The Care System

Chapter Five

It took Alice a moment to realise where she was when she awoke the next morning. She stared at the ceiling for several minutes and listened to the sounds of the house. She could hear people going up and down the staircases and shouting at each other. Alice was glad that she was given a room at the top of the house even if her room was a box. It was quieter away from the rest of the house. She picked up the coffee grounds that she had brought with her and got dressed – she would shower later after looking at the rota – then she headed downstairs. The hustle and bustle engulfed her as she went; she looked to Ralph's door as she passed but it was closed.

There were people shouting in the kitchen, so Alice stood outside the ajar door and waited for an appropriate time to knock on the door. It didn't take her long to identify the voices inside as Faith's and Emmi's. Two conflicting ideas popped into Alice's head, should she go back upstairs and wait a bit or listen to the argument happening on the other side of the wooden door? Her curiosity won out and she peered through the gap between the door and its frame.

There was a little plastic tub sitting on the kitchen table. This seemed to be the cause of the trouble. Alice couldn't read the names on the boxes that were inside but she recognised that it was medication inside. Faith was sat at the table with her head in her hands, her shoulders moved in time with her sobbing. Alice felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. This was something private and Alice knew that she shouldn't be watching.

"I can't just give them to you Faith," Emmi was saying. Her voice was calm and level yet stern, "You need to take charge of your own treatment. Which medication do you need to take?"

"I don't know!" Faith sobbed, "How about none?"

The room went quiet as Emmi let Faith cry to herself. She waited as Faith caught her breath and finally looked up. Alice watched as Faith sighed and pulled the tub towards her. She picked out the boxes and lined them up on the table. There were four in total. Faith tried to focus on the boxes and read what was written on them aloud. Alice didn't recognise the words which ended in '-zine', '-oxol' and '-til'.

Faith hit the tub and sent it flying across the counter. It skidded off the table and clattered to the floor.

"Faith," Emmi said, "Pick it up and tell me what's wrong."

"I don't know!" Faith yelled at her, "I don' know which stupid pill is which. I don't know which ones you want me to take. Why can't you just give me the right ones?"

"Okay, okay," Emmi soothed and picked up the tub for Faith, "Let's go through it and write it down for tomorrow. You need to practise this for when you're no longer with us."

"Maybe I'll stop taking them and you'll have to let me stay."

"You don't mean that," Emmi said, "You don't want to go back to the hospital, do you?"

Alice had heard enough. She couldn't ignore the guilt in her stomach anymore. She shouldn't have listened for so long; she was sure that Faith wouldn't like it if she knew that Alice had been listening to her conversation. She moved away from the door and into the TV room. It was empty so Alice took a seat on the sofa and turned on the TV. She hadn't been keeping up with the news since her mother had been hospitalised.

A short while later Faith came into the TV room. She had tried to tidy up her face but the redness around her eyes gave her away. Alice asked her if she was okay and Faith flipped her long ginger hair and gave her a snarky response.

"Why are you watching this?" Faith asked as she sat down on the sofa, she nudged Alice to the side so that she could sit directly in front of the TV.

Alice shrugged, "Because I like it."

Faith snorted but she didn't say anything more. Alice wondered what kind of TV Faith usually watched but she didn't ask. The other girl had leant forward and was watching the news with such interest that Alice didn't want to disturb her. She took the time to look at Faith closely. Her mother always told her not to judge a book by a cover but that didn't stop Alice from seeing what information she could learn from Faith's appearance.

Faith's clothes were old but clean. She was wearing a long sleeve top despite it being warm inside the house. Alice wondered if she was covering up something with her T-shirt. She didn't know anything about mental health or medication. Was Faith physically sick or suffering from something else? Alice knew that she was too nosy. It was none of her business what issues the residents of Murphy House had. But Alice couldn't help it, she was so interested. It was a distraction from her own problems.

"I heard you arguing with Emmi about your medication. Can I ask-?" Alice began but stopped the moment she saw Faith's shoulders freeze.

Without a word, Faith stood up and walked out of the room. Alice bit her lip; she hoped that Faith would forgive her curiosity. At least Faith hadn't punched her.

Alice returned to the kitchen and knocked on the door which was still ajar. Emmi pulled it open and smiled at Alice. She had her hair tied up into a bun and the smell of breakfast wafted out from behind her.

"Alice. What can I do for you?"

Alice held up her coffee grounds, "I was wondering if I could make some coffee."

"I'm afraid we have a system in place for use of the kitchen. Would you mind waiting in the dining room and I'll make it for you?"

"Of course." Alice handed over the coffee grounds and thanked the care-work.

Emmi shut the door behind her, and Alice took a seat in the dining-room. The serving hatch was open so Alice was able to explain how she liked her coffee. There were cereals sitting in the middle of the table and juice on a sideboard. It wouldn't be long until breakfast was served but Alice had already decided that she'd rather stay in her room. Breakfast was bound to be just as noisy as dinner.

"Who's using my cafetière?" a voice asked in the kitchen.

Alice turned and saw Ralph through the hatch. She remembered Mrs Murphy saying something about Ralph's kitchen privileges being restored today.

"Alice wanted to have some coffee," Emmi said.

Ralph turned to the hatch and saw Alice sitting at the dinner table on the other side. He leant through the hatch, stooping low to avoid hitting his head and smiled at her.

"You like coffee?" he asked.

"No," Alice said in an attempt at sarcasm. When Ralph looked confused, she added, "Just kidding."

Ralph laughed awkwardly.

"Are you going to cook?" Alice asked.

"Yup," replied Ralph, "You want me to make you something?"

Something about his offer made Alice feel strange. Nevertheless, she nodded. Ralph grinned broadly, tapped the bottom of the serving hatch and then turned back into the kitchen. After around fifteen minutes Alice had a plate of food and a coffee. Ralph sat on the other side of the table and dug into a plate of eggs benedict. He was a messy eater but the plate of food he had given her was as pretty as a plate of eggs benedict could be. He jogged his knee as he ate as if he was listening to music that only he could hear. When Alice looked at her plate, she noticed that hers had mushrooms instead of bacon.

"Do you want me to show you around the area later?" Ralph asked her.

Alice didn't want to go outside in this part of town. She'd heard rumours that it wasn't safe even during the day. Besides today was a Saturday and that meant Alice could spend a whole afternoon with her mother.

"Actually, I'm going to the hospital this afternoon."

"Oh, of course," Ralph said, "Stupid question. Of course, you want to spend the day with your mum."

"It's okay," Alice took a sip of her coffee, "You didn't realise."

Ralph still looked disheartened.

"There is something you could help me with. My social worker has said it's okay for me to take the bus to the hospital on my own. Could you show me where the bus stop is?"

Alice had already spotted the bus stop from Sandra's car.

"Sure."Ralph swallowed his food without chewing it properly so that he could smile atAlice.