Okay, so here is another chapter! I said that I had already written it, so I figured I wouldn't let you wait too much. And I'm almost done with the chapter after this one, so I'm very ahead. And with my hints, people have finally noticed. Jeez, people I thought you'd be on it right away. I will not say what is right now, because I'm guessing it will take about....hmm.... like 3 more chapters after this one. It's amazing that I've written all this, because it seems like I have no time! But here it is! The fourth chapter!
The car ride to the facility was silent. It was an hour and a half away from Newport, one hour from Chino. Neil drove Summer, who sat staring out the window. Not much more was left, maybe another half hour her father attempted to put the radio on a good station, but failed. Two years ago, she would've loved the song the station was playing, but now, she hated it.
Summer looked into the backseat of the car. A duffel bag was there, along with a pillow. It looked as though Summer was sleeping over at a friend's. she used her second largest bag to p0ut some of clothes and prized possessions that hadn't been trashed. Marissa, over the week, had doubled her prints of pictures of them since Summer had ripped all of hers up. She had a large packet of pictures yet to be looked at, Princess Sparkles, a snapshot of Captain Oats for Princess Sparkles, and her iPod.
Summer could tell they were getting closer, only about twenty more minutes. Wonderful. She looked out the window again. She was really scared. Everyone she knew would be gone, she would be alone. And being alone scared her.
Fifteen more minutes. Damn, was she frightened. She wanted to go home. No, not home. To Seth. And Marissa. And Ryan. They would watch over her, help her, protect her. Here, Summer was vulnerable, penetrable.
Summer began tapping on the arm rest. She was freaked. Her breathing sped up, anxiety took over. Her father told her to stop tapping. It made him nervous. She was already nervous. At that time, she practically hated him for sending her away. But he was doing what he thought was best. And she loved him. So Summer couldn't hate him.
Six minutes. In six minutes, her life would be over. Hopefully, it would only be for three days. She could see Seth in three days. Only three days she had to get through.
Summer could see the place now. Willow Creek Treatment Facility for Adolescents, the sign read. Her father turned in. Trees guarded the road up. The trees were bare, all the leaves lie on the ground. The leaves were the color of blood, the ground was bleeding. Summer was bleeding inside. She swallowed as she looked forward. Her stomach flipped over about eight times, she was sick. Summer wanted to go home, be anywhere except here. Taking deep breaths, she tried to soothe herself. No luck there.
Her father sensed Summer was scared. He put his hand on hers, and looked over, giving her a smile. She looked to him, a weak smile forming on her face. She tore her gaze away from him, and began to watch as the building got closer.
Neil parked the car and Summer opened the door slowly. Neil grabbed her stuff from the backseat. Wind blew at her, there was a chill in the air. People up in the windows above her stared down, soon she would be among them.
The two walked to the front doors, where they were buzzed in and nurses took them into the main office. Summer zoned out as her father talked to the director. They set her up for a three day stay, and then a trial would occur to discuss if she needed to stay longer. Summer didn't want to listen, because if she listened, she knew this was actually happening. It still freaked her out. This wasn't getting any easier to deal with Summer thought as a nurse led her up stairs. She barely had said goodbye to her father before being pulled away.
Summer was shaking, holding onto the railing for support. Her other arm held her pillow, the nurse was holding her bag. the nurse led Summer up two more flights of stairs and through a door. A hall was in front of her, some girls sat on a couch at the very end of the hall.
"Come on, hun." The nurse pushed Summer. She led her to one of the rooms. "This is your room. You're the bed on the right." The nurse put the bag on Summer's new bed, as Summer placed her pillow down. She heard light footsteps. "Oh, and here's your roommate, Nicole. I'll leave you alone. Nicole, can you show her around?" The nurse asked.
"Sure." Nicole said to the nurse as she left. Summer didn't want to look over. She opened her bag and tried to preoccupy herself. "Hi." Nicole offered. Summer didn't respond. She didn't look over. "I am talking to you, if you were wondering." Nicole walked closer, and Summer finally looked up at her. "Hi." Nicole leaned on the bed, she had brown hair, but not as dark as Summer's/ she was taller than Summer, and thin, but not near as thin as Summer.
"Hi." Summer said to her, awkward.
