Hazel didn't really think Billy would show up a second night in a row after she failed to appear. But the stupid, tiny spark of hope that had ignited when she met him refused to let her stay in bed when she woke up from her nightmare after being sent back to her own room the next day.
A lone figure leaned against a tree near the door leading to the girls' wing and her heart leapt to her throat. He came. She ditched him and he came anyway.
She rushed forward in excitement before stopping herself. She didn't know why he was here. It might be to chew her out for being inconsiderate.
There was a cold light in his eyes as he stared straight ahead, unblinking. He couldn't see Hazel since she was coming at him from the side. She nearly shivered. In that moment she could almost believe he truly was dangerous.
But when Billy heard her footsteps and turned to face her, the coldness was gone and a friendly expression crossed his face.
"I thought you'd come. Heard you were in isolation last night; that's rough. Did you bite a nurse?"
Hazel shook her head, surprised that he knew. Had one of the nurses been gossiping about her near his room or something?
"I didn't hear you scream last night," Billy explained, noticing her confusion. "I've been here for nearly three years now and have heard you scream every night but a few random ones every few months. Going off of that pattern, isolation was the only thing that made sense."
The padded walls helped muffle noise. Nobody could hear you in isolation unless they were right outside the door. It was why there was always a guard within sight of the little window.
Hazel looked down, embarrassed. No wonder nobody liked her. They had to listen to her screams every night and lose sleep over it.
Billy reached out and patted her shoulder. "Nothing to be embarrassed about."
Tears pooled in her eyes. When was the last time another human being touched her without trying to restrain her? She crumbled at the tiny show of comfort.
"Aww, Hazel, don't cry! There's no reason for that. The moon is full tonight so there's plenty of light for us to read and write in. There are all sorts of new words I can teach you."
She hastily wiped them away, firm in her resolve. She would learn how to express herself properly if it was the last thing she ever did.
They spent about an hour working on some more sight words but after that Billy had the idea of teaching her how to write phrases that could help her. Things like "I'm hungry", "I'm thirsty", and "I need to use the bathroom."
They worked through about twenty phrases like that, which took up most of their remaining time. Billy was teaching her how to write "my name is Hazel" as the sun began rising behind the mountains in the distance.
"There, that should help you a bit," he said in a satisfied voice.
Hazel wrote 'thank you', one of the phrases he had taught her, in the sand.
"You're welcome! Should we meet up again tomorrow night?"
She was a bit curious why she hadn't seen him at yard time today—she had specifically looked for him—but she didn't have the words to ask. Instead, she nodded happily. If they kept this up, she would be able to ask him anything she wanted sooner or later.
Hazel made her way through the rest of the day sleepily but when free time rolled around she grabbed a pad of paper and a hot pink crayon to practice writing. Learning from her mistakes, she decided to sneak the materials back to her room and away from Cindy.
That nosy girl would definitely want to know what she was doing writing inane phrases over and over. It was none of her business!
She practiced diligently for about forty-five minutes before she got to writing "my name is Hazel." She frowned. How was Billy's name spelled? Obviously it started with a B…and since it ended with the same sound as "hungry" and "thirsty" it probably ended with a Y.
Hazel sounded it out in her head. B, I, L, Y. She wanted to write him a note but her spelling would probably be horrible.
Taking out a new piece of paper, she tried to put the simplest thought she had down. She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated his kindness. But did she know enough words?
An idea struck her before she even wrote down a single word. Why not give him the picture she had drawn during art time today? She could write the note on the back.
After all, her mom always liked being given her artwork. Today she had drawn a picture of a kitten and a puppy in a field of flowers with a few clouds in a light blue sky. It had made her a little bit happy so maybe it would make him a little bit happy too.
Hazel flipped over the drawing and painstakingly wrote out 'Bily, thank you for be good to me.' She wanted to say 'love Hazel' but didn't know how to write love so she drew a heart in front of her name instead.
It wasn't as concise as she would have liked but she didn't know how to spell "being" or "nice." He hadn't taught her any words ending in –ing yet.
Hazel hugged the drawing to her chest. She hoped he understood what she meant.
When a nurse came looking for her because it was time for dinner, she hastily stuffed the drawing, papers, and crayon under her pillow. She could definitely use them again later to keep practicing when no one was looking.
Sitting through dinner and visiting hours was so difficult knowing she was so close yet so far from seeing Billy and giving him her thank you gift. Why couldn't it be 3 AM already? Hazel still had to get through the rest of the day and another terrible nightmare before she could see him again.