Chapter 4
GRAHAM RUSHED DOWN TO THE basketball court and tried to get to his sister. A crowd had already gathered around her. The basketball coach and the cheerleading coach were crouched on the floor by Kaya’s side, and the basketball coach shouted instructions to one of his players. The player ran out of the gym, most likely to call an ambulance. Graham pushed through the other cheerleaders and players, who had just come out of the locker room for the second half, and finally got to Kaya.
“Kaya!” he called out.
Kaya’s head turned toward him. She was stretched out on the floor, tears on her face.
“Graham!” she cried, reaching out a hand toward him. The cheerleading coach moved away and let him kneel next to his sister. “Graham! I fell from the pyramid!”
“I know,” Graham said, taking her outstretched hand. “What hurts?”
“My ankle,” Kaya said, “and my wrist. I put out my arm to try to stop the fall. I-I can’t believe she finally did it!”
The cheerleading coach looked at Kaya. “Did what?”
Kaya looked at her coach. “Knock me off the pyramid. She’s been wanting to do it for a long time.”
Miss Green looked horrified. “Who knocked you off?”
Graham quickly turned to the coach. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know your name.”
“Miss Green,” the coach said. “I’m the coach. I assume you’re Kaya’s brother. I’ve seen you watching practice in the bleachers. I—I spoke to your mother a few weeks ago. What does she mean, someone’s been wanting to knock her off the pyramid for a long time?”
Graham shook his head and moved Miss Green out of Kaya’s earshot. “Kaya’s been having some issues lately,” he said. “That’s why my mom wanted us to watch out for her. She’s been under a lot of stress. She’s been saying some . . . strange things.”
Miss Green nodded. “Kaya told me about your father,” she said, sympathy showing in her eyes. “I imagine that must take a toll on a young girl. But she seemed to be adjusting so well.”
“Yeah, she’s been doing great for a long time,” Graham said. “I’ll have to let my mom know that she’s struggling again. I saw her fall. I didn’t see anyone knock her down.”
“Graham!” Kaya called out. “Come back. Please.”
Graham looked solemnly at Miss Green and then went back to his sister’s side. He took her hand again. “I’m right here, Kaya.”
Kaya looked up at his face. “She said she was gonna do it. She specifically said, ‘I’m gonna do it this time.’ I tried to ignore her, like I’ve been doing. I tried to believe that it wasn’t real. But then she did it! She knocked me off!”
Graham shook his head. “Kaya, I was watching the whole time,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone do anything to make you fall. You just lost your balance.”
Kaya shook her head. “No! I didn’t! I mean, I did, but only because Jill made me. She twisted her back or something. I don’t know exactly what she did, but she made me fall.”
Graham wasn’t sure how to respond. He could tell that Kaya believed with all of her heart that her teammate had caused the fall. “Kaya,” he said. “I’ll go with you to the hospital. Chet’s here, so I’ll ask him to drive my car home. I have to call Mom. Can you stay here with Miss Green until I call her? But Kaya, don’t say anything else to her about what happened on the pyramid, okay? Let’s talk to Mom first. She’ll know what to do.”
Kaya nodded meekly and let her head rest on the floor. Graham pulled his sweatshirt up above his head, bunched it up, and put it under Kaya’s head. “Thanks.” She turned her head away from him. “You don’t believe me, do you? You think this was just one of those voices things. Yes, I did hear Jill say she was gonna do it. She told me to get ready to hit the floor. That’s why I yelled out before I fell. I was trying to stop her! But she didn’t listen. I knew I was gonna fall! Graham!” She sighed. “You have to believe me!” She started to cry again.
At that moment, the paramedics came through the gym door, pushing a stretcher. “Kaya, we’ll talk later. I have to call Mom real quick. Then I’ll be back. The ambulance guys will take care of you. You’ll be okay.”
He stood and ran toward the hallway where he found a payphone by the main entrance of the school. He called his home number and was relieved when his mother picked up the phone. He told her about the accident, and she promised to meet him at the hospital as soon as she could. He hung up the phone and ran back to the gym.
The paramedics were loading Kaya onto the stretcher as Graham approached. He stood next to one of them until he looked at him. “Is she doing okay?”
The paramedic looked at him and smiled. “Are you her boyfriend?” he asked.
“No,” Graham said. “I’m her older brother. How is she?”
“She’ll be okay,” the paramedic said. “It looks like a couple of sprains, and maybe a bruised tailbone. We’ll get her to emergency and they’ll get some pictures to make sure. Are your parents here?”
“Our mom will meet us there,” Graham said. “I need to go with her, okay?”
The paramedic nodded. “No problem, man. Nice looking out for your little sister. I never had a little sister. Just an older one. Left home after high school and never came back. Could have used her advice sometimes.” He walked back over to Kaya and kneeled next to her, talking to her softly.
