To Overcome II:
Lisa bounded down the halls towards the visiting room, looking forward to seeing Lily this week. Technically minors weren't supposed to visit residents unaccompanied, but Lisa had been coming so long and so frequently, that eventually her wealthy and desperate parents, involved as they were in Lily's treatment, had arranged special permissions for her.
Lily was still the only person who understood her, so they probably both depended on Lisa's weekly visits more than anyone thought. It wouldn't always be like this. They'd planned it all out together. Lily would be a model patient and apply for release when she turned eighteen and Uncle Arthur couldn't make her decisions for her anymore.
By then Lisa would already have a place for them to live, staffed with aides for Lily. Hopefully that would satisfy any legal and moral concerns the hospital might have. Lisa had already picked out a few of the nurses here to offer the position to. That way, if Lily needed to go somewhere when Lisa wasn't available, then someone would be there if she had a vision that broke her down in public or stopped her at a traffic walk. But otherwise it would just be them.
She knew where they'd live too. New York City. With their family's wealth they could afford to live in an apartment of their choosing. Central Park should be enough to satisfy Lily's affinity for nature. And all the amenities that anyone could possibly want would be within walking distance for Lily. Not to mention plenty of college choices for Lisa. It was perfect.
Still, she approached this visit with a glimmer of trepidation. They still had two years to go on 'the plan' and things were about to change soon. Lily was brooding when she entered the room, but brightened when she heard the door open.
"Mona Lisa!"
"Happy sweet sixteen Water Lily."
"Thanks." They embraced before Lisa took her seat next to Lily on the couch. Lily frowned at her.
"Something's wrong."
"Why do you say that?"
"You're never this tense when you visit."
"Well, you looked pretty moody when I walked in. What's up with that?" Lily sighed.
"Just woken up by a nightmare, so now I have to talk about it with everyone." Lisa smiled.
"Then I won't ask."
"Thanks. So about you?"
"Fine. I didn't want to start the visit with a downer. I've been accepted for an internship in Physics research at the R&D firm that Uncle Arthur owns."
"And that's bad news?"
"In the San Francisco branch office."
"For how long?"
"A year." Lily was speechless for a moment as she absorbed the news. She'd known that Lisa had been blowing through college level Physics courses since she was thirteen so that, with the family connections, this was not beyond the realm of possibility.
"I know it seems like a long time now but it's a good thing. When I'm done with them and they see what I can do, I'll have a guaranteed position of my choice. They have a New York City branch office. With that job, I won't need to ask my parents for money for the apartment or living expenses. We'll be totally self-reliant." Neither mentioned that Lily would still be as reliant as ever.
"Well, I guess I can spend that time figuring out what I can do to contribute then."
"And I will email you all the time. They haven't confiscated Jarvis have they?" They both snickered at Lisa's name for Lily's laptop with the software that read it to her.
"No, my nepotistic privileges are still firmly entrenched."
"Good. I'll assume they have if you don't respond back in a reasonable amount of time and sic one of my parents on the staff." Lily was distressed. Lisa could tell, but she was working hard to hide it. No one but Lisa would have been able to see through Lily's stoicism.
"So I heard that my parents are taking you to the nature center at the end of the month. Don't you ever want to go anywhere else?" Lisa's parents took Lily on a bi-monthly day trip to get her out some and she usually picked the same place each time.
"Yeah, well, it's nice. I feel like I can breathe there. Plus there's a lot less people to stare at me."
"I suppose." Lily willfully shook off her despondency.
"So tell me all about school lately…"