"well, I'll have a look at it," the psychiatrist assured Artemis. "If anything changes a nurse will inform you when they hand out the pills. I may try some other pills instead of increasing the dosage. If you do get any side-effects, you have to inform the staff and they will report back to me." She leaned back in her chair. "That was it. Unless you have any questions for me you are free to go." She had a gently smile for Artmis and nodded to her.

Upon the psychiatrist's request, Artemis simply nodded, unable to speak at the moment. After she finished speaking, Artemis let out a shaky "N-No ma'am, thank you", before getting up and headed out of the office. As the door closed itself shut, Artemis let out a shaky sigh, heading to the living room to meet up with Ben again. She felt a bit relieved that she didn't have to be there anymore, but she was still shaken up a bit.

Benjamin was in the living room with a book he had found in the small bookcase. It wasn't that good, but it was entertaining enough to keep him occupied. There wasn't much else to do around here anyway.
Some patients seemed to enjoy themselves here; a group of girls had formed a friendship and just chatted away, but he didn't feel like mingling with them. They all had their issues and from what he could see he wouldn't fit in.

He thought about Artemis a few times; she had seem really nervous about the meeting with the psychiatrist and he hoped it had gone well.

Artemis walked down the hall leading to the living room, her hands shaking slightly and her heart racing due to the leftover anxiety. Once she had arrived at the living room, she quickly saw where Benjamin was and hurriedly went over to him, giving him a small smile.

"I'm back." She managed to say without stuttering. "The a-appointment wasn't that bad, but I hated it either way. It's too much sometimes.."

Benjamin looked up from the book and had a warm smile for Artemis. "You survived it and that's what matters." With a gesture he to the empty seat next to him he invited her to join him. "There are plenty of low-quality novels to choose from to kill some time before food is served." He glanced at the books on the table close to them. "The Petals Of The Rose sounds exciting, right?"

This place was really living from the eating moments until it was time to sleep, and endure the moments of therapy inbetween. He cringed when one of the patients suddenly screamed and she was quickly taken away by staff. To her room, probably, to be sedated. Wasn't that how they usually dealt with outbursts here?

Artemis gratefully took the seat next to Ben, smiling timidly with his praise. “Th-Thanks..” She replies, and was about to take a look at the book he mentioned when she was startled by the outburst, causing her to instinctively to grip his arm.

“A-Ah!! I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to!” Artemis cried out, immediately letting go not a second later. “L-Loud noises really scare me sometimes..” She managed to mutter, her hands holding onto her own arms now, her body visibly shaking slightly from the whole ordeal. She tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths, which worked a bit, but weirdly enough she was still thoroughly shaken up.

"It's okay," Benjamin said as he watched her shake and hold her own arms. "You don't have to feel bad because that startled you and I don't mind you took my arm. In fact, if it will make you feel better, I will give you permission to do so in the future. If something happens and you need to hold on to something, you can hold on to me. Okay?"

He watched Artemis for a moment longer to see if she was okay again. This place, it was taxing. He felt it too, although his limits were tested in a different way.

Artemis took another deep breath before speaking once more, timidly. “Th-Thank you for the offer..” She replied. “I really appreciate you letting me do that.” Eventually she stopped rubbing her own arms as she calmed down more. “I would like to try and help myself when I get startled though. I would rather not be startled so badly to loud noises.” She gave Ben a sheepish smile, before turning back to the topic of the book he was reading. “Wh-What was the book that you were reading earlier?”

"I'm sure you'll get there," Benjamin said. "Isn't that the whole reason we have to therapy here?"

He showed the book as she asked about the book he was reading. "It's not that good, actually. It's a rather boring story about a young man who wants to be dancer and then breaks his leg. I like the theme, but the execution is terrible. But since I don't have much else to do I slog through it, in the hopes it will get more exciting later on."

He bent forward to pick up the Petals of the Rose, a book he hadn't read yet, but the title had caught his eye. He examined the blurb on the back. "I don't think this is much better. The Petals Of The Rose looks like a romantic horror story with vampires, probably not the most original book in the pile, but people who like the genre will probably enjoy it." He put it down again. "Most of the books seem to have come from library sales, and I think the libraries had a reason to take them out of their collection."

Artemis nodded, agreeing with what Ben was saying about therapy. She then looked at the book again, humming to herself. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like that good of a book..” She commented, looking back at Ben. “I do hope it does get more exciting.”

With the mention of the other book, Artemis looked at it and cracked a sheepish smile. “Romantic horror story with vampires?” She laughed a bit. “I do like horror, but… romance, and vampires?” She laughed again, thinking to herself. “Actually, I do like this one book that…” Artemis paused abruptly, looking around before leaning closer to Ben. “It’s a good book, but it does have topics that they would probably not like that we read about. Like, escaping facilities?” Artemis smiled. “I should lend you the book, I personally really love it.”

"That does sound like a book they would put on their forbidden list," Benjamin commented with a chuckle. "It's not a theme I usually read, but I'm willing to give it a try. I'd like to read something well-written instead of this garbage." He showed the book about the dancer he was reading. "I like to read drama's, but better-written ones. This could have been a good story if it was written by someone else." He checked the back cover. "But this person is a journalist for a few good newspapers and it probably got published because of that. It just shows that fiction and journalism are two very different things and I'm sure there are people who are good at both, but that isn't true for everyone."

He glanced at a nurse that walked to another patient, talk with her for a moment and then the two of them left. Therapy probably. Or the weekly overview of their progress. He still needed to get his first; he was in his first week here and already hated the place. This didn't bode well.

"Exactly why I keep it hidden." Artemis said with a bit of a grin. "It's a dystopian book, and I like sci-fi more than anything else." She explained, then listened to Ben's comments about the book he was reading. "That makes sense. People have unique skills, but just because you're good at one thing doesn't mean you would be good at something that's closely related to what you're skilled at." She said, ultimately agreeing with him.

Artemis watched the nurse as well, mostly just scared that they were being eavesdropped on, but after turning back to Ben, she noticed that he seemed a bit troubled. "You look a bit nervous, what's wrong?" She asked softly, trying not to sound too demanding or curious.

Benjamin didn't reply immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. "I'm not looking forward to my first evaluation," he eventually said. "I haven't taken any medication since I got here, because I'm convinced I don't need it, but I will never be able to leave unless I start taking my medication. And I haven't been able to get outside since I got here, which is frustrating. I don't deal well with being inside all the time." He glanced around, making a hopeless gesture with his arms. "This place is like a prison."

The more Benjamin explained what was bothering him, the more Artemis began to worry. "I see.. I am worried for you.." She said with a pout. "It's one thing to have gotten used to this place after so long, but you just got here. This isn't a good place in general..." She looked around at the room, taking a look at the people within it. All of them had their own problems, but a lot of them were just used to everything or were in their own world. Even so, this wasn't the best place to be in. "I don't know how to make you feel more comfortable here, but I can promise you that you won't be alone in this." She said with a shy smile. "I'll be there with you. Maybe not for your evaluation, as much as I would like to stay with you, but I would be there when you come back and make sure that you're not alone in this."

"I don't think I will ever be comfortable here," Benjamin said. "But I appreciate you're here with me. It makes it easier."
He fell silent as he looked around. "I'm bothered most about Simon..." he whispered, not wanting others to hear him. "He died, I know he died. I saw him. But the staff keeps insisting he just went home. It wasn't a hallucination, I'm certain of that."

Being in this place did make him doubt; nurses had told him repeatedly that hallucinations could appear very real. What if... he shook his head as the thought started to form. He was not insane; ghosts were real and he just happened to be able to see them.