The second parametric approached him. “You’re the brother?” Graham nodded. “Do you know if she has any allergies?”
“Penicillin,” Graham said. “Nothing else that I know of.”
The paramedic nodded and made a mark on the paper on his clipboard. “Any medical problems that you know of?”
Graham hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should mention the voices. There was that small concern that it could be a brain tumor, like he’d read about in the library. But the paramedic didn’t need to know that. “No.”
“Okay. Are you riding with us?” Graham nodded. “Get your jacket. We’ll be heading out in a minute or so.”
Graham nodded and climbed the bleachers.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Chet asked nervously when he reached him. “Man, she fell from pretty high. I thought for sure she was a goner.”
“Me too.” Graham sighed. “She’s hurt, but it’s just minor,” he said. He took his keys from his pocket. “Can you drive my car home? I’d really be grateful.”
Chet nodded and took the keys. “Call me later and let me know she’s okay,” he said. He put on his jacket. “I’m kinda glad I don’t have to watch the second half of this game, but not that it came about this way.” He gave Graham’s arm a squeeze and then turned to leave.
Graham pulled on his own jacket and returned to the center of the floor. Other observers looked like they were starting to get bored. Graham caught sight of Jill standing off to the side of the court by herself, pompoms dangling from her hands. Her forehead was wrinkled, and she was gnawing on her knuckles. Graham couldn’t tell if it was a look of concern or of guilt. It had to be concern. There was no sign that Jill had done anything to cause Kaya’s fall.
The paramedics started to collect their tools and then pushed the stretcher toward the hallway. Graham followed behind. “Where’s Graham?” he heard Kaya say to the team.
“I’m right here,” Graham said, trotting to walk alongside the stretcher. “Mom’s gonna meet us at the ER. We’ll make sure they take care of you.”
Kaya reached her arm out, and Graham took her hand. “Everything hurts,” she moaned. “And I feel like such an idiot. All of those people, watching me fall!” She shook her head. “For the rest of high school, I’ll be known as the cheerleader who fell off the pyramid during her first game. Maybe even after high school. I’ll be famous at Wisteria High, and Florence High for that matter, for the rest of my life!”
I’d rather have you be known as that, Graham thought, than as the girl who went nuts, accused someone of knocking her off the pyramid, and then threw herself to the floor.
The ride to the hospital was short. All rides through Wisteria, and its neighboring town of Florence, were short. They were small towns, even compared to other small towns. Soon, Kaya’s stretcher was being pushed through the main doors and directed to a holding room. A nurse came to her side, immediately in action. A moment later, Mrs. Reed entered the room. “Kaya!” she said. She ran to her side. “Are you okay?”
At the first glance of her mother, Kaya started to cry anew. “Mom! I fell! It was so scary! I thought I was gonna fall on my head and die!” She sniffed.
Mrs. Reed took her hand. “I’m here now, sweetheart,” she said softly. “You’re gonna be okay.”
Kaya’s lower lip trembled. “It was Jill!” she said. “She did it! No one believes me! I knew she was gonna do it. She’s been telling me. I really tried to ignore it like it wasn’t real, but doesn’t this prove that it was real? Mom, I’m not imagining the voices!”
Mrs. Reed looked at Graham, horror in her eyes.
“Kaya,” she said, composing her expression quickly before turning back. “We’ll talk about that later. Now, we just need to make sure you’re okay. Once we know that, we’ll talk more.”
The doctor came into the room.
“Hello, Kaya,” she said. “I’m Dr. Bellows. I hear you took a fall.” She looked at the chart the nurse had been working on. “Your wrist and ankle hurt, and also your butt.” She smiled. “I’ll take a look, and then we’ll take some X-rays.”
She examined Kaya from head to toe, even places that Kaya had not complained about. When she was finished, she waved Graham and Mrs. Reed closer and spoke to the whole family.
“I don’t think there are any fractures, but we won’t take any chances. I’ll order wrist, ankle, and pelvic X-rays. Mrs. Reed, you can accompany her down to X-ray. After she comes back, we’ll talk some more.”
“Dr. Bellows,” Mrs. Reed said, her hand on her neck and her voice laced with anxiety. “Would it be okay if I speak to you for a moment in the hall?”
Dr. Bellows nodded and led Mrs. Reed outside the room.
Kaya turned to Graham. “What’s she gonna tell her?” she asked. “She’s gonna tell her I’m hearing voices, isn’t she? Graham, if they think I’m crazy, they’ll put me in the hospital! I swear, I’m not crazy! Please, tell them I’m not crazy!”
Graham bit his lower lip. He was picking up his mother’s nervous tic.
