Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I'm sorry it's taken me such a long time to update and part of the reason is because I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this story anymore. LoL I wanted to end it soon, but there's just so much left open, so I won't end it soon unless I can find a way that makes logical sense. Hehe. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this. Don't worry… The whole "Where did Tasha and her roommate go?" question will be answered sometime. :)
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One Week Later – Wednesday: Just before 10:00am
"I really don't feel like sitting through another one of Professor Grissom's lectures right now. It's such a beautiful day. We should be outside." Catherine whined as she and Sara made there way down to Sherman Hall.
"Come on, let's just get this over with" Sara said quietly.
"Hey, what's up with you?" Catherine asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You seem kinda… I don't know… Out of it"
Sara pulled the door to the building open, and walked inside. "I'm fine"
Catherine followed her into the classroom and they took two seats in the back of the room. "I don't believe you. You've been acting all funny for about a week now."
Just as Sara was about to answer, Nick, Warrick, and Greg strutted into the classroom. Nick took the seat on Sara's left, and Warrick took the seat on Catherine's right. Greg went up a few rows and sat next to a group of girls.
Catherine gave Sara a look that said 'We're not done with this.'
Sara just slumped down in her seat.
Nick draped his arm around Sara's shoulders. "Hey. We still on for tonight?"
"What's tonight?" Sara asked.
"Bio study session. You know for the test on Friday? C'mon Sar, we made these plans a few days ago"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. It just slipped my mind I guess. Yeah, I'll be there. Library?"
Nick nodded.
Catherine turned to Warrick with a worried expression on her face.
"What?" He asked.
"Sara."
"What about her?"
Catherine shook her head. "I don't know. Ever since Tasha disappeared, she's been acting weird. She even forgot about the Bio study session tonight. It was her idea. And just look at her."
Warrick glanced over at the young brunette then back to Catherine. "Yeah. I don't know what's up. I can ask Nick about it later, though."
"Thanks" Catherine replied, leaning in, and planting a sweet kiss on his cheek.
Just then the door in the front of the classroom opened, and Professor Grissom walked in, jar of beetles in hand. "Okay, so who's ready for that test on Friday?"
All forty students in the classroom groaned, causing a smile to spread across the young teacher's face as he began class.
5:30pm
"Hey Nick" Warrick greeted as he entered their dorm room and threw his backpack on his bed.
"Hey" Nick replied, glancing up from The Dubliners, which he still had not finished for English class.
"You got a sec?" Warrick asked sitting down at his desk.
"Yeah. What's up?"
Warrick took a deep breath before continuing. "Does Sara seem different to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Cath said something to me today. She's been acting weird since, well, you know. Since the whole Tasha thing. She forgot about the study group, which was her idea; she doesn't seem excited about much of anything really. Cath says she hasn't seen her eat a decent meal in over a week, she hasn't been sleeping much, and she just doesn't seem… right."
Nick's expression turned into that of a worried boyfriend. He sat up in his bed, and closed his book. He brought his palms to his temples and began to massage away the beginnings of a migraine. He took a deep breath before looking up to meet his friend's gaze. "I hoped it'd go away after a few days. But it hasn't. And now other people are noticing too. She says she fine, just a little tired and stressed because of classes. But I'm really worried about her."
"So is Cath. And now, so am I" Warrick confessed.
"What can I do?" Nick asked.
"Talk to her again. Tonight."
"But we have that study session for Bio at 9:00."
"Nick, it's barely even 6:00. Take her out to dinner. You have a car on campus. Take her someplace away from here."
"Okay, I'll call her now" Nick reached over and grabbed the cordless phone that sat on his desk. He quickly dialed Sara's phone number and waited impatiently for her to pick up.
After five rings, he pressed the 'talk' button, ending the call. "There's no answer" he informed Warrick. "I'm gonna head on over there."
"Okay, call me if you need anything. I'll see you at the library at 9:00… Hopefully with Sara."
"Yeah. See ya." Nick called as he headed out of their room and down the hall, hoping that the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach didn't mean anything.
Ten minutes later, Nick stepped off the elevator on Sara's floor, his heart pounding in his chest. He neared her room. The door was closed, and he couldn't hear any noise coming from the room. He knocked on the door three times.
No answer.
"Sara? Open the door. It's Nick." He called.
No answer.
