It’s just me, Aaron, Alice and my dad. I feel my dad staring down at me and I try and talk to him and say “Thanks for coming dad, how did your interview go this morning?”

“it’s was tough, but I didn’t want that job anyway it would be too many weekend hours.” That was an excuse I heard mum talking to him on the phone earlier and it sounded the perfect job, right amount of hours, good pay not too far, clearly making an excuse as Aaron and Alice are here. He looks at me and I recognise that look, he thinks its my fault, like I messed the interview up. He changes the subject, “I need a coffee, you two want some juice?”

Alice answers “yes please dad.”

“Okay I saw a vending machine on our way in I will back in abit.” He clearly hates being in the same room as me without mum but I don’t mind it gives me time with Alice and Aaron.

“ignore dad, he is just stressed coz he hasn’t found a new job yet but he will. Aaron how was school today?”

“good, me and James played at penalties at lunch and I scored 9 and he only got 7. Swimming was good, we got to do diving today which was so much fun I went from the high diving board!”

“aww well done little brother just always remember to tie your swim suit tight before diving, one kid in my grade didn’t and his shorts came off in the pool, still hasn’t lived it down. How about your spelling test how did you do?”

“not so great,” He rustles in his backpack and hands me a crumpled sheet that is his spelling test.

“5/10, that’s not bad kid, but don’t worry I can help you work on these. Spellings I always struggled with too, not a biggie.” I play it down and try and comfort him as I know this was hard for him and 5 was a good mark. I give him a tight squeeze and ask Alice about her day.

“what about you Alice, how was your day?”

“not bad, me and Hannah won the cookie competition in home economics. We baked apple and cinnamon cookies I had some spare and I gave them to receptionist to put out for visitors.”

“oh cool! Well done, I will have to try one later as I walk you guys out. What else happened at school?”

“the usual, got an A in a science test and another A in Math.”

“well done sis,” I give her a squeeze. I see Aaron is a tad upset as he wants to be like his sister and get As but he only gets Cs/Ds. I turn to him “hey don’t worry, some people are good at school and some people aren’t. its not a big deal and your great at so many other things, like swimming, sports, and making up games. Speaking off you wanna play a game? We have some time before mum and dad will be back?”

“yeah okay, how about pirates in the jungle?”

“Whatever you want to make up, but remember we cant leave my room.”

He takes us through his game and we play for about half an hour, during which we had a couple of ‘checks’ from a nurse and he included that in the game calling the nurse a snake trying to hypnotise us. We play and we are laughing upside down on my floor and my bedding is everywhere. Mum and dad walk back in with some coffees.

“sorry we were playing pirates in a jungle and we made a ship from my bed.” I apologise as we start to tidy our game up.

“That’s okay looks like you had fun, sorry if we were long we got talking to your doctor.”

“okay that’s fine can we chat about that later?” I nudge my head towards Alice and Aaron and she knows what I mean by lets talk in detail when they aren’t in the room. “Did Izzy get home okay?”

“yes she did, I walked her to the door and she was just in time to start helping with dinner, she said she would text you after dinner once she puts Ivy (her youngest sister) to bed.

“Cool thanks mum,”

“No problem, who is hungry?” Aaron jumps up. “Shall we head to the canteen then and have dinner?”

“lets do it!” I say as I finish tidying up after our game. I grab my phone into my pocket, in case Izzy or Becca text. We head out the door, I lock it behind throwing my key into my pocket. We walk down the hall, mum and dad in front and me with my arm around Alice’s neck and with my other arm holding Aaron’s hand, this is how we always walk around.

As we walk towards the canteen we have to go down the isolation unit and there is the same girl screaming, this spooks Aaron and Alice a lot. Aaron jumps nearer to me and tries to bury himself in my arm, and Alice just looks at me scared. I reassure them “don’t worry, this is where the really ill patients go, who may be danger to themselves or others, I am not like them as I am not dangerous am I, so I will not end up here don’t worry.” This helps calm them down abit but Aaron still sticks close to me which I don’t mind so I move arm around his side and rub his arm which always helps him feel safe. We approach the canteen and I show them where to get trays. My mum and dad grab a tray each, and then I help Alice with a tray and mum helps Aaron out.  The special is fish and chips since it’s Friday. I grab some chips for me, and put some fish and chips on Alice’s plate, my mum places some on her plate and then a smaller portion on Aaron’s plate. Next I grab a small bowl of fruit for both me and Alice.

