I woke up feeling drained and partially blinded. My vision was blurry; all I could see was white. Where am I? I thought, my eyes wandering around the pristine emptiness of the room. An incessant beeping was heard to my left, but the strain of turning my head was too much to bear. Without warning, I fell back into sleep.

---

‘You’re so close…’ the voice urged. ‘Just a little further…’

My body didn’t seem to want to move. I realized I was paralyzed. My arms were bound to my sides as I stared helplessly into the dark abyss.

‘Why don’t you help me?’ I screamed hysterically, only to hear my voice resonate back to me in a quiet echo.

‘No one’s here to help you if you don’t at least try,’ a familiar voice said, rather vexed.

‘I can’t move,’ I tried to reason, only to feel my body fall to the floor in a slump.

‘God, Raven, you’re so useless,’ a figure said as the scene changed to a rotting hillside. Dead daisies and dandelions littered the field. The sky was a dark gray, almost dull olive green. The figure started towards me from under a dead oak tree. It was Adam.

‘Stand up,’ he ordered

I tried to get up but I felt so weak and helpless. ‘Adam, help me…’ I started reaching out towards him.

‘Why don’t you try helping yourself?’ he spat bitterly.

I could feel my eyes brimming with tears. His hazel stared back at me coldly and unfeeling. ‘Adam…’

‘Stop trying to get pity from everyone Raven; no one cares about you anymore.’

I stared at him, trying to find the compassion that his face usually shone with. Instead, he looked repulsed and angry… like my father.

He stepped to me and roughly picked me up. I trembled at how cold he felt.

‘You gonna cry now, Raven?’ he asked innocently, although my face was already streaming with tears. I shook my head, trying to ignore the hurt I was feeling. This is just a dream… this is just a dream…

He stared at me; black holes now replaced the color that I had grown so accustomed to. He began to turn away.

‘Don’t leave me,’ I whimpered as he vanished. ‘I don’t want to be alone…’ I began rubbing my arms feverishly, feeling so cold.

‘Just a little more…’ a harsh whisper called out. A loud bird cawed from the tree.

---

I woke up again to find the room dimly lit. I tried lifting my head only to feel my arm bump into a tray beside me. It was piled with cafeteria food. Every movement was slow and surreal. My head felt dizzy. I saw a white shadow in the doorway pause as if contemplating whether or not to come in. After what seemed like an hour, it bustled toward my bed.

“Good evening, Miss Porter, did you have a restful sleep?” a voice asked, as if it was an automatic response, as the shadow thing picked up my arm and began readjusting something on it. It then paused, as if feeling my pulse. It took me a moment of pure concentration to make my eyesight clear. Then I realized it; she was a nurse. Which meant that I was in a hospital.

“Damn,” I mumbled, thankfully my voice was so slurred that she didn’t comprehend. Or, if she did, she didn’t show that she thought it was anything other than a moan.

I watched her as she worked; she was a petit thing, about the same height as me. Looking in her mid twenties, she wore little makeup and it looked as though she’d had a couple of kids. Her fake nails were painted a deep pink and they clicked together as she busied herself with straightening out a clipboard that hung at the foot of my bed. Her hair was a mousy brown color, and she sent me a warm smile when she caught me looking at her. Her teeth were a little crooked.

“My, my, my…”she tsked. “Celexa, Luvox, Nardil, Parnate, Mellaril, Aspirin… you’ve seemed to make your body a little drugstore of SSRI’s.”

I blinked numbly at her.

“How long have you been self medicating?” she said, staring at me with somber brown eyes. I turned away my eyes away from her as I could feel my heart heavy with guilt.

“This is a serious hazard you’ve put yourself through...”

Spare me the lecture, I thought, feeling dizzy and numb. Just drug me up and put me to sleep.

---

I must have drifted off while she was talking because the next thing I knew, I was awake with the sun flowing in warmly through the window. I cried a little now that I was alone, imagining how things were going to be now that my “problem” had been discovered. I didn’t want the pity, the attention, the help.

