Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter XXI

Two weeks later

It was a stormy fourteen days of visits, surprises, group therapy, meeting new people, getting frustrated, trying out new forms of medication, crying, hoping it would all be over, laughing, and so the cycle repeated it. A strange routine, for one who doesn't understand the lengthy, painful story behind it.

But for those who do, they know from a simple glance.

Alfred and Emilia got along greatly, and she spent most of her work time around him, helping him in every way that she could, with everything that was in her power. She provided him the needed affection, validation, did constant reality checks when he was struggling to understand what was actually there, taught him how to understand that line between hallucination and real world - even though it was really difficult - and of course, helped him form proper sentences so he wouldn't go and speak completely disorganized.
He asked her many times about her other patients, and why she didn't give them as much attention. The fact was, they had been there for a long time, already earned some rights, she knew how they reacted to things and how their moods changed according to medication. But Alfred was still new here. She did the same for each of them before him...

Still, a part of her kept telling her this was different.

"Hey, have I ever told you that Arthur is studying to a be a psychologist, too?"

Alfred was sitting on his utterly uncomfortable bed in the hospital room, legs dangling off it as he waited for Emilia to give him a shot of antipsychotics, a different type of medicine once again. Usually, it's not the psychologists who give or prescribe medications, but she was specialized in both areas, and even though it wasn't her main role in the hospital, sometimes it would be so crowded and they needed extra help from anyone that could deliver it well. Though she was a bit anxious, since this was the first time doing it in a while.

"You've mentioned it a couple of times, yeah." She patiently responded with a smile, taking the light, pale yellow box of aripiprazole injections in her hand. Taking out the shot, she noticed how his eyes showed a bit of fear, nothing unusual, but she still felt like she had to reassure him. "It's only going to hurt on a split second, but this should make you feel better."

"If it's going to stop the goddamn creatures this time, I really don't care how much it hurts." He laughed at himself, but it wasn't the happy-go-lucky kind of laughter he always showed to people. It was more one of desperation. "God, I'm still not used to being in this situation. It feels unreal."

As if anything felt real at that point, anyway.

Emilia understood completely. Sometimes, they never got adjusted to being here, having a diagnosis, getting help... She had patients like that in the past. No matter what she did, they would always try and run back to the free world, despite the fact that they were being treated fairly well. "That's perfectly fine, Alfred. You've only been here for two weeks, just take your time." Lifting up the sleeve on his white t-shirt, she rubbed the sensitive skin with disinfection alcohol and tried her best not to do this with shaky hands. 

Luckily, she did it right, and only noticed Alfred's body tense up for a slight second, before he let out a shaky breath and looked down at the floor instead of having to see what she was doing.

"There, you're all done." She muttered a 'thank goodness' underneath her breath as Alfred didn't show signs of the injection hurting too badly. "With this medication, you're only going to take it each week. And if things stabilize, every three weeks. As you get to the point of being able to take care of yourself better, you will just have to come here every four weeks to take your shot and continue your everyday life as you'd usually do. But for now, let's see if this will do you any good."