Prompt: What would it be like to live in the Janus Thickey Ward? Write a 200 word drabble about one of the patients in the ward.
She wakes every morning as the woman in lime-green robes bustles in, bringing fresh flowers – daisies tulips violets daisies tulips violets.
"Morning, Alice," the lime-green woman says cheerily.
She can't find her voice. Thoughts flutter in her head, and when she tries to grasp them, they flit away like silvery fishes.
The lime-green woman takes her to bathe, helping when she feels unsteady. She returns to her bed and a tray is set before her. She stares at it, unsure, until the lime-green woman lifts a spoon to her mouth. It is food, then. She eats.
Tray gone, she sits in bed, hands shaking as she grasps a small, pink scrap of paper. Sometimes she hears strange noises, sees people moving about. She's not sure if they're real, any more than the lime-green woman, but they never harm her.
She tries to watch the door. She's not sure why, but she knows it's important, even though it makes her head ache with the effort. She's tired, so tired, but she needs to watch.
"He's not coming today," says the lime-green woman. "It's term time, remember, dear?"
She's not sure what that means, but she needs to watch, just in case.