The reflection of the early morning sunlight bounces off the bright white walls and seeps into the small cracks of her eyelids. Anna's body is overheated and tired. The weight of an unfamiliar presence presses against her backside. Thinking she's in her own bed, she's surprised when she turns over to find Harry, asleep and dreaming, fluttering in rapid eye movement.

"Fuck, Harry," she whispers, shaking his unmoved body. Harry leans over further atop of her and cuddles her like a baby koala. He wraps his leg and arm around her, pushing his heat against her even more than before. The pounding of his mid-dream heart beats against her awake chest. "Harry, get off of me. I have to go to my room."

"We need to go to the farmers market." Harry says half asleep, nestling into the crook of her neck.

"Oh, really? What do we need?" She indulges in the adorable moment.

"I want strawberries. And apples. Can you hold my hand?" Harry kisses the stretched tendon of her neck, the brown hair atop of his head brushing against her sensitive skin.

"Of course," Anna says, taking his hand into hers. "But I really do have to go. Can you wake up, please?"

Harry's eyes strobe open. He's suddenly aware of where his reality lies. "Anna!" His face lights with happiness at the sight of her makeup-less, tired face. "Fancy meeting you here." He digs his fingers into her side and latches on like feral cat.

"I really have to go. We'll meet up for garden duty later."

"BED CHECK!" A loud voice booms on the other side of his door, accompanied by a knock on the door. "Open up, Styles, or we'll open it for you."

Anna squeaks, both her and Harry's eyes widening at the possibility of being caught, no matter how harmless, in his room. She scrambles up, frantically searching for a place to hide. The room scarcely furnished, only housing a small twin bed, tall boy of drawers and small desk and chair. As the door starts to creak open, she panics and stands her thin body against the wall behind the door.

Her face smushes against the thin plywood of the door. She struggles to breathe.

"May I help you, good sir?" Harry leans back on the bed, hands clasped behind his head.

The large frame of the male nurse slowly stomps into Harry's room. "Was there someone in here? I thought I heard another voice." The nurse looks back and forth. Anna stands just outside his vision.

"Just me, other than maybe the voices in my head." Harry smugly smiles.

"AGATHA! PUT SOME PANTS ON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Nurse Ashleigh screams. Suddenly Miss Agatha Williams runs past Harry's open door, her giggle echoing throughout the empty institution hallways. "A LITTLE HELP HERE, STEVE!" Ashleigh yells to the worker in Harry's room as she herself darts by. Steve sprints out to help subdue the fleeing patient.

"Go, go, go. Perfect distraction." Harry whispers to Anna. Without hesitation, Anna shoots out and to her room which has yet to be called on for bed check.

* * *

The undersides of Anna's fingernails are dirty with the soil of the garden. Scraggly weeds are uprooted from the dry dirt. Puffs of earth blow in the air from Harry's dulled hoe digging in rows of growing vegetables.

"They couldn't give us shears or something?" Anna comments, picking at the grime on her usually-manicured unkempt fingers. "This garden is overrun."

"This really must be your first time here. Don't you know? Gardening shears could be a weapon." He scoffs, digging the tip of the hoe into the hard soil.

"Anything could be a weapon with enough imagination," she replies. "Why do you get to wear your rings? They took all my jewelry when I came in."

"They know me well enough now." Harry rests on a bench at the edge of the garden and wipes his forehead with his long sleeve. The coup to the side runs rampant with loud chickens and their flock. A baby chick wattles toward him. He effortlessly picks up the runty fowl.

It becomes very clear how little she knows about the man she's made a pact with. "Wait... how many times have you been here?"

Harry scratches the soft feathers at the top of the squeamish bird's head. "Enough that they know me well enough." He looks up at her as he rubs his nose against his new found friend.

"How do you do that?" she asks, bypassing the awkward conversation of Harry's multiple stays at the institution. That would likely be a conversation saved for later. His reservations to share details shows he's not ready to open up this particular piece of his past.

"What? This?" He holds the bird up against his face and mimics a few clucks. "I don't know. Damaged things just gravitate to me, I guess. Can't really fix myself so I figure I'll fix em."

She picks the soot out of her fingernails and continues her plethora of questions. "What... what do you do outside of these walls? What's your job? What are your hobbies? I feel like we've randomly gotten so close. I've shared all these facts about myself but I know hardly anything about you."

"Hey there. Number 22 on your list. Be comfortable getting your hands dirty. Stop that." Harry points to her fidgeting digits.

