Chapter 21
Carrick's POV
Our night was quite restless discussing all options we could go through to get her the right environment, treatment, and care. She on the other hand, seemed to have a quiet night. Grace checked on her more than once to make sure the alcohol doesn't stop her heart. She changed her IV twice, trying to give her some packed energy before we took her back home. I checked the time. It was 6am already. I grabbed my laptop and went down to the kitchen to do some research. I never really dealt with familial issues, but if I need to take this to court, I need to be prepared.
I brewed some coffee and started preparing some breakfast before getting to work. Grace always woke up around 7am if she wasn't working. She always loved my breakfasts, I think that's what kept our love alive - communication, empathy and doing things for each other without any questions.
'Hey…' Grace called as she came into the kitchen and hugged me from behind. 'I didn't find you in bed.'
'I couldn't sleep.' I smiled as I handed her some coffee.
'You got some ideas?'
'I'm still looking into it.' I continued as I took back my seat and continued reading similar cases. 'She's still asleep?'
'Yeah, I checked on her. She's going to be sleeping for quite a little longer.' Grace replied as she sat beside me and started reading some of the files I had next to me.
'Maybe… you should remove her IV?' I suggested. 'She will freak out when she wakes up.'
'You think she still won't freak out when she sees a bruised hand?' She replied as she looked at me from the top of her glasses. 'Besides, I'd rather win some more hours with her on some nourishment.'
Martina's POV
The wind howling outside making the window crackle is what stirred me up. I had a splitting headache but at the same time I felt well rested. Everything hurt these days and there was nothing that made me feel comfortable. Not even my soft bed that's made from I don't know of hypoallergenic, foamy kind of stuff.
I uncovered myself and lifted the quilts off me and that's where I noticed the drip.
'Shit…' All of a sudden it hit me that I wasn't at home. I remembered the smell, carpentry and wood of the room. I was still and grandma's house. I pulled the needle off and locked the flow not to make a mess. I checked my phone and found a few text messages from Teddy and dad.
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From: Theodore
Time: 7.45am
Hey sleepy head, you up? I'm doing the groceries with Gail, do you need anything?'
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From: Theodore
Time: 8.33am
Squirt, we got you some melons, lemons, cranberry, blueberries, raspberries, do you need anything else?
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From: Theodore
Time: 8.45am
I'm taking it you're still asleep, Text me if you need anything :)
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From: Dad
Time: 8.25am
Pumpkin, your mother and I have to head to work for a couple of hours. We'll be back home at 11am.
Hope you're feeling better xx
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I left my phone back on the table. I didn't feel like replying to everyone. In all honesty, I just wanted to head back to bed and sleep, but I still had plenty of things to settle. I got up and started taking off the safety pins from my dress. I desperately needed a shower, and some warm clothes. My stomach was killing me in pain. I moved to the wardrobe and found some clean clothes that I usually keep at grandma's house for whenever I stay there, and I took the time to have a hot blazing bath. After around 45 minutes, I decided to get ready. I went out of the bathroom, and realised that the IV was still there. I did some quick maths in my head and realised that for sure that wasn't the only bag I had, else it would have finished way earlier. I made my way to grandma's office, and long and behold, there they were, 2 more bags in the bin. I grabbed them and made my way down to the kitchen furious that they went against my wishes on this.
'What is this?' I asked as I found my grandma sitting with grandpa at the kitchen table.
'Good morning dear'. She replied.
Grace's POV
'What is this grandma?' She asked again as I looked at her dropping everything I was doing.
'What do you think it is?' I asked gently.
'Pure sugar, Potassium…' She replied as she dropped them on the table. 'I didn't consent to this.'
'Honey, your parent's consented.' Carrick replied. 'Sit down.' He continued as he pulled a chair for her. 'Have some breakfast with us.'
'I'm…. I'm not hungry.' she replied hesitantly.
'Martina, I didn't ask if you're hungry.' I added as I brought her a plate and some coffee. 'Eat.'
'No…' she sternly replied.
'Young lady, you do not take that tone with me.' I asserted. 'You don't need to eat everything, just have something.'
We tried making small talk to help her not over focus on her food. She tried to join in, but I could feel she was about to break emotionally. We took her control away, and as much as she wanted to rebel, we were not giving in. She needs someone who will fight this with her, and not against her. After a few bites from her side salad, she managed to drop some words.
'Mum and dad will not be home till 11am. They had to go in for work.'
'Not a problem, I'm sure we can find something to do kiddo.' Carrick replied, as he got up and brought some more black coffee. 'Refill?'he asked whilst she nodded wholeheartedly. She was definitely a Grey. Coffee was the thing we splurged on. 'What do you say, we take Fish for a walk?' He smiled as he touched her shoulder.
'You can drive too.' I added.
'Really?' She asked excitedly.
'Yes.' I replied. 'We have 2 hours on our hands. Let's make use of them.'
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By midday we decided to make our way to her home. We needed to have a serious discussion with Christian and Ana about what lies ahead. They need to make some serious decisions.
'Mum . Dad?' she called as she opened the door.
