Chapter 13: Haunting Melodies

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It's official, Alynne is indeed an anorexic. After having witnessed the many symptoms of the eating disorder that Alynne evidently displayed, I was pretty certain that she was but I wasn't going to get ahead of myself because Alynne could have very well had contracted a whole different disease that just happened to have similar symptoms as well as another causing her to lose her appetite, make her unable to absorb the nutrients on foods, or lose weight, maybe even a combination of them all.

A week has passed since she was first admitted into the hospital and with how things have started up, there doesn't appear to be an ending anywhere in sight. What we all thought would be good for her she's totally against, but yet again that isn't a big surprise since every since one of us on her medical team knew that she would be. Apparently, this is a usual occurrence for anorexic inpatients.

A whole team of medical personnel underwent an investigation in our little house, primarily Alynne's room where she had spent most of her time, and they discovered that the few ways that Alynne managed to prevent hunger cramps was by drinking low calorie sodas and by eating vegetables such as tomatoes that were low in calories. She had been playing a game of Horse with death day in and day out and just barely managed to come out the winner continuously for almost three months.

The day that Alynne was admitted into the hospital, Maddy informed me that a team of medical personnel are usually put together to help inpatients with mental disorders push past their troubles, and I was asked to be on the one being formed for Alynne. As you could imagine, I accepted the offer. I was told that having at least one family member, friend, or other is always a good thing because people are always more likely to listen if the words are coming from the mouth of something that they know and are familiar with.

On this team of medical personnel, there's Dr. Kenney, Maddy, who is an all-around doctor but happens to specialize in mental disorders, she's also Alynne's greatest friend so that gave her brownie points as well as a reserved spot for her. Another specialist was being considered for the spot but ultimately, it was decided that Maddy's connection with Alynne was something that far surpassed the additional abilities and knowledge that the other nominee had. There are two dietitians, Dr. Parsons and Dr. Ritz, a psychiatrist, Dr. Mi, and a nurse, Nurse Byrnes.

Because of the facility that Alynne was being kept in, there was another room that was shaped up to be more like one at a hotel over one at a hospital of sorts because it was meant for family of the inpatient to stay. The family were also almost always on the inpatients recovery team and some of the meetings are at outrageous times so for all the members to be boarding on site makes everything that much easier. You'd think that with me staying in a room adjacent to Alynne's thatI'd be spending every spare minute of mine by her side, talking to and comforting her, telling her that everything was going to be all hunky-dory in the long run, but it's actually been the opposite. During most of the day either I'm at meetings to discuss the very little progress that Alynne has made or Alynne's at some kind of session that's supposed to be doing her recovery some kind of good and the times that we do have the opportunity to visit, I've been told that I can strictly converse with her when we're in a room covered with one-way panes of glass and we've under surveillance. Neither of us are very pleased by this, but mostly Alynne.

In response to this heavy inconvenience, Alynne is almost always screeching out for me at night. It kills me to see and hear her in a condition like this, and what makes it even worse is that I can't go in to comfort her like I would like to, and usually always would back in the day. Her screeches and calls for me are almost like a melody to a lullaby, a very haunting one as well as very similar to a Siren's song. No matter how much I would like to give in and comfort her, like I know I shouldn't and have been told not to do, I have to resist the urge and prevent myself from doing so.

Alynne's outcries for help and comfort have been interfering with my sleep. She continuously screeches at the top of her lungs for someone, but specifically me, to come and comfort her and lull her into sleep even though I've strictly been told that I can't, and this gets to a person. For one, the noise is enough to wake up someone who resides on the complete other end of the hospital facility, and the guilt about wanting to but knowing that you can't and letting the other person suffer gets to you and really plays tricks on your mind.

Right now, I currently lay awake while laying on the bed mattress, staring up at the ceiling and counting the tiles that compose it while my brain continues to stir with the thoughts as well as agony of Alynne's outcries. I've been lying here for at least three hours attempting to persuade myself into sleep, but I have failed and failed miserably in each and every one of my tries. Alynne was still screeching and whining my name, wanting to see me, and had been for at least how long I've been trying to get to sleep. When she first started out with this I was able to tune it out and go to sleep but as the days went on everything just got worse and I was no longer able to do so.

"Fuck it," I said to myself as I threw myself off of the mattress, tiptoed out of my room, then snuck right into Alynne's. Thankfully, the door was left open by a tiny crack to allow me easy access inside. I no longer cared what everyone else told me about visiting Alynne. Alynne was the one in a shit position right now and what am I supposed to do? Ignore her and leave her to suffer? I've done this far long enough and it's time that this seemingly inhumane act be put to an end. If they found about it, and I'm sure they would one way or another, I'd simply say this to them. Who are you to expect someone suffering from a mental illness to get better if you're isolating them from their loved ones and they can only converse with them while under heavy surveillance? The reins would have to be loosened, and this is something that they'd just have to do.

"Alynne?" I questioned in a quiet tone.

"Yes?" She replied. "Who are you?" She added. "Oh wait, let me guess. You're one of the workers coming in to check on me to make sure that I haven't jumped out a window or anything to commit suicide because I can't stand being locked up in this shit hole of a place any longer."

"No," I answered. "It's me, Ben..." I was cut off by Alynne who was now running over to me, jumping onto me and wrapping her overly skinny self around me.

"You will never believe how happy I am to see you," I heard her whisper in my ear in an overly excited tone. I don't blame her for being so either, if I had pretty much been locked away from my significant other and hardly ever allowed to see them, when I finally got to in privacy I would be as well. She then showered my face in tiny little butterfly kisses, like the ones I always used to give to her. I couldn't help myself but entertain the memories of cute little moments that occurred in our past.

"You wouldn't believe how happy I am to see you either," I repeated, me feeling the same way that she did. We both curled up on the little love seat in her little somewhat of a dorm room, wrapped up in a couple of fleece blankets and for the first time in who knows how long, fell asleep by each others side.
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Here's another chapter for you readers! Big surprise right? HAPPY NEW YEARS TO YOU ALL!! I wish you all a happy one with many adventures and good times. :)

This chapter has both dark and light to it, it reflects on how Benji was told that he couldn't see Alynne in privacy and how it was wrecking them both, but then Benji made up his mind and decided to go against the wishes of everyone else and comfort Alynne. Do you think he did the right thing? Tell me your theories and well as what you thought of this chapter!

P.S. The Crow And The Butterfly by Shinedown is in the media section. I linked that song with this chapter mainly for the part in the second part about lullabies, haunting melodies, and the inability to go to sleep because of them. Alynne's screeches and outcalls for Benji were the lullabies with the melodies and they were haunting to Benji because he couldn't give in like he had wanted to so he wasn't able to get to sleep. I hope this makes sense.

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