Someone evidently saw fit to mention Ellie's condition to Spinner. He arrived at the hospital shortly after school let out. Ellie had been tormented by other therapists throughout the day, but had quickly discovered that refusal to talk, or even look at them, soon made them leave her alone.
He came baring schoolwork, which he unceremoniously dumped on her bed before shifting nervously from foot to foot. She finally stared him down.
"Ellie," he said.
"Spinner."
"Uh... nice bandages?" She was wrapped in gauze from her elbows down.
"Just get it over with Spin, please. In fact, don't even bother. I get it. You want to break up. Consider yourself relieved of responsibility." She had to work to keep the animosity out of her voice.
"Ellie, I don't want to break up with you, okay? You tried to kill yourself, that's all. That's like, normal or something. The other thing, that's gross. But I can deal with the whole suicide thing or whatever. And I mean, I won't have to see it or anything, so it's no big deal."
She looked up at him smiling slightly. "Really?"
"Yeah. So who found you, anyway?" He held a certain morbid curiosity that he had no problem trying to satisfy.
"Um, just someone. I don't know. They didn't really tell me." She didn't figure that mentioning Sean would be a brilliant idea--especially since Sean had already made it clear things were over between them. "So, come here, don't I get a kiss?" Spinner was happy to oblige.
"I can't wait until I get out of here," Ellie continued. "They think I'm nuts, and they're not afraid to show it. I miss having alone time that isn't quite alone, if you know what I mean." Spinner, of course, didn't. "I mean alone with you, Hormone Boy."
"Oh." He still looked vaguely confused, but Ellie had grown accustomed to that. "Well, I can't wait until you're out either. But they told me five minutes, so I should go." He bent down and gave her another rough kiss, then left. Ellie resumed staring at the wall.
A few minutes later, a woman cleared her throat and Ellie jumped in surprise, and rolled over. A young woman had entered the room and was standing there and Ellie wondered just how long she'd been watching her. Ellie shot her a disgruntled look.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The woman was plain--not pretty or ugly--with the standard brown hair and brown eyes. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about her, although she wore a friendlier smile than most of the other people Ellie had seen that day. "I'm Dr. Cavanaugh. I'm a friend of Chantel's--um, Ms. Sauve's. She thought I might be able to help you better than some of the other doctors in here." Ellie stared at her blankly and the psychiatrist took a seat.
"When you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen," she said. "We have about an hour right now, although I can stretch that if need be. So, if you have something you'd like to say, I'm all ears."
Ellie was silent, fully expecting that after five minutes, as had happened with the other doctors, the psychiatrist would pester her with questions and then leave in disgust. This particular instance, however, broke the pattern.
They sat in absolute silence for precisely one hour before Dr. Cavanaugh left the room without so much as a goodbye. Ellie, despite herself, was somewhat intrigued. She had grown accustomed to having everyone give in to exactly what it was she wanted, or at least close to it, and she wasn't entirely pleased with the new turn of events. Her mind was working over-time, wondering just what the doctor was planning or thinking or if she was just plain nuts--more so than Ellie herself. She glared up at the ceiling, increasingly uncomfortable.
There were yellow stickers on some of the tiles. She had no idea what they were for, but they piqued her interested. They were plain and round and seemingly useless, but they distracted her briefly from everything else. Funny how three little stickers can make the rest of the world seem so insignificant.
Aside from being checked on by a nurse every ten minutes, Ellie was left alone until it was suppertime. To her dismay, Dr. Cavanaugh returned with her meal.
"You won't talk to us," she said, "so we talked to your friends. They mentioned that you haven't been eating well lately. Since you won't tell us what's going on, we have to assume the worst, and make sure you consume your daily quotient of calories."
Ellie, still thinking of only one thing, forgot her vow to remain silent. "Those yellow dots on the ceiling," she said, "what are they?"
To her credit, Dr. Cavanaugh was quick to cover her surprise at Ellie's sudden inquiries. "They're there to get the patients to talk to us," she said. "They emit electronic impulses that completely mess with your brain waves." She grinned. "Frankly, I haven't the foggiest idea. You're the first person who has ever asked."
She passed over the tray, which Ellie eyed with disgust. "Please tell me that's not supposed to be pizza," she said. She'd already amended her vow to talking, but only about irrelevant things.
"Can't do that, I'm afraid. But don't worry, I have to eat the same thing. Not supposed to leave here even on my breaks. Besides, I thought you'd enjoy it more than, um, baked bean mush or spinach soup."
Ellie started to joke back, then remembered where she was and abruptly shoved the pizza into her mouth. After she chewed and swallowed, she gave the counsellor a challenging glare.
"So what other lies did my friends tell you? Did they say I was obsessive-compulsive? Maybe schizophrenic? They seem to love playing doctor. Paige especially. If she'd minded her own business in the beginning..." She realized too late that this was, in all likelyhood, what Dr. Cavanaugh had been hoping for. Way to go, Ellie, she thought. Playing right into her hands. She pasted a bland smile on her lips.
"The eyebrow thing," the doctor said, "I can't do it either." Ellie was naturally very confused. "You mentioned it to Chantel. One of the few things you did say. She tends to rub it in when we're chatting." She smiled broadly. "Of course, I am guilty of mentioning my supreme yoga abilities more than occasionally." This time, Ellie downright glared. "Okay, so you're not one for small talk. Consider it my pathetic attempt at using my training to make you feel more comfortable. So, since you seem to like the direct approach, want to tell me why you did what you did?" Ellie shook her head, lips firmly together. "Okay. I can't force you. But you won't get out of here until we get this thing figured out. I'm sure you knew that already, though."
Ellie did. She just didn't care. After all, where could she go? Sean was over. Home was over. Spinner was Spinner. And Ellie was alone.