For now, she just walks!

She walks aimlessly around the garden, lap after lap after lap, the only place on the ward to clear your head. The energy she releases, obviously not enough, the garden too small to suffice. She looks like a runner! A person who would run lap after lap after lap of the big garden…and be content.

Level three isn’t easy. The door locked. The permission to leave…gone! The unit itself, small and stuffy, cordoned into areas. Male corridor, female corridor, then the common areas, with the muffled tv sound blaring…all useless to her!

I say ‘hello’, but get no answer. When I hear she has an auditory condition, it all clicks. The earbuds being used just to stop people approaching her with the illusion of music!

She comes across as a very lonely little bird, a bird who just wants to be left alone! I bow my head and wonder if she will ever make it back to level one, back to freedom…somewhat! A place where she can run without being judged. A place where she can take the time to herself, and not be approached by that one creepy old man who makes comments that change her body language, making her look uncomfortable. Does he provoke flashbacks from an unhappy childhood, a childhood where there was abuse or violence? I guess we’ll never know!

For now, she just walks!