The CAD skidded to an abrupt hault at the end of the hall, shocked at what they saw. There was a girl sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, both wrists cut and bleeding everywhere.

"Shannon?!" Chris immediately dropped to the floor beside the girl, and Liz went running down the hallway, Tina close behind. Their slippers slid like ice along the polished white floors, and it wasn't long before they reached Cherl's office. They looked through the window beside the door, only to find that Cherl wasn't there.

"Where could she be?!" Liz was practically screaming she was so upset, and Tina was doing her best to keep up with Liz's quick pace. They ran to the front office, to see Crystal on the phone, and Cherl was no where in sight.

"Crystal get off the phone!" Tina was the one screaming now, and Liz was doing her best to keep from shrieking. Crystal held up her pointer finger in a symbol of "hang on a second", but automatically changed her mind when she saw Liz and Tina.

"Debbie I'll have to call you back, bye." Crystal hung up the phone and looked at the girls, wondering what could be so urgent that they would be pale as ghosts. "What is it Liz?"

"Shannon she.." and with that Liz fainted backwards onto Tina, who caught her.

"Tina what's going on?"

"Shannon..a cutter girl...she slit her wrists and I think she might be dead." Crystal's jaw hit the floor, and quickly rushed over to help get Liz off of Tina.

"Tina call 911, and direct them inside. Where is she?"

"Hall 9, she's leaning against the wall. Chris, Nicole, Vix, and Callie are all with her." Crystal nodded her head and went running down the hall as fast as she could manage without slipping on the newly polished floor. Tina rushed into the front office, and picked up the phone, quickly dialing 911.

"Hello Ma'am may I help you?"

"Yes, there has been a suicide attempt at the Pine Hurst Mental Hospital on 463 James Avenue."

"How long ago was she found?"

"A few minutes."

"Alright, hang in there, and I'll send someone over there as fast as possible. When they get there, direct them to the girl okay?"

"Okay I can do that." Tina hung up the phone and waited by the front doors until the police cars and ambulance showed up. She ran down the hall, the authorities close behind, and skidded to a hault by where Shannon was at. Things were much worse than they had been earlier. Shannon was now surrounded in her own blood, and Chris had just come out of the bathroom. Tina could tell he had gotten sick by the look on his face, and she was worried about the fact of him being okay or not. She leaned back against the wall doing her best to ignore the horrific scene, but it wasn't easy. Vix and Callie kept sending Tina searching looks to see what she thought of the whole thing, but she just turned to face the window and ignored them.

Nicole was on the floor holding Chris close against her, trying to get him to calm down. By this time, he had started to cry extremely hard, and Tina wasn't sure if he'd ever stop. Liz was wandering aimlessly down the hall, obviously trying to avoid seeing Shannon as much as possible. The paramedics were working as fast as possible, but blood was starting to seep against the white walls, leaving a rust colored mess that would probably never come out. Though the rest of the CAD had obviously seen it all before, Tina was shocked about someone actually trying to commit suicide right there in the hallway... though she was doing her best to not show it. She slowly sank to the floor and leaned up against the wall opposite Shannon. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and hid her sorrowful face. Liz, Vix, and Callie all moved over to sit by her, and Vix hugged her tightly despite her nearly porclein body. Chris's face was a monsoon of tears, and it killed Tina to see him so upset.

After a few minutes, the 'medics pulled Shannon onto a stretcher, and took her out to the ambulance. By this time, around twenty of the other patients at the hospital were crowded near the doors leading to the hallway. Tina and the rest of the CAD got up off the floor and walked towards the front doors, and watched the ambulance pull away from the curb. Lights flashing like there was no tomorrow, and somehow Tina knew for Shannon..there would be no tomorrow. Cherl walked up behind the group, and led them into the cafeteria. By now all of the hospital patients knew what was going on, and though they hadn't known the girl personally, they were all deeply upset. All of the patients were rounded up and taken into the cafeteria, were Cherl was trying to get everyone's attention. Though people rarely listened to her chatter, they were all so deeply affected by Shannon's attempt at suicide, that everyone turned around to listen.

