Vulnerabilities ~Open~

[Cameron Lain Gillespie]

It was late that evening as the young man got ready for bed. There was not much that had to be done but enough that it required getting ready. Slowly he rearranged his items before he was planning on going to bed. Things would get readjusted throughout the day and to make his morning routine easier he rearranged it every night just before bed. After brushing his hair slightly he lifted himself out of his chair and onto his bed.

He sat up against the wall as he pulled a book to read from under his mattress. It was not that he was not allowed to have it, it was that he placed it there for safe-keeping. It was his favorite book a collection of Shakespeare works. He always did love reading older books like such and Shakespeare had been such an amazing writer. He opened a page to begin the next play works of A Midsummer's Night Dream. It was his favorite of the Shakespeare plays and he could read it over and over again. His eyes glued down to the book as he read in the light offered in his room.

Cameron slowly began to slouch in the bed and after less than ten minutes he was passed out cold and slouched over himself, book still in hand. It was hours later and the next morning when he woke. He had a full belly and was laying perfectly unlike how he knew he fell asleep. “Dammit,” he cursed rather loudly as he knew what he was up to the night before. He shook his head and did his morning routine. This morning it included a shower. He wore his pajamas and grabbed actual clothes along with a specialized shower chair that folded up for easy carry and not allow his actual wheelchair to rust.

Leaving his room, he pushed hard down towards the shower, it would be his first one in the asylum and he was not exactly looking forward to it. The old asylum he was at back in Scotland had showers in the rooms so this would be a new experience for the eighteen year old.

He finally pushed into the shower and switched chairs. The shower chair allowed minor movement but was not to be pushing through the halls. He wheeled over after leaving everything in his other chair, out of any water flow and turned on the shower flow. He did not pay attention to anything around him. It was already hard enough to take a shower with a chair and to add another element of a communal shower it was even harder. He sat in a very vulnerable position at the moment and it did not make him happy.

[abigailwatson]

Abigail was beyond tired this morning, sleep hadn't come easily the previous night, as she'd been unable to stop her mind from running a hundred miles per hour. Things with her parents were still bad, they didn't even want her back when/if she got out of this place. The shame of finally admitting their daughter was nuts had caught up with them and to avoid any further embarrassment, they'd cut her out of their lives.

Her Father however seemed to deem it necessary she have something to support herself once she was released so had set up a fund for her, one he kept secretly putting money into every month. Still, it wasn't the same, they're rejection had caused Abigail to regress back into herself. So what little progress she'd made in therapy had been wasted and she was back to being that girl who held in this dark secret...she was simply tired of people rejecting her, leaving, maybe it was her fault, all of it...maybe she was this bad person everyone seemed to claim she was.

Running a hand through her locks Abigail stepped into the showers, letting out a small sigh as the hot water began to work its magic on her aching, tired body. It was still very early, so there was no one else around...just the way she liked it. Showering in front of someone was never easy, and she refused to do it. After scrubbing her skin clean, and washing her hair, Abigail stepped out the shower, and wrapped the large, thick cream towel around her body, moving over to the steamed up mirrors, completely oblivious to the rest of the room.

Picking up her brush in one hand, she used the other to wipe her hand over the mirror, to reveal her reflection. For a brief moment, she simply stared at the girl in front of her, the brush running through her hair slowly. It was then she allowed her eyes to drift, some movement in the mirror catching her attention. It was only after a few seconds she realised she was in fact staring at someone else, someone in a wheel chair, in a separate shower stall. Gasping she dropped her brush, wincing at the clattering sound it made when it landed in the sink, and pressed her hands over her eyes, “I’m sorry!” she said, her cheeks flushing a slight red.

[Cameron Lain Gillespie]

Cameron thought he had been alone as he struggled to wash himself. Oh how much he hated to shower in the chair. As much as he had gotten used to it it never once had he actually enjoyed the struggle that it had caused him. There needed to be a bath here for the male but he knew that there was too much risk to have a bath in an asylum. Why did he have to see the both sides of the argument? It would just be easier if he could only see one side of the argument. Seeing that he needed a bath would be perfect but knowing that they couldn't just made him feel a little upset.

It was when he heard a clatter from something being dropped behind him that he had jumped. Well more had he shifted slightly. Jumping was not the easiest thing for him but he did slightly sometimes. It was more involuntary that he shifted than jumped, he really had to think about the jumping to be able to do it. He did not turn as he did not want who ever was behind him to see what was going on and unfortunately there was no mirror on his side for him to see who it was behind him.

The person finally spoke at it was girl and he quickly finished showering before reaching over to grab the towel that he had put up. He placed it over his waist line and than flipped the chair around and looked at her. She was covering her eyes but he didn't think even if she had looked to begin with that she would not be able to see anything. She had apologized for, what he assumed, dropping the brush and he shook his head despite her having her eyes closed. “No it's okay,” he told her, “I didn't think anyone was in here.” He had blushed to as she had done so. He tried not to focus on the fact that he was blushing but it was hard as his face grew red and hot.

[abigailwatson]

Abigail felt her cheeks burning as the boy spoke, but allowed herself to peer through her fingers just a little bit, and satisfied he was covered she slowly lowered her hands. Crossing her arms over her chest she shot him a small smile, "I like to come here of a morning, it's quieter..."she said after a few brief moments of awkward silence. She picked up her brush, twisting it between her pale hands, the scars on her wrist, shining in the small bit of light filling the bathroom. Abigail was no longer ashamed of them, if anything, if she was honest, with the way her life was turning out now she was sorely tempted to try again.

Looking back up at the boy she smiled again, though it didn’t touch her eyes, ”My names Abigail...I don’t think I’ve seen you around before...you new here?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t being too nosy, or bothering him. Friends or at least people to talk to were hard to come by here unless you were looking for a Doctor...which she wasn’t. The boy in the chair looked to be around her age, maybe slightly younger but she couldn’t be sure.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she tucked her brush into her bag she turned back to the boy and waited for him to talk. She’d noticed he had a bit of an accent, Scottish if she was right, she herself had a little bit of her accent still remaining, it’d been the only thing she’d held onto upon leaving her first home as a child.

[Cameron Lain Gillespie]

Cameron smiled as she seemed to not want to look at him. It was pretty obvious that this was an awkward way to meet someone. He listened as she spoke and had a small smile to the face that was now uncovered. “Yes, I think more people prefer evening showers than morning showers, that is why I prefer morning showers, not many can see my struggle,” he said as he pushed the chair towards his everyday chair. He had brought a change of clothes but this was going to be hard with a girl there to put on clothes while holding yourself up. He decided he could wait and that the towel over his waist line was perfectly fine.

“Cameron, but please Cam or Lain, I do not mind which,” he said confirming his name to the girl who just introduced herself as Abigail. “And yes I just got here, god, I think three days ago,” he told her. He noted her own small Scottish accent, she must have been born there or had parents who were from there. She was about the same age as himself and if he was right her accent was from the same area of Scotland as his own which meant she was from somewhere around Edinburgh. “Edinburgh?” he asked her and he reached down and pulled on his shirt. He was going to try and shift to his other chair but he would ask her to move before he did any such thing.

He really wondered if that was where she had been from. He himself was from Edinburgh and her smaller accent was extremely close to those of the Edinburgh area. “I was born and grew up in Edinburgh, and in all technicalities I'm still a resident there despite me being here,” he smiled. He grabbed a much smaller towel and twisted into his ears to clean them out of water and dried off his hair rather quickly. He wanted to make sure he was at least going to be dry before he tried to switch chairs, which he still was not looking forward to.