Peter was driving home from the hospital whilst a nervous Carla sat in the front seat.
It had been a hard four days since the accident, the doctors thought it was best to discharge her today as long as she was looked after.
Peter watched as Carla tensed whenever they turned a corner and then noticed her hand gripping the handle of the car door. She looked terrified.
"Baby," Peter says, softly. "It's okay. I'm driving safely."
"I know." She nods, plastering a smile on her face and looking out the window.
The rest of the journey was silent, she was staring out. Watching all the trees and buildings go by, it started to turn into a blur due to the tears that were awaiting to fall.
He saw her glassy eyes but had to keep an eye on the road.
Apparently, this was to be expected. Peter just had to make sure she wasn't shutting her emotions out and was being honest about how she was feeling.
"Right, here we are," Peter says, parking the car outside of Roy's. "Come on."
Carla stays sat down, moving her head so Peter can't see her.
He hears her sniffling, her hand going up to her face as she wipes away tears.
"Carla? Talk to me." He whispers.
"I-I don't know..."
"Don't know what, baby?"
"I don't know why I'm so scared to be back in this street. Back where he was watching me."
"He can't hurt you anymore." He reassures her.
"And I don't want to see the family. I don't want to talk about what happened or hear their pity. I just want you."
"That settles it then. I'll tell everyone to leave us alone."
"What about Roy?" She asks, quietly.
"He does live there, we might see him but he's got the cafe to take care of."
"Okay. Let's go." She mutters, unclipping her seat belt.
"Mind your ribs." Peter points out, helping his lover out of the car as she winces.
"Can I get you anything?" Peter questions feels completely helpless as he watches his girlfriend sit on the sofa, almost in a trance.
"No...I'm fine." She mutters in response.
"Michelle has been messaging me all day, wanting to come and see you. I told her you're not up for visitors anytime soon." He says.
She doesn't answer him, instead wraps her arms around her body tighter and continues to stare ahead.
"Do you want to have a nap?"
"Will you just stop," she closes her eyes. "Stop asking if I want this or that..."
"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help you, baby."
"I know that. I know."
"But, erm, Scott is coming round in a bit so I think you need to sleep. You look shattered."
"Fine." She exhales slowly, standing up and making her way to her bedroom at Roy's.
Now that Peter was alone, he had a moment to digest his thoughts. So he took a seat on the sofa and put his face in his hands, grabbing at his short hair on his scalp.
He didn't know what to do. It reminded him of last time Frank had hurt Carla, but this time worse. A lot worse.
But she had so many people there for her this time round, and he didn't need to sneak around either as they were an official couple nowadays. But what use is everyone else if she won't let them help her?
He needed the support though. Carla had him to lean on but who did he have?
His mind was running away with itself and he was desperate for a drink. Desperate for the burning sensation of whiskey, softly going down his throat. Losing all sense of reality the more he drank it.
No, he couldn't think like that.
Standing up, he walked over to the sink and started washing up. He just needed to distract himself, give him something else to focus on.
Half an hour later and he must've tidied the whole flat, until he heard loud sobbing coming from Carla's bedroom.
"Carla?" He whispers to himself, swiftly running to her room.
She was sat upright in bed, her top clinging to her and sweat making her hair wet. Her face was clammy and pale, eyes red as tears continued cascading down her cheeks. Her lip was trembling and loud, violent sobs escaped them as she looked up helplessly at Peter.
"Oh, love. What's happened?" Peter asks, sitting down on the side of the bed and cradling her head into his chest.
"I saw him, Peter. I saw him," she cries, shakily.
"Who? Frank?" He bites his lip, watching Carla physically tremble as he says his name.
His heart snapped into two, was she saying she saw him...as in a hallucination? He needed to know whether this was her psychosis talking but she was making no sense, mumbling irrationally.
"He was there. He was there." She stutters.
"Carla, he is dead." Peter confirms, sighing when she shakes her head. "I promise you; Frank is dead."
"No..." she whispers. "What's happening to me?"
"You've just gone through a huge ordeal. You're bound to be in this kind of state. But don't worry, Scott is coming." Peter explains, softly.
"I saw him." She murmurs.
"When you were trying to sleep?"
"No, in my dream." She says, frowning as he sighs.
"Don't worry. It's not real." He reassures her, placing a gentle kiss on top of her head.
"Only me! Roy let me up." Scott says, entering the flat. "Peter? Are you here?"
"In Carla's bedroom, Scott." Peter calls out.
Poking his head round the door, Scott watches the scene unfold in front of him and knows what was happening.
"Hey, Carla. Remember me?" He smiles, softly.
He walks over to the bed, sitting on the end so she didn't feel suffocated.
When she fails to respond and buries her head further into Peter's chest, Scott looks up at him.
"She had a bad nightmare. Got into a really bad state, saying she saw him." Peter explains, quietly.
"Carla," Scott leans forward. "I need you to tell me whether you saw Frank in your nightmare or if you were awake and he was in here."
"No...he was with Rana. In my head." She whispers, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her knees.
"Rana? Tell me about this nightmare."