Anna smirks and digs her hands into the ground, dry topsoil to wet layers underneath. Bringing her paw back out, she draws warpaint under her eyes with the earth on her fingertips. "You're right."

"Atta girl," Harry says. "To answer your questions, I've bounced around a lot of odd jobs. Bartender here. Valet there. Cater waiter. Masseuse. I'm pretty decent on guitar and get paid well enough to play in bands every once in a while. That's sort of a hobby and a job, I'd imagine. I like to draw too. What about you, strawberry?"

She giggles at her new nickname. "Never really had a chance to think of an answer to that. Can you come back to me for that answer later?"

Harry nods, making a silent vow to himself to help her find her passions in life along their treacherous journey together. "Do you have anything on you from breakfast earlier today?"

Anna throws him a half eaten granola bar. He crumbles a small piece of it and palm-feeds the tiny chick. "We shall call her..." Harry holds the bird in the air like the opening scene of the Lion King.

"Ziggy!" Anna responds. "She has that cute mark over her eye like Ziggy Stardust. I think it works."

"Perfect!" Harry tucks the bird into the front kangaroo pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. Pets were forbidden in the institution but he was known for being unable to separate from the things he quickly became attached to. "I think our job here is done, strawberry. Shall we?" He holds his bent arm to the side to escort Anna back inside.

* * *

"I miss real food." Anna digs her fork into a pile of gray mush on her tray. "Mashed potatoes my ass."

"Save some for Ziggy." Harry pinches a bit of potatoes and feeds a small amount to the bird hidden in his hoodie.

"This is bonkers, isn't it? This place is supposed to help us? We're basically served slop every day. We got punished for actually connecting with another patient. Bed checks? I mean really. Is this a therapeutic center or is it prison?" Anna puts a small helping of mashed potatoes at the tip of her fork and slingshots it at Harry's face. She laughs maniacally at her small prank.

Harry wipes the food off his chin with his index finger and licks it off. The sight of his tongue against his hand causes her to swallow hard and her chest to lightly heave. "Connecting, huh? You trying to say we connected?" Harry wiggles his eyebrows.

"I was referring to Agatha, Harry," she lies, turning red in the face. "Speaking of whom - " Anna turns to her first friend at the institution. "Thank you for the assist earlier, Aggie."

"You're welcome. I'm not 100 percent certain what I did but this bread pudding is extra runny tonight." Agatha, who sits next to Harry across from Anna, takes in a bite of her lunchtime dessert.

"So, Annie, when do you get out of here?" Harry tries to subdue the chirps of the chick in his pocket while maintaining eye contact with Anna.

"Couple of days, I suppose." She plays with the blonde hair of her long side braid.

"You're almost a free woman," Harry says, half delighted and half depressed at the thought of being left without his new confidante. "What are you going to do when you get out?"

"I'm not sure. Go see my mum. Get some real food. Think I need to get a place of my own, too." Anna's fork stirs around her half-cooked peas. Only a few days of knowing Harry and he'd already left a lasting imprint on her mentality. "I was talking to the therapist the other day and I realized a lot of my issues stem from my over-attachment to my parents. I think I need to get out and move on."

"Proud of you, Annie. No matter what you decide to do." Harry smiles and puts his hand over hers to subdue her nervous fidgeting. "Maybe I'll run into you on the other side once I'm out."

"Well... that's the thing, Harry. I was thinking... maybe... I mean... if you want. Maybe I can pick you up when you get out? You told me before you don't have a place to stay. Did you want to maybe stay with me while you get back on your feet?"

Streams of pure joy pour from his eyes. No one has ever taken care of him or even offered to help him. He knew since the first day he met her there was something different in her. She didn't know him, and he her. They met in a mental institution and they were blindly following their instincts.

Number 34: Have faith in someone that shows faith in you.

"Not totally sure how to respond to that." Harry stares down at his tray.

"It was a dumb idea. You don't have to. Just thought I'd offer." Anna shakes her head nervously and tries to push the embarrassing moment away into the atmosphere to disappear into eternity.

"No, stop. It's just, in all my stays here, here in this place and earth in general," Harry scoffs, "no one's ever offered me something like that."

"I figured I need someone to hold me to my list, right?" she points to her face, still muddied from their time in the garden. "What do you say?"

"I get out in about 2 weeks. You can pick me up, under one condition."

"Mmhmm?"

"You had on your list that you wanted to wear whatever you want to wear. Be whoever you want to be. Even if it's just for an hour. When you pick me up, I want you to be exactly the way you've always wanted to be."