Next up cakes, I put a piece of chocolate fudge on mine, red velvet on Alice’s as that’s her favourite and a piece of chocolate fudge on Aaron’s tray as that is his favourite, I also see Aaron hasn’t got any fruit so I put a small bowl of fruit on his tray which he protests to but I say “you don’t have to have all the fruit but your not allowed cake until you have had fruit. What drinks would you two like?” I say while pointing to the drink fridge. Alice picks a coke zero, mum gives a head nod as normally she isn’t allowed coke zero or fizzy drinks but I guess my first night in the psych unit counts as special. Aaron asks for a juice box and I place on his tray. I grab a fanta and place that on my tray. We go through to pay and dad grabs his wallet out and starts paying for their meals and I scan my bracelet for mine. As I scan, I tell them I will go find some seats. Not long after they all come and join me on the big table at the back. Aaron and Alice either side of me and mum and dad opposite.

We all start to dig in and I help Aaron out, I put his straw in his juice box and put some ketchup next to his chips, I ask if he wants salt or vinegar but he says no. I cut up his fish for him and we all start eating away and chatting about our day. Mum tells us the usual chat from the café and her regular customers. Dad isn’t paying much attention to anything we are saying which is normal. Weirdly making me feel better that he is acting his usual grumpy self around me.

As we eat Matty comes into the dinner hall and he spots me and comes over to say hello.

“Hey Matty, this is my mum Cathy, my dad Steve, and my little brother Aaron and my little sister Alice.

“hello Mr and Mrs Wilson, and hey Aaron and Alice, how are you settling in Anna? I know the first day can be crazy, pun intended.”

“yeah not bad thanks,” I giggle at the pun “Izzy and Becca came by earlier and having dinner and then I have got some homework to still do since I am catching up from this crazy week. Yeah it’s not too bad.” I direct Aaron and Alice more now “Matty helped me find my way around and he is a big harry potter fan too and a brilliant artist and he has a little brother your age Aaron, called Peter, maybe you and him could have a play date some time.

“yeah can we?” He looks very excited and looks at mum who doesn’t look like she likes the sound of Aaron spending time with Matty’s little brother.

“we will see sweetheart. It was nice meeting you Matty, now if don’t mind we would like to resume our family dinner.”

“of course, Mrs Wilson, nice meeting you all, and Anna you know where to find me if you need help with your homework.” He walks off.

“Mum, that was abit cold. You could of asked him to join us.”

“I am sorry Anna I am just not comfortable you hanging around with him.”

“Alice could you take Aaron out the room for me for a minute. I will come and get you shortly.” She does as I ask, “thank you sis.”

I wait till they are around the corner. “mum that was really rude. Let me guess you aren’t keen on me hanging out with him coz he is a pysch unit, well news blast you put me in a pysch unit and now you expect me to not make a friend while I am here? Well news flash I am here and so is he and we will be hanging out together coz he is a lovely guy who I have lots in common with. I hope next time you cross paths with him you apologize. Now I am going to cool off and grab Alice and Aaron back.” I walk off not letting her respond but I can see that she is shocked by me standing up too her like that.

“hey Aaron, Alice sorry about that guys,” I say grabbing Aaron’s hand and placing my arm round Alice. “just needed to have a word with mum but its all fine so lets go have desert shall we?”

“yes! CAKE!” Aaron yells and he runs off to the table. “Are you sure things are okay?”

“yes Ali, things are fine I just got mad at mum for being cold and rude towards Matty.”

“yeah she was kinda cold to him. But he is cute isn’t he?” Of course she could tell I blushed a little when introducing him to my family.

“yeah I guess he is, haven’t really noticed, now come on or I will be eating your cake!” I race her back and we all start digging into the dessert, I nudge Aaron’s barely touched fruit in front of his cake and remind him that he has to eat at least 3 pieces of fruit before I can let him have the cake. He rolls his eyes but agrees and eats exactly 3 pieces of fruit and then moves it aside for cake.

We eat up our cake and finish our dinner and chat like normal, even my dad acts normal by ignoring all of us and staring at me the same way he does as if to say its all my fault. Weirdly, even my dad’s angry stare makes me feel better as it’s normal.

As we finish up my mum lets us know its time for them to head back as Alice has some homework to do and it’s almost Aaron’s bedtime. I beg her to let them stay a little longer but she gets strict. She at least promised she would ring as putting them to bed so I could tell them a bedtime story. I nod my head and accept that. We tidy up our plates and I walk them out.

As they leave my mum hugs me and tell me they will be back at 11:30 after Aaron’s football game and it give us time for lunch before family therapy. I accept and release her hug and move to Aaron and Alice who are clearly not wanting to leave me here.

