Cultural Wasteland
19 year old Syaoran checked himself into rehab for drug abuse. He gets caught in a fast lane when he meets 18 year old Sakura a recovering drug abuser who has thrown her life away. Syaoran finds out that life is not all butterflies and daisies when he sees the other side of the world through Sakura`s eyes. Rated: T for minor swearing R&R?
A/N: Thank you for reading this (even if you get bored halfway through)! This will be a short story so it's probably going to have a few more chapters but keep on reading, it will get better, rest assured! Also, I have never been to rehab and I am sure that it isn't that bad but lets just pretend it is 'kay?! :D Thank you!
"What is this place?" A nineteen year old Syaoran woke up to an old man above his bed.
"The hospital, you had an overdose." A grim faced doctor responded to the already half sleeping Syaoran.
Yes, Syaoran was indeed a drug addict, and yes, there he was in a hospital, due to overdose.
Popularity, concerts, caught in the rush, parents fighting, that was the daily life of Syaoran Li. He was popular and rich; all his friends were doing drugs, so why shouldn't he join? Syaoran started hating life, his parents hated each other, everyone liked him for his looks. How could he be happy with that?
Unloved. That was him in a nutshell...
Syaoran thought nothing of it, in fact he felt loved when he did drugs, for some odd reason he felt warmth. But it was empty warmth, it was just the drug feeding his hole if only for a second. It was still calling to him, the sweet seduction of drugs called to him more and more...it was more than just a one night stand; Syaoran and drugs were together, always. He never wanted to leave the stimulating high, the mirrored arms and fake whispers of promise filled him up with empty warmth...more and more, he felt the high leave him, he wanted it back, so he took the drugs until, he lay there silently. Waiting to be found by the maid, her shrills echoing the hallway, thinking he was dead, she was sure to get the blame. The maid ran up to the phone and called for help, and so Syaoran ended up being labeled a drug addict, laying in the florescent lighting of a hospital, the one place he hated more than home, where the sorrows of a sad rich boy lay.
After a week getting treatment at the hospital the Doctor felt unsure that Syaoran would stay away from drugs, after all, the doctor knew many patients like Syaoran and felt he would never recover in just a week's time. The doctor decided to help the young man regain his life, if he had any left. He prescribed Syaoran to go to rehab, just for extra precaution. After seeing so many and doing nothing, it was about time the doctor took a chance and turned Syaoran`s life around, it would be a start for him but only Syaoran could stick to his guts and go through the process of recovery.
"You aren't really suffering...you just feel no love...."
"You can feel pain but you're just an empty shell...."
"How can you say you had it hard? Piss off!!!"
Sweaty and dazed, Syaoran woke up. He wasn't in his hospital bed or his own bed. It was a bed that smelt of malt balls and old peppermint, "...Oh yeah..." Syaoran muttered with a half-hearted chuckle. He remembered he entered rehab just that same day...
"Excuse me...this is the rehab clinic...right?" Syaoran asked questioning a lady behind the desk of a rehabilitation center.
"Oh my, such a young boy! Um...visiting hours are over sweetie, it's almost eight! I'm sorry dear, but could you come back tomorrow?" The lady said shuffling through a few papers and snapping her gum.
"...Actually, I'm supposed to...check in...." Syaoran shifted uncomfortably adjusting his knapsack.
The lady looked at him astounded, "Oh my, sure what's your name dear?" She snapped out of her daze and shook her head looking on a piece of paper.
"Syaoran Li."
"Oh here you are darling, we'll have Mimi take you to your room. Your tests will be tomorrow since you arrived late, but be prepared for a long day ahead."
"What was that dream...it was so...weird..." Syaoran recollected the dream he woke up from.
A young, green eyed girl was yelling at him. Syaoran had never met the girl before, although he did read a book about dreams predicting future events in time. Even though he didn't meet the girl, she was oddly familiar in a sense. Her eyes were what really got to him, "Swirling pools of emerald." he described them suddenly feeling very stupid. But just like any dream, it escaped his mind as soon as he remembered.
