Hopeless, that's how she felt every time she woke up, every time she looked in the mirror, every time she got high or had sex with another man. She looked at herself in the mirror again and she hated what she saw. She wanted to get high to forget the pain, but she knew that wouldn't happen because her dealer had been arrested the day before. And of course her best friend was dead too.

She decided to take a walk, she didn't care where to, she didn't even care if she walked straight into the sea and drowned. She opened her door, and she saw something setting there. She picked it up and she saw the present her father had left there that night. It was a mug with candy and a bear in it, and there was a card with it too. It was a business card for a rehab clinic, on the back was a message from her father.

Her eyes started to fill as she went inside. She sat down on her bed and stared at the card for a long time. Then she started to cry.

"You're nothing but plumbing…" The words kept resounding in her mind. They were her father's words, and as much as they had hurt, they were true.

"You need to get help, why can't you admit it?" She asked her self. "If I keep doing this I'll die. Right now I'm worthless; I could have been anything. Fine, I'll go, I can't keep doing this, I need to change."

So she took a shower and she decided to go to the address on the card. She didn't wear makeup; she didn't see the point.

She walked in the door of the clinic, and she walked up to the desk.

"May I help you," the receptionist asked.

"Um, yeah, I was given this card to get help."

"Do you want to check yourself in to our drug rehab program?"

"Uh, yes. You see, I don't know if I want to or not, but I really need to change, because my life sucks right now."

The woman smiled kindly at her. "Don't worry, we can help you. If you'll just fill out this form, we'll have one of our doctors talk to you."

"Thanks."

So she did, and then she was checked into the clinic. She didn't like it there at first, but after awhile she felt more comfortable there. She didn't like group therapy, but not many people do. She even started to become friends with people there. Nobody pushed her too hard; in fact she pushed herself the hardest. By the end of a few months she was an entirely different person.

When she got out she moved into another apartment, although it was still low-income, she felt far more comfortable there. She even got a job as a waitress in a nicer restaurant.

About a month after she got out on her own, she got a summons from the court about Dakota's case. Ellie was surprised that it was actually going to court, given the highly damaging nature of the case, but she decided to go. She was afraid of going so she did the one thing she never liked to do, she called her father.

TBC...

I wrote this because I thought Ellie deserves to be better : )

please R&R