Evan
He never minded working the night shift, everything was always quiet and he never had to do anything too demanding. But sometimes, like that evening, it happened that new guys came right in the evening.
Doctors warned him that the boy had been discharged after falling ill, was now suffering from post-traumatic stress and worst of all, he was using drugs. Guys like him Evan knew them well, they tried to escape reality with them so as not to think about what they had seen in the war.
He reached the entrance, one of the doctors who by now took care of accompanying there all the veterans who decided to get help was standing next to a boy who was looking at the floor.
"hi, I'm Evan"
The boy looked up, Evan immediately noticed the dark circles and the blank look he had seen too many times
"Barty.."
After taking Barty's medical record and having him sign the permit, she accompanied him to his room.
He went back to his desk and opened the medical record
Barty had fallen ill with pneumonia while he was in the war, he had also been shot and so he had spent so much time in the hospital.
He suffered from post-traumatic stress and had started using heroin for a few months.
He closed the folder and hoped with all his heart that that boy would be saved
The next day, he went back to work in the afternoon for his shift, when he arrived I found the boys in group therapy, they were all talking to each other except Barty.
Evan walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder
"Barty?"
Barty looked up at him and stared at him silently
"barty instead of staying here in silence, would you like to go out for a while in the garden?"
"yes..yes okay "
Evan walked him out, walking beside him in silence, looking at him from time to time without saying anything. Barty often looked around almost as if he was afraid, he was rather thin and his hands were shaking, detox was not easy Evan knew it well.
"Can we ... sit down for a moment? "
Barty spoke softly almost as if he really didn't want anyone to hear, Evan nodded and they sat together on a bench
"this looks like a nice place "
Evan looked at Barty and smiled at him
"it is, I'm sure you'll be able to get better here"
Barty shrugged and looked at his hands that continued to shake
"I hope so, I hate my life now"
Evan sighed, he couldn't even imagine what Barty had seen there, he knew the horrors of war but when he saw the effects on guys like Barty he felt sick at the very thought of what was going on down there
"can I ask you a question?"
Evan looked back at Barty and smiled at him
"sure tell me"
"Can I talk to you instead of the group?"
"oh ... sure, okay"
Evan wasn't expecting it at all, but what mattered to him was that guys like Barty found someone to talk to.
They entered the therapy room and Evan sat next to Barty, he was not a psychologist, nor was Peter, the guy who ran the group therapy, he would just listen to Barty and be close to him.
Barty looked down and then sighed
"what I saw there ... it was horrible. For a while I thought it was going to be okay, then I started seeing people die. I saw ... my best friend blown up for a hidden mine. When they shot me it took 6 days before they found me, I was lying there on the ground next to my friends ... all dead "
Evan listened silently and then did the first thing that came to mind, he hugged Barty.
Barty returned the hug and then smiled at him.
Evan knew full well it would take time, but he hoped it would be okay for barty