Saturday, August 12th 1922
2:32pm
She had been looking forward to this for weeks now. Not exactly the hospital itself — that could do with a makeover if she were being honest — but one of the people residing within it. It had her swinging her legs, giddy smile on her lips as she sat on her hands in the waiting room of Floor Three, bubbling on the inside.
Her excitement was a ball of fluttering nerves inside her chest, expanding and quivering every time her thoughts drifted to her friend and the afternoon they would get to spend together. Since her mum had finally agreed to take her, Maevie had counted down the days.
She hadn't heard from her in all this time, had only been told by Tilly that Ever had been brought to St. Mungo's at some point, a better place for her to receive therapy. Maevie hoped that perhaps she was better now. Maybe she spoke again and maybe they could talk about all the things they had done since Ever left school. The healers here must have made some progress surely. They were the best after all.
At last a rather rigid looking woman approached, nodding for her to follow.
Maevie jumped from her chair, sending her mum a smile before leaving her in the waiting room. They were only allowing one visitor.
White walls passed in a blur, the woman's back blocking off the view ahead. Maevie tried her best to contain herself, hands gripping the sides of her skirt to keep her hands from fidgeting. After a moment they entered into a room where clusters of people scattered amongst various tables and chairs, couches and the floor. It seemed bleak, she briefly thought, but it didn't linger.
Because as they crossed the room they neared a window and there she sat.
Maevie's smile stretched into a grin.
The healer left with a stern warning to be quiet and to not overwhelm anyone, to which Maevie nodded curtly, waiting for the woman to leave before hurrying to sit across her friend.
"Hi, Ever," she greeted, eyes searching the other's, the beat of her heart a drum in her ears. "It's Maevie. I came to see you! How— how are you?" Fear mingled with hope as she waited — no one had told her how Ever had been doing. Only to be mindful.
She cast a glance around the room before scooting an inch closer, letting her hand vanish inside her blouse. When it reappeared, two simple, colourful bracelets of glass beads lay in her palm, a gift she had bought on her trip through London with her brother and mum.
No one had thought to check there before they had allowed her in.
Maevie held one of them out to Ever. "I brought you this. It's a friendship bracelet! You know, because we're friends." The other she pulled over her own hand, wiggling her wrist in the sunlight so the beads caught the light, clacking a little. "See?"
Ever had been living a non-life at St Mungo’s since June. She had no memory of her time there. It was all the same limbo, one day to the next. There were visitors frequently. Alice, Tilly and their grandfather came by often. Two women came by to poke around in her head as well. Those were harder days, even if outwardly she didn’t show it.
Not able to communicate her discomfort, but headaches were a common occurrence. Today was a bland day, no mumblings, no screaming, no fighting. It had been a couple weeks since her last outburst. After a rather intense session with the important man, her head healer, Ever had come away thrashing and screaming.
Whatever the trigger had been, no one knew. One minute she was laying there, the next she was screaming.
Ever was ushered into the communal room, sitting down and staring off into the distance. There was someone there, but it didn’t register. "Hi, Ever, It's Maevie. I came to see you! How— how are you?"
The question fell on deaf ears. No response, no recognition.
"I brought you this. It's a friendship bracelet! You know, because we're friends. See?"
Something was put into Ever’s hand. Her fingers instinctively went around the beads, spinning it between her fingers. It felt cold. Foreign. Briefly the new sensation brought her to the present. No words came out, but her eyes found Maevie. There was a brief moment of recognition, of comfort, and friendship. Then it was gone.
It was as though Ever was moving through thick tar, every movement slow and sluggish. Her gaze found Maevie but nothing happened behind those eyes, lifeless and numb. Her fingers moved over the beads of the bracelet, like an instinctual reaction to an unexpected sensation, unaware and subconscious. More of a reflex than intention.
A girl awake yet asleep.
For a few heartbeats, the moment seemed infinite, suspended in time as Maevie held her breath and waited for a sign of improvement. A sign of the old Ever, the real Ever. The girl she had known before terror and torture.
Seconds dragged by with agonizing languor and Maevie's heart began to drop, her smile fading. A sinking feeling bowed her shoulders.
She was worse.
This was worse than when she'd left.
For one heart-breaking second, Maevie's world shattered.
And then Ever's eyes rose to meat hers, with a flicker of recognition, of life, like a flash in the dark. Before it died just as quickly as it had appeared.
But it was there, she had seen it!
Like a machine kicking back to life, Maevie's heart galloped into a frantic rhythm. The smile that had faded to sorrow re-emerged, igniting her face with eagerness and she scooted another inch closer.
"Ever," she urged excitedly, hand reaching out to squeeze her friend's. "Ever, I know you're in there. You need to try to remember. Here." Her gaze dropped and with swift movements she took the bracelet from Ever's hand, pushing it over her wrist instead. With her free hand she held their arms next to each other, bracelet to bracelet. "It's me, your friend."
Hope shimmered in her eyes when Maevie looked back up, smiling encouragingly. "Remember?"
As was normal for Ever, her brain didn’t focus on one thing for more than a few seconds. The girl in front of her, not even on her radar. No recognition. No awareness of anything around her.
Until their hands met.
Ever wasn’t receiving much human touch in her current state. She would get hugs from Alice, Tilly and Bram, but those were coming less and less. The touch of her skin to Mae’s jumpstarted Ever’s heart, causing a brief moment of recognition.
It didn’t last long.
The young girl, her friend, sitting next to her filtered into Ever’s mind, conjuring memories… Ones she honestly wanted to forget forever.
Then the sensation of something on her wrist caused a sudden and painful jerk. The two things, Mae and the binding around her wrist, was all her mind needed to take her back to the tower. Screaming, pain, the glass from the window slicing into her skin, watching her friends be tortured, the green flash of light, Thayer’s death.
Ever’s voice had been gone for months. Minor mumbles were all that ever came out of her mouth. Today, she found her voice. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!” Coming out scratchy, from lack of use.
She went from nothing to flailing and screaming in the blink of an eye. Ever hit Mae’s hand away and immediately started tearing at her wrists. Scratching the skin, tiny drops of blood appeared where the scratches went too deep. The sweet friendship bracelet was torn in two, beads skittering along the floor. Small pinging sounds adding to the chaos.
“NO! STOP! IT HURTS! NOT MAEVIE! NOOOOOOO!”
On her feet now, Ever was tearing at her hair, her wrists, trying to wipe off all the sensations assaulting her brain. It wasn’t working.
Two healers came rushing in, trying to quiet Ever, calm her down. “Miss, step back.” A friendly looking healer said to Mae, getting her out of the fray.
“Miss Everleigh, you’re ok. It’s going to be ok.” They tried talking Ever down, but nothing would get through her terror. With a sad face and a quick silent spell, the healer in charge caused Ever to slump to the floor in a quiet heap. Thankfully, they caught her on the way down, stopping her from hurting herself more.
“I’m so sorry, miss. She can be unstable. We’ll take her back to her room, maybe you can try to visit another day.”
The healers lifted Ever magically, floating her down the hall. The sudden lack of noise felt heavy in the room. While it was good to hear her voice once again, it was a mystery if she would ever be back to normal.
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