Nicks P.O.V.
Today marks the three week anniversary of my ultimate demise and admission to Grassy Hills. I gotta say, it isn't so bad. I mean, besides the fights, screaming and crying patients, my occasional panic attacks... My therapist being a jerk... Heh... Well, it isn't ALL bad.
3rd PERSON POV
"Nick... Tell me more about your childhood..." Ms. Doe, a skinny deer, said kindly, yet sternly.
Nick could tell by the tone of his therapist's voice that he probably didn't have much of a choice.
"What else is there to say? My dad was an ass, I was bullied... etcetera..."
"I feel as though you aren't telling me something."
"Well, you have fun with that," Nick replied bitterly.
With a sigh, Ms. Doe opened the door for him, signaling for him to exit and go back to the common area. "Nick... You'll have to open up if you want to recover..."
He mumbled a few choice words and walked tiredly. It was free time in the common area, so he took his usual seat across from Ellie.
"Hey, Ellz."
He never asked how she was feeling anymore because lately, it had been the same response. Shrugged shoulders and avoided eye contact. He could see the bags under her eyes more prominently and she had no longer made an effort to brush her fur. He had no room to talk. His fur was also disheveled and he guessed that he had bags just as much as she did. He never bothered to look in the mirror anymore, though, so he just guessed. Things in the unit hadn't been all that fantastic. The little squirrel left and was soon replaced with an anxious 18-year-old deer named Dani. She was quite the character, according to half the nurses. An average of three panic attacks a day along with a high sensitivity to noise, which she blocked out with huge headphones. Jason, Cal, and Sammy had won her over, so she spent most of her time chatting with them while fiddling with whatever was in her hooves. Usually paper. Mason was put into the quiet room for a whole day when he almost decapitated that asshole pig when he tried to hit Lexi.
Nick sighed heavily and watched Ellie draw yet another picture of her family. She had been drawing them a lot lately, and it made Nick wonder if something was wrong.
"Ellie?"
She looked up tiredly.
"Why do you draw your family so often?"
She stopped drawing and stared at him vacantly. He was almost... scared. The way she looked at him was a signal to shut the fuck up. But, as the famous Nicholas Wilde, he pressed for answers.
"Ellie, I really... I really want to help you. I do. But you gotta say SOMETHING."
He instantly regretted bringing up the idea of her saying something. She continued to stare at him, but her eyes appeared darker. Perhaps angry? He decided, 'fuck it. what's the worst that could happen.'
"Ellie. Come on. We're all dealing with stuff, okay? I want to help you. But you aren't letting me."
The crayon in her hand snapped in half. Her stare turned into a full on glare. The baggy and bloodshot eyes didn't help with that. Nick suddenly got uncharacteristically mad.
"Yeah, break a crayon, Ellie. What the fuck is that gonna solve? Huh?"
She silently shot daggers at him with her eyes and picked up a new one, continuing her portrait of her family.
"Fine. Be that way..."
Ellie ignored him, which for some reason pissed him off more. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He didn't know why he was so on edge. He looked around and noticed the whole environment seemed tense. Then he realized it. The holiday season. It was December 11th. It sunk in. He wouldn't be home for Christmas. Most likely, every patient here would be present for it. He sighed and reached across the table, gently taking the blue crayon from Ellie.
"I'm sorry, Ellie... I shouldn't have been like that."
She didn't look up at him, but he saw little droplets spilling onto the paper. Tears...
"H-hey... Hey, Ellie. Don't-... don't cry... Come on... What's going on?"
She looked up at him and wrung her paws, hesitating before picking up a red crayon. Slowly, she drew an X over her little sister.
"...Ellie?"
Then she drew an X over her mom. Then her dad. Then her brother. The lightbulb clicked and Nick realized it. Her family was dead.
"Oh... Ellie I-..."
"M-... m-..."
He stopped talking when he heard a raspy voice. No doubt from being out of use for so long. She was going to talk.
"My-... M-... my f-f-f...ault..."
He didn't know what do say, what to do, or how to react. She gripped the red crayon in her hand and started breathing rapidly.
"M-my f-f-fault... M-...My-... fault..."
