The hospital was white and clinical and cold. The gray sky outside was the same color as the walls inside the building. Not a single painting or picture hung on the walls. The gray speckled walls overwhelmed Will as he walked in for the first time. It had been three hours since he called 911. Only family was allowed to see Rachel by then, but Will thought he would go visit just to be kind to the Berry's if nothing else and to explain the reason for the call.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for the ICU," Will explained to the receptionist.
"Down the hallway to your left, go halfway down that hall and make a right. It'll be on your right." Her reply was bland and depressing just like the walls of the hospital.
"Thank you." He was off. He contemplated what he did to get to that point. He recalled the events of the day. From Rachel's expulsion from glee, Will's discovery of her suicide attempt, her mental illness, and finally her overdose. It seemed surreal to Will. He was a Spanish teacher from central Ohio, things like this weren't supposed to happen to him. He finally reached the ICU.
A few sobbing families sat in the lobby, one man chewed his thumb, 2 young boys played on the floor, obviously unaware of their location and consequent situation, and one man leaned against the wall, face in hands. Nowhere did he see Leroy and Hiram Berry. He decided to take a seat next to a sobbing woman.
"What's your story?" The woman had gathered herself enough to ask the question from red puffy eyes and trembling lips.
"One of my students OD'ed. I called 911."
"I'm sorry."
"You?"
"My son was biking without a helmet. He hit a rock on the road, it threw his wheel off and he was hit by a car." She burst into tears again and their conversation ended. Will thought about the rain. It seemed that even though he loved the rain, it still represented pain in his life. A few minutes later, Leroy Berry emerged from the hallway. He wore a blank expression on his face that made it hard to infer the severity of the situation.
"Leroy," Will called out.
"Thank god you got to her! Will, we can't thank you enough." The color rushed back to his face. "The doctor said that she wouldn't have made it too much longer if you hadn't found her."
"Will she be okay?"
"Her stomach had to be pumped." He replied solemnly.
"I'm sorry."
"So how much do you know?"
"I-I don't understand..."
"Of course you do. How much do you know?" Leroy pressed on. "We don't like to admit it, but the Berry's are a secretive family and it's important to us to keep it that way." His gaze bore a hole through Will. Will felt his comfort fade as his defensive walls fell.
"I know about her mental illness."
"And that's it? There has to be more. We know the sign of someone who knows."
"I-I" Will stuttered over his words. His breathing tensed and he suddenly felt faint. "I know that she attempted suicide." He couldn't look Leroy in the eye. He felt the shame that they must feel every day. It's not so much that he was ashamed of teaching a bipolar, suicidal perfectionist, but rather that he hadn't been able to help her sooner. Leroy and Hiram must have felt like failures of parents. To feel helpless in the universe is not to be unable to help, but to arrive to help a little too late. Chasing the ambulance.
"I'm sorry to put this burden on you Mr. Schuster. I hope you understand that you are not permitted to speak with anyone outside of the Berry family about this. I wish this was a choice, but you have to obey our wishes. It's detrimental to Rachel's future and even though she's going through a rough patch, she's destined for greatness."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I understand completely, and if there's anything I can do to help, let me know."
"Thank you Mr. Schuster. You are a kind and well spirited man. Protect Rachel at school, would you? It would help us so much."
"Of course." They stood in silence for a few minutes. "Not to intrude on your family," Will began, "but when will Rachel be released?"
"As of right now, we don't know. Soon hopefully, but we can't be sure. The doctors said at least three days, but that's completely based on the progress they make in her therapy. I think they'll be letting in other visitors starting tomorrow. I'm sure you wanted to see her."
"Thank you Mr. Berry." But he didn't. Will Schuster didn't want to face Rachel Berry after their glee incident, he didn't want to lie to her about having read her diary, and he didn't want to face her knowing that she was fragile and couldn't do anything. She was rice paper on shattered glass, but it was the responsibility of Will Schuster to guide her in the right direction. That's what his job was. He wasn't a teacher of Spanish or music; he taught life