There was a gentle knock at the closed door and I quickly wiped my tears and hoped my eyes didn’t look too puffy. Cautiously the door opened and a head of black peeked in. The smile on his face brightened as he saw that I was awake.

“Jacob?” I said, perplexed. How’d he know I was here?

“Hey, there’s our little prima star,” he said, bringing in a gigantic bouquet of flowers. “And my favorite little sister,” he said a little loudly. I looked at him confused.

“I had to say I was a member of the family so I could get in to see you,” he explained quietly with a gorgeous smile.

“Always the actor,” I weakly replied with a laugh. He looked at me with concern before I brushed it off with a small smile. “What are you doing here?” I questioned.

He gave me a hurt look. “What, am I not allowed to come and see my own flesh and blood in the hospital when she has fallen ill?” he flourished dramatically as I giggled. “Ok, maybe I just wanted to see how you were doing. Plus…” he placed the flowers he held on the table next to me and pulled up a chair, “I rather distaste roses and thought that you might like them.”

I smiled.

“So how you doing?”

I looked at him for a moment, deciding whether or not I wanted to share my thoughts with him.

“I wasn’t so good before, and now…” I hesitated. He gazed at me kindly, silently asking me to go on. “I just want to get out of here.”

“Amen sister,” he said quietly. “You really had us scared with this Marilyn Monroe act.”

“Sorry…” I said sheepishly before he cut me off.

“Don’t be,” he said seriously. “Just don’t pull this stunt again.”

We sat there in silence for a while as I contemplated saying something to break the silence.

“Jacob?” I asked.

“Yeah, Raven?”

“I l-uh… um… th-thanks for coming.” I choked back a sob as he smiled sweetly at me. He leaned in close to me and gave me a warm hug. It felt so nice.

“Get better soon, kay?” he said holding me a second longer before letting me go. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and turned to put the chair back.

“Oh, hey, Adam,” Jacob said, pushing the chair in next to the table. My heart plummeted as I registered the name Adam and the figure standing at the doorway. He was holding a couple of balloons in his hand and staring wide eyed in shock at the two of us. I gave a nod of recognition at him.

“H-hey Jacob,” he struggled to say, biting his tongue after he said the name.

“I gotta go,” he said checking his watch, “see you later Raven!” giving me a final wave and nodding a goodbye to Adam who still stood there like a statue.

I watched him leave and turned my attention back to Adam who had pulled out the chair that Jacob had put back and sat beside me. There was a moment of pausing before he spoke.

“How are you feeling?” he began.

“Sorry that people now think there’s something wrong with me,” I honestly replied. Hell, he probably already knew how I felt, so there was no use in lying to him.

“Well, people would have figured it out eventually,” he said calmly.

“How’d you find me?”

He looked down sadly. “Ever since my grandma was taken ill, I’m pretty much a regular visitor here. I figured they’d take you to this floor, considering what you did to yourself…”

“Where am I?”

He looked at me with sadness in his eyes. “Oventine’s Medical Hospital. Fourth floor. Behavioral Health.”

“So basically…”

“Free counseling and careful observation until they think that you’re cured from your problems.”

I lay silent for a while as I thought about what this meant. I don’t want their help.

I jumped when I felt him touch my hand.

“Why didn’t you tell me anything, Rae?”

I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to speak anymore. I just stared at his hand gently holding mine and concentrated on not crying. I couldn’t help but remember my dream; either his hand was astonishingly cold, or I had lost the feeling in my hand.

“Please go…” I whispered, pulling my hand away.

He looked at me, hurt shining in his eyes, for an instant. Then he got up.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Please don’t hate me for what I have to do.”

I watched him leave the room and slowly close the door. His words echoed in my head.

What does he plan to do?

---

comments: Muahahah... once again I leave you to wonder what's in store for these characters. A couple more chapters left until the dramatic conclusion. I hope I'm not giving away too many answers to the ending, I really do hate spoiling surprises and alleviating suspense. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, hopefully I can get around to updating sooner.

Shaz: hope this chapter can lead to more shocking surprises.

Cierra: I'm sorry, but cliffhangers are fun. Hope you enjoyed it.