I wipe Aaron’s tear from his eye with my hoodie sleeve over my finger. “hey it will be okay it is only for a little bit and then I will be home, and I promise as soon as I am, I will come to a football game and be cheering you on in the stands but for now just mum, dad and Alice will be cheering you on okay? So have a great football match tomorrow and I will wait to hear about all the goals you scored.”

This cheers him up, and I give him a tight hug. I move onto Alice, and I hug her very tight and whisper in her ears “it’s okay it’s only for a short while and I will be home. Make sure to be brave for Aaron and cheer him on tomorrow and we take it one day at a time and I will be home with you in no time.”

I release my hug with her and let them walk on. They all walk of and wave and once past security I cannot see them anymore. I grab two of Alice’s cookies of the front desk, one for me and one for Matty and I head to the living room as I see Matty in there.

I see he is deep in reading so I place his cookie on his open book to grab his attention.

“here this is my way of saying sorry for my mum being rude earlier.” I say as I sit next to him on the sofa.

“thanks, don’t worry about it.” He takes a bite “Woah these may be the best cookies I have ever had.”

“Thanks my sister baked them in home economics today. There is more at reception if you are hungry.”

“amazing remind her my birthday is coming up, October 6^th and I like red velvet cake.” He jokes.

“no problem,” making a mental note of his birthday and his favourite cake. “anyway I am going to head back to my room, do some sketching and watch some harry potter, I would invite you to join me but I sort of want to be on my own a little bit.”

“no problem it can be overwhelming here I get that. Well if you change your mind or need help, you know where to find me. thanks again for the cookie.”

I walk off while eating my cookie. I get back to my room and feel so tired. I kick off my shoes and place my hoodie over my chair and grab my laptop to put some harry potter on. I decide against sketching as I am just so tired so I grab my phone and text Izzy and Becca instead.

Becca face times me and Izzy, she has finished the big treasure hunt and is about to let Mandy do it to find out her dad is coming home. She talks me through it, Mandy is out for dinner with Jamie and will be home soon, Jamie already knows what’s happening so she will help with the clues but I don’t think they are too hard. the first clue is in the kitchen and the final clue is in Mandy’s bedroom where her dad is on skype on her laptop waiting.

Mandy and Jamie comes through the door.

“Hey Jamie. Hey sis, come here,” She gives her a tight hug, “I was just on facetime with Izzy and Anna want to say hi?”

“Hi guys.” She says in such a sweet voice with pizza sauce still on her face.

“I will hear all about your day at school later but first I have a really fun treasure hunt for you and there is a very special prize at the end,” She grabs her handkerchief and wipes the pizza sauce off her face and then passes the phone to Jamie so she can film everything while Becca leads her on the hunt. “the first clue is on the kitchen counter.”

The first clue reads “next find where we play”

“oh the games room.” She runs of and finds the next one. Next find the room we watch movies “oh the movie theatre!” she races upstairs and finds the clue near the popcorn machine. Next find where we get clean. “oh the bathroom.” She figures them out very easy and Becca is clearly very excited to get to the prize. Next where we wash? “the shower. She races in the bathroom and finds the next one which reads ‘Next where is the room we feed ourselves with?”

“the kitchen?” Becca nods and as walking down stairs she says “this is the last clue and then special prize time!”

Final clue reads ‘finally where do you fall asleep?’ “my room that’s easy!” She races upstairs and Becca and Jamie run pretty fast to catch up.”

“hold on just let me and Jamie in first.” They walk through and stand in front of the laptop and Becca whispers to her dad you ready? And he gives a thumbs up. “come in Mandy”

They move out the way and she starts crying as soon as she sees her dad. Becca bends down and hugs her. “hey my princesses! So your big sister set this special treasure hunt up as I have big news. Jamie and your sister already know.” He starts gets abit emotional. “I got a promotion a couple of weeks ago, do you know what that means?” she shakes her head. “well it means they think I am really good at being a fire fighter and the gave me a better job and made me a captain. Which means I get to ask where I work now. As much as I love London and these guys are my second family, you two princesses are my first family are more important, so as of Monday I moving home! I will be working down at Firehouse 78 which is only a few minutes walk from your school. I will be there 4 days a week including two night shifts but you will be so close that you can come have dinner at the firehouse with me, and see me whenever you two girls like. And the rest of the time I will be home to help you with homework and play. Of course Jamie is still going to be part of our family as I need her to help me look after you both. You excited?” he explains.

She is fully crying and so excited that she is jumping up and down.

