She spoke.

The words rattled around like marbles in Campbell's blissfully empty post-sedation brain. He managed to drag up the memory of an unidentifiable voice right before the worlds was overtaken by nothingness.

"Wh-what do you mean?" The unusual clarity of his mind was obviously getting lost on its way to his mouth. The gang of people in unnervingly neutral colours simply stared at him like he was crazy.

Just as the corner of his lips began to twitch upwards at that thought, he noticed one of the more imposing orderlies subtly clench and unclench her fist and Campbell was in motion less than a fraction of a second before she was. He practically fell out of bed right on top of Bethy in an effort to protect the girl from the oncoming storm.

He tried to stand up when a small squeak followed his collision with the warm body underneath him, but his legs felt like nothing more than columns of unset jello and he collapsed again.

Muttering an apology, he frantically shoved his friend behind him and shuffled them both across the floor into the wall.

"No! You can't do this!"

"We can, Mr Bain; stop being a child," the therapist admonished tiredly as the large woman in white grabbed him by the upper arm and dragged him to his feet.

Bethy continued to try to curl herself into as small a ball as possible when her human shield disappeared, but she was unable to prevent herself from being removed bodily from the floor by the intimidating white-coat.

Campbell felt a fire ignite in the space between his ears as an almost inhuman sound cry came from his friend as she reached out for him.

"NO!" he cried, trying desperately to rip himself out of the iron fist that held him while simultaneously flipping his shaggy hair out of his eyes. "You just haven't given her enough time! I'm almost there; I promise!"

But he was wasting his breath, and he found himself being dragged back into the bed and pinned there. He knew he could wrench himself away; he'd done it so many times before. But he was suddenly feeling sluggish again, like his brain had tried its best but was giving up for the day.

"Condemn the fault and not the actor of it!"

Campbell wrenched his head up off the pillow to look at the voice that he was slowly coming to connect with his quiet friend. The hands that held him down relaxed in surprise and he took the opportunity to break away.

"It's Shakespeare! It's Shakespeare!" he cried, flinging himself off the bed and slipping to the floor. "She's talking; let her go!"

The therapist was suddenly kneeling in front of him, but Campbell looked past her at Bethy instead. The young girl was still being held up by the orderly, looking like she wanted to say something but didn't have the right words. He tore his gaze away and forced himself to meet the hazel eyes of the stern woman in front of him.

"She can do it…"His voice creaked at the end; he would not cry.

"Can she?" the woman asked, her voice merciless.

"I swear…"

"Swear not by the moon," Bethy croaked.

"See? She speaks in Shakespeare. Just let me try!"

The woman just shook her head and sighed. Standing, she gestured at the gaggle of white-coats and orderlies to leave the room. She turned her back on Campbell, leaving him on the floor beside the rumpled bed. He felt a single tear leak from his eye as the group walked away.

There was little solace in the fact that the therapist had replaced the firm grip of the orderly with a maternal arm around her shoulder.

What now?

I'M BACK! Hello, friends! An especially greeting to all my new followers; you are the reason this story is still updating! I do have a plan for the next installment; my goal is to finish this story ASAP! Don't know how soon that will be, but I really want to finish it! :D Thanks for your continued support even though the last update was two years ago or something (I'm SO SO SO sorry!)! You guys are all brilliant! *hugs*