**heavily edited**
It had been about a month since he was admitted to the hospital, though, it seemed longer.
The medication they put him on seemed to be working better than the previous one. It didn't completely get rid of all the symptoms, but it helped to keep him stable. He would still hear the voices, but definitely not as frequent. He was sleeping better at night. However, not as good as he would've liked.
Visitors were still prohibited, but he was able to make phone calls every now and then. The doctors still believed that he wasn't stable, due to the violent outbursts and panic attacks.
William was sleeping, in the surprisingly comfortable, bed. It wasn't like those terrible hospital beds, it was like an actual mattress. The bed was situated in the middle of the room. There was a desk in front of one of the big windows in front of the bed, but they weren't touching.
There was seats in the left corner of the room where the windows made up the corner. There were no curtains, but there was shades that covered the window horizontally, but came down vertically. He never used them though. And of course, there was a bathroom and a closet, which they gave him extra pairs of the plain, white, pajama-like clothing.
The walls were a light brown color, almost beige. The floors looked wooden, but they were made out of that weird material they used to mimic wood. There were some pictures on the wall. There used to be vases, but they were since removed.
There was a quiet knock on the door, which William didn't hear. The nurse called Stacy entered the room, since she was William's main nurse. She saw that he was sleeping, and smiled. She didn't want to wake him because he is usually irritable in the mornings.
"Good Morning!" She said cheerily, she was in a good mood, as usual. She saw him move, and decided to wait a couple minutes to see what he was going to do.
"What time is it?" He said kind of loudly, due to him stretching. He turned to look at her, and she smiled sadly. He looked like he wasn't feeling well.
"Ten. How are you feeling today?"
"Not well." He said shortly. It was self explanatory, he probably caught a cold. Which meant the room would have to be cleaned again. She figured that it was from his trip outside of the room since he hadn't been exposed to other people.
"Are you ready to eat yet?" She asked. He replied with an annoyed groan. She knew that he didn't care for the hospital food, but other food was prohibited at the moment.
"I brought you something." She left the room, but returned with a plastic bag. Whatever was in them smelled good. He crinkled his nose, not wanting to eat. She smiled at him as he stretched a second time, this time standing up.
"I'll order you something to drink, what do you want?"
"Water." He mumbled quietly. She exited the room, knowing they had bottles of water in the staff room. She came back, seeing that he was looking out of the window.
"Wouldn't it be so nice to be out there?" William said to her, she smiled in a response. She knew it must be terrible being locked up in a room for so long. It had been a month since he had last seen anyone.
"Here, come eat, I don't want you to eat cold waffles!" She patted the chair for him to come sit down, he obeyed and sat down. He looked at her and she knew exactly way.
"Everything's fresh, and organic. I made them last night, you know I wouldn't put anything in them to hurt you!" She smiled at him, and gestures for him to try them.
He looked at them suspiciously, cutting off a piece. He chewed it cautiously, not being used to real food. He didn't cut off another piece, but just sat and stared out the window.
"Tell her I said thank you." He said, staring out the window, lost in thought. She smiled at him and nodded.
"Do you want to talk to her? You haven't spoken to her since you came here." The nurse said, sadly. She looked at him to see him thinking. He shrugged. He always shrugged when she asked this question. She dialed the number anyway, she really wanted him to talk to her again.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Lea?"
"No, this is her mom, she is still sleeping. Did you need something?" The woman on the other end said.
"I wanted William to try talking to her since it's been a long time. He's been refusing, but I think that it would be good for him." The woman on the other side of the phone paused for a couple minutes. William looked at the nurse in annoyance, he wasn't ready to talk yet. He stood up and threw the plate away, almost all of the food still on it.
"Hello?" It was a different voice this time, and they sounded like they just woke up.
"Hi, is this Lea?" The nurse asked even though she already knew the answer.
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, I wanted him to try talking to you, you know? Since they are allowing phone calls every now and then." She smiled. She knew he didn't really care, but she knew that Lea did. She handed the phone to William, who reluctantly took it from her.
"Hi."
"How are you doing, hon?" He flinched when she spoke. He looked uncomfortable.
"Fine."
"Happy birthday! Did you enjoy the waffles?" Lea asked, he could hear her smile through the phone.
"Yes." He lied, not wanting to make her feel bad. Stacy frowned, wondering if that's how it was like at home too.
"I really miss you, and hope you can come home soon." Lea frowned.
"I know."
"If you don't want to talk, you could've just said so. I guess being nice doesn't work anymore." She said sadly, and he could hear her sniffle.
"I'm sorry." Lea almost dropped the phone, that was the first time in years she heard those two words together.
"It's okay, I know you don't feel well. I hope I can see you soon. I love you."
"Okay."
"Goodbye." And with that, William hung up the phone, and handed it back to the nurse, who had a disappointed look on her face.
"You could've at least tried." Stacy shrugged. She looked over at him, and he was staring out the window, again. She knew how much he wanted to go outside, she felt like she was keeping an animal captive. She reached over and put her hand in his shoulder, making him twitch slightly.
"I know how bad you want to go home." She squeezed his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"Yeah." She was startled because it was silent. She knew how much he wanted to get out of this room, out of these clothes, and just to go outside.