'We're in the kitchen.' Ana called back as we all made our way there. 'Hello pumpkin.'
'Mother…' Christian greeted as he came forward and hugged me.
'Umm. I'm going for a run.' She said as she gave me Fish's leash.
'Don't take long.' Ana replied. We were both dumbstruck how she gave in immediately to her demands. She shouldn't even be walking.
'I'm going to change.' she smiled. 'Thank you grandma.' she continued as she hugged both me and Carrick.
'Honey, let's go to the garden instead.' Carrick tried to deviate the situation. We would do anything for her.
'I need to train grandpa. I have a race next week.'
'You have a race?' Christian asked surprised.
'Yeah, she stuck it on the fridge.' Teddy joined in as he brought some orange juice.
'We didn't notice.'
'Yeah..' she replied sarcastically. 'Anyways, I'm going to go.' she continued as she ran straight up to change.
Carrick's POV
'You let her off like that? Like nothing is happening?' I asked confused.
'We do that here..' Teddy confirmed. 'Coffee? Tea?'
'Tea.' Grace replied. 'So, how will you know if something happens to her? Do you know her route?'
'Grace, Taylor always follows her.' Ana replied. 'It's just a phase.' she asserted.
'Ana, Christian, we need to have a serious talk.' I said as we all took a seat.
'Mum, I'm heading out.'
'Take your phone with you.' she replied as I looked at Teddy hinting that he should go with her.
'Sis, wait, I'm coming with you.' Theodore finally said as he downed his glass of orange juice.
'You think you can keep up?' she teased.
'Try me.'
'You said you wanted to talk mother?' Christian asked as he handed us some tea.
'Yes. We wanted to go over your plan for Martina.' I started. 'I'm sure you noticed how sick she is.'
'Carrick she's fine. She's just going through a phase.'
'Ana don't be daft. You know well as I do that this will only take a turn for the worse.' Grace threw at her. 'You need to set aside any conflicts you may have and focus all your energy on making her feel better both emotionally and get her the medical attention that she needs.'
'There we go..' Ana replied as she stood up. 'Why can't you trust our judgement Grace?'
'This has nothing to do with trust and everything to do with her wellbeing.' I highlighted. 'Martina needs to be in a hospital, she barely has any energy.'
'Funny Carrick. She just went running. I don't recall that as not having energy.'
'Ana she is pushing herself beyond anything.'
'Mother, why are you here.. Really?' Christian replied as I took out some pamphlets.
'Christian, Martina needs to be in a health care facility. That means she needs to have 24/7 doctor, nurse, and a psychiatrist that will give her regular therapy…'
'So this is just another way of telling us that we are not capable of taking care of her needs?'
'No… Ana… Just no.' I replied. 'What we are saying is that she can't stay here for sure. Here you can't keep track of what she is eating, how much she is eating, not allowing her to run. She needs to conserve every little energy that she has and that means that she needs to be in a hospital. '
'We've had this discussion already. I am not sending her to a hospital.' Ana replied.
'We want to support her, build a relationship with her…' Christian continued.
'and you can still do that. But she also needs to get treatment.' Grace replied.
'Ok…' I replied as Grace gave me a stern look. 'Ok, let's say you keep her here… you need to push her to resume therapy.' I suggested. 'Like this, someone can catch her if she delves deeper.'
'I've already had this discussion with her.' Ana replied. 'She will not listen nor go.'
'Ana you are the parent. You both need to act like one.' I replied. 'She needs to be pushed and that means you need to take her.'
'Ok, let's say we do push her for therapy.' Christian started. 'Will that buy us time to build a relationship and maybe avoid hospitalization?' he asked. I could see that he wants to get her the help but he is conflicted in the way he does it.
'For now? Maybe yes.' Grace admitted. We wanted to give them some time in rising up to the challenge before we take the ultimate leap.
'Ok.. Than it's settled.'
'You're agreeing to this? You're going to force her?' Ana asked surprised.
'Do we have any other choice?' Christian asked.
'Yeah. Listening to her could be one of the choices..'
'Ana we have to do this…'
'... And what if she remembers everything Christian, huh? Are you willing to live with that?'
'She eventually has to know Ana.' Grace replied.
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Theodore's POV
She struggles to do the basic stuff, but give her running and it's like every ounce of atomic energy spews in her body. She was right, I could barely keep up, but it could also be because I rarely do cardio. I needed to take a break.
'Sis... ' I called as I stopped running trying to catch my breath. She ran towards me, still jogging on the spot. I sat down and laid my back to a nearby rock.
'Come on Bro… just 5 miles to go..' She smiled as she jogged in circles around me.
'How many did we do?' I asked as she looked at her fitness device.
'7 down…' she smiled. 'We're almost there.'
I did a quick addition and felt my heart about to come out. '12 miles? Are you joking?' I asked as she stopped jogging and looked at me confused.
'Yeah… Why are you surprised?'
'Martina, don't you think this is excessive, wear and tear on your joints, knees…'
'...and you don't have wear and tear on your muscles with your lifting?' she challenged.
'Yeah, and I'm sure I lost 1kg of muscle with all this running.' I chuckled as I pulled her sitting next to me. 'Here have some gatorade.'
