All I Need Is You

《ÇH@þŤ3R S1X》

D@Ý F1V3

Friday, today is the day before the Asylum is open temporarily for visiting hours. In my mind, I regretted telling myself that I was somewhat looking forward to it. Wondering whether Kirsten would come and visit me. Maybe I was even hoping to talk to her, tell her how things have been, ask her how she's doing. It'd be comforting to see a familiar face either way.
I took a seat at an empty table, waiting for one of the nurses to bring my breakfast. I didn't see Denis anywhere, perhaps he was in the second cycle for today. I find it a little weird all the patients don't eat together, but it probably makes things a little easier on the nurses. That Kaden guy set down my breakfast in front of me, a grin appearing on his face when I politely thanked him. "You're welcome and good morning Albert, Jacob asked me to let you know that you have a group session today after breakfast." I recall one of the nurses mentioning something about weekly group sessions on my first day being here. I wonder if it's similar to group therapy. "Okay, thanks Kaden." He nodded and left to go serve the other patients as I began to eat. I have to say, their meals are probably my favorite thing here so far.

-

"Welcome to your weekly group session, everyone!" The female nurse had us all sit down in a circle around her. "My name is Sister Diana, I am your group advisor. Since this is everyone's first weekly session, I'm going to explain a couple of rules we have and what we will be doing!" She proceeded to state some simple rules, such as don't do things that can harm other patients, don't say rude shit, basic stuff. She explained the different activities and courses we would be going through, as expected this was technically like group therapy. Not surprised.

"So, we are going to start off with a little ice breaking here. I'll ask one of you to start by stating your name, age, and pronouns, then the person next to them continues, and so on!" She gestured to a young-looking blondie in front of her. "Hello everyone, my name is Tiff. I'm 18 years old and go by they/him." Sister Diana clapped her hands. "Very good! Now the next person." It was a while before it grew close to my turn. I watched the brown haired girl next to me clear her throat before introducing herself. "My name is Dani. I'm 24 and my pronouns are she/her." I waited till she sat back down before introducing myself. "Albert, 22, he/him." Despite feeling confident, I could easily tell my voice came off a little frail. At least the prompt was simple enough. A couple other people introduced themselves before everyone finished. "Good, very good! Now, I want every other person starting with Tiff to look to the person to your right and tell them three facts about you. You have 3 minutes to discuss." The Dani girl glanced over to me and smiled. "Hello Albert. Soooooo, I'm not very good with facts I apologize," she giggled. "but I will try my best!" I smiled back at her, friendly girl. "I am an digital artist, I have a guinea pig, aaaaand I really love avocado toast!" I gasped. "Oh, guinea pigs are too cute.. Uhm anyways I like cats, I.." I stopped.

Oh dear.

Dani frowned, noticing I was staring off into space. "Albert? Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten myself." I whispered, and it was true. I couldn't really think of any other facts about me that I could share. Maybe it's my nerves getting to me. Dani shrugged. "Well, that's okay. Probably just having a brain malfunction due to nerves, haha. Happens ALLLLL the time with me, no worries dude!" I opened my mouth, ready to say something in return but was interrupted by Sister Diana snapping her fingers. "Okay everyone, times up! I hope you at least know a little more about the people you are going to be having sessions with now! Now that we have finished, let's all head to the playground so we can clear our minds and spend more time with our fellow session mates!"

...

They have a fucking playground?