"They were both taunting me, telling me this is what I deserve. Frank was hitting me whilst she was stood laughing and cheering him on. I-It was at the factory."
"Right," he nods. "That must've been very frightening for you but I can assure you that didn't happen. It was just a horrible nightmare. Do you understand that?"
"Yeah. Just a nightmare," she repeats. "I know they're dead."
"Good. That's a big step to see the difference between a nightmare and reality. You've managed to figure out which is real and which is not so well done." Scott smiles.
They carried on talking things through as planned, Peter and Scott were very concerned about her mental state right now so had to do everything they could to stop it from getting overly serious again.
Two hours later, Carla was finally sleeping peacefully in her bed again.
The two men walked out the room and both exhaled, deeply.
"Do you want a drink?" Peter asks.
"A coffee would be good, thank you. White, no sugar." Scott replies.
"So what are you going to do? Will she need to be sectioned again?" Peter questions, placing their drinks on the dining table where they sat.
"Right now, she isn't at a point where she has to be sectioned but that doesn't mean I'm not worried. Lack of sleep will have a big effect on her mental state and if she's refusing to sleep because she's scared then..."
"Then what?"
"Well, her mental health will probably start declining further. I can't prescribe her sleeping pills after last time-..."
"Yeah, no sleeping pills." Peter shakes his head.
"We're just going to have to help her through, constantly reassure her and make sure she doesn't bottle things up. If I start noticing her getting a tad bit worse than I'll be looking into places..."
"Oh god." Peter puts his head in his hands, once again.
"But that's worse case scenario. I'm sure it won't come to that, I'm just putting you in the picture if it does." Scott reassures him.
"Hi." Peter smiles, watching Carla leave her bedroom.
"How long was I asleep?" She croaks.
"Around three hours. I think you needed it." He replies.
"Yeah," she nods. "I feel a bit more with it now."
"Oh that's good. Do you want some water?"
"Yes please." She says, walking over to the sofa.
"Has Michelle being trying to get in touch?" Carla adds.
"Yeah, she wants to come over. Saying that it's something urgent but I keep telling her you're not in the mood."
"No, tell her to come."
"Really? Are you sure?" Peter frowns.
"Yeah, she has been worried sick so it's selfish of me to not let her just pop her head round the door." Carla smiles, weakly.
"Okay then. Tell me if you get overwhelmed at all though, got it?"
"Peter," Carla sighs. "It's 'chelle."
"Heya!" Michelle cries, rushing into the room and instantly embracing Carla who was hovering near the kitchen.
Carla immediately tenses, something that doesn't go unnoticed by the pair.
"Oh, Car. I'm sorry." Michelle apologises.
"No, I'm sorry," Carla sighs. "Come here."
As the two best friend's hug, Carla feels her shoulder become damp and holds Michelle at arms length.
"Look at you! Don't cry, Michelle." Carla says, tearfully.
"I'm sorry-..."
"Stop saying you're sorry," Carla sighs before hugging her again. "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you too. My god, I'm so happy you're back."
"I'm not going anywhere again." Carla replies.
Michelle felt so bad, Carla had just gone through so much and yet she was the one reassuring her whilst she cried onto her shoulder.
"Come on you two, sit down." Peter pipes up.
"How are you doing?" Michelle asks, sensitively.
"Alright...as okay as I can be." Carla shrugs, awkwardness drowning her from within.
"Mentally or physically?"
"Well, Scott is coming in daily and so far he isn't going to chuck me back to Carlisle so..."
"Car," Peter closes his eyes. "It's not like that."
"I know. I'm just joking, you know, like I used to."
"I don't want you to close yourself away again though, okay? You can always talk to me when you're feeling on edge or scared." Michelle says.
"And me." Peter nods.
"You two have always been there for me, I'm not going to forget that."
"You see, I was going to move away with everything that's gone on but I'm staying now. I need to be there for you."
"Aw, Chelle. Don't stay on my account-..."
"No, honestly I am staying. What kind of friend would I be if I left you now?" She interrupts.
"If you're sure?"
"I'm just going to have to avoid Robert."
"What ever happened to you and him?" Carla asks.
"Ugh, let's not go into it. The plan didn't work out but I just called it off instead. We aren't together." She explains.
"Right." She nods.
"See, that was nice seeing Chelle, wasn't it?" Peter smiles, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah...felt good having a normal conversation for once, after all the crying."
"You seemed more like you."
"That's a step in the right direction then, isn't it?"
"Sure is." He nods.
"Peter, I just need to reassure you that I'm really going to work hard to not get back to the way I was. I don't want to get ill again."
"I know you don't. But I also know that if you do, you can't help it. It's a mental illness, baby. I'll be there every step of the way."
"I feel like I can get through this. If I have you, and I can focus on what matters most." Her eyes glint.
"I love you so much."
"I love you too, baby."
"He will not return again." Peter confirms.
So that's the end of the story! Thank you for everyone that's read it, left a review or even done anything on twitter. It's very much appreciated and I hope you've all enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I have a short epilogue that I will publish in a bit too! Thanks again!
