Page 148 of Unspoken Truths

“Yep, I’m done,” I rasp, unable to breathe as I stand and stumble to the door.

Pulling it open, I step out to find Emil racing around the corner to me. My mom is right behind him, brow furrowed.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asks, taking in my trembling hands and heaving chest.

I really can’t breathe.

Tears are beyond me, my eyes dry as a bone as I lean against the wall and drop my head back.

“Barrett!” Emil yells as my therapist walks out on the phone.

“I’m sorry, sir. I believe her delusions are just too powerful,” he says. “A chase in the woods, being thrown in a creek? Wouldn’t she be in the hospital otherwise?”

“Who are you calling?” Nacio asks, having followed my mom and his dad out to us. “What do you mean by her delusions? That all happened, you idiot.”

“Yes, I have a client who is currently having an episode that needs immediate attention,” Barrett says, raising his brow at my stepbrother. “She’s having a mental health crisis and needs to be committed.”

My feet slide out from underneath me as my legs collapse, the tears finally forming. I can’t, I can’t.

“You’re freaking her out,” Nacio says, pointing at me. “Who are you to tell her what she didn’t experience?”

“Why didn’t she go to the hospital?” Barrett hisses, clearly on hold. “If her feet were so badly injured, where is the evidence of that? Where are the words on her skin?”

“Her girlfriend and her mother helped her get the permanent marker off,” Emil says, his voice so low I’m waiting for him to shoot my therapist. “I have people who took care of my stepdaughter at home, as she is terrified of hospitals. Why are you twisting everything around? Rachelle isn’t a liar?”

“You’re clearly accomplices to her delusions,” Barrett says, ignoring as I begin to sob. “Rachelle is running away from her problems, has admitted to hearing voices, and she’s not getting any better. I believe the only course of action is the one I’m taking so they’ll be able to get her on a medication regimen.”

“This is against everything we discussed,” Emil says. “I could ruin your entire life and practice.”

“It’s a good thing I ran into some good fortune,” Barrett says with a smirk. “The Kings want to remind you that the society is forever. You don’t get to pick and choose just because you chose to do that with your family.”

Oh my God.

Nacio is across the space between him and my therapist in seconds to punch him in the face. Barrett is a pussy who can’t handle violence, allowing my stepbrother to catch his phone and toss it to his dad.

“Okay, Rachelle,” Nacio says, coming to drop to his knees in front of me. “I need you to take a breath for me, okay?”

Shaking my head as my lungs seize on me, I gasp soundlessly instead. That’s easier asked than done.

“Look, your therapist is knocked out, and Dad has this taken care of,” he reminds me, motioning to where Emil is discussing things on the phone.

“No, I understand what that sounded like, but I believe my adopted daughter’s therapist is under the influence of an outside party,” Emil says. “I have a lot of people who would love to fuck with my family, and it’s unfortunately spread to Barrett like a bad stomach bug. He is being fired for scaring my daughter. The very idea of being hospitalized is giving her an anxiety attack. He is using a code 5150 as a weapon to have her committed.”

“Come on,nena,” Nacio whispers, pressing his forehead against mine. “Be a good girl for me and let your lungs open. You want oxygen, there’s nothing in this house that can hurt you, not now that Barrett is about to be thrown out like yesterday’s trash.”

Sucking in a lungful of air, I cough because everything is too tightly wound. My body is telling me to run, to save myself, I can’t have another experience where I felt like a vegetable. I was overmedicated with psychotropic drugs, and I couldn’t think. I twitched like a druggie needing her next dose, my dreams were fucked, and it was one of the worst experiences I’ve had.

I cannot go back.

Slowly, I focus on breathing when he does. His body wash smells like cedar, amber, and violet leaves, giving me something to draw into my lungs to distract myself with. I can still hear my stepfather discussing things on the phone, notice my mother walk over to kick my therapist in the head, but Nacio fills the rest of my senses.

My heart is still beating hard, and my stepbrother rubs my hands with enough pressure for me to feel it. Otherwise, things feel muffled, as if I’m wrapped in wool. I’m surprised at how well he’s handling this, because even I can admit that I’m losing my shit right now.

“Thank you. I appreciate that you have to send people out, however I live on private property and will not be opening my gate,” Emil says.

Listening to something else, I watch as he swallows back a snort of diversion.

“Yes, please see how well sending the police will go for you. Although, they’ll be able to take away my therapist who is now in breach of his commitment to my adopted daughter to take over her care, but he is also trespassing and threatening her. On second thought, please send the cavalry," he says, hanging up.

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