ceiling fan ➳ a.i. au

- 9 -

"you make me happy. why doesn't that make you happy?"

~

"how do you  feel about being discharged, scarlett?"

scarlett was surprised to hear her therapist say discharged. when she came here all she wanted was to get out, but as time went on, she forgot about getting out. it felt as though she'd never see the outside again. at the mention of it, scarlett was ecstatic until she realized she didn't have anything in the real world. she would have to get her own apartment and live on her own. no boyfriend, no parents, nobody. she was afraid of being alone, but she also didn't really want to be in this place anymore. 

"i like the idea," she said quietly. 

"how does the twentieth sound? of course that would be without any episodes and if you prove to be emotionally fit to be discharged."

"the twentieth?" scarlett was taken aback, "of this month?" her therapist nodded. scarlett took a deep breath. that was only seventeen more days with ashton. of course she would try to see him outside of the facility, but he would most likely be discharged after her, so that would still be time without him. she had become dependent on him - which she knew wasn't good, but he made her happy. she wanted to stay around someone who made her happy. "that's okay, i guess."

"that's good. i'm glad you're ready to move on. i'll put that into the system then," her therapist told her. scarlett wasn't sure that she was ready to move on, but it couldn't hurt to try. 

~

"hello, ashton!" scarlett beamed, plopping down on the couch on top of ashton, who was sprawled across it.

"ow, my leg," ashton scoffed, moving his legs from under scarlett to on top of her. "what kind of meds did they put you on to make you this happy?" 

"nothing besides the usual meds, i'm just in a good mood," she smiled.

"i didn't know you had one of those," ashton joked.

"well clearly i do, but it seems that you don't," scarlett shot back. 

"wow, ouch," he laughed, clutching his chest. scarlett giggled and looked into his eyes happily. ashton probably didn't realize how much he meant to her. 

"do you want to know why i'm in a good mood?" she asked him. 

"i suppose," ashton shrugged.

"you," she bopped his nose.

"me? what did i do?" ashton asked, surprised.

"you were just you, and it made me happy again," she explained. ashton gulped, which confused scarlett. she thought hearing the news that he made her happy would at least bring some kind of smile to his face. 

"i don't understand how i would make you happy," ashton sighed.

"because you make me feel safe. you make me not afraid," scarlett said seriously.

"not afraid of what?" ashton scrunched his eyebrows together.

"of being left alone," scarlett said. 

"you shouldn't put all that faith in me, scar," ashton shook his head.

 "you make me happy. why doesn't that make you happy?" scarlett said, trying to understand why ashton had become so gloomy all of a sudden. 

"it just doesn't. i'm not used to making people feel anything except for hatred," ashton admitted.

"you make a lot of people happy, and you make me super happy. i'm glad i know you," scarlett grabbed his hand, "and i would never, ever hate you."

"ay, dinner time, you guys excited?" michael came into the common room.

"since when have you been excited to eat?" ashton remarked, taking his legs off of scarlett and standing up.

"listen, i've been eating  recently, i don't know why this surprises you. i'm getting discharged soon," michael rolled his eyes at ashton and then looked at scarlett, "is anybody else getting discharged soon?" scarlett nodded in response to this. ashton looked at her surprised.

"when are you getting discharged?" ashton asked her.

"the twentieth, i'll miss you," she told ashton. 

"yeah, that's such a shame that she'll be leaving before you ashton. you won't be seeing each other for quite some time," michael gritted his teeth as he talked to ashton. scarlett didn't think anything of it and made her way to the cafeteria. 

"you're a dick," michael told ashton, following scarlett. 

THIS IS SHORT 

sorry, only one chapter left thooooo.

the next patient files will be long, and the epilogue will be a patient files too. i hope you guys have been paying attention to those and those changes that have been made to them as the story goes on bc it helps with understanding the time line and like how the patients are progressing. make sure to pay attention to chapter ten's files and the differences between that and the epilogue patient files bc there will be some cheeky muke stuff :)))) and also it will just help the epilogue make more sense if you pay attention to chapter ten's files.

also i like sat down outside and read an actual book that was fanfiction today and it was so nice like i never do that and i never read and it was v nice to be outside and not be on the internet and just enjoy a good book. it put me in  gr8 mood 10/10 would reccomend

and i'm starting my theater camp tomorrow so i'm gonna try to write chapter 10 and the epilogue tn so i don't have to worry ab them this week. 

love y'all

xoxoxo mary elizabeth