Page 12 of Needing to Fall
“True, but you’ve been determined to be a threat to yourself and others.”
I stilled.Others?
“What?”
“Yep, and the only way to get out of here is to follow what we tell you and do what we tell you.” She lifted her brows.
“I don’t get how I’m a danger to others,” I told her.
“Holding a gun on your friend.”
A red haze went over my eyes, and strength I thought I had lost long ago came with it. Anger bubbled in my veins, setting my skin on fire.
“She told you that?”That lying little bitch!
Nurse Hatchet pulled up the lone chair in the room that had yet to be used during my stay. She grabbed my hand, and I instantly pulled away, though I was stopped by the white straps. She didn’t stop and grabbed my hand, anyway. My skin felt superhot from her touch. I wanted to shake it off, shakeheroff.
“None of that matters.”
“The hell it doesn’t.” My hands began shaking with the anger floating around me.
She squeezed my hand hard, either to settle me or comfort me. I didn’t know which and didn’t give a shit.
“You think I don’t know that girl lied to get you in here? I know it and you know it. Her reasons for doing it are her own. Bottom line, at this point, it doesn’t matter. Your behavior over the time you’ve been here has proven to the doctors that youneedto be here. You can’t blame your friend for that.”
The hell I couldn’t. She was the reason I was here. Regardless, I listened to what nurse Hatchet said and kept my mouth shut, even if I was thinking,I hate you.
“You did try to take your life, Reign. Let’s not forget that.”
“You have no idea what I’ve gone through,” I snapped back, again pulling at my hand yet getting nowhere.
“I know more than you think, young lady.”
My head jerked.
“Right now, we need to get you ready, and be warned, if you take a swing at me, I do fight back.” She winked at me, rose from the chair, and did what she wanted me to do.
***
Boring. Absolutely, positively boring. Wrestler McMann went through everything I had ever told Andi from a manila folder, which proved nothing except that he could read. Good for him.
I ached when he talked about Drew, felt strange when he talked about Andi, and didn’t know what to make of any of it. He asked me questions, which I mostly answered with one word or a nod of the head. I didn’t feel comfortable with him.
It wasn’t his appearance, which let me tell you, was nothing to tell a best friend about if I had one. He was round, short, and had a patch of hair that he combed over, trying to make it look like he had hair on the top of his head. He also had thick glasses that made him look like a closed-off snob. Like I wanted to open up to someone like that. Uh, no, thank you.
He told me that I was a very negative person and needed to find some positives. The only one that I could come up with was that, since I was on such alert here, I didn’t have time to fall down the dark hole that is my life. It was still there, waving like a pool of water under my feet, but my focus was on this place.
The first order of business here was to get out. If that meant I had to play this sick, little game, I would do it. I had played lots of games in my life. This one should be no different. Second, make it all end.
“That was a good session. I feel like you did great. We will do these twice a day for the next week.”
The next fucking week? Was that how long they were planning on keeping me here?
***
Drew came into my room after school with a look of fierceness. I was in tears again. It wasn’t the first time, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last.
The girls at school were horrible, teasing and tormenting me at every turn. Today in the girls’ locker room, the ring leader of them all, Tonya, started in on my small boobs. She said no one, not even Drew, would want some flat-chested girl. The words kept coming out of her mouth over and over again. I couldn’t escape them. I ran and hid in the girls’ bathroom down the hall until the last bell rang.