The light to his room clicked on.
It was a sad little room, possibly worse than the hospital. Its walls were a sickly green and the carpet was so old you could actually smell the people who owned the room before. But at least it was cozy, there were no florescent lights and it wasn't as cold as the artic. In that sense it wasn't as bad as the hospital.
"Its time for your tests," The woman named Mimi gave a half-smile.
Syaoran thought she had been through the process a million times: waking up drug addicts, testing them, make them follow the schedule, repeat. It would be well observed if you said she had lost her flair for her job, what gave it away? Maybe her wrinkles or the way she sighed. It could have possibly been the way she placed one hand on her hip and acted impatient with every living thing. Syaoran studied her well and gave a mental shrug, "It happens," he thought, patiently following Mimi, counting her grey hairs in the once beautiful golden garden.
"I bet she was pretty before she worked here." He thought once again wondering why she didn't switch jobs.
He continued down the hall to a hospital like room with a man waiting inside, "Syaoran, I should suppose?"
"..." Syaoran stood silently as Mimi clicked her tongue with an annoyance, "Yes it is, so I will be leaving!"Mimi turned on her heels and stomped away.
"Not much of a talker, are you?" The doctor asked giving a chuckle and snapping on some gloves, "Well, you should sit on the counter and take your shirt off."
Syaoran hesitated a bit eyeing the doctor before doing so.
"You're a very shy lad, wouldn't you say?"
Syaoran stayed silent but endured the doctors poking and prodding. He felt violated; it was a weird feeling he got from doctors. Like they were out to get him, or they wanted something from him. He couldn't understand why, they were just trying to help him. Sure, but he had heard of doctors getting a bit too friendly with his patience. If it was just him he didn't know, but he got that weird vibe from all doctors.
The doctor took his clipboard out and wrote something down, "You are physically in good shape, your muscle tissue is very good, but I can see the traits of a drug addict on your face," he took a flashlight and looked into Syaoran's eye, getting a quick and angry glance.
"This doctor is so...stupid....of course I am a druggie, but there is nothing else wrong with me," Syaoran shivered as a shiny, cold stethoscope was felt trailing across his chest and backside.
"I need to extract some blood, if you are okay with that." the doctor said rhetorically. Syaoran made a grunting noise as the needle jabbed his arm, "You aren't afraid of a little old needle, now are you?" the drug addict just sat there listening to the doctor laugh at his pathetic attempt at a joke.
"Now all I need is a urine sample if that is acceptable, so here is a cup...I am sure you know what to do with it." The doctor laughed again.
Syaoran made a small scoff and jerked the cup out of the annoying, fat man's hand. He went into the bathroom with no resistance and slammed the door just to get his annoyance across.
"Sakura-Chan, are you reaaaddddyyyyy for your checkup?!"
"No,"
"Oh, come now, there is nothing wrong with a little old checkup,"
"Not with a grubby old man like you around,"
"I am a married man with children!"
"Like the rest of them."
"I have had enough of the small talk now I suggest you get on the table and mind yourself."
"As well as you,"
"I am a doctor; I wouldn't do anything like that."
"Uh...a doctor for a rehab, your mother must be proud."
"Well someone has to do it,"
"Hum....."
There was a pause for a couple of minutes; outside the door Syaoran could hear the fiddling of a few objects and the paper on the counter crinkling.
"...You are staring at my chest again you old lecher!"
"No I am not!"
"If you cannot handle yourself professionally then I will have to request a female doctor!"
Syaoran took that time to exit the bathroom quietly.
"Ah! Syaoran, I forgot you were in there! Well, anyway, I will take the sample and immediately test it."
"Pfft, are you sure you should be working here? I mean, you did forget about a patient!" Syaoran turned to the voice. A girl, a bit younger than him with bad posture sat slouched and skinny. Her emerald eyes were shown through her long, lackluster, and disheveled brown hair that was messily tied up with a string that had two charms dangling from it: a sun and a moon. She blew some of her hair out of her view and scoffed at the elder boy. She narrowed her eyes; the black around them was a sure sign that she was a drug addict, "I'm not going to bother myself." She finally said after staring Syaoran down.
