risk// 5SOS

32

tw. mentions sh, psych ward
Calum

"I wanna keep my piercings,"

"Well we are going to get then pierced again anyway, so let them heal,"

"Can you take them out?"

Gently, I removed all their ear piercings, then their nose piercing, and they got put in a little envelope marked with Sage's name.

The ambulance ride here hadn't been too long as it was the facility in our area, and once we got here, Sage had been allowed to go and change into their own top and joggers, before we both sat with a couple of nurses in an office.

They were quite distraught, and resisted anyone else's touch, but hadn't turned aggressive.

"When your things are dropped off, we are going to remove things like hoodie strings, shoe laces, pin badges, all of that. Then you can keep your clothes in your room, how does that sound?"

"Okay,"

"You can have your shower things, and you can have a stuffed toy, as long as we have checked it all. Do you have any dietary requirements?"

"No,"

"Awesome! Because you're a teen, you can go to the canteen whenever you would like over the 1.5 hour span of it being open per meal time, but you will need someone to supervise you,"

"Will I have any time alone? Like when I am asleep?"

"You're going to have a 1:1 person for some time,"

"I don't want anyone in the room while I sleep," they trembled, "I wanna go home, Calum. I wanna go home,"

"Nobody here is going to do anything like that to you," I soothed, "It is because they need to make sure you don't hurt yourself, because you have tried other times,"

"I promise,"

"I know you do, but sometimes those thoughts are stronger, and you might need that immediate support,"

"It has to be a woman. If it is a man then I will sit outside my room,"

"I will make sure you have a woman," one of them said, "Now, it's getting late, so I expect you're super tired; why don't we take you to see your room?"

I took their hand and we followed them through the hospital, entering a small room with a single bed. Sage laid down and crawled under the covers, then buried their head in the pillow and cried.

I hoped once they got used to it, it wouldn't be so bad. For the kids, they had lots of activities and group therapy, so I hoped for the teenagers it was the same. It would be good for Sage to interact with people her age, even if it was in this setting.

"Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, someone is going to come and speak to you Sage. They might come back later, or the next day, but by the end of the week we should hopefully have a diagnosis for you, and maybe some medication which will help,"

"There's too much to talk about,"

"Well you have the next four weeks at least,"

"Can Calum visit me?"

"Your family can visit, and you should be able to do school work too. We just want to keep you safe,"

Their crying began to slow down, and eventually stopped, then they sat up and wiped their eyes.

"Everything on my thighs was here before I came here,"

"Okay, we will make a note of that,"

They looked at me and then rested on my shoulder, still sniffling.