Chapter 6;
Dougie's POV;
This was it, time to go. Mum had arrived and wrestled Flea into the car. Danny had taken my bag out to the car too. Luckily, Paparazzi hadn't found out just yet though so I could sneak out. Perched in the bathroom, I was splashing cold water onto my face without looking in the mirror. I felt sick. I wanted to stay here, with my friends. But it had been done. Newspapers had been banned from the house, since it was my recent mission to find any stories about Frankie, None so far. She went out for her birthday a few days ago and she looked amazing, as she usually did.
"Hurry up!" Tom cheered up the staircase; I knew he was just worried at how long I was spending in the bathroom. His usual assumption when I'm alone in the bathroom? Drowning myself or Cutting. But neither have I tried. My fingers slid across the bolt and opened the door of the bathroom, stepping out into the hallway as the water from my face began to drip down onto my shirt. I flicked off the bathroom light beside me and crept down the stairs as quiet as I could, appearing in the hallway where my mum was stood, flinging her arms around me quickly. I stood and looked stunned, taking a moment before hugging her back.
"You're so brave." She whispered into my right ear which sent a small unfamiliar shiver down my spine. It was painful enough when I had to say goodbye to the boys whom I'd asked to stay here. I blanked out into my own little numb world as doors shut and my body just directed itself to the car. I wasn't even really controlling myself, my arms and legs were just doing things they should whilst my brain was thinking of other things, better things then what was happening here.
I refused to talk throughout the car journey; my eyes were looking out for paparazzi. The boys had promised that no-one knew, but I still had my doubts about it. This journey was becoming too slow and long, Mum was trying to slow it down, almost as if it would make the whole situation a lot less painful for the both of us. I was shaken from the daze I was in, as Mum pulled up into a fancy car park. Nerves suddenly swept through me as my eyes scanned the building before us. It looked like an old manor house or something, it was fancy and probably made to look relaxing or whatever.
A woman quickly appeared at the window of the bottom floor, moving quickly to the front door to greet us. I tugged at my jacket as Mum got out the car, hoping no paparazzi had managed to find us. I slid out and shut the door and walked over to the boot to get my bag whilst Mum began to speak the 'Maggie' the nurse.
"Dougie Poynter?" She said in a sickeningly sweet voice in my direction. I returned with a grunt, slinging my bag over my shoulder. Mum came in with me to the reception and decided to leave after a hard goodbye which ended up with us both in tears. You know on your first day of school, and you feel like the size of an ant? I felt like that. I was a lonely little boy in this big scary place. Mum couldn't save me, my band mates couldn't save me. I hated being this person and I wanted to be me again.
Maggie signed me in, grabbing some weird files from behind the reception desk which made me slightly suspicious. How did they have so much information on me already? She returned to my side, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder and gestured with her arm in the direction I was to walk in. I could already hear voices in other rooms, some shouting. I presumed those were the paranoid creepers that I'd stay away from.
After turning down endless corridors, Maggie's feet grinded to a halt at a pale door with numbers hung on the front on a plastic board saying "0184." I hoped this was just a room number, because now it felt like I was being taken into a police cell. I dumped my bag down onto the bed and sighed, I wasn't planning on talking to Maggie. Her empathy was really starting to piss me off.
"Settle in dear, I'll come back for you in an hour to discuss your treatment."