She texted the head of the team to see if she could bring him downstairs for fresh air. To her surprise, they said yes. She pushed her luck to see if he could wear his own clothes. They agreed, but said that he had to keep on one of their items.
"I have good news!" She said excited, making William look at her and hum.
"I've been informed that you can change either your shirt or your pant. We're also gonna go outside today." He looked at her confused, not sure if it was just one of his delusions.
About thirty minutes past and there was a knock on the door. Lea stood there with a pair of pants and a shirt. She smiled at Stacy who was inside the room. William was still looking out the window, watching the busy streets below. Stacy let Lea into the room, which could get her fired without a good reason.
Lea went over to the window, sat in the other chair, and touched his hand, which caused no reaction. He didn't even look at her. Which caused a sad smile.
"Why are you here?" William said, sounding very rude.
"To see you, obviously!" She said, and squeezed the hand that was on the table.
"You're wasting your time, love." Lea's heart skipped a beat when she heard that. She knew that's just how he talked, but hearing it made happy.
"Is he allowed to leave the hospital grounds?" Stacy shook her head.
"Go get changed, so we can go outside." He grabbed the pant and got up, making his was to the bathroom. Lea looked over at her friend and smiled.
"Thank you, you've been doing a wonderful job." Stacy smiled. She was glad Lea was happy. William came out of the bathroom, still wearing the hospital shirt but he looked much more comfortable. Lea smiled and grabbed his hand. He didn't hold it back, but she was glad she was able to make contact without him freaking out.
The three of them walked down to the elevator. People looking, whispering, and pointing at William. They knew who he was because everyone talked about him, and not in a good way. People backed away, because they knew that he was dangerous.
Lea squeezed his hand, she did that to snap him out of the growing anger. She knew it wouldn't help but wanted to try anyway. The risk of leaving the room wasn't just bases on William's behavior, it was also because of how the other patients would treat him.
Most of the other patients were allowed to leave their rooms and hang out in the lounge room, or eat with each other. They still had to follow all of the rules, but they had more freedoms. William kept his head down, trying to avoid the stares he was receiving. He wanted to leave.
The elevator opened, letting people out and leaving it empty. They rode down to the main floor of the hospital, opening the front doors and walking out. William felt a wave of relief wash over him. He took a deep breath before sighing, happy to be out of that room.
They weren't allowed to go onto the main sidewalk, but being outside was enough for him. It was early March, so he had missed the more eventful part of winter.
Stacy was proud of herself. She was proud that she was able to get William this far. She glanced over at Lea, who looked ecstatic. Stacy smiled sadly to herself.
They stayed outside for somewhere around thirty minutes, not doing much of anything. On of the doctor's called and said that it was time to go back up, much to William's disappointment. They allowed Lea to stay longer, for some reason.
When they went back upstairs, there was a doctor in the room waiting for them. He did the same evaluation that he always did, and said everything was normal. The doctor looked at his scars, making sure everything was healing properly. He informed them that William would be able to leave soon.
"You heard that? You can leave soon!" Lea stated. William was annoyed, because he already heard what the doctor said. She put her hands on his, which made him shift uncomfortable. Stacy felt her chest tighten.
"I'm going to take a nap." William said standing up from his chair and stretching. The nurse smiled and exited the room, leaving the two alone.
"I want to leave." He complained.
"I know, I want you to leave too." She smiled. "You seem better."
"How long are you going to stay."
"I know," she said holding his face with one of her hands, "I'm staying as long as you want me to." She smiled at him, and started to cry.
William hugged the woman standing in front of her. He was unsure if it is what he should do, but he felt her arms wrap around him and complete the hug.
"Happy Birthday." Lea whispered to him. His head was buried in her neck, so he didn't answer. He was feeling down. He wasn't sad, something just felt off. She pulled away first and smiled at him. He walked over the bed to take a nap, while Lea sat down in the chair by the window.
"Lea." She turned around to look at him, seeing that he didn't look well. She walked over and sat on the bed.
"Yeah?" She said looking at him, while running her fingers through his hair.
"Can you stay here?" She smiled at him.
"Of course." She whispered.
- - -
Lea opened her eyes, not knowing that she had fallen asleep. She woke up with a pair of arms wrapped around her, which made her smile. William did that in his sleep. She didn't want to disturb him, so she slowly got out her phone. It was six o'clock in the evening.
She needed to get home soon. But she promised she wouldn't leave. She put her phone on the nightstand next to the bed. She glanced to the door, where she could see people walking around.
- - -
Ten forty-eight. That's what the clock on the wall read. The room was quiet. There was two people sleeping instead of just one. William opened his eyes, yawning. He felt somebody next to him, and started to ask who they were; when he remembered Lea was here last.
He got up and went into the bathroom. Using the toilet, then washing his hands. A couple times, just because he couldn't do anything else. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
"I look dead." He mumbled to himself, assuming it was from the lack of sunlight.
He walked back out into the room, seeing that Lea was still sleeping. He sneezed, louder than intended, making Lea shift in her sleep. He walked over to the bed and covered her up.
He walked over to the window, looking out over the slightly less busy city below him. Some of the business lights were still on, most of them off though. The headlights of the cars lit up the road. He smiled to himself, not for anything specific.
~*to be continued*~
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A/N: Alright, I think this one turned out better than the other one. I guess there is another follow up part coming after this. If there are any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Okay bye.