Edited✔ï¸
Edwin had been showing him around for the past 30 minutes or so. He wanted to mention he was kind of sort of dying, but after the slap he felt guilty and so he let himself be led by the (trying hard to be super professional) doctor.
He showed him the halls, the medic’s room, the very scary area where Aiden saw a screaming poor soul being dragged to. The dining room. The room with couches and a big TV. Shelves with surprisingly too many books. And paintings on the walls. He took a mental note to look at them closely when he had enough brains later. And then the yard. It wasn’t that huge but it was very nice. A fountain with a statue, some kind of Greek goddess maybe, in the middle of it. Aiden looked around, fascinated by all the flowers, when something caught his eyes.
A girl sitting alone, back against the wall, eyes closed. She somehow looked different from all the people he’d seen so far during this brief tour. Edwin followed his gaze and said, “Don’t try to get close to her. She won’t let you. If she is interested in you at all she’ll come around herself. Come on, let me show you your room.” The boy dragged Aiden while he was still looking at her.
She had very short hair, maybe even shorter than his, and it was lilac. While appreciating the sight of the peacefully sleeping figure, she suddenly opened her eyes, staring right at him. Aiden kept the eye contact, but she closed her eyes again after a couple of seconds. He gave up and followed Edwin.
“Here we are.” The young doctor turned his head to look at him. “This is your room. You have 2 roommates. They’re lovely people. Harmless, and no need to worry about them at all.” He smiled again.
“Do all the employees here smile all the time, or is it just the 2 of you?” He asked Edwin, and the boy looked like he was taken aback by the confrontation.
“Does smiling bother you?” He asked.
“If it’s meant to somehow force the positive feelings and shit under my skin, then yes. It annoys me. I hate being treated like a kid or some psychological charity project.”
“It’s none of that, Aiden. Smiling is contagious. I smile, you smile. Eventually. And smiling improves mental health.”
“Ugh, if you weren’t so pretty, I’d kick you in the nuts.” He rolled his eyes with a frown. “This is my room, right? Can you leave me alone now?” He really wanted to be alone.
Edwin smiled again. “Sure. Just come find me if you need anything. Nurses here are friendly people too, so you can also go to them.” He turned around to leave, but then stopped to look at him. “And Aiden? Don’t push the patients to the edge, please. Remember, everyone is dealing with their own demons.”
He walked away, and Aiden entered the room. It had 3 beds. He saw his backpack and suitcase on the side of one, so he assumed that was his for the time being. There was someone sleeping on the bed in the right corner. And then there was this other guy sitting by the window, looking outside.
He sighed. “And here I was, thinking I could be alone at last.”
The guy by the window turned to look at him but said nothing and went back to whatever he was looking at. Aiden took his stuff out and arranged them, thinking how much of a shit show this all would be. The pain was getting intolerable. He hadn’t taken anything for over a day now, and he really needed something. Anything.
“You’re new.” He heard someone say.
Turning around, he saw the boy who was asleep, now awake obviously, sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes. The other crawled closer to him and stretched out his hand. “I’m Vincent, and you are?”
Aiden shook his hand. “Aiden.”
The boy nodded and pointed at the man sitting by the window. “That’s Kurt. He doesn’t talk much. but answers when you talk to him.” Vincent sounded a little bit child-like. His looks were quite boyish, too. He couldn’t have been more than 24.
Aiden looked at the guy mentioned. He seemed like he was deep in thought. Before he could ask anything about this place, a shock ran through his body and he started trembling intensely. Vincent grabbed his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” He asked with a calm voice. His face was so close to Aiden’s now and yet he couldn’t see him clearly due to his blurry vision.
“I need drugs.” He was really losing his mind. Everything hurt, and the nausea was getting out of hand. Those assholes didn’t let him take any before sending him to this stupid place.
“I’ll go get Lucas.” A deep voice said.
Looking to the side, he realized it was the man by the window saying that, who was now walking out of the room.
Why was his voice so deep? Why were Vincent’s hands so heavy? It was like they were burning his shoulders where they were touching him. He felt scared for no reason at all, and the shaking only got worse. Aiden was losing control, big time. He needed a shot or pills or anything. Fuck, he hated those who brought him there so much.
Some minutes passed by slower than they were supposed to and finally Kurt came back with a tall, strong-looking guy by his side. He knelt in front of Aiden and made Vincent let go of his shoulders which was a relief.
“Aiden, I’m gonna inject you now. Don’t move.” He did just that, and Aiden immediately calmed down. Not too much cos the dose was not enough, not even close, but it helped with the edge a little. Leaning back against the drawer, he closed his eyes.
“I’m gonna inject you with calculated doses from now on until your body is used to it before we completely cut you off.”
“Sure. Do as you want. I’m gonna behave as long as I’m here. You’re gonna have to let me out sometime. And I can go back to doing things my way.” He replied with his eyes still closed, panting. The hours of enduring body ache had him exhausted.
“Mhm, I’m thrilled to hear you’re not gonna cause me any trouble while being here. You can continue ruining your life when you’re discharged.” The guy said, and he was lying if he said he wasn’t taken aback. Usually, doctors and nurses were supposed to scold the patient for such words. ‘the patients’. Awesome! Now he was referring to himself as one. Good job, Aiden! Bravo!
Opening his eyes, Aiden looked at him. “You’re different from the smiley doctors. I like it.” He smirked.
“Yeah, I don’t care about your condition. If you try to cause drama, I’ll kick your ass. I don’t care about the ‘being nice at all times’ policy.” He said while gathering his stuff. “My name is Lucas, by the way. I’ll be around if you need anything.” He said and smiled.
Aiden smiled back, or at least he tried. “I have a feeling I’m gonna need you a lot, Lucas. Since you’re the one with the goodies.”
“I’m not gonna give you any out of order. You ask for extra or try to get your hands on them, you’ll pay for it the hard way.” He said with a flat face.
“The hard way? What’s that?!” Aiden couldn’t help but wonder. It gave him the creeps.
“It’s to help make you behave.” The nurse grinned devilishly, winking. This guy was the exact opposite of the doctors and here Edwin was, telling him how friendly the nurses were! Friendly, his ass. This Lucas dude seemed fucked up!
“Well then, I’ll get going. Get some rest. Dinner’s in 2 hours.” Lucas said and smiled brightly. Woah! Was he bipolar or something?!
His head kept getting heavier by the second, so he lay down, and soon he was deep drowning in the dreamland.
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