Syaoran rolled his eyes at the immature girl and walked out of the room. He wasn't sure where to go next but he figured that if he walked around long enough someone would tell him.
Down the stairs he found the intensive care unit. It reeked of medicine and vomit, not a very lovely combination. Beyond that, the toxic smell was indescribable.
There were bed restraints, buckets, and more needles than there were upstairs. The people who were experiencing extreme withdrawals were placed in the unit. In fact, it was sickening to the point of Syaoran almost passing out. It made his head fill with nauseous fumes, and him increasingly becoming unaware of his surroundings. What was the feeling that was creeping up in him then? It was a mixture of everything he loathed about himself. It was the final denial before the acceptance that, yes, he was in hell.
Syaoran leaned on a near by wall to catch himself. He started to collect himself when he noticed that there was a silence through the whole unit. The concrete walls were sure to give way to the slightest sound and every piece of furniture looked so ancient that if it was to be touched, it would squeak. But there was nothing to be heard except Syaoran's breathing.
The room doors were made out of solid steel. The doors were all aligned with each other down the hallway until the left side of the hall stopped and it opened up into a sitting area with a bunch of tattered sofas and lone chairs, with a miniscule television with antennas protruding from the top. The unit was sad at the least, and left a horrible coldness to linger in ones skin. Syaoran could have given a reasonable guess as to why no one was down there but figured it was best not to assume.
Syaoran went to explore around, ignoring the seething stench.
"You know this place used to be an asylum?" a booming, echoing voice shocked the silence out of Syaoran and made him jump around. Her green eyes were not mistakable; Sakura was standing before him, "Yeah, this is the ICU, it's barely used now but back then I can tell that it was a riot down here. Welcome to the worst rehabilitation clinic known to man!"
Syaoran raised his eyebrow, had that girl not just said that she wasn't going to bother with him? "What an odd little girl," He thought.
Sakura ignored his face that was obviously confused, "There are so many ghosts down here....the intensity of that fact is…worse than the smell." She smirked a bit but immediately frowned. "I don't like you." Sakura looked Syaoran in the eyes and glared.
"Well, little girl-"
"What the hell did you just call me?!" Sakura's incredulous voice bounced off the concrete with a lightning fast retort.
"...It's obvious you're not mature to handle yourself as an adult let alone a teenager, so I figured you to have a child's mentality. From your retort I was right."
"Like hell you were! You wanna know som'ing?"
"What?" Syaoran asked like he would a child.
Sakura backed the older man against the wall and used all her force to connect her fist to the concrete closest to Syaoran's head, "You're a little bitch, using drugs to get rid of all the resentment you have towards mommy and daddy. You make me sick,"
Syaoran snickered, "You shouldn't do that, your hand will bleed," He took her hand, looking at her pulsating red knuckles, and licked the red blood trickling down.
Sakura jerked her hand away, "You some kinda pervert?" She steadily said wiping the rest of the blood on her torn jeans.
"Little kitty, I don't think you're my type," Syaoran chuckled and flirted with his years of playboy experience.
Sakura began walking away, "So you are a pervert after all…" she muttered underneath her breath.
Syaoran looked at the girl walking away and then he remembered something, "Ah! Hey, stop!!! I don't know how to get out of here!"
Sakura whipped around and found Syaoran running after her, "Didn't I say I wasn't going to bother with you?"
"You obviously bothered with me when you followed me down here," Syaoran used his logic.
Sakura became silent, "Well…I'm not going to bother as of right now!"
"I'm still going to follow you so I can get out of this pit of hell,"
"Pssh," Sakura scoffed, "Whatever floats your boat, dude."
Syaoran followed her and laughed. The girl wasn't half bad. He felt a glimmer of hope and his spirits rise. There was something he could enjoy instead of drugs while in that hell hole of a rehab. He decided to make peace with the girl and befriend her.