friend, and after Jimmy was gone, she was the only one I had, because I didn't talk to the crazies.

She asked me what was wrong, and I yelled that someone took my blue slippers. I told her that I had left them there when I went to group and one of the crazies must have taken them. She said that everyone had their own slippers and asked me why they would want mine. I told her because I was the only one with blue slippers.

She asked me if I was sure that I had left them in my room. I said that I didn't bring them to group. She said that maybe I had brought them and forgotten them. She said that she would check the lost and found box.

The next day when I came back from group, my blue slippers were sitting on my bed and there was a note from Nurse Heather saying that they had been in the box like she said. I put them on and they fit.

When I went to get my meds, she smiled at me. I didn't smile back because she tried to trick me. In the rec room, I tore the lining out of my blue slippers and threw them away.

I always sat by the window in the rec room. My room had a window, but it was high up and the only thing I could see was a wall. In the rec room, I could look outside and see the grass and a tree.

There was a squirrel on the tree and I named him Henry. I would sit there and watch Henry run from branch to branch, and sometimes he would jump off the tree and come over to the rec room. I talked to him through the window. Henry was a good squirrel.

Connie came over to me and asked me to play checkers. I didn't want to play because Connie was crazy and she always cheated. She would never king you and always hit you when you tried to take one of her pieces. I told Connie that she was crazy and I didn't like her. She cried and walked away. I smiled and kept talking to Henry.

It started raining and Henry hid in the tree and I couldn't see him anymore, so I decided to go back to my room. When I was walking to the door, I saw Connie hiting Albert because he tried to take one of her pieces.

Wednesday was my day with Doctor Bowman. He asked me if I remembered why I was at the hospital and I told him that I didn't want to talk about it. I told him that I had a squirrel who came up to me in the rec room and that I named him Henry. He asked me why I named him after myself and I told him that Henry was a good name for a squirrel.

I told him that I didn't like my room and I wished that I could keep Henry as a pet. He said that he couldn't let me have a pet, because then all the others would want squirrels and it wouldn't be fair. So I asked him if I could have a new room.

I had group the next day, with Doctor Masterson. I didn't like him because he talked too much and treated me like I was crazy. He said that he was just trying to help me and I told him that I didn't need help because I had my slippers. Then I said that I didn't know why he thought he could help me when he couldn't even help the crazies. He got angry and sent me to see Doctor Bowman again.

Doctor Bowman asked me what had happened with my slippers. He said that Nurse Heather had told him about them and he wanted to make sure everything was fine. I told him that Nurse Heather tried to trick me and I didn't like her anymore. I told him that I used to think about her when I was in bed, but now I wouldn't because she was just like the crazies, trying to trick me.

He asked me why I used to think about her at night. I told him that she used to be pretty but now she was ugly because she played an ugly trick on me. He asked me why I thought she tricked me and I told him that my blue slippers fit. He asked me why I cared so much about a pair of slippers.

I told him that they were mine and everyone was always trying to take them and that I had to carry them around so I would always have them. He asked me whether I really wanted my slippers or whether I just didn't want anyone else to have them. I said that it didn't matter, because they were mine.

Then I asked him if I could have a new room. He asked me what was wrong with the room I had. I told him that when I looked out the window, all I could see was a wall. I asked him if I could have a room on the other side of the hospital, because then I could see the park. He told me that those rooms were reserved for people who had to be kept away from the other patients and that he couldn't give me special treatment.

I went back to my room and sat on my bed. I looked up at my window and frowned. I sat there and wished that I could have a squirrel for my very own. I thought about Henry and I smiled. I imagined petting him and rubbing his bushy brown tail and feeding him nuts from the ground. Then I put the lights out and went to bed.

I woke up in the middle of the night because Albert was yelling in his sleep in the room next to mine. I hit my hand on the wall and told him to shut up or I'd make him play checkers with Connie again. Then I put my pillow around my head and closed my eyes.

In the morning, Albert didn't come to the rec room. I didn't want to talk to Nurse Heather, but I asked her where Albert was. Then she hugged me and said that he had gone away.  I pushed away from her, and asked if Albert had gone to the same place that Jimmy did. She nodded and I went to sit by the window and look for Henry.

There was a storm outside and I couldn't find Henry. The wind had blown the tree over and I cried, because I didn't think that Henry would come back since there wasn't a tree anymore. The sky was dark and the rain kept coming down, and I kept crying because I was afraid Henry was going to get hurt.

Connie came over to me and pointed outside. She told me that I should play checkers with her because my squirrel wasn't going to come back. I told her that his name was Henry and she said it was a stupid name and that he probably didn't even like it. I told her that I didn't want to play checkers and that Henry would come back.

She said that Henry left because he didn't like me anymore. Then she laughed and tried to take my blue slippers. I got angry and pushed her. She hit her head on the window and fell down. Then I took my slippers and walked away. Nurse Heather ran over to Connie and walked with her out of the rec room.

They made me go see Doctor Bowman. I told him that I could talk about why I was here, because I didn't want to talk about Connie. He asked me what I remembered and I told him that I had put my baby sister into the bathtub. He asked me if I wanted to give her a bath and I shook my head. I told him I wanted to see if she could swim. He asked me if I hurt her and I nodded. I told him that she wouldn't have gotten hurt if she wasn't a stupid baby and could swim.

I told him that I had been in my room for a long time and wanted to leave. He told me that he couldn't let me go and asked me about why I pushed Connie. I told him that she tried to take my slippers and that I wanted to hurt her.

Now I'm in a new room. I have a window that I can see through and there is a park outside. They let me keep my slippers because I yelled when they tried to take them. I put my slippers on my chair by the window and I sit there and look outside. I don't go to the rec room anymore, but it's okay, because Connie was wrong and Henry comes to see me almost every day.

Tomorrow is my tenth birthday. I wonder if they'll let me keep Henry as a present.