When I wake up, my room is cold. Although it's almost noon, there is still no light coming from anywhere. I hear my brother, who just came back from college for a couple of weeks, walk down the stairs. My older sister is arriving tomorrow because she went on a trip to New York with her new friends, which she met this year when she started college.

I got caught up on thinking about the times when everything was easy. This lovely family adopted me when I was 5 years old. I was living with them for a year before they filled out the papers. I don't really know anything about my parents — only that they were drug dealers and that I was a mistake. The day my birth mom had brought me to the shelter, my father had died in a shooting.

But I'm here now, living with a nice and caring family who even respects the fact that I sometimes wish to be left alone.

I stopped eating like a normal person ages ago. One day during the time in which I ate nothing but a small piece of dry toast, my dad came into my room and asked me if I would join him and my mom downstairs at the table for dinner. I freaked out and screamed at my dad, but he wouldn't leave me alone until I smashed my hand into my huge mirror and broke it into thousand of little pieces. Since that day, my parents have not come up to my room to talk to me. If I had something to say, I would just go up to them and initiate the talking myself. Sometimes my mom puts little post-it notes on my door so I can read them, which can still be considered as some form of communication between the two of us.

At the moment I don't eat anything anymore. I drink three little bottles of cold water that I would get out of the fridge in the kitchen.

Today I just lay in my bed like I do every day. I had just gotten my second bottle of water for the day. I can feel my body getting even more tired from the day I decided to stop eating. My eyes are always red and my face is itchy from all the crying. Most days I just lie curled up in a ball and sleep.

When I wake up again there's no one in the house. My parents are probably eating out with my brother. I walk down the stairs into the kitchen to the fridge to get my last bottle of water for the day. I notice that strangely, there is only one bottle left. Maybe they went to the grocery store to buy some new ones, but anyway I take the bottle and look around the kitchen before deciding that there was nothing interesting before heading back upstairs.

I sat down on my desk in the dark room to find a piece of paper to write a message to my mom:

'Mom, there aren't any bottles of water in the kitchen, could you please buy new ones for me?

I post the paper on my door and lock it. Even though I know that my parents have a key to my door, I still feel safer when it is locked.

I put the fresh laundry my mom put in front of my door into my closet and sit down on my bed.

I know that it is important for my body to drink enough water, so I take small sips 'till the bottle is empty. I start to feel kind of dizzy, but I don't know why. I don't think about anything, I just want to fall asleep, which doesn't take long.

XXX

Judy, Russell and Flo were sitting in a nice restaurant in Lima. They had just ordered dessert when Russell's iPad lit up, displaying a new message.

'The fridge was opened'

"Why do you get a message when somebody opens the fridge?" Flo asked.

"It's a long story, Flo. I'll tell you tonight. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Russell asked as their chocolate sundaes were placed in front of them.

"Yes I do. Why? Is there something going on?" Flo asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Well I would cancel all your plans for this week just to be safe," Russell replied.

"Dad, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

The iPad blinked again.

'Door closed'

"Ok, this is crazy! Are you stalking somebody?"

"No, finish your dessert, we have to go soon. I will tell you everything you need to know in the car," Russell said as he asked for the bill.

The three of them quickly finished eating and hopped onto the car. Russell started the engine and drove down the main street.

"So can you explain everything to me now?" Flo asked, who didn't even bother being patient anymore.

"Well Quinn has always had some problems. She just didn't show them to anyone. This summer when your sister went away to college, Quinn just felt alone, you know? We knew that she didn't have many friends, so we weren't surprised when she spent more time in her room."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Flo asked angrily.

"Will you let me finish?"

"Yes, sorry," Flo said as he looked down at the ground, a little ashamed that he didn't' let his dad finish speaking.

"We also noticed that she would only come down and eat one meal a day with us. Soon, that turned into once every couple of days per week. At one point, she didn't even show up at the table. She got skinnier and that was not nice to look at, at all. One day, I walked into her room and asked her nicely if she would please come and at least sit with us at the table for dinner. She completely freaked out on me and even broke her mirror. From that day on, I don't initiate the talking. It's only when she wanted something that she came to us." Russell sighed before taking a deep breath.

"The next day, I searched online for a couple of tiny cameras and some movement sensors, which I put all around the house, including Quinn's room when she was off at school. This is why we know she stopped eating altogether three weeks ago, and only drinks a couple of bottles of water a day. I talked to your mom about what we should do, and we did some research on the different options we could use to help Quinn get better. We found a new clinic in Tennessee and contacted them. At that time though, they didn't have any room, but we didn't give up and kept talking to them. We even sent them a couple of videos from the cameras just to see if they could give us any advice. Three days ago though, they called and told us some of their patients went home and that there was room available for Quinn. They told us that in order for us to get her there, we would have to make her sleep so that there would be no resistance."

"So you drugged her?" Flo yelled. He couldn't believe what his parents had done to his little sister.

"Yes we did. It was in the last bottle of water that she drank," Russell answered. "Judy can you check to see if she's asleep?"

Judy took the iPad out of her bag and opened the program, which would allow her to see all the cameras that they had installed around the house.

"She's been asleep for the past ten minutes, we should hurry up."

"Your mom and I would appreciate it if you came along with us. We'll b staying in a hotel a town away in case there are any problems," Russell said as he pulled the car to a stop in front of the driveway.

"I suggest that you pack a small bag with enough stuff to last you for a week. We'll leave in 15 minutes," Judy said in a calm voice. She really wanted her daughter to get better and hoped that this clinic would be able to help her.

They checked one last time to see if Quinn was really asleep before opening the door to the younger blonde's room. Judy took a backpack from the closet and started stuffing clothes inside, making sure to put Quinn's laptop and a couple of books in as well.

Flo was downstairs in 10 minutes and helped Russell put all the bags in the trunk of the car.

"Would it be ok if we lay her on your lap?" Russell asked.

"Sure. I'm going sit in the car so you can bring her to me. Keep a blanket wrapped around her, she's going to get cold without it," Flo replied, waiting for his parents and his little sister.

He was shocked when Russell placed Quinn on top of him because she was so light and didn't have any color on her face. He gently brushed her hair from her face and fell asleep as well. 5 hours later, he woke up from his mother's shaking because they had finally arrived at their destination, the special clinic in Maryville.