'Nah.. I stick to water.'
'Martina, you're freezing cold, you're running. Just have a fucking sip.' I was getting impatient with her.
'Hey, no one forced you to come with me… you chose to come running.' she replied taken aback as she stood up ready to continue.
'I'm sorry.' I replied as I pulled her back. 'Just, sit down for a second…' I continued. 'What do you say we go to chipotle or that french cafeteria you love after this?'
'Why?'
'We can have a meal after a run like this, have some brother, sister time? What do you think?'
'I don't know…' she replied as she sipped some water.
'Come on… It's on me…'
'Don't you always pay?' she chuckled. 'I'm busy later, I have to study, then meet Emily and William.'
'Why don't they come over?'
'Nah, we're running a few experiments later and then heading out.'
'Ok, we don't take long…' I hinted again, hoping that if I get her to sit down with me, maybe she'll eat something. 'I'm not going to stop pestering you. So what do you say?'
'Fine… I'll join in…' she finally gave in. 'On one condition.'
'What?'
'You have to run the last 5 miles without stopping. Deal?'
'Deal.'
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Christian's POV
My parents were right, we had to do something. She looks fragile, sick, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Ana on the other hand is right, we've been trying to protect for all this long, maybe it's done more harm than good. I sat down on her bed and smiled at the pictures staring back at me that she held on her bedside table. I grabbed one of them and reminsened at the family picture. She and Teddy were inseparable. The picture showed when we took them to the beach. Teddy was 17 and she was just 7. She gave us a run for the buck, always inventing ways on how to be adventurous, climbing trees and jumping down recklessly. She would take off her floaters just to show us that she could swim on her own. She was always headstrong, and Teddy used to fire that energy in her. She would always imitate him.
I left the picture back on her dresser and moved to her desk. A strange box caught my eye. I grabbed it and tried to open it but it was to no avail. I found the keyhole, and that means that somewhere there was a key hiding. I started looking around her room, having a bad sentiment about this box. After a few minutes, the key was found stuck under her bed. I sat down on her vintage leather desk chair. Although the box was opened I noticed that it was one of these chinese secret boxes. After a few minutes of playing around I managed to get around it.
Anastasia's POV
'Christian, I was wondering on our next trip?' I asked as I saw Christian in Martina's room, about to lose it. 'Christian, what are you doing here?'
'This is what she's hiding.' He replied furious.
'What are you talking about?' I asked confused as I went in.
'Weed. She's smoking weed, and God only knows what else she's doing.' He replied as he placed it on the coffee table and started rummaging through her bag. 'Don't just stand there, do something.' He strongly said.
I started to look through her bathroom cabinets and I was astounded at what I found. I completely missed this. There were huge amounts of vitamin bottles, diet pills, diuretics, laxatives.
'Ch… Christian…' I said broken. Grace and Carrick were right. We have a problem.
'Ana…' he started as he was left dumbstruck just as I was. 'Fuck…'
Christian's POV
I started pulling every bottle there was. She could kill a farm on these, and worst, is that none of us noticed.
'Laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, caffeine pills, guarana… Did you know about this Ana?'
'No… I'm just as shocked as you are.' She replied with tears streaming down her face. We heard the front door shutting and laughter coming in.
'Mum, dad..' I heard Teddy shout as I grabbed two bottles and the weed and went running down to catch her.
'Christian, don't lose it.' Ana warned me as she followed me.
'What the fuck are these?'
'Christian.' Ana tried to calm me down.
'So, are you going to answer me?' I asked again as I slammed them on the island.
'Where… Where did you find those?' She asked stutteringly
'We found these in your room.' I replied as she made one swift move to her bedroom.
'Dad, what did you do?' Teddy added as we followed her.
'No.. No, no, no, no, no, no… Why the hell would you search into my room?' she challenged. 'Why would you invade my privacy?'
'We are your parents, it is our right and duty to protect you.'
'Protect me? You said protect me?' She said again as she moved forward. 'You lost that right when you sent me away. You lost …'
'Come on Martina, you can't keep playing the same card over and over again. Fine we fucked up. We should have never sent you away.'
'It's too late isn't it now dad.'
'Martina…' Teddy tried to calm her down.
'Stay out of this Ted.' She replied. 'You have no right coming in here invading my privacy.'
'Martina…' Ana started.
'No mum, no. Not this time.' She replied as I moved into her bathroom again and continued to search her cabinets in front of her. She followed me and tried to push me away and there it was, I found more caffeine pills.
'No dad… no…' she said again with tears in her eyes. She pushed the bottles out of my hands and hit me in my chest.
'No dad, you can't do this to me.' She cried as I held her tight as I could. I pulled her in my embrace and it scared me to feel her skeleton underneath my hands.
'Shh…' I said as I held her as tight as I could, whilst Teddy held Ana making sure she didn't crumble. We were losing her faster than ever.
'No dad…'
'Honey, you need help.' I said again as I rubbed her back trying to make her feel comfortable. 'You need to get back into therapy…'
'No…'
'This is out of your choice, this week, you will resume therapy.'
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