Chapter Thirty-four
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"Where the hell could he have gone?" the grey haired man asked completely puzzled by the young blonde disappearance.
"We could have just missed him and he's returned to his room now," Victoria suggested hopefully as the two walked side by side. Exhausted after searching all over the psychiatric ward.
"Possibly. But where was he when he did not turn up to your session? It concerns me that he's been doing something he shouldn't have been," Alex admitted a little anxious.
"Like what?" the women questioned a little uneasy as well.
"All sorts of stuff. Exercising, purging, harming and the list goes on. He still recovering and his weight is still deadly low and I have a feeling it's dropped even more over the last couple of days."
"Alex," Victoria sighed placing her hand on his shoulder. "He's doing well. I know he's not doing well in the sense of eating and recognising his body. But, he no longer hears those voices. The medication is working and I think we need to trust him a lot more. He's been here a while now and he needs our trust. Without that, he is going to do these things just to prove a point."
"I know," the man agreed opening up the blonde's door to see if he'd hopefully returned. But there was no sight of him in his room. "But you don't understand how much he means to me. He's like a son to me nowadays and I hate just the smallest bad thing happening to him."
The women nodded. She knew Alex loved the blonde dearly and hated to see him in a state. "So, what do you suggest we do then?"
"Call the police I suppose. But then again we should check security cameras first incase we can trace his moves."
The women thought of other places the blonde could be. "Have you checked the roof?" she asked.
"No, but all entrances are secured with a strong padlock."
"Which skilled people know how to pick," Victoria added.
"Luke wouldn't though," Alex protested knowing his patient too well. He was too innocent to do that.
"He's an extremely smart boy Alex, you should know that," Victoria hinted as she pushed the man out of the room and headed towards the nearest roof entrance. "And he has had a lot of spare time on his hands whilst he is here."
"That doesn't mean he will go around and pick locks," the grey haired man laughed at how silly that sounded. He knew too well that Luke read books all the time. He borrowed many from the library.
"Well, you don't know your own patient then," Victoria raised her eyebrow critically. "Or he does not trust you enough to tell, which is funny because I am a million times stricter," she chuckled.
"He does not?" the therapist asked shocked. The woman nodded. "How the hell did you find that out?"
"He told me," she shrugged simply. "He also told me he knows how to get round this whole ward without getting caught by a single camera."
"It's impossible!" Alex shook his head in disbelief.
"It's not. I asked security and they said it's possible if timed correctly."
"How?" Alex asked astonished. "How do you get him to be so open to you?" He was gobsmacked. Luke kept many so secrets from him, some which were vital and she got all of this out of him easily.
"Luke's a mummy's boy."
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"Is he up there?" Victoria called up at the older man who had just about managed to get onto the roof.
"I don't know yet but I don't know how a boy as weak as Luke could get up here if he did," Alex muttered dusting off his trousers.
The man began to walk along the roof until he noticed an item of clothing. Slowly the therapist made his way over to the piece of material and his nose turned away at a stale stench.He instantly recognised the black shirt with a small Nike tick on it from when the blonde was wearing it. Only this time it was covered in puke as well as surrounded by it.
"Oh Luke," he sighed in sadness and disappointment. The boy had managed to eat a full meal of lunch which consisted of, two ham sandwiches, a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar.
"What?" Victoria yelled up hearing the man mention the young boy's name.
"I found his top," he shouted back a little sadden but still confused as to where the boy was.
"His top?" she replied a little confused.
"Yeah, it's covered in sick. I'm assuming the lunch he ate earlier."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was just one simple relapse. One of many over the week. Luke was doing fine.
"It was probably too much," she said wanting to believe that. "A whole lunch was a bit much for an incredibly gaunt boy. "Is he up there?"
"No, unless he's jumped," Alex said not even believe the last part of the sentence.
"Don't be daft," Victoria replied. Luke seemed rather happy to her. His eyes were definitely brighter. But then again, Ashton was gone. Luke had lost his first love. What he felt was his true love.
Alex headed closer and closer to the edge of the roof to take a peak down to see if he could see a body. Peering down slowly, he was greeted with the sight of grass and flower beds. No body. Sighing he looked up over the land of the hospital and squinted to see in the distance.
"Finally!" he cheered triumphantly and seeing a shirtless body laying in the grass by the duck pond.
"Duck pond, now!" the man yelled enthusiastically, quickly scurrying to the exit.
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"You skipped my session," Victoria confronted standing over the blonde who laid with his eyes closed.
"Sorry," he apologised opening his eyes to see the two elders staring down at him.
"Where have you been?" Alex demanded.
"Places," Luke gave away vaguely.
"Like the roof?" he raised an eyebrow knowingly.
"Maybe," Luke sighed knowing he was going to be in trouble.
"And what did you do on the roof?" the man asked as the blonde sat up.
"Don't you know what I did on the roof?" Luke replied snidely a little annoyed that he couldn't just be left alone.
"Luke," he warned narrowing his eyes in agitation.
"Alex," the blonde repeated the gesture glaring back at the man.
Victoria laughed slightly at the boy's silly behaviour. She sat down beside the blonde, her knees clicking as she did so.
"You were sick," she said putting a supportive arm around the blonde's shoulder. A little concerned at how skinny he was looking again.
Luke nodded honestly. "But it wasn't on purpose, I promise."
"It's okay if you did it on purpose, you're not going to be in trouble," the woman reassured the blonde.
"I really didn't. It was too much," Luke protested a little annoyed that she was not believing him.
"I believe you Luke, but there are some times where you don't tell the truth and it makes it a little difficult for us to always believe you. Especially with your history of purging."
Luke bit his lip and thought about the trouble he'd caused whilst being here.
"Sorry, I must be so hard to deal with sometimes."
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