Chapter 2 #2
It wasn’t like I was going to press the issue.
I learned my lesson. Betsy was right. Keep my mouth shut and I wouldn’t have to get beat up.
It didn’t help. I’d done nothing for that girl.
Where were they? Had something happened that they’d actually taken me to a hospital?
There were images. But I couldn’t hold onto them, like they weren’t solid.
When she was done with whatever she was doing, she stuck a straw in my mouth and I sipped.
“You’re really pretty, aren’t you, when you’re not in this condition.” She didn’t phrase it like a question. “And you and my daughter are the same age. I bet you’ll be friends.”
Friends? “Is she at the school too?”
“Hold on.” She placed a gentle hand on my arm before she turned and scooted from the room on white sneakers that didn’t make a noise at all. “Dr. Lent,” she said as she got to the doorway. “She’s up.”
The nurse had a southern accent. I hadn’t heard one in a while. Dr. Lent?
That was the last thing I heard her say. What?
A second later, a man wearing a white collared shirt with a red tie and blue pants appeared in sight. He smiled at me brightly.
It took me a moment to register who was in front of me. This was Dr. Eric Lent. The youngest of the Lent brothers’ fathers. Technically, he was Phoenix’s bio dad. What was he doing here?
I tried to sit up fu rther, but it was hard. Too hard. He walked over and pushed a button, bringing the bed to an even higher sitting position. “There. That’s better. Alatheia, how are you feeling?”
I stared at him. Okay. Was I to assume this was real and not some drug fueled dream? I didn’t know. But I answered him just the same. “Confused. Not sure I’m awake.”
“Right.” He sat on the edge of my bed. “That’s to be expected.
Big time. It wouldn’t be weird if you fell right back to sleep in a second.
On and off for the next few days. That would be normal and not something to worry about.
” He patted my hand. “You’re awake. It’s real.
How about physically? I am sure a lot of things hurt. Anything really badly?”
“My head.” I stopped. This was too odd. “Aren’t you a plastic surgeon? ”
“That is the rumor, but lately this is more of what I do, it seems. That’s not your problem to worry about.
I’ll get back to it sooner or later. I’m working with another doctor, he’ll be here in a bit, who specializes more in what happened to you than I do.
Even though I’m a little out of my depth, I can certainly handle keeping you comfortable in basic ways.
Your head hurts. We’ll get that taken care of.
” He took his phone out of his pocket and pushed some buttons.
“I’m ordering it now. Listen, for just now, I want you to sleep and rest.”
A man who stood in the doorway spoke, catching my attention. “Yes, that’s right. Sleep and rest. Coming down is painful, and you’ll have to endure it. I’m sorry about that.”
Eric stood. “This is Dr. Kirk Trevor. He’s a dear friend.
And he specializes, fortunately for us, in getting people through addiction issues.
Not your fault, but you’ve been so medicated for so long now on things that you should not have been taking that you’re going to have to live through withdrawal from it.
After that, he’ll help you with the things that have happened.
Right now, this is the most important thing.
Sleep. Rest. Food when you can stomach it.
I’m keeping the boys out because I want you to sleep, and all four of them in a room is a lot.
But if you would prefer it, I can let them in. ”
I didn’t understand any of this and I was too blank to try. “What?”
Dr. Trevor patted my other arm. “Too much, Eric. Too soon. For now, you’re in a clinic in Louisiana. It’s a private clinic. You don’t have to be concerned about saying anything or everything here. Every person you see here knows what you know. Okay?”
His words sunk in. “About… about…”
I looked at Eric, and he nodded. “About the Life.”
Kirk rose. “You’ll be seeing me around a lot.
We’ll get you up and moving as soon as I’m sure you won’t fall over, and then we’ll go from there.
One boy at a time as long as they understand that if she’s sleeping, she stays that way.
Even if it’s mid-conversation. I hear any of them are keeping her up and they’re all out. ”
“Got it.” Eric nodded.
I was glad he did because I didn’t know what was going on. “Your sons?”
“Yes, them. Are you hungry?”
Was I? It was Kirk who answered. He was older than Eric. Those details were starting to filter in. Slowly. I still wasn’t sure I could pick him out in a crowd. He answered Eric. “Doubtful.”
My eyes closed.
The next time I woke up it was dark in the room, and I wasn’t alone.
In a chair next to my bed, staring at something he was watching on his phone, was Julian Lent.
I stared at him. He was skinnier than I remembered and there were dark circles under his eyes.
But there they were, the blue eyes I remembered.
He had been the first Lent I’d met. He liked books best in the world and had written a play.
How was he here? Oh, that was right. I wasn’t… wherever I had been. My mouth was dry.
“Can I have some water?”
He jumped, his phone going flying, but he didn’t move except to stare at me, blinking rapidly before he lunged to his feet and was filling a cup with water from a pitcher nearby.
“Here.” He tried to hand it to me, and I legitimately tried to take it, but my hand shook. Badly. Oh this. Yes, I knew this feeling. This was because it had been the bad drug. The one that hurt.
Julian frowned and then grabbed a straw and placed it in my mouth. “Sorry. I’ll hold it.”
I was grateful, but I wasn’t going to say anything else until I got the cool water down my throat. Finally, I could speak. “Thank you.”
“Yes, of course, Baby. Of course.” He took my shaking hand in his.
