Advice from a caterpillar

"You have to talk, my dear, it's the only way."
Lucy stirred her tea with the teaspoon, even smiled, but said nothing.
The nice nurse chuckled softly and drank a sip of her own tea.
"You see," she said, "this is a school and you can't learn without listening and talking. When you come to this place it means you have failed at all the others. It's time to stop trying all by yourself and accept there's help available."
Lucy kept her sad smile firmly in place while the nurse's words floated around her, filling the room, seeping out through the windows.
She thought about the escape, the days hiding, the proverbial sword above her head, the new opportunities that had new duties... She thought how simple life was when there was just Rupert and her in it.
"You'll have to talk, dear,"
"I want to sleep", she announced. Then left the room and the nurse.
.