"What's your name?" Nicole asked, now moving to her own bed. Pictures were on her wall, of little kids and people her own age.
"Summer." She told Nicole, wanting some alone time.
"Cool, like the season. Mine's Nikki by the way. Why don't you come with me and meet everyone else? You can unpack later. Plus, they probably won't let you." Nikki told her.
"Okay." Summer would've said no, but she did kinda want to leave. They were watching. So she followed Nikki out of the room and to the couch Summer had seen. The place wasn't all white, like movies made it seem. Her room was a light blue, but the open areas were white. A nurses' station was behind Summer, some girls sat on chairs and couch in front of her, their eyes glued to the tv.
"Guys." Nikki called and six heads turned to her and Summer. "This is our new girl, Summer." Summer felt really uncomfortable.
"Hey." They all said at different times and turned their heads back to the tv.
"Price is Right. That's how we spend morning free time. We all have strict, but not very strict stuff to do. We all have individual, and then we go to Group in the afternoon. We have stuff like arts and crafts shit and maybe we'll go out for a walk. If we get lucky enough. Sometimes, we go to the pool. It's never usually open, but when they fill it up, for those two weeks, it's heaven. We have an hour and a half in the library, where we get out homework faxed in." Nikki explained. "Come on, sit down. Let the Price is Right take over." The two sat, but Nikki kept explaining. "Oh yeah, we all go to different stuff next, like Anger Management, or Art Therapy, or Music Therapy, it depends. Then we go to lunch, and come back for Group. Then we Afternoon Free Time, then Individual, then finally we go to the library. That's until dinner. Then we come back for Evening Free Time. You can really do whatever you want during those times, but you can not go to your room."
"Oh." Summer tried to relax, but she couldn't. This was happening, really happening.
"So, what are you in for?" Nikki asked her.
"I'd rather not talk about it." Summer was scared. Nikki was about to say something, but stopped.
"I'll let you learn the hard way." She finally said and looked back to the television. Bob Barker was just yelling about a brand new car, in the Showcase Showdown. They watched on, for about ten more minutes.
"Summer Roberts." A nurse called Summer and she got up, going to the nurses' station. "I wanted to tell you that you have Art Therapy next."
"Thanks." Summer whispered and began to walk toward the couch she had been sitting on, but stopped. She didn't want to be there. So she walked the other way, into her room. She sat in-between the wall and her new bed. She needed Seth. It had only been a few minutes, and already she couldn't take it. She was falling apart at the seams.
"Summer." Another girl called her name about five minutes later. This girl had dirty blonde hair, and was about Summer's height. Her arms were heavily bandaged, and she winced every time something hit her arms. "Come on." Summer slowly got up and followed the girl. Everyone else was gone and the girl led Summer down a different staircase. "I'm Kaci." She told Summer Kaci looked over at Summer's bandaged wrist. "Do you do it too?" Kaci asked, and Summer looked to her, wanting to say something, but her voice had disappeared. "Sorry." Kaci apologized and led the way down another hall into a small room, with five easels. Tow other girls were in there already, from before. They sat on a bench. Kaci and Summer sat with the girls.
"Hi, I'm Evan." A girl with brown hair and nothing wrong with her to the eyes.
"And I'm Lauren." The second girl had blond hair, covered with a hat. She was terribly thin, thinner than Summer, who had gained a pound or two since she had tried to kill herself.
"Ah, new girl!" A woman came out of nowhere, or her office, exclaimed. Her hair was pulled in a bun with some curls falling down out of it. "What would your name be?"
"Summer." She answered.
"Like the season, I love it! You're given me an idea for tomorrow. Now, girls, to the easels." The four stood up and each went to an easel. "Today, I want you to paint whatever you feel. In other words, a free day. Put emotion into your paintings." The woman went over to Summer as the others got paint. "As you can see, there is the paint. My name is Marie, if you need help." Marie left Summer and she went to get paints.
When Summer returned to her easel, she was confused. Paint what you feel. What does that mean? How can you paint what you feel? She didn't know how she felt. Scared, that was it. How can you paint being scared? All the other girls were busy painting. From what Summer could see, Kaci was painting red glass. Summer couldn't see the others.
Paintings were all around the room. Marie only put up ones done by patients. Their initials would be in the bottom right corner. N. G, R. A., E. F., A. E.... all done by patients. With artistic ability. Summer had none.