“Kaya, no one thinks you’re crazy,” he said. “We’re all just . . . worried about you, that’s all. Can’t you see how it looks to everyone else? I’ve watched you do the pyramid at least ten times. I’ve never seen Jill say or do anything out of the ordinary, even when you say that she did. What am I supposed to think? I want to believe you. I mean, I do believe that you heard what you heard. I just don’t know where it came from. But what I think is that it came from your own head. From what I’ve read about voices, they sound as real as if you were hearing someone speak. They know some stuff about what part of the brain causes them, but so far, they don’t have the greatest treatment to make them stop. All they can do is try to make them go away by giving people medicine that blocks them.”
“I don’t want to take medicine!” Kaya protested. “I’m not sick! Grandma takes like eight pills every day. But she’s seventy-eight. I’m only fourteen! And I don’t think I need any medicine. I was able to go for a long time without letting it bother me. I can do that again!”
“Kaya,” Graham said gently. “You just don’t get it. You could have been really hurt. What if you had fallen on your head? You could have died, or ended up with a really bad head injury. You could have broken your spine and ended up paralyzed. Can’t you see how serious this is? What if it was voices? What if you thought that Jill was saying she was going to hurt you, and it freaked you out so bad that you panicked, and you fell on your own? Doesn’t that scare you at all, that maybe you’re the one that caused this in the first place?”
Kaya stared at him, her lips pursed. Then she turned away. Mrs. Reed came back into the room, smiling.
“Someone will be coming in soon to wheel you down to X-ray,” she said. “I’m hoping this goes quickly so we don’t have to be here all night.” She looked at Graham. “While we’re gone, you can wait in the waiting room.” She handed him some bills. “You can get some food from the machines if you want, or you can go to the cafeteria.”
“What did you say to the doctor?” Kaya insisted.
Mrs. Reed kept her smile in place. “Kaya, I just told her some of my concerns, that’s all.”
Kaya nodded. “You told her that I’m crazy. That I hear voices. Mom, are they gonna lock me up? I’m not hurting anyone! I just want to go home!”
Mrs. Reed shook her head and took Kaya’s good hand. “Kaya, no one’s gonna lock you up. I just told Dr. Bellows that I was worried about you, and the fact that you got hurt. I’m worried that you might get hurt again. I’m scared, Kaya. I have one job, and it’s to keep you safe. If I can’t keep you safe, I fail. So I asked Dr. Bellows to make a referral to the psychiatric department, so you can see someone, and we can talk about how we can make these voices stop, once and for all.”
Kaya closed her eyes. “They’re not gonna stop, Mom! They’re not voices! They’re real!” She inhaled deeply and then sighed. She shook her head. “Why should I even bother? No one believes me! Don’t you think I know myself? I would know if something was wrong.”
“Kaya,” Graham said, “I’ve actually read that most people with mental illness don’t really have good insight into what’s going on with them. That’s what’s so tricky about it. Mental illness fools the person who has it into believing that it’s all real. That’s why it’s important for the people who love you to make sure you have the treatment you need. To keep you safe.”
“If you want to keep me safe,” Kaya said softly, almost too controlled, “you’ll do something to stop Jill. If no one does anything about her, someone else is gonna get hurt. You just watch. You’ll see. I bet you anything, at the next cheerleading practice, Jill will be right up there, on top of my pyramid. And she’ll look really happy. And you know why? Because she did what she had to do to get her way. Trust me. That’s what’s gonna happen.” She closed her eyes, as if trying to shut out the rest of the world.
Mrs. Reed quickly pulled Graham out of the room. “Is it just me,” she said quietly, “or does it sound like she’s starting to get paranoid, too?”
Graham felt as if something had just grabbed his heart and squeezed. “Paranoid?”
Mrs. Reed nodded. “Dr. Bellows asked me if she had any symptoms besides the voices, and I told her no. She told me to watch out for delusions, like having thoughts about things that aren’t really happening. Paranoia is a kind of delusion. I think Kaya’s really stuck on this idea that Jill’s trying to hurt her. It’s getting bigger and bigger. She believes it so much, it might be that’s why she fell. Graham, I really think we need to get her on medication now before it gets worse.” She shook her head. “I really wanted to believe it was just stress.” She looked down, took a few breaths, and then lifted her head. “But I don’t think it is. Graham, I’m afraid there might be a long road ahead of us, and I’m gonna really need you to help me. Do you think we can work together to help Kaya get well?”
Graham glanced into the holding space. Kaya was still lying still with her eyes closed tightly, her good hand gripping the bed rail so hard, it was turning white. He turned back to his mother and nodded.
“I’ll help you,” he said. “I love Kaya. I want her to be okay. I just hope that whatever we try, it will help her soon. I hate to see her feeling so scared and alone.”