She proceeded to have us all stand up and follow her in a single file line, similar to what you'd do in kindergarten. We were taken through a large hallway adorned with plants to a huge, fancy wooden door. We waited patiently as she filed through her keys until she found the right key she was looking for, opening the door and allowing us passage. When I got through, I noted how weird it felt seeing bright sunlight and blue skies, despite it being a comforting sight. The playground was well kept. I looked around, taking in everything around me. There were a couple of swings, a seesaw, a sandbox under a giant tree providing generous shade, and a little standee area with a pagoda which I assumed was specially for the nurses to watch over everyone. My guess was proven correct when Sister Diana walked over to stand under the pagoda and garnered everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! We have exactly 1 hour until Lunchtime, so play to your heart's content! Remember to be nice and respectful to your fellow mates!" She pulled out a fancy walkie-talkie device and spoke into it, mumbling low enough for no one to hear. However it seemed no one was really interested in what she was saying anyways as the group split up to go their separate ways. Dani strolled up next to me and smiled. "Do you want to play with me?" She asked. I wasn't sure who else I could really hang out with, and it wouldn't hurt to spend time with someone new, so I nodded my head. She beamed and took my arm, leading me over to the sandbox. "Okay, so let's build a cool sandcastle then!" I sat down in the soft sand and watched Dani dig into a nearby box, pulling out a couple of pails and cute seashells. Jeez, this place has everything related to entertainment. "You start building a base, you can fill the pail up with a little water using the spout right there!" She gestured to the spout right outside the sandbox. "I'm going to pick some leaves off from the tree so we can use them as decoration later!" I watched her walked over to a low hanging branch and began to pick off a couple of bright green leaves. While she was occupied with that, I filled the pail with enough water to make the sand properly wet, scooping up the sand and packing it in. I then noticed someone out of the corner of my eye heading up to the pagoda, so I turned my attention to whoever it was.

Ah. It was Jake.

He sat down next to Sister Diana and engaged in conversation with her. I eyed them closely for a minute before I was interrupted by Dani. "Hey! What's got your attention?" I looked over at her, glancing down at the leaves she had in her hands. "Oh, I was just looking at the nurses.." I answered. She sat down next to me and grabbed a smaller pail, adding on to the sandcastle as I grabbed a nearby pail and leaned back over to the spout.

"He's awfully pretty, huh?"

I was a little caught off guard by her sentence, dropping the pail I was filling with water and spilling it on the ground. She snorted. "I'll take that as a yes!" I scrambled for the pail, flustered. "W-well, yeah- they're all kind of pretty, no?.. I-uh-I mean regarding their attire and well kept looks and all-" "Obviously, but everybody favors Jacob, so it's no surprise you do too." She gave me a sly smile. "Based on your reaction, perhaps there's a little more than just favoring in your mind?" I scoffed, refusing to give in to her teasing antics and helping her add on to the sandcastle. I knew my answer, I barely know the guy. Yeah, he's sweet and all, and I doubt it would be appropriate for a patient to have a crush on a nurse. Good enough reason for why he wouldn't like me back anyways.
..
Back???

Oh come on Albert you're killing yourself here.

"Excuse me for just a moment, I think I need a break." I whispered. Dani nodded, keeping her attention focused on the halfway done sandcastle. I stood up and brushed some sand off, going behind the tree and sitting down for a moment.

I do know my answer, right?

"She could be right, y'know."

Dear Lord, again??

I groaned, putting my head in my hands. "You already make me doubt myself enough, we both know how I actually feel."

"That's what you always say, but only one of us seems to be correct majority of the time, no? And it's certainly not you."

"Come on, I was having fun before you began nagging me, just bother me at another time, please."

"Who's bothering you, dear?" I jumped, not expecting a third, painfully familiar voice to chime in. I was dreading looking over, half hoping maybe it was just coincidentally very familiar, but I knew that wasn't the case.
"Hi, Jake. Where'd you come from?" He gave me that stupid, gentle smile, extending his hand and allowing me to grab it, helping me up. I hate how my mind subconsciously took note of how it felt. Soft, warm, and large.

"Almost too perfect, hmm?"

"Your friend Dani told me you were back here, I was just checking on everyone. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to go inside?" I shook my head, a little embarrassed by his concern. "I'm okay, I think it's just, uh... A little hot outside." As if on instinct, he pressed the back of his hand to my head. I flinched and moved backwards, my face heating up quickly. He retracted quickly, giving me an apologetic look. "Oh- I'm so sorry if I startled you! That was pure instinct, here, go sit with Dani. I'll make sure Sister Diana brings out some drinks for you, darling." I nodded my head, avoiding his eyes. He led me back over to where Dani was sitting, Dani noticing my flushed face and smirking. When Jake left, she leaned over to me. "Jeez, what's got you so red hmmm? I thought Jacob was checking on you, guess he was doing more than that?~"

I gave her a glare, scooping up some sand and throwing it at her as she giggled.

A/N
Hooo boy, my longest chapter YET. Introducing the lovely and playful Dani 😌 Felt inspired today, however it kinda sucks my inspiration always hits around 4am.