She looked at her blank easel again. Nothing came to mind. She had another hour and a half, wasting a half an hour. She couldn't think straight. How could she express her emotions if she couldn't get them in order?
Summer picked up a paintbrush. She didn't dip it in paint. She didn't know what to do. Everyone else was busy painting some masterpiece, and Summer was stuck. Maybe blank was what she felt. Nothing. No, she felt things, but she had no clue on how to paint them.
Ten minutes had passed. This was going to be long. She heard paper tearing. Evan had finished a painting. What the hell? Summer couldn't even put the damn paintbrush in the stupid paint.
"Uh, Summer...." Marie's voice came from behind her. She looked confused, trying to find the right words. "Keep trying." Marie rushed off.
One hour, twenty minutes, and no paint strokes later, Art Therapy had ended. Summer felt stupid, but tried not to show it. She followed Kaci, Evan and Lauren down some more stairs into a cafeteria.
"Come on, I'll help you get through the line." Evan told her. Summer watched Evan as she picked up a tray and a spoon. Summer followed suit. "Now, the food isn't so good, but you deal. It's not as bad as the hospital food. But they have to make everything okay to eat with a spoon. No forks or knives allowed here." Evan took a plate of a chicken like substance and moved on. Summer did the same. They went through the line, taking a milk or water and finally exiting the line. "That's our table." Evan pointed to a table almost in the middle of the cafeteria. Lauren and Kaci were right behind them and they all walked to the table.
Nikki and three other girls already sat there, not talking a lot, just eating.
"Hey Summer." Nikki greeted her and Summer sat next to her.
"Hi, I'm Mika." A girl across from Nikki said to Summer. She had orange hair, with the blond roots showing. She wasn't painfully thin, nor did she have bandaged arms.
"I'm Alicia." The girl next to Mika said. She didn't smile, but Summer saw her slightly deteriorated teeth.
"Bree." The last girl, next to Nikki said. With platinum blond hair and a pale complexion, she looked like a super-model. Her hands shook as she picked up her water, splashing it around.
Summer looked down. She didn't want to be here. This was all a dream, it had to be. That was the only logical explanation for this. She could hear Mika and Nikki ;start up a conversation, but who cared. This was a dream, it was a dream. All Summer had to do was keep repeating that in ehr head and it would be a dream.
She took deep breaths, she had to calm herself. But she was scared. Really scared. What if she couldn't get out in three days? What if she was stuck in here for longer? The thought freaked her out more. She was losing it, again. She had to think positively. Prove she wasn't insane. She wasn't insane like the others. But, could they be considered insane? They seemed like normal girls. But then again, what was normal?
"So, Summer. Where are you from?" Nikki looked over.
"Orange County." Summer whispered. She knew that if she said Newport, they would ask about the shooting, and she did not want to talk about it. Still, they might not know about the shooting. Hell, who was she fooling? Everyone knew about the shooting.
"Another O.C.er! Awesome! Matches my hair. Very cool." Mika exclaimed and everyone except Summer started laughing.
"Bree here is from the O.C. Right, Bree?" Alicia added.
"Yeah." Bree nodded her head.
"So, what's been happening in the O.C.? Haven't heard anything since that shooting... where was that again?" Mika wondered.
"Harbor High. But it's strange, don't you think? That's a private school. I would've guessed a public school would've had it happen." Lauren answered.
"Laur, there's only been one other school shooting. How can you pinpoint what kind of school it'll be in?" Nikki asked.
"I guess so." Lauren agreed.
"Bree, didn't you say you knew someone in that shooting?" Evan asked Bree. Summer was glad no one was asking her questions. She wasn't ready.
"Uh-huh. My old neighbor, Gabby." That name seemed slightly familiar to Summer. She thought maybe Marissa might've mentioned it.
"It's a shame. That that happened. I don't know if I would've made it. Even if I got out safely." Kaci said. She took a quick look down at her arms.
"Same here." Evan agreed. Their conversation was cut short by lunch ending. Summer got even more freaked. They would make her talk. She knew she should, but it was hard. Her voice disappeared when they asked her things. She barely choked out the words she did.
