Laramie - Time Together

Chapter 1 - Our Little Room

I came in expecting the worst year of my life.

A year was the average stay here. If you were good, which meant participating in all of the group therapies, taking your medicine, and putting on a smile for the staff, they went easy on you. If you were "bad," they gave you extra weeks, which you could quickly get turned into months for yourself.

Three years was the longest anyone had stayed. Her name was Mariah, and she was admitted when she was 15. Rather than placing her in an adult ward, for her birthday, the doctors gave Mariah her life back.

It was only my third day in the facility when Mariah was discharged. Her bed, across from mine in our little room, was empty. The only comfort I had here was gone. We would stay up late talking, she told me everything I needed to know about this place. She tried to introduce me to her friends here, but it was hard to talk to anyone else. Now she is gone, and I feel lost.

It took hours to fall asleep that night. Despite the thin blanket, flimsy pillow, and hard mattress, having another person in the room with me brought just enough comfort to be able to sleep. It felt colder in here.

I woke up in the middle of the night to one of the techs shining a bright flashlight into my room. I assumed it was just another check. The one they did every 15 minutes to make sure we were okay.

"What time is it?" I asked him, knowing at this point I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.

"It's 4 AM." He told me. I wouldn't be allowed to leave my room for another two hours.

"Oh. Can you unlock a bathroom for me, please?"

We walked down the hall, and with his keys, he unlocked the bathroom door for me. I stood in front of the warped mirror, trying to wash away the tired look in my eyes with freezing water. Droplets fell from my soaked bangs onto the floor and down my shirt. All I could do was stare. It was a funny feeling, seeing myself like this again. The smell of the hospital soap. My distorted image.

I heard a knock on the door from a nurse, asking if I was okay. I realized I lost myself again. I had no idea how much time had gone by.

"I'm okay!" I shouted to be heard through the thick door. I turned the handle, pulling it towards myself, and on the way out, I felt a bump against my shoulder. Frozen in place, my head turned to examine the girl who pushed past me. Though it wasn't often I left my room, I had been in the dayroom enough times to get a look at everyone. Not her.

Her features instantly locked in my head, and I went back to my room. I quickly discovered that the man with the flashlight was not just doing an ordinary check, but rather, making the bed across from mine in the little room I was just alone in.
Her.

This girl walked back into the room, carelessly flopping onto her new bed, holding her knees up to her chest. The staff had left. All I could see of her came from the small glow emitted by the nightlight. I watched her shiver in her paper gown.

Her 1:1 sat outside our room, thankfully not by our beds like my last hospital would make us endure. Neither of us could sleep, but it wasn't quiet. Morning shift techs and nurses were beginning to clock in, and we both listened to them talk and exchange the latest updates.

"Keep an eye out for the new girl, Laramie. She's been transferred here by the police after eloping a short-term facility. They found her cracked out running around in her underwear."

Laramie began to giggle, slowly spreading a smile across my face.

"Not funny, girls!" Her 1:1 called by the time I began to give a half-supressed laugh with her. It was already 6:30, and we were instructed afterward to sit out in the dayroom if we weren't going to sleep. I was no longer the slightest bit tired, and to my assumption, Laramie was probably still geeking on something.

The nurses decided it would be good for me to have Laramie placed in Mariah's old spot, across from me at our table. She once showed me around, and they thought showing Laramie around would "build my confidence" or "get me out of my shell."

"What's your name?" She asked, looking half-up at me with a smile all mentally exhausted.

"Briel." I replied, looking her up and down once more in awe. 

The TV played old Disney movies in the background, quickly catching my new roommate's attention. It felt strange. I longed to continue talking to her, but I could tell she wasn't all there quite yet. I watched as her eyes closed, and her head began to lean towards her arms, spread out on the table. Laramie was asleep in a matter of seconds.

And it was fucking beautiful.

Perhaps after some sleep I would see a different side of her. Her 1:1 glanced at us. My expression didn't give him the option of trying to drag her back to our little room. She was content where she was, and suddenly, that wasn't just her 1:1's worry.

I had a feeling it wouldn't just be all me waiting for my time here to pass. It would be us,

doing our time here together.