A nurse had taken notice and quickly ran to her.
"Ellie?" She said calmly.
"my fault...my fault my fault..."
"Ellie. Calm down... Calm down."
Nick rolled his eyes at the nurse's feeble attempt to help Ellie. To be fair, though, she was probably shocked that the little raccoon was speaking.
"My- My ...fault my fault my-... my -..." Ellie was breathing heavily and tears were pouring down her face.
A panic attack. Nick had been around long enough to know one.
Everyone in the unit had caught the wind to what was going on and were all watching silently, anxiously, as if they were anticipating something.
"Ellie, come on. I'm taking you to the quiet room."
"NO!" Ellie's shrill scream seemed to echo through the room.
The nurse was caught off guard but picked up the small raccoon with her big paws.
"NO NO NO PLEASE NO!" The little raccoon began to hit the nurse's arms with her small fists, which went almost unnoticed.
"Hey, put her down! She doesn't want to go." Nick snapped.
"This does not concern you, Nicholas!" The nurse replied harshly.
Nick furiously glared at the nurse. His paws clenched into fists and he bared his teeth.
"PLEASE LET ME GO! I'M SORRY!" Ellie sobbed and thrashed around. It was clear that restraining her wasn't the right thing to do. They needed to let her cry herself out.
Nick didn't really remember what happened next. All he knew was that he was being restrained and that someone stabbed him with a needle before everything went black.
"Wake me up... when September ends..." The sound of a gentle voice through the room.
"So... how do I look?"
Ellie stood up from the simple chair in her room and straightened her dress. A fit and flare purple one with spaghetti straps.
Calypso smiled. "Amazing as always! And I love your voice. You should sign up for the school talent show. Singing, dancing, sweeping the boys off their feet."
The cat dramatically spun around and fell onto Ellie's bed at that last part.
"Heh. No way, Calypso."
Calypso rolled her eyes playfully and sat up.
"Well, at least sing some karaoke at the dance tonight. I want all those dumb upperclassmen to see how talented my date is."
Ellie chuckled halfheartedly. She knew Calypso just meant that as a platonic thing, which sort of made her a tad bit sad.
"What? Nah. They'll see a freshman with a puny eighth grader."
" Pffffft! Who cares? You're still mega cool."
"Whatever you say, Calypso... Heh..."
"You know I love you, Ellie." Calypso booped Ellie's nose and Ellie laughed softly.
"Love you, too..."
Ellie slowly opened her eyes and found herself in her bed. She looked over to see Lexi sitting on her own bed silently.
"Hey, Ellie..."
The little raccoon looked over at the green eyed bunny tiredly. Lexi took that as a hint to fill her in.
"When you started... well... yelling and stuff... A nurse sedated you. Nick got extremely mad and lunged for her, but Jason caught him and after being restrained by a couple nurses and not backing down he was sedated too... He actually already woke up. You've been out for... A while... It's dinner time, so if you want to eat, you can. I insisted on staying here with you after I ate."
Ellie nodded slowly and got up, walking out of the room. A few nurses stared at her, not knowing what to say. Nick was sitting at their usual table. His paws were clenched and his ears were pinned back. Not a good sign. She got her meal from a server and sat down across from him. He looked up and groggily sighed. "Hey, Ellie..."
The sedative was still affecting him, as it was her. She yawned in response and stuck a fork into her food before laying her head on the table and groaning silently.
"...Tired?"
She nodded while keeping her head on the table.
"Me too, Ellie..."
Nick noticed that the whole unit was staring at the two of them, but he tried not to care.
"Ellie... Are you-... well... I know you're not okay... Are you a little better?"
She hesitated but nodded silently. He didn't expect her to talk. He knew she needed time. Just then, a nurse came by to give Ellie her nightly medication. Four oddly shaped pills. He turned to Nick.
"Nick, the doctor has prescribed you some Zoloft. Here." He gave nick a tiny cup with two green pills in it. He swallowed them without any argument and handed the doctor the empty cup. Ellie took hers one at a time and handed him her cup as well.
Nick leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Man, today's been a shitty day."
Then the nurses called the whole unit together for a group activity.
"And now comes the cherry on top..."