All eight of them climbed the stairs to their floor, or ward. Everything was the same, had she expected it to change? The rest of them walked past the couches, and into a room before the hall. Inside of the room was nine chairs, one of them was already occupied by a woman, in her twenties, looking through papers.
"Hey Claire." Nikki greeted the woman as they entered.
"Hi Nikki." Claire said without looking up. "Um, we have a new girl named...."
"Summer. Yeah, we know." Nikki explained. Claire finally looked up.
"Oh, hi! I'm Claire, the Group director. You can take a seat and we'll get started." Claire shook hands with Summer. After that, Summer sat down next to Nikki and Evan. "Okay, so you all know Summer. But I thought maybe she could tell us a little bit about herself. Summer?" All eyes were on Summer. She closed her eyes to make them stop staring.
"My name is Summer Roberts and I live in Orange County with my dad and step-mom." Summer didn't know what else to say. She opened her eyes to see everyone still expecting more. She didn't give any.
"Okay, good. Um, does anyone have anything else to say?" Claire desperately wanted a conversation, but wasn't getting one. No one spoke, they all seemed a little awkward. Summer looked down. She saw her heels. They were uncomfortable. She needed to ask for sneakers or something. Heels and jeans weren't working well. If she was gonna stay here, she needed some comfortable shoes...No, she wasn't staying here long. Three days. That was it.
Summer heard a discussion start, but she chose not to listen to it. She didn't want to. It would make this all too real, which she already didn't want it to be. She would go home in three days, and never look back. She'd learn to be a good little girl and never annoy or upset anyone ever again.
She couldn't get stuck in here, she just couldn't. This was her senior year. She couldn't blow it. Or, had she already? Missing a month of school, and add another week to that. She doubted she would graduate. She had to graduate. With Ryan, Marissa, and Seth. What would she do if she didn't? Deal with another year of high school? No way. Maybe she could take summer school courses. Who would've thought summer school would be a last resort? How had her life fallen apart so horribly? Three months ago, they were fine. Pissed off, but fine.
Summer sat in Group the whole time without uttering another word. They all would look over, wanting her to talk, but she wouldn't. She was scared.
Group finally ended, the girls were given an hour and forty minutes to spend in the day-room. No going to your room though. You had to talk to people. And if you didn't, a nurse would come over. The day-room had a ping pong table, a million board games, a couple decks of cards, all sorts of stuff.
"It used to be bigger. So I've heard." Alicia commented as they walked in.
"Hell, yeah! Twice this size. Before they split it" Nikki told all the girls.
"You could talk to the other girls in the ward next to us." Mika added as she served the ping pong ball to Nikki.
"Didn't they have guys and girls sharing the day-room once?" Bree asked.
"Guys?" Lauren wondered in amazement.
"They tried it. But they were afraid that romances would start. So they put girls in the other ward. Still were scared of romances, so they split the day-room up. The only time I ever got to hang out with the guys was when for three days, everyone had to be shipped out to nearby hospitals so they could build the walls." Nikki explained to them all as she played ping pong with Mika.
"Anyways, do you want to play a game?" Kaci asked Summer as the others talked.
"Sure." Summer would do anything to get out of here.
"How about checkers? I'm really good at checkers." Summer had only played checkers a tiny bit. With her father's mother. Who died. When Summer was eight.
"Okay." Summer nodded and hoped she could get through this. Kaci grinned and ran to get the checkers board. She came back and the two set up the board. Summer did know what she was doing, but she just wasn't good enough for Kaci. Kaci really knew how to play. She'd clean Summer off so fast, sometimes Summer didn't even know what was happening. After a while, Evan played against Summer, and not knowing much about checkers, Summer beat her. Soon, everyone wanted to play, and they took turns. Summer left her seat and then sat on a couch and watched. She watched as the time finally went by.
A nurse eventually told her where she would be going. Afternoon Free Time ended, and Summer led herself to the therapist's room. There were two doors, and her and Bree had to sit on a couch outside the offices, waiting for their therapist.
A door opened and Summer was sent inside. It seemed like a normal office, degrees were on the walls.
"Sit." A woman, in her thirties, said to Summer. Summer sat on the couch and looked at the woman. The woman was relatively pretty, with jet-black hair and a great fake tan. She smiled at Summer, showing off her porcelain Veneers. "Hi, Summer. I'm Kelly, your therapist."
"Hi." Summer whispered.
