Title: A Thousand Miles
Author: ButterflyTears butterflytears87@aol.com
(Not Very Legal) Legal Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do not own any of the character in this story (except Cate and Michelle – if you wish to borrow them, please contact me at the above address). As I am merely borrowing the characters, I will (reluctantly) return them to their rightful owners: The WB, Amblin, Michael Crichton , etc the usual suspects.
A Thousand Miles
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If you could fall into the sky
Do you think time would pass us by?
Cus you know I'd walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you
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He watched her as she strolled through the park arm-in-arm with Cate and Michelle, her two best friends. He saw her throw her head back, shrieking with laughter as the girls recounted their antics the previous night. He didn't need to listen – he had watched over them the previous night. He had seen the friends dance the night away at the party, drinking as much alcohol as their systems could take. Mark had watched his eldest daughter tie her bandana round her arm, close her eyes and shove the needle into her vein.
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You've always been a-running from something or another
But your fear has never had such a name
You let your problems linger, and always,
Come to think of it, there's always someone else who's to blame
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"Rachel! Rachel! Get up! Get out of bed NOW!" Elizabeth hollered, screaming at me.
"Right, okay, I'm up. What is it?" I mumbled, still half asleep.
"THIS is what's up!" My step-mother thrust a plastic bag full of empty bottles at me, glaring as she always did.
"Yeah, I had a few friends over a couple of nights ago, and we needed a little refreshment." I smiled innocently, hoping my lie would pass. Judging from the look on the English woman's face, it didn't.
"Contrary to popular belief, I didn't come up the Thames in a banana boat! I've been watching these bottles accumulate over the last few days! And anyway, if your friends were over you wouldn't be drinking anyway! You are fifteen years old!"
"You didn't come up the Thames in a banana boat? What on earth are you talking about? And anyway, what's it to you if the bottles have been building up? So what if I like a drink every now and again? It's not like you're my mother or anything!" I turned and stormed into my room, slamming the door behind me. As I crawled into my bed, I heard Ella start to cry. I was sorry to wake my sister up, but I was glad in a way, because that caused Elizabeth grief, and I wasn't about to make her royal highness's life easy. No way. I rolled over, and reached under my mattress, and without thinking anything of it, I swallowed the two tablets I found there.
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Did you think that this would make everything right?
Did you know the price you paid was your whole life?
And now you're screaming out to me to make things right tonight.
How will you end your pain?
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Mark shook his head as he watched the scene unfolding below him. He hated seeing his wife and his daughter fight, but what troubled him more was seeing the ease with which Rachel swallowed the hidden drugs. His head dropped to his hands as he wondered where he'd gone wrong; where she'd gone wrong. Mark sighed, remembering when Rachel was a happy little girl, playing with her friends. Now she was a depressed teenager, playing with her life. What is happening to my family? He wondered out loud.
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Rachel giggled uncontrollably, rolling off Cate's bed and onto the floor. Pretty soon Cate and Michelle fell over and joined her on the floor. The three girls lay on their backs, gazing up at the psychedelic posters on Cate's ceiling.
"Look at the pretty colours!" Michelle giggled. "They're swirling around and I can't make them stay still!" Cate and Rachel put their heads next to hers and gazed incredulously at the ceiling.
"Slow down! Stop spinning so fast!" Cate yelled at the roof.
"Maybe if we run in circles the other way, then the picture will stay still!" Rachel offered, rising unsteadily to her feet.
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Mark was watching over his family the way he always did when he saw Rachel and her friends running in frantic circles, staring at the ceiling, laughing hysterically. His suspicions were confirmed as her watched Cate reach into her pocket and pull out a lighter and a crudely rolled joint.
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The ER staff were run off their feet, as per usual on a Saturday night. Dr. Susan Lewis was just sitting down for a well-deserved rest in the lounge when Abby came flying in, informing her of an incoming trauma.
"Riot at a rock concert," the young nurse said. "We're getting three majors and countless minors. ETA 2 minutes." Susan sighed, glanced at her watch, and slowly stood up from the couch. **Guess I won't be going home any time soon** she thought. Susan left the lounge and was greeted by a site of organised chaos as the ER prepared in the usual manner for a multiple trauma. The sound of approaching sirens drew the doctor to the ambulance bay, where she joined the assorted line-up of doctors, nurses, surgeons and med students. As the first ambulance pulled up, John Carter started organising the group.
"Susan! You take that first lot. Haleh, you go with her. Gallant, you float between Dr Lewis and Dr Kovac. Chunny, you're with Luka." He turned to look at the group. "I'll take the third major. Abby, you come with me. Pratt, you triage and everyone else treat and street the minors. We're gonna need the beds."
"Hi, sweetie. I'm Dr Lewis. Can you tell me your name?" Susan peered over the gurney, assessing the damage on the way to the trauma room.
"Susan?" the young girl said.
"Susan? Your name is Susan?"
"No," the girl said. "Is your name Susan?"
"Yes," replied Susan, puzzled. "How did you know that?"
"It's Rachel," the patient announced. Shocked, Susan took a step back and gasped, as she stared into the pained eyes of none other than Rachel Greene.
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