Leisure room:

As the asylum’s grandfather clock indicated their weekly session’s time, the new friends hesitantly walked one after the other in the corridors.

“Are you sure about this?” Lucy looked back to check if RM was still behind her.

“I don’t know,” RM’s heart pounded heavily, “Let’s just do this before I change my mind.”

The healing room – Week One:

Entering the white room, both members grabbed a cushion and sat in front of one another.

Lucy took a deep breath while adjusting her posture, “Shall we begin?”

“Lead the way.” RM nervously crossed his legs.

“Hello, my name is Lucy and I have acute depression” she introduced herself, “Aside from the usual symptoms that I got used to with time, my condition also caused me severe panic attacks that often left me helpless. Recently, I started developing a case of hypochondria and I’ve been doing everything in my power to fight it.”

“Well, this is intense,” RM commented. “Nice to meet you, Lucy. I am amnesiac so I don’t know my real name but I go by RM, short for Resident Monster. All I know about myself is that I have anger management issues and lately, I decided to look for whatever triggered my condition in the first place.”

“Not bad for a first time!” Lucy cheered on her roommate.

Intimidated, he rubbed the back of his neck, “I only managed to say whatever went through my head at the moment.”

“Baby steps,” she encouraged him, “You’re doing just fine.”

“Just to let you know …” he informed her, “My steps are slow and heavy.”

Giving him thumbs up, Lucy stated, “That’s okay Mr. Elephant. I’ll walk you through it.”

The healing room – Week Two:

With their first healing session turning out to be successful, the roommates agreed to keep pointing out their flaws in every assessment in order to help each other leave the place together.

“I’ve been living in fear for a while now,” Lucy initiated, “I haven’t felt safe in a while. I tried to avoid it, escape it, ignore it … But I realized that the only way I will get over it is by confronting it. I want to confront my fear and feel safe again, but I haven’t found a way yet,”

RM closely listened to her every word, “That’s interesting. But what’s threatening your safety anyways?”

Upon hearing his question, she halted him, “House rules: sharing only, no further questions.”

“My bad.” he followed his shallow apology with his own statement, “In my case, I feel pressured. The funny thing is, I don’t know if I feel that way because I’m anxious to seek why I have been locked up in here or if I’m actually protecting myself from ever finding out.”

Lucy was all ears, “Are you afraid to find out that you have failed at some point in your life?”

“Aren’t you?” he sent back the question.

“Always,” she instantly replied. “There are moments where I wonder that, maybe if I had done things differently, I wouldn’t end up hurting my family.”

Her plea caused RM to frown, “Do they blame you?”

“To be honest, they never pointed fingers but actions speak louder than words, you know?” she confessed.

“I know it’s not my place to say anything,” RM built up his argument, “But I’ve known you for months now, and I’ve seen how much you care for total strangers, including myself. Therefore, if your family can’t give you a break for that one moment you didn’t give back, then they’re not worthy of you going through all of this tr