"I don't know a whole lot about you, except that your name is Summer, you're seventeen, and you tried to kill yourself. Am I right so far?" Summer nodded. "Good. I thought for today, we might start off with the basics. Get to know you. So, let's start with your family. Do you have any siblings?"
"No." Summer used to wish when she was little that she could have a younger brother or sister. Never got one.
"Okay. How about your parents? Are they still together?" Kelly wanted to help Summer, but she didn't know how deep the problems went.
"No." Summer didn't want to be in this room.
"How old were you when they separated?" Kelly wasn't getting very good responses. She never did the first day.
"Seven." Summer remembered the day they told her they were separating. She ran upstairs, packed stuff, and hid in her closet, with a note on her desk saying she ran away. She thought they might have gotten back together if she was missing. They found her, and they separated.
"Wow. That's a pretty young age to deal with that." Summer didn't move. "Did either of your parents remarry?"
"Both." Summer didn't look up at Kelly.
"When did your mother remarry?" Kelly asked.
"When I was eleven." Summer knew her mother had a whole other life now. Summer might have step-siblings, she didn't know. She hadn't had a real conversation with her mother since she was thirteen. Summer always tried to ignore her mother at all costs. Marissa should take some lessons from her.
"How about your father?"
"When I was nine." Summer remembered that wedding so well. She was the flower girl, dressed in a beautiful, long, white dress and she threw those flowers around so beautifully. Everyone had loved her.
"Okay. Who do you live with now?" Kelly wasn't getting that far. By this time, her patients usually put some emotion into their answers.
"My dad." It was as if Summer was filling out a survey.
"All right. Why don't we talk about friends. Do you have any friends?"
"Uh-huh." Summer nodded to the floor.
"Who's your best friend?" Kelly hoped she would get a little deeper.
"Marissa." Summer didn't want to talk about Marissa. Summer had kept a lot of secrets for Marissa. She didn't want anything about Marissa or any of the people she knew to come out from her lips.
"How long have you been friends with Marissa?" Every time Summer said something, Kelly wrote a little note in her notebook.
"All my life." Summer couldn't think of a time when she didn't know 'Coop.'
"She's a good friend, yes?" Summer nodded. "Has she ever tempted you with alcohol or drugs?" She shook her head. "Do you and Marissa drink?" Summer looked up to see Kelly's serious face. She nodded. "Do you two drink a lot? Like, so much you pass out?" Summer hadn't known that Marissa had been asked the same exact question a year and a half ago, except Marissa answered. They always answered when they weren't hiding anything.
Summer looked down. She promised Marissa she wouldn't say anything. But this woman could be trusted, right? No she couldn't. She would use everything Summer said against her in the trial. Nope, Kelly could not be trusted with Summer's secrets.
Kelly could see it Summer's almost hidden eyes. She was hiding something. but what? Kelly had seen this all too many times in teens.
"Summer... do you drink so much that you pass out?" Kelly stared at Summer.
"No." Summer didn't want to tell the therapist about Marissa.
"Summer." She didn't look up. "Summer, look at me." Summer refused. "Summer, please look at me." A tear ran down Summer's face. She wanted to spill everything about Marissa and all the pain they went through, but she couldn't. This was about Summer, not Marissa. They were best friends, Summer swore to secrecy. Summer had known Marissa all her life, this Kelly person only a tiny bit. Who could be trusted more? That's right. Marissa could.
Kelly was upset. Summer was hiding more things than she imagined. But she couldn't get anywhere if Summer didn't let her into some of the feelings.
"Summer," Kelly began once again and finally looked up, another tear ran down her face. "If you can't let us in, we can't let you out."
Ah! I didn't think I would finish this chapter so freaking fast! But, what do you guys think? Some of the stuff might be off with the whole mental facility thing, but I asked my mom about a lot of stuff, but I still changed a couple of the things. See, my grandfather is a paranoid schizophrenic, and my mom knows all about institutions. Because my grandfather has been in and out of them for eighteen or nineteen years. But, anyways, I'm almost finished with the next chapter, and you will not get to see Summer until the chapter after next. Sorry! I just kept writing and all of a sudden...BAM! Another chapter...LOL. Okay, I have to go and write! Or do my homework...whatever is more important...um...writing. Ha.
