Two days later, Campbell decided to try and visit Bethy; the drugs should have worn off by then, and perhaps she was beginning to miss seeing everyone.
He snuck past the nurses' station, still not completely sure that he was allowed to do this.
Knocking softly, in case she was asleep, Campbell quietly entered the room. He stopped short, however, when he saw Bethy's therapist in a chair next to Bethy herself, who was curled up in a ball on her bed, facing the wall.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude; I thought Bethy might just like some company..." Campbell spluttered, trying to keep the both of them out of even more trouble.
"It's all right, Campbell; I was just leaving." The tired-looking woman got to her feet, gathering folders and notebooks, and sighed heavily. She seemed frustrated.
"Is everything okay?" Campbell asked. He began to worry that something was really wrong with Bethy. Had she gotten hurt? Was she refusing to even move now?
"It's fine," the therapist sighed, again, "it's just that nothing seems to be getting through to her. If she doesn't start making any progress soon, then she'll have to be sent who-knows-where..."
And with that, she left the room. As Campbell listened as the therapist's shoes clipped professionally down the hallway, he noticed that Bethy had rolled over onto her other side and was now staring intently at him.
"Hey," he said gently, bending down next to her head and brushing a few strands of golden hair out of her eyes, "it's gonna' be okay; I'm gonna' help you." He had to; it was the only way. If Bethy didn't start getting better soon, They would probably start pumping her veins full of strange medical cocktails and lock her away in a real hospital someplace.
Could he really do it, he wondered, looking up desperately at the ceiling and running his fingers through his chestnut hair. Could a loony like him really take control of something as important as this? But, looking back down at Bethy, her blue eyes so full of trust, made him banish all doubts from his mind and promise himself that he would not let her down again.