Chapter 10

The walls a bright whitewash. The bed, the sheets, the pillow, all white. An almost dead silence hangs in the air, disturbed only by the dull moans and cries of people unseen.

“I want out of here.”

“Please…I don’t belong here…let me out.”

“I…I didn’t do it…I swear…You have to believe me.”

One figure curled in a ball in a corner, hands over ears, long legs pulled up into the chest, as if trying to keep the world out.

The sound of footsteps echoing down a hallway. Keys entering a lock. A door swinging open.

Footsteps entering a room and the sound of a throat clearing.

Dark shaggy hair moves, a hand sweeping the hair out of the way to reveal deep gray eyes.

“You have a visitor.”

He stands up and follows the man, walking down the hallway to the visiting areas. His eyes widen as he sees a woman waiting for him. Her clothes are immaculately pressed and her face is stoic, revealing nothing. His dark gray eyes meet hers. “This is a surprise.”

She clears her throat. “Why don’t we sit down?”

“What’s the point?” he asks. “You’ll just say what you came here to say and then leave. Don’t try and make it look like you actually care.”

She sighs. “Why do you always have to act this way? We are trying to help you.”

“If helping me means keeping me locked in here then you’re doing a bang-up job. How do you honestly think that this helps me?”

“Your doctors say that you’ve been improving greatly recently. They told me that if you continue on the track you’re on then you can be released.”

“Which leads to why you are here, I’m sure.”

She gives a slight nod. “Yes. Your father and I have been discussing this for some time now and…we don’t think it would be a good idea for you to come home when you’re released. We don’t want to introduce a major change to Alice and Steven.”

“Great, so I’m going to go from the hospital to the streets.” He looks at her. “Gee, thanks Mom,” he says sarcastically.

“Don’t be like that. We are thinking of the best interests of everyone.”

“Oh! I can see how tossing me out on the streets is in my best interests.”

“There is more than enough money in your trust fund. You won’t have to worry about living arrangements because you can get someplace to live.”

“Well, thanks so much. Is that all?”

“No. There’s one more thing. Your father and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t contact us or come visit us. It’s for the benefit of everyone. I hope you understand.”

He steps away from her. “I understand completely. Goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Turning, he walks away from her, returning to his room where he sits in the corner once more.

He glances up to the door for a moment and sees a haunted pair of eyes staring back at him. Closing his eyes he thinks, ‘Not real. It’s not real.’

When he opens his eyes again the shadowy figure at the door is gone.

Time passes and he doesn’t move from his spot in the corner, not until his door is opened and one of the orderlies tells him it is time for dinner. Slowly he stands and heads out in the hall…only to find the shadowy figure from earlier standing there.

“Please, help me,” she says.

He doesn’t even look at her, pretending she isn’t there. Instead he continues to walk, going down the hall towards the cafeteria. There he sees the familiar sight of all the other people at their tables, some rocking back and forth, some mumbling under their breath, some looking around wildly as if expecting to be attacked. None of it was any different from any other day.

“Why won’t you talk to me? I know you can see me?” she cries. “Why won’t you help me?”

Still he doesn’t look at her, not even when she reaches out and grabs his arm. He walks through the line and gets his food tray, filling it up before heading to his usual seat in the back corner of the cafeteria.

“Prescott, there you are,” says a nurse. “Here are your meds.” She hands him a small paper cup with several pills in it. He smiles and takes it, dumping the contents of the cup into his mouth. Then he grabs his glass of water and starts to take a drink. The nurse smiles and walks away.

As soon as she turns he spits it all back out, hiding the pills in his mashed potatoes.

Ava sits and waits with Tru in the exam room. The doctor had left a few minutes earlier. “I can’t believe you made me do this,” Tru grumbles.

“Hey, either I was going to do it or Shane was. Which method would you have preferred?”

Tru sighs and looks at her watch. “Shouldn’t the doctor be back by now?”

“Relax and let the doctors do their jobs. Maybe she needed to check on somebody else,” Ava answers. “Why are you so fidgety right now?”

“I don’t know. Something about this place just bugs me. Maybe it’s the white walls or knowing that there are people here that could be dying.”

Ava looks at her. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the last time you were in a hospital Luke was dying, would it?

Tru shakes her head, adamantly refusing that possibility. “No, I think it’s that other dream I’ve been having. Maybe it has something to do with a hospital as well.”

Then the doctor returns. She looks at Tru and smiles warmly. “I have some good news for you,” she says. “According to your test results you are pregnant, probably about three weeks in. Congratulations.”

Tru’s jaw drops slightly. Pregnant, at eighteen was not anything she would have expected or planned for her life.

“Tru?” Ava asks, noting the slight paling of Tru’s skin color. “Are you all right?”

“I…I don’t know,” she answers. “Ava, what am I going to do?”

Ava lets out a deep breath. “Take it one step at a time…but first I would tell Shane.”