“that means she is happy!” Becca is also emotional and very happy. “so this weekend we are going to make him welcome home banners, bake him brownies. As well as me and you will have very special sister time watching whatever movies you like or playing whatever games you want. Then Monday he will be there picking you up from school.”

They are all so happy and me and Izzy say we will end the call so she can talk with her sister and dad alone for abit. I sit and play a game on my phone for abit as Becca and Mandy are with their dad and Izzy had to put her two youngest sisters to bed so I turn up the volume on the harry potter movie and play a game on my phone for abit.

I watch the movie for a little bit and waited for my mum to call me so I could tell Aaron and Alice a bedtime story. I sit and watch my movie for a while and the nurse comes in for checks multiple times which gets annoying, but I guess I better be use to it. Half-way through the movie my mum phones so I can tell Aaron and Alice a bedtime story.

“hey sweetheart you settled in for the night?”

“yeah I am just watching some harry potter and probably going to fall asleep soon as I am so tired from today, maybe coz it’s overwhelming or the meds. Are Aaron and Alice in pjs and ready for a story?”

“yeah they are just playing a game in Aaron’s room. I will pass you to them hang on.” I hear her go upstairs and ask them to calm down, if they brushed their teeth and then asks them to get comfy as I am on the phone to tell them a story. “here you are sweetie see you tomorrow at 11:30.” She passes the phone to Alice and I switch it to video mode so I can tell them the story better. Once they are both comfy, I check Aaron has his blanket and teddy and Alice has her teddy. I close my laptop and start telling my story. I make one up about two princesses and a prince, and the oldest princess is trapped in a far-away castle and under a curse and guarded by a big fire breathing dragon, but once the curse is lifted by a kiss from a prince who slays the dragon then she can return home to the castle with her fellow princess and prince. I thought turning my situation in a make belief bedtime story would help them be less anxious about it and make it seem like a game. Once I finish the story they soon drift off into a deep sleep and as they fall asleep Aaron mutters “I hope the curse gets lifted real soon.” I whisper to them goodnight I love you my prince and princess, blow them a kiss and end the call. I send a text to my mum’s other phone to let her know they both are asleep in Aarons room and I will see them tomorrow and goodnight.

I decided that I am tired that I should get ready for bed as I am so tired so I first head over to the nurses station to check what meds I need to take before bed and they give me a cup with three pills and I have to take it in front of them. I throw them and swallow them with some water and then open my mouth so they can check I have taken them. I then head back to my room and decide to grab a shower so I close my door behind me, lay my pjs on my bed, switch my shower on to run hot water, close my curtains for the night and grab my towel and then head my ensuite bathroom and take a really quick shower. I use my orange scented shower gel, rise and turn the shower off. I wrap myself in myself in my towel like a burrito while I brush my teeth. I grab my bamboo toothbrush and put my lush tooth tab in my mouth and start brushing away. Once down I rinse and spit and then head into my bedroom to get into my pjs. I head over to my bed and get changed into my hufflepuff themed pjs. I sit on my bed, grab my bamboo tooth floss and start flossing while watching youtube on my phone.

Once flossed I place that on my bedside table and the nurse comes for checks. As she does I get comfy under my covers, I put my laptop and phone on charge, setting a movie up on my laptop and my phone just next to it. I turn my main light out and turn my bedside lamp on. Just as I get comfy under the covers with my teddy bear, Izzy and Becca facetime me which we normally do every night before sleep. We end up talking about nonsense like normal. I ask Becca how Mandy is and if she calmed down and with an exhausted look on her face she told me she was very excited about her dad’s news and after talking with him for a while and then her reading her two books she did eventually fall asleep. Izzy tells me she had it worse with putting her sister to bed, she was being badly behaved and did not want to go to bed so it took a lot more to get her to stay in bed. We then just talked about a lot of random stuff for a while like we normally do.  The nurse came in for checks at least 4 times hinting we were talking for an hour. As it hit 10 o clock and the lights outside changed to night time lighting, I couldn’t handle my tiredness anymore I think the meds were effecting me. I apologized to Izzy and Becca as normally we talk for another hour before bed, and they didn’t mind and Izzy told me she would be over at 10 tomorrow morning and Becca would if she didn’t promise Mandy they were having the sister weekend before dad comes home. I told her don’t worry and just enjoy her sister weekend fun. I apologized for being so tired and ended the call and soon fell off to sleep even though I was so anxious about spending my first night here and dreading family therapy tomorrow but the meds took over and my eyes closed.

—TO BE CONTINUED—