"I'm telling you, he's cured! He doesn't have schizophrenia anymore, probably hasn't had in years!"
Ben was explaining to the nurses at the front desk. Of course this wasn't completely true, since Ben had just witnessed Earth having a very vivid hallucination.
Ben was worried. Super worried, but what he had learned at school, from the classes he had to take to pursue his dream as a psychology teacher, was that psychiatric hospitals were the worst places to be in when having schizophrenia.
Of course this was just his own prediction, and not scientifically correct.
"Sir, he visits an empty room very often and has written in his journal about "Joong" and how he is his best friend. There has never been a patient here with a name like that. He's erroneous, and so on we will not be letting him go." One of the nurses explained while rubbing her temples.
Ben had no arguments to that. "His journal?"
"Yes. Every patient writes onto their personal journal at the end of the week."
"Why was I not informed about this!?"
"They're personal. It's not to be read by just anyone, and even letting you look at their personal files like we have already done, is forbidden by law. We cannot show you everything, no matter how bad it affects your studies. Good day, mister Brasier."
"Hey no wai-" The nurse pushed the window they were speaking through close, making Ben groan.
Earth had pleaded Ben to help him, but there's was no way Ben could ever convince the people working here to let Earth go. He was mentally ill, and in no way would Ben be able to convince he wasn't.
He just felt so bad for the boy. Earth didn't even completely know what was up with himself.
Ben scratched the back of his neck and flung his bag over his shoulder. He walked towards Earth's room and knocked on it gently before walking into the room. He saw Earth in the corner of the room, apparently drawing or writing something, judging from the way his arm was moving.
Ben didn't know why Earth was given pens, since they were forbidden here, more or less.
Earth turned his head up and smiled at Ben. "Benny, I made you something!" Earth exclaimed joyfully and stumbled up. He wasn't wearing any socks, and when he stippy-stepped to Ben, he looked like a little kid.
"You made me something? What is-" Ben took the paper and looked at the drawing Earth had drawn for him. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.
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"The nurses gave me some colors!" Earth beamed out happily. He looked much happier than usually, since he got to use actual coloring pencils. It was very special to him. "I don't draw much because I'm not good at it, but then I saw those colors, the ones you wore when you first came in here and I wanted to draw this for you."
Ben was taken aback. No one had ever drawn anything for him, except his little sister, before the accident. "Thank you... I... I love it a whole lot." Ben smiled widely when looking at the drawing, then pushed it against his chest. "I will cherish it forever."
"Yey!" Earth giggled and went back to his spot on the ground, crossing his legs and looking at Ben with a cute smile. "I want to go outside."
