Live Every Moment
"So, I'll meet you in fifteen minutes? Right, great. See you then!" Summer shut her cell phone and looked at the shiny cover, a slight smile creeping onto her face. As she walked over to her floor length mirror in her room to check her appearance, Summer couldn't help but smile. She couldn't believe it, but finally, her life was going well. She was so content in every aspect. It was late September of senior year and Summer felt more like an adult every day. After two years of solid angst and drama things had slowed down and she could have fun without worrying about secrets and consequences. It was bliss.
'Live every moment.' That slogan was being fed into their minds every day at school. She was going to. With Marissa and Ryan and most importantly, Seth. Ever since prom last year, the pair had been inseparable. The two spent most of their free time together, either with Ryan and Marissa or Seth's little sister April.
Just thinking of April made Summer smile wider. She was the most adorable kid on the planet. She was the perfect mixture of her parents, she had long, light brown hair, no where near as dark as Seth's but it suited her and enormous brown eyes. April was always the centre of attention, be it her kindness and humour or her remarkable I.Q. for a three year old. Well she was Seth's sister. She even thought of Marissa and Summer as her family as they'd been around like her real family since she was born.
Summer grabbed her purse, slipping in her cell phone and keys before heading out of her room. As she hopped down the marble staircase, she called to her stepmom that she was going out and exited the building, heading to her new black BMW. The sun was just starting to set as she climbed into the car. She whipped out her sunglasses, started up the engine and pulled out of the driveway.
"Who's coming over? Who's coming over?" April swung her legs as she perched on a chair by the kitchen island. Seth was sat beside her, casually flicking through a comic book.
"Summer, and how do you know anyway?"
"I heard you on the phone!" April grinned mischievously. Seth glanced over at her and she stuck out her tongue. Seth mimicked her, knowing that it made her mad.
"Stop it!" she cried.
"No way, na-na!" Seth waggled his tongue at her as she put her hands on her hips and pouted.
"SETH! Stop it!" she screamed. He shook his head and she started to scream at the top of her lungs.
"HEY!" Kirsten yelled, appearing at the door. The two fell silent, they knew not to get their Mom mad.
"What is going on?"
"Seth was copying me Mommy, tell him!" April jumped out of her chair and ran over to her Mom. Kirsten glared at Seth as April clung onto her.
"Seth what have I told you about fighting with your sister?" April put on her puppy dog face and Seth shrugged.
"Come on sweetie, lets go watch a movie. Your pick," Kirsten smiled, rubbing her daughters back soothingly.
"Can we watch Cindyrella?" she sniffled.
"Sure baby, come on." Kirsten took her hand, leading her to the T.V. room. While she wasn't looking, April stuck her tongue back out at Seth. She was naughty when she wanted to be, i.e. when her parents weren't around.
The door bell went and Seth jumped up, half jogging towards the door. Summer stood out there so he greeted her with a long kiss.
"Well hello to you too Cohen!" Summer laughed when they broke apart. Seth grinned and gestured for her to come in.
"So what are we doing?" she asked.
"We could go and get something to eat and then I, well I don't know. Any ideas?"
"Well, my Dad's going out with the step-monster for the night so you could come over to my place…" Summer said seductively.
"Sounds good, oh but you'd better say hi to April or she'll throw a tantrum," Seth replied. Summer smiled and walked through to the T.V. room.
"Hi Mrs Cohen, hi April!" Summer grinned entering the room. April's face lit up and she bounded over to Summer, hugging her tightly.
"Have you come to play with me because I just got a new pony for my pony farm! She's called Sparky Oatsy!" Summer tried not to laugh. April had tried to incorporate 'Oats' into every name of her pony to live up to Captain Oats, who Seth had loaned to her whenever he wasn't needed.
"Aww, I'm sorry Apy, I'm going to have dinner with Seth. But I'll come play soon."
"Promise? Pinkie swear!" April thrust her little finger at Summer who linked her with it.
"Pinkie swear! Now, I'll see you soon sweetie." Summer bent down and hugged the tiny girl.
"Kay, love you Summer!" April replied happily. Summer straightened up and waved before, exiting the room with Seth.
"She's adorable," Summer cooed.
"You don't have to live with her…"
At the same time, fifty miles north of Newport, a girl sat alone in her room. She was very pale and drawn, her skin was ghostly white and she looked ill. She was painfully thin, her baggy clothes looked at least ten sizes too big as they hung off of her protruding bones. Her hair reached the bottom of her ribs and was straggly and mousy.
The room she sat in was bare, the walls were pale blue but nothing was hung on them. No pictures or posters. She looked alone. Her thin fingers swept over the thick book that she was buried in. As there was a loud knock on the door, the girl flinched and slowly cleared her throat.
"Come in!" she called. The door was heard to be unlocked and a woman dressed in a white nurse uniform appeared at the door after it had creaked open.
"It's almost 10.30 honey, I think its time you were going to bed," she said softly. The girl nodded and closed her book before slowly making her way to her bed. It was small and the duvet was a bland green colour. She climbed in as the woman looked on, silently thinking about how sick the girl looked.
"Okay then, goodnight." The woman smiled and turned out the light before making a quick exit, locking the door behind her.
"Sue! How did it go? Is she in bed?" Another woman hurried over to Sue as she began to turn away from the room.
"Yeah, I can't believe it, we haven't had any problems since last month. I wonder what's wrong with her…"
"Its good, Doctor Grossman says she'll be able to leave soon if she continues to make progress."
"Good, I hope she leaves soon, that girl creeps me out!" Sue replied, her eyes widening. The other woman giggled, nodding.
"What happened to good beside manner?" she laughed, "I know what you meant though, anyway, I'd best be off, got to look in on some more patients. Night."
The woman walked away leaving Sue to fill in her daily patient report. Her manicured fingers picked up at pen and she glanced at the information on the top of the sheet.
'Wallis Women's Mental Health Recovery Centre. Patient: Ava Walker.' Just reading her name sent shivers up Sue's back. This girl would never recover and yet they were going to let her out. Into the world. Sue shook her head and began to write. It wasn't her problem.