"Sara! Please, open the door!" He called again, getting more and more nervous.
He reached for the door knob, and turned, breathing a sigh of relief when the door squeaked open.
"Sara?" He whispered into the darkness. The shades were drawn shut, and there were no lights on in the room. The only light was that of the dim glow from the hallway.
Nick reached for the light switch and gasped as light filled the room.
There she was, lying face down in the middle of the room. Nick nearly leapt to her side. He bent down next to her and gently shook her. "Sara? Sara!" He called with a shaky voice.
She didn't respond.
Nick placed two fingers on her neck, feeling for a pulse.
She had one. Barely.
Nick felt his heart rate speed up as he scanned her body looking for injuries of any kind.
That's when he saw it.
The bottle in her hand.
For a moment Nick actually could feel his heart skip a beat or three. He reached a shaky hand out to pull the bottle from her grasp.
"Zoloft" He read aloud. The prescription was made out to Sara Sidle. "Take one pill every day" he read. Nick shook the tiny bottle.
It was completely empty.
"Oh God, Sara, no!" Nick quickly found the phone and dialed 911. He informed the paramedics of the situation he found, and they told him they'd be there soon, and he could hang up the phone, and wait for them to arrive.
After Nick hung up the phone, he brought his attention back to Sara's near lifeless body. Her eyes were closed, and he could barely tell she was breathing.
Thursday Morning 12:45am
"Nick?" Catherine spotted her friend, sitting, slumped in a hard plastic chair in the waiting room of Desert Palm Hospital. He didn't respond when she called his name. She slowly sat down on the chair next to him. "Nick, how is she?" Catherine asked reaching for his hand.
Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't understand" he said quietly.
Catherine shook her head, and leaned back in the chair.
Warrick walked over to them with three coffees in his hand. "Here ya go, man" he said handing a coffee to his friend.
Nick took the Styrofoam cup, but did not take a drink.
Just then a doctor came through the doors leading to the emergency room, and walked straight over towards the three worried friends. "Are you the friends of Sara Sidle?"
Nick stood quickly. "Yes."
"Well, we had to pump her stomach. We've estimated that she took approximately 8-10 pills in less than an hour. She's asleep right now, but you may see her"
"Is she going to be okay?" Catherine asked.
"Yes. She will. But I strongly recommend she seek counseling. She can go home on Saturday." And with that the doctor turned and left the three friends alone to digest the information they had just been given.
No one spoke for a few minutes. Catherine sat back down. Warrick followed suit and wrapped an arm around her. Tears began rolling down Catherine's cheeks. Part of her was still in shock that this had happened, and the other part was just glad that Sara was going to be okay. The two of them had become extremely close in the month they had known each other.
Nick stood standing. His mind was going a mile a minute. How could he have not seen this? First, Sara was on anti-depressants, which he never knew about. And then just a few hours ago, she had tried to kill herself. She must have been going through something extremely horrible to have come to the decision to harm herself. Nick was so mad at himself for not noticing this earlier. And did Catherine know about the Zoloft? Did she know that Sara was depressed? Why didn't she tell Nick about it?
"Nick?" The sound of Catherine's soft voice interrupted his thoughts. He slowly turned around to look down at her sad face. "Why don't you go see her?"
Nick nodded, and slowly began walking towards the elevator that would take him up to the Intensive Care Unit, where Sara had been moved after she was stabilized.
He found her room quickly, and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.
The sight before him, brought tears to his eyes. There she was: the young woman he was quickly falling in love with. She looked so helpless. She was now wearing a white hospital gown that had blue polka dots all over it. The expression on her face was sad, and she was so pale. She looked so small and frail, lying in that hospital bed. She was hooked up to various monitors that beeped and buzzed every so often. Nick wondered for a minute how anyone could sleep with all that noise, but then remembered why she was there in the first place.
He quietly pulled a chair over to the side of the bed, and sat down. He reached for her hand, and gasped when he felt how cold it was. He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb as tears began to stream down his cheeks towards his chin. "Sara?" He whispered. "Please wake up."
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TBC
I'm extremely sorry if this chapter offended anyone. I don't know much about Zoloft or over-dosing, so if I did offend anyone I am very sorry. This is just where the story pulled me. I hope I don't lose any readers because of this chapter.
Please hit that little button and let me know what you think!