They saw each other first on the train. And then in the same cafe, and then in the same meeting room. He disliked her loud music, she disliked his attitude. Their opinions will have to change when she's hired to work with him.
Rules will be broken...
Faith Elizabeth "Don't make me go through with this" I said to my mum. "Stop. Don't make this harder than it already is" she said, tears starting to pool in her eyes. "Please Mum" "No. This is the only way you'll get better." She said and took me into her arms. "I'll see you every visitation day" "Promise?" I said trying to hold back the tears. "I promise my sweet girl." "I love you" "I love you too" Mum said before giving me a last hug and walking back down the buildings steps. I didn't know when I'd see her next, and that scared me more than anything. "Visitations are once every fortnight, on the second Wednesday" a woman said from behind me. "Welcome to The Promises Clinic Miss Elizabeth"
She led me round the whole gardens, talking away about useless things. What programs they have, what they'll be using to help me, all that stuff. She led me round the inside of the building and explained as we went along. "So this is our facility. You'll receive counselling every three days. You can roam around wherever you want as long as you don't go beyond the large fence around the grounds. This is where you'll sleep. Your new clothes are on the bed." She said and showed me my room.
I couldn't complain. It had big windows, it was a large open space, with shelves, a bed in the corner, yellow curtains and a desk in the other corner. I had my own bathroom and a small yellow carpet. There was a small tv on the desk but that was all. On the bed there was a grey T-shirt, navy blue sweatpants and a navy blue jumper. "Can I keep this?" I asked gesturing to Shawn's pink hoodie he let me take. "I don't think so" she said but I shook my head. "I have to keep it. Please. Please it's really important" I begged. "Ok. But take the lace out" she sighed and I quickly took the strings out and handed them to her. "Thank you" "I know Shawn's important to you. I heard all about you two from my son. And if keeping that will keep you calm then you can" she smiled and I nodded. "You remind me a lot of her. My daughter that is" "What's her name?" "She was called Melody." "Was?" "She passed. Took her own life because she didn't feel perfect. She made me promise in her note that I would carry on, and do something positive and promised me that it wasn't my fault. And I started the Promises Clinic in her honour" the lady explained and I smiled sadly at her. "I'm sorry. But at least her organisation is helping so many" "Yes. It's what keeps me going. And my son. But you remind me of her. You look like her, and she loved Shawn Mendes too" she smiled and I nodded. "I wish I'd didn't love him" I sighed. "But you do" I nodded and sniffed back the brewing tears. "You'll be ok here. We'll look after you. I'll keep an eye out for you" she smiled. "I didn't actually catch your name" "Helen" She said and I nodded. "I'll leave you to look through the papers"
Being left alone was when it all really dawned on me. Where I was. Why I was here. Everything. There was nothing I wanted more than to just be curled up on the beach, Shawn by my side watching the sun set. I knew that if I thought about it too much I'd make myself worse. So I sat on the bed, snuggled into Shawn's hoodie, and read through the leaflets they left me. I read about the counselling program, the music program, cooking, gardening. It was as if it was a summer camp. A summer camp for depressed people.
At dinner I got up and followed the movement of people into a canteen area. I felt nervous as I held my tray in my shaking hands. I kept taking deep breaths as I tried to work out where i should sit. I scanned the area and saw that most people were talking to their friends. My eye met a boy sat alone at a table. I couldn't see his face. He was looking down at his tray, pushing the items of food around with his fork. I took a last deep breath and walked over to him. "Can I sit?" I asked with a croaky voice. "Of course" he said looking up briefly. He had dark brown hair, but the brightest green coloured eyes I had ever seen. "I'm Faith" "I know. I'm Ben" he said holding out his hand. "I'm eighteen" I said awkwardly. "Nineteen. How long are you in here for?" He said jumping straight to the point. "Two months" "Lucky. Six months" he said and I nodded, slowly eating a piece of bread. "Ouch" "Not too bad, especially now you're here" he said and I almost choked. "No no not in that sense, you're just the first person who's spoken to me in a week" he said. "Oh. Well you're the first person I've spoken to as well so we have that in common" I said and I noticed a small smile appear on his face. "It's not a bad place." "I can see" "And they don't make you lock your door" he said. "What are you implying?" "Nothing. All I'm saying is that the gardens are nice at midnight" he said. "I don't know you. You could be leading me to my murder" I said and he laughed a little. "Then I guess you'll just have to trust me" he said before he got up and walked away. "I've only known him five seconds" I laughed to myself. I didn't think these two months would be awful.
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