Ch1: Rachael's Attempt
Sixteen year old Rachael Jude looked at the white walls of her room carelessly. Turning to her side she glared at the 'Get Well' cards and balloons placed on the small table. She felt like ripping those cards to pieces and slashing the balloons with a knife. She knew her classmates didn't give a damn about her or how she was doing, she knew everyone at school was gonna be buzzing about this for weeks.
"I should've shot myself or OD'd." Rachael said to herself. She glanced down at her bandaged wrists. "Much more quicker."
There was a light knock on the door, Rachael looked up as a tall, skinny, bald man with glasses walked in, clipboard in hand. She watched him intently as he took a seat beside her bed.
"You must be Rachael Jude."
"That's correct." She said leaning back on the pillows of her hospital bed.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Birmingham." He introduced.
"I would shake your hand, but uh." She held up her hand showing him her wrist. "As you can see I'm unable to do that at the moment."
"That's quite alright Ms. Jude."
"Call me Rachael, I'm sixteen…not thirty." She said. Dr. Birmingham nodded.
"Alright Rachael. First off, how are you feeling?" He asked.
"If it weren't for these tubes stuck inside my arms I'd feel pretty good." she replied.
"We just want to make sure you get enough blood back into your body, you lost a lot you know." He said with a smile.
"Apparently not enough because I'm laying in here talking to you." Rachael responded with a smile of her own.
"Are you always this.."
"Bitchy? Yes, now I assume you have some questions for me so why don't you get started."
Why do I always get stuck with teenagers? Birmingham thought to himself. He cleared his throat and looked down at his clipboard for a moment.
"I'm just gonna get right to the point." He looked back up at her. "Why would you try to kill yourself?"
Rachael looked up at the ceiling, "Why do people try to kill themselves Dr. Birmingham?" she asked rhetorically. "Because their lives suck that's why, they go through life being unhappy, being mad at the world for whatever reason. That's me, my life is shitty and as you can see, I'm not happy. So what's the best way to fix all of this?" Rachael shrugged. "Death."
Dr. Birmingham rose up from his seat and walked over to the foot of her bed, he looked her in the eye trying to intimidate her just a bit, but she showed no fear whatsoever.
"What do you know about life kid?" He asked. "You're only sixteen, you're not even old enough to know how shitty life can get."
Rachael smiled as she stared at the man before her. Oh how many times she had heard some adult say that to her, that she was too young, that she didn't understand life and how bad it could get. But she knew, she had been through hell and back before her thirteenth birthday, she knew how shitty life could get because she had been there.
"Well it's obvious doctor." She said. "You've never lived the life that I have." Rachael smirked as she watched him leave the room without another word.
------------------------------------------
It was close to two hours later and Rachael was beyond bored, she was currently entertaining herself by using one of her many balloons as a punching bag when another knock was heard at her door.
"Better not be that doctor again." She muttered quietly. "Come in."
The door opened slowly as a female walked in, Rachael smiled warmly at her visitor as she looked at her. Her sandy brown hair was made into two low ponytails covered by a black skull cap, she was dressed in a pink tank top and baggy black Bermuda shorts an attire that Rachael knew all to well.
"Hey sis." The woman greeted with a smile as she walked up to the side of the bed.
"What's up Virginia, glad you came by." Rachael sat up as Virginia pulled her in for a hug.
"Sorry I didn't come sooner, I had to stay after school and talk to the principal and the police about what happened to you." After pulling away Virginia reached into her backpack and pulled out a small bag. "I brought you some chips and a soda." she said handing the bag to her.
"Thanks I'm starved."
"It's okay for you to eat that, right?" She asked taking the seat beside her. "Because I don't wanna get in trouble or anything."
"Honestly I don't give a shit." Rachael said opening her bag of cheese puffs. "These nurses have been feeding me this crappy ass food and this nasty jell-o I have to eat with a fucking popsicle stick. Apparently the suicidal aren't allowed to use sporks…we may try to stab ourselves." she explained mocking the nurse that had told her that earlier.
Virginia shifted in her seat a bit. "Speaking of which, how are you doing?"
"Trust me when I say I've had way better days." Rachael replied. "Where's dad?"
"Oh believe me he's on his way." she said with a smile. "He's been calling me throughout the school day asking me if I had any updates about how you were doing. You know he's gonna be on your ass when he gets here."
"Yeah I know." She said popping a cheese puff into her mouth.
"Once the school and the police called him about your 'accident' he immediately left work, he should be here any…" The room fell silent as Lenny Kravits' 'Fly Away' started playing signaling an in coming call on Virginia's cell, the two already knew who it was. Quickly she answered it and held it up to her ear. "Dad…yeah I'm here…she's laying right beside me…no she's perfectly fine….we're in room 251.…just ask the nurse and she'll direct you down the hall…okay bye."
"So I guess he's here?" she asked before taking a sip of her soda.
"Yep, boy are you in for it." Virginia said before she began to giggle. Rachael just rolled her eyes at her older sister.
Suddenly the door slammed open and a tall, muscular man stood in the doorway. Dressed in jeans, a white tank top and a leather vest showing off his tattooed arms he looked like he just got off the streets. But the anger in his piercing green eyes made him look like he was about ready to kill somebody.
"RACHAEL LEANN JUDE!" he yelled nearly at the top of his lungs.
The two sisters looked on in fear as their father barged into the room. "Oh shit."