•Soul Eater•

I wanted it to have a good length to it! I've got a chest infection so writing this was especially hard - hope its not too terrible! D:

•Chapter 26 - Visiting•
•Kai•
I pushed open the heavy front door of the building, the chill of the wind biting at the back of my neck. The weather didn't bother me. Recently, I was thankful for the extreme conditions in Death City. It let me feel something for the first time in a year.
I enclosed myself in the overwhelming warmth of the lobby area, approaching the main desk, where a familiar middle-aged woman sat.
"Hi" she smiled, recognising me from my last few visits.
"Hi" I mumbled quietly, the pungent scent of bleach and medicines an uncomfortable one. It always reminded me of exactly where I was.
"Visiting?".
"Yeah".
"Fill in a form and then sign the book for me" she smiled warmly, sliding a sheet of paper across the desk and gesturing to a chunky book filled with untidy scrawls of names and dates.
She held out a pen to me kindly, and I took it with a small, thankful yet raw smile.
As I filled out the form, putting down my name, date of birth, and various other irrelevant bits of information about myself, the receptionist spoke.
"She's been asking about you you know".
I didn't know how to answer, so I didn't say anything. She didn't need a response anyway.
"She won't stop talking about you. It's sweet, really" the woman smiled softly.
Although she was being perfectly nice, I was already bored with her. I scrawled my name down in the check in book and thrust my form across the desk to her, suddenly impatient.
She pressed a red button on the wall and held it, and a monotone buzzing came over the speakers of the lobby as the white doors leading to the hallway unlocked. The door opened itself and the receptionist told me to go on through. I was practically gone before she could speak.
I made my way down the hallway, a completely white, un-characteristic walkway lined with doors. I was going for number 32.
It was almost at the end of the hall, a couple doors down from the large wall length window - with wall length metal bars, just in case.
I reached the door with the number "32" on it, and knocked twice.
"Come in" called a voice. I entered and was immediately pounced upon.
"KAI!!!" Ammi giggled, wrapping her legs and arms around me.
"Hey" I chuckled at her antics, a little overwhelmed by her welcome. Over her shoulder I saw her young nurse, Anna, holding a handful of pills and a glass of water.
Oh shit.
"Bad timing?" I mouthed to her. She winced and nodded, her cropped blonde hair and green eyes always reminding me of "P!nk" the pop-rock star. She looked incredibly like her.
"I told everyone you were coming today, but nobody believed me" Ammi said proudly, dropping to the floor so she could jump up and down in excitement.
She was so different now. When she lost her mind, it all came back together differently. It was the face and body I loved, but the girl herself, was gone. She was this positive bubble of immature excitement, like a proper teenage girl. Becoming accustomed to it was... Difficult. Sometimes I just wanted to grab her, shake her and scream "What the hell have you done with Ammi!" In her face.
I didn't though. I had begun to teach myself her new ways. Force myself to get used to them. It hurt, but it was worth it for her.
"I think I interrupted something babe. Why don't you go take your medicine and then we can go talk" I tried to encourage her softly, placing a gentle hand on the small of her back.
"No, I don't want to. I want to stay with you" Ammi babbled. she panicked immediately, her eyes going wide, her breathing heavy, brows furrowing.
"Kai you're not going anywhere are you?".
"What? No. I just got here" I calmed her with a smooth smile, gently rubbing her forearm. "I'm not going anywhere" I looked deep into her emerald green eyes. They reminded me of home.
"But you gotta take your medicine, or you won't be well" I tried to convince her gently. She stepped away from me, all comfort from my previous words gone.
Ammi had been having trouble with her pills. She refused to take them. Nurse Anna was like her best friend, but three times a day, when those pills came out, Ammi forgot their friendship. She just wouldn't take them. She didn't understand that they were the only things keeping her sane.
"I don't want to take it. Please Kai, it makes me hurt" she whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes.
It was true, the mixture of pills she was on could come with a few aches and pains, but there was no other way they could keep her mind in one piece.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms tightly around Ammi, my heavy brown lumberjack jacket and fingerless gloves engulfing the small girl.
"I know... I know it hurts. But if you don't take them, they're not gonna let me visit. You won't be able to see me" I told her, pulling back to watch the pure panic rush through her eyes.
"Can you do a little bit of hurting... Just for me?" I managed a forced, convincing smile, but asking her to do that made me feel like a monster.
They probably wouldn't let me see her if she didn't take her pills, she'd be too unstable, but using her affection for me to scam her into taking them felt so wrong.
Ammi swallowed back the tears and left my hug, turning to Nurse Anna, who now stood alongside us. She gave Ammi a pained smile, showing her that she held no pleasure in forcing the sweet girl into pain.
"Good girl, one at a time" she urged softly.
Ammi took one of the largest pills from Anna's hand and put it in her mouth. She took the glass of water and sipped, before tipping her head back. Once she swallowed, she looked over at me and tried to smile. She wanted me to smile back in approval, so I did. A lovely, big, charming, fake smile.
One pill down, sixteen more to go.