"Though I'm sure you've all already heard it, one of our number has made an attempt to kill herself this morning. Shannon Turner made a terrible mistake today, one I hope none of you will ever attempt in your time on this planet. She figured that no one could help her, so she tried to end her precious life...hurting all of her close friends and her family as well. Even though I know that not everyone had a chance to know Shannon, I'm sure that all of you have been in someway affected by her attempt. Mr. Robertson, Ms. Cleveland, and myself will all be here to provide extra help and comfort to those that need it, but if not do your best to comfort your fellow patients. Chris, Nicole..I need to see you both. Alright, everyone go back to your rooms and I will be around to talk to you each separately as soon as I can." The cafeteria slowly emptied of all of the people in it, and Chris and Nicole made their way up to where Cherl was standing. Tina nudged Vix, and Vix turned around to look at her.

"I know that any attempt at suicide would upset a person to a great extent..but why was Chris so deeply affected by it?"

"That was his sister." Vix whispered her answer, as if almost afraid to hear it herself. Tina's jaw dropped, but she quickly closed it.

"He never mentioned...I never knew...I mean..."

"It's okay Tina..Just be here for him, that's the best any of us can do right now." Tina nodded and Vix leaned over to give her one last hug . Chris and Nicole slowly walked back toward the group, and Tina hugged him close. He looked up into her eyes almost pleading her not to say anything sympathetic, and she nodded her head. She kissed his cheek and he turned to face all of the group beside Nicole.

"Cherl said that we can all go to visit her at the hospital in a little while..." She didn't need to explain why, so she just left her sentence hang in the stale air. " She'll call us all into the office when it's okay for us to go to the hospital to see Shannon, and Cherl said she'd drive us herself." Everyone nodded their heads, and turned towards the doors.

"I guess...I guess we should go back to our rooms for awhile..Actually...How about everyone just comes into mine and Nicole's room?" There was no answer, everyone just automatically followed Tina down the hallway into the dimly lit room. Vix, Callie, Liz and Tina all settled onto Tina's bed, while Chris and Nicole climbed onto her bed. Nothing much was really said, everyone just pretty much sat there for a few hours. Callie had found a book on Tina's shelf and was now reading "Welcome To The Ark" by Stephanie S. Tolan. Vix and Liz both pulled pencils and pads of paper out of Tina's desk, and sat doodling. Nicole's job was mainly to comfort Chris, and Tina settled back against the wall, eventually dozing off.

At about 1:30pm, there was a knock on the door, and everyone looked up from what they were doing. Tina crawled off the crowded bed and opened the door to see Cherl standing there with a grim look on her face.

"You can all go see her...Come on." Chris and Nicole climbed off the bed and went out the door, soon followed by the others. They walked along the marble floor until they reached the front doors. They exited them, and made their way around the back of the building to Cherl's van. They all piled in, and closed the thick doors. The constant quiet was almost suffocating to Tina, but soon enough they reached the hospital doors.

As Cherl parked and the group crawled out into the sunlight, Tina saw that Chris's shirt was completely soaked with his tears. Cherl promised to wait in the waiting room for them, and the group went straight to the front desk.

"Hi...I'm Callie Fields, and I'd like to see Shannon Turner. Can you please tell me what room she's in?"

"She's in room number 208. You can go right in." Callie nodded, and started to walk down the yellow hallway. It took awhile, but after about fifteen minutes, the group found Shannon's room. Liz took a deep breath, and opened the solid oak door.

Shannon was laying under a light cotton blanket, gauze and tubes all around her pale wrists. There was an oxygen mask on her face, but other than that she looked almost like the last time Tina had seen her. The group all took seats in the various chairs around the room, except for Chris who walked over to sit by the bed.

"Shannon? It's me, your brother..I don't know if you can hear me or not..but I want you to know how much I love you. If you don't make it out of this, I don't think I'll be able to either, because even if suicide wasn't involved..I'd die of a broken heart. I love you Sis, and you have to make it through this. Remember when I got sick last summer and they hospitalized me and you wouldn't leave my bedside no matter how much they threatened you? Well guess what Shanny, you didn't leave my side then, and I'm not about to leave your's now that you're the one in trouble. I've always been here for you, and I'm going to stay here until I know you're going to be okay." Chris stared into her blank eyes, looking for some hope of her waking up. He finally settled back against the cushion of the chair back, and stared at the ceiling. Nicole got up and walked over to Shannon.