“How are you?” A nurse—different from the first one—poked her head in, and he looked over his shoulder.
“She woke up. I didn’t wake her.” The woman nodded and left.
He turned back to me. “They’ll throw me out if I wake you.
I won’t. Okay? I just want to take care of you. That’s all I want.”
I was actually able to sit up a little, but it wasn’t as easy as it should have been. He helped me, repositioning my pillow. “I’m pretty confused.”
“What do you remember?” He let go of my hand to smooth a hand over my head. It was then that I realized my hair had been shaved.
“They must have done that again when I was out of it.”
“What?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t follow that.”
I sighed. “They shaved my head. It was head shaving day, but I got in trouble and then they injected me, and I don’t remember them shaving my head, but they must have.”
I hoped that made sense because I was in no condition to explain it again.
He kissed my hand, bringing it to his mouth. “Maybe later you can tell me more. I’m so sorry that happened. Yes, your hair is pretty much gone right now. But it doesn’t matter. Okay? It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “I don’t care. Not really.” I didn’t really care about anything.
He tried to hold my gaze, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I stared at the wall instead. There was a picture of… Paris on it. I knew the Eiffel Tower even though I’d never seen it in person. Paris in sunshine.
“Thank you for commenting on that post. That was what we hoped. That you would see it. That you couldn’t reach us, but you could see it there and we would see it. That was just what we hoped, no matter how improbable it seemed.”
Post? “Oh, the Poor Relation thing.”
“Right.” He nodded, still holding my shaking hand.
“We don’t have to talk about it right now.
You can just rest. We can sit here. I can put something on the television.
Or my phone.” It was still on the floor.
“We can listen to music. Or just be silent. Whatever you want. That’s what’s going to happen. From here on in and forever.”
Forever? What was that? “Where are the other girls? What happened to them?”
“What do you remember?” He repeated his earlier question.
“Nothing.”
Julian nodded, some of his brown hair falling in his face. “Then let’s start at the beginning.”
I wanted to listen, but my eyes closed.
The next time I woke I was itchy. So itchy. I sat up, which also made me nauseous. Oh, shit I was going to puke. A bucket was placed quickly in front of me—which was good because I vomited. I hadn’t eaten in I didn’t know how long, but I had plenty of stomach bile and it was coming up.
Over and over. Finally, when it stopped, I grabbed my arms to rub them where they itched. A cool compress was placed on the back of my neck. “This sucks. I know. Hold on. Let me get the nurse.”
I stared at the speaker before I recognized the voice. It was Phoenix. He hit a button and then wiped my forehead. “Are you done? More?”
“Done.” I hoped. “I’m itching everywhere.”
He nodded, wincing as he did. “It just sucks. Maybe they can give you something.”
The nurse arrived. “Phoenix?”
“She’s throwing up, and she’s itchy.”
The nurse’s nod was slow. “I’ll let Dr. Trevor know.” As fast as she had arrived, she left. Everything felt off. Fast. Slow. Fast. Slow. Why wasn’t anything normal?
“Why am I itchy?” I rubbed my arms and then started to scratch them. Phoenix grabbed my hands.
“Don’t do that, Red. It’ll hurt you. Okay? It won’t help. You’re itchy because you’re coming off some class of drugs that are making you itchy. It’s part of the withdrawal.”
I took a deep breath and brought my head to my knees. This was my favorite place. My safe place. This position. No one could really hurt me when I was like this.
Phoenix patted my head. “This is going to end. I promise. It won’t last as long as it feels. One day it’ll just be a memory. Something you lived through, not something you are still living.”
I lifted my eyes to meet his gaze. It hurt, but I managed it for a second. “You look different.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that—I was the one who looked different. Probably unrecognizable.
“I’m clean.” He answered. “For about four months. Still new, but yes, I would guess I look different. That’s why I know how much this sucks.” He ran his hand over the back of my scalp. “I love you, and I have missed you so much.”
I put my head back on my knees and closed my eyes.
The next time I woke, the room was dark, the lights dimmed to match whatever was happening outside. The beeping was back.
“Alatheia.” It was Barrett. He walked over and sat down next to me, but he turned to speak to yet another nurse. “You have to stop that. She can’t possibly be expected to sleep through that beeping.”
“I’m changing it, Mr. Lent.” Her tone said what she felt about his comment. “The IVs beep when they need to be changed.”
He glared at her. “Then change it before it starts beeping.”
She shot him a look of death and then stared back at me. “Hi there. Can I get you anything?” This one was older, gray-haired with lines around her eyes.
“I wouldn’t know what to ask for.” I was thirsty again. “I could use a little water, maybe.”
Barrett jumped up. He poured the water, grabbed a straw, and came back quickly.
“Here. Sip.” He didn’t try to hand it to me but held it, which I appreciated.
The nurse left, and I sat back on the bed.
My whole body ached. “Is pain medication one of the things I could ask for or is that not allowed? I don’t want to break any rules. ”
Barrett set down the cup. “I’ll tell her you need some. There aren’t rules here.”
“There are rules everywhere. Even when we don’t think there are rules, there are rules. I don’t want to break them. I don’t want to get in trouble. I don’t want to go back there.”
He scooted out of the room and came back fast. “They’ll give you something. There is no world where you will go back there.”
“My family could send me back. They could. Or the place could come get me.”
He touched the side of my cheek. “Never. It can’t happen.”
I didn’t believe him.