Mute(Jerrie)

9

There was a lot of commotion in the hospital,everyone was overly excited and the nurses were patrolling the hallways,making sure there won't be any incidents.It was visits day and we could get in touch with our families and friends for a little while.

I had just passed a smiling Jesy when one nurse came up to me and let me know that my family had requested to talk to me.I squealed and followed her to the special room.There were lots of guards standing at the door and near some tables,keeping an eye on everyone.

I spotted mam,dad,Karl and Marcus sitting patiently at one of the round,blue tables but they lost it as soon as they noticed me approaching them as I was trying not to cry.I hadn't been there for too long but I had missed them for sure.

"Hello everyone!"I barely managed to say through happy tears when they all got up and pulled me into a tight,long,group hug.I pulled away and wiped my tears off.They all started talking at the same time,asking a lot of questions and trying to tell me about all the stuff that had happened since I left.I didn't know where to look at nor to who I should listen to first.

"Oh I almost forgot about something!"My mam announced grabbing a bag and placing it on the table.I noticed a guard tensing and his look locked on the bag.I rolled my eyes and turned to paying full attention to my mam.She pulled out a few board games and also a few books.I almost jumped of joy and gasped,inspecting the items.

"Oh my God thank you so much mam,I really needed these to kill some time."I thanked her and everyone else.I caught a glimpse of the guard and he wasn't that interested in what we were doing any more.

"I'm afraid that your time is up.Miss Thirlwall will have to go back to her room."One of the guards tapped my mam's shoulder and let her know.We all sighed and hugged for one last time.

"I've heard that you're making progress.Just keep going my Jadey,you will come back soon."Mam encouraged me as I was being pulled out of the room by a nurse who firstly checked my bag before letting me go.

Happy that I could see my family and that I had received some new items,I was heading to my room when I ran into Leigh-Anne.

"Oi Jeed!What you got there?"She giggled pointing to the bag I was carrying.I told her about my family coming to see me and she seemed pretty excited at the hearing of some board games.

"Don't worry Leigh-Leigh,I will bring them in the cafeteria after the whole visits thing is over.We can all play."She squealed and clapped her hands like a two year old before I left.

I napped for a little while and when I woke up for lunch I also took the games with me.

"No Leigh-Anne,your pawn was right there a few seconds ago and you just moved it when I wasn't looking."Jesy growled from across the table,ready to flip the board at Leigh's antics.

"No it wasn't and I didn't do anything!"The curly defended herself,folding her arms around her chest.

"Can Timmy play too?"We all turned to Grace at the mention of her imaginary friend.

"No,we're already four in the game and it says clearly that the maximum number of players is four."James snapped out of the blue.

I shook my head and cleared my throat"Y'all better chill or else I'll take the games in my room right now."I threatened,triggering glares from each one of them.

"Have you seen your friend today,Jade?"The redhead asked while focusing on moving her pawns over the board.I sighed and shook my head.

"No,I let her have her time with her family."I explained.

James furrowed his eyebrows at me and then he gave Jesy a questioning look"Her family never visits her."He finally spoke leaving me speechless.

"What?What do you mean?"

"She hasn't received visits in ages.I don't know what happened to her family but it looks like they forgot about her.Poor thing."Leigh-Anne shook her head and looked down.

I lost focus from that moment on,the only thing in my mind being Perrie.How can her own family forget about her when she's locked up in an asylum?No wonder she is so shy and has trust issues.

I got up and excused myself,grabbing one of the games and walking to my room.I searched through all the books my mam had got me and found one that I had already read.Right after I headed to Perrie's room,not forgetting to grab a snack from the vending machine.

"Knock knock!"I smiled knocking slightly on the door and cracking it open,sticking my head in.

Perrie was on the floor,one paper on her knee and she had a deadly grip on the pen.I watched proudly noticing that she had managed to write some words.

"Look who's learning."I said sitting on the edge of her bed,trying to catch a glimpse of what she had written.She giggled quietly and looked up at me.Her hair was tied in two golden and a bit loose braids that gave her a very childish look.

"Right,I brought you something."I said excitedly and she looked confused at me from the floor.I grabbed the book and the game and held them up in front of her.She furrowed her eyebrows and touched the book firstly."You can take it.Here."I said and handed her the book.She inspected it carefully,tilting her head to the side and feeling the pages between her fingers.

"Have you read this one?"I asked thinking that maybe it was familiar to her.She shook her head."Great.It's quite emotional I'm telling you.You better prepare your tissues before reading it."I laughed and she smiled widely.

She reached for the board game and I passed it to her,explaining the rules.It seemed like she's got the hang of it really quickly and she was willing to play.We opened the snacks and got the game ready.About half an hour later and we were both more focused than ever,stuffing our mouths with salty crisps and from time to time ending up looking daggers at each other then laughing at our competitive behaviour.

Perrie threw the dice and moved the pawn until it reached the finish.I sighed and she jumped full of joy."Lost!"She said in a raspy voice,pointing at me.

"Yeah yeah congratulations."I rolled my eyes playfully and she punched my arm giggling.

"A...ate"She then pointed to the bag of crisps next to me and my jaw dropped.

"Did you do it on purpose?Is that some sort of witchcraft?"I asked making her raise an eyebrow and shake her head.

She pointed at me and said "Healing" before shrugging her shoulders.Honestly,I was extremely proud of myself but I didn't want to show it.She would've acted cocky.

After we finished the game Perrie was dying to start reading a little so I let her discover the entire story line by herself,not giving away a spoiler.Meanwhile I was trying to pack the game back.

I felt Perrie's hand tapping my shoulder and I turned my look on her noticing that she was holding a photo."Was it in the book?"I asked grabbing the photo,my eyes becoming watery.She nodded.

"This is my family."I smiled sitting next to her on the bed."My mam,my dad and this is my brother Karl and my niece Leoni.This is Marcus,my childhood best friend.This is my brother's dog."I explained pointing to each one of them.I was slightly crying,feeling a wave of happiness filling up my body knowing that now I had a picture of them to look at whenever I felt down.

Perrie was rubbing my back soothingly,her eyes locked on the picture too.

"Happy Family."