"Hey there girl, remember me? It's me, your friend Nicole, and I'm going to see you through this too. You've always been a sister to me, and it's time to return the favor." She leaned down to lightly hug Shannon, and then walked back and sat in her chair. Callie, Vix, and Liz all just stayed in their chairs, not knowing what to say at the moment. Tina looked over into Shannon's face, seeing just the slightest trace of blonde hair that showed her to be Chris's sister.

For the next few hours, the group just sat in their chairs waiting for some sign of hope from someone. They finally all fell asleep in Shannon's room, completely forgetting they were in a hospital, or anything else.

Tina awoke the next morning to see Shannon sitting up in bed. She got up quickly and poked Chris, Nicole, Liz, Vix, and Callie, and then settled back in her chair. Their slightly annoyed looks turned to ones of pure joy when they saw Shannon, and Chris jumped up to hug her. He was crying even harder now than he had when he witnessed her near suicide.

"Chris, if you cry any harder, I might drown." Despite his tears, Chris smiled. He let his sister go, and she fell back against her pillows. She turned to make sure she could see everyone in the room, and then she sighed deeply. "I'm so sorry guys..for putting you all through this. I didn't know what I was doing..it just happened."

"It's alright Shannon, what matters is that you're okay." Said Liz, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh, by the way, Shannon this is Tina, a new inmate at Pine Hurst." Said Nicole.

"Nice to meet you Shannon."

"You too Tina. And yes Chris I can see that look on your face just fine." Everyone turned to look at Chris, and his face turned red. "Oh don't worry Chris, I won't tell her that you have a huge crush on her. Woops." Shannon grinned and Chris turned an even deeper color.

"Wait," Tina looked around the room trying to figure out what was going on. "has a huge crush on who?" Liz giggled and Shannon grinned. Chris hid his face in his hands to try to block out the red, and Liz, Vix, Callie, Nicole, and Shannon all laughed harder.

"Well Tina I'll give you a hint. The girl he likes is wearing a light blue long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and has brown almost-black hair, and hazel eyes." Tina looked down at her clothing, and Chris turned as red as a cooked beet.

"Me?"

"Gee you are observant aren't you?" Shannon rolled her eyes sarcastically, and even Tina had to laugh.

"Ugh guys? Can I point out just one thing?" Everyone turned to look at Liz. "Cherl was sitting waiting for us in the waiting room yesterday...but I really doubt she'll still be there today."

"Oh god I didn't even think about that! And you know...we are going to have to get going here soon." Shannon nodded her head at Tina's comment, and turned to look at Chris and Nicole.

"Well guys, I should be back in the nut house in a few days, so I'll see you all then okay?" Chris hugged Shannon and Nicole squeezed her hand.

"You can bet your life we'll be the first ones to see you when you get there."

"Oh I'm sure you will be Chris, now get out of my room. I need to sleep!" The group filed out of Shannon's room, and walked toward the office at the front of the building. Sure enough, there was Cherl leaning against the wall.

"I was starting to wonder about you six, I'm glad you finally showed up. Come on, we need to get back to the hospital." Everyone shuffled slowly out of the building and piled yet again into Cherl's red van. They drove back to Pine Hurst and climbed out of the van. Tina yawned and stretched.

"Well guys, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go into my room and go to sleep."

"Good idea Tina..I think you all need some sleep." Everyone nodded and followed Cherl's advice by going straight to bed when they got to their rooms. Tina crawled into her bed, and as she drifted off to sleep, she heard the words "Oh don't worry Chris, I won't tell her that you have a huge crush on her.", echoing through her head.

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Hi again everyone! I know it's been since the 4th of May that I've worked on this, BUT I'M REALLY SORRY! I decided to make a long chaper to make up for the long wait, so I hope you all enjoy it!

*Reviews are welcome*

~*Autumn*~