Chapter Fourteen 'Lines drawn, Walls up'

When Gar woke up the clouds were turning a dreary gray color and small puddles of rain had already began to form in the streets. He could feel his mood from yesterday wavering a bit as he threw on his clothes in a lazy fashion and stumbled down the stairs. Gar had never been much of a morning person and normally it was days like today that made him hate mornings. But today his mood was a tad more chipper. In fact he didn't even stop smiling while he was brushing his teeth and it was all thanks to one name rushing through his head…

Rachel. She was the last thing he had thought about before he went to sleep that night and the first thing that he had remembered when he woke up. Gar could almost hear her voice by the time he saw the recovery center from the distance. Her soft strands of violet hair brushing her porcelain face when she would see him and smile today. Just thinking of her made Gar's heart skip a beat.

"Good morning Gar!" Nurse Bee chirped as she held out a clipboard for him to take. "Same as usual, visit them as you would like. Oh, but could you stay with Kori for lunch?"

"No problem!" Gar answered saluting the nurse and sending her a large smile.

She smiled and marked something onto a file sheet before looking back up at him. "You seem to be in a good mood today? Anything exciting happening with you?" She asked seeming interested.

Gar let out a nervous chuckle as he held the clipboard close to his chest as if it was going to keep him safe. "No, nothing new here with me. I'm always happy Nurse Bee!" He stuttered.

The nurse raised an eyebrow at him as if she was questioning whether he was telling her the truth or not. "Alright, well, have fun today Gar. I'll be around if you need me."

"Thanks!" Gar called, quickly turned on his heel and darted off towards Rachel's room. He didn't know how he was going to explain his mood to Nurse Bee for the next week but Gar assumed that Vic could help him out with a good lie. He traveled down the white corridor searching for room two-hundred and seventy and his heart practically shot forward in his chest when he spotted her room.

"Rachel!" Gar yelled in a sing-song voice raising his hand and knocking loudly. "Come on Rae wake up! I can't wait to see…you?" Gar paused when he didn't hear any movement from inside and he quickly pressed his ear up against the door. He could hear slow breathing from the other side of the door and he could only assume it was Rachel because who else would be in her room…unless someone broke in. "Rachel is that you in there…?" Gar began taking hold of the door handle and getting ready to pounce on the intruder. "I swear if you're not Rachel I'm going to kick your…wha…?"

Gar's mouth fell open at the scene before him. Rachel was curled up in the corner of her room, hood pulled up over her head and arms firmly folded across her body. But the most disturbing part of this scene was the menacing glare that she was giving him.

"Rae…" Gar managed to squeak out.

"Leave Garfield, now," she spat. "Get out of my room or I swear..."

Gar tilted his head to the side trying to understand what could make her so upset. Surely she wasn't mad at him…was she? "Rachel what's wrong, come on you can tell me." He began to inch towards her which was probably not the best idea.

"Get out!" She screamed. "I never want to see you again. I thought you were clear enough in your letter that you felt the same way." She pulled her arms tighter around her which made her look like she was sinking into the darkness of the corner.

"What?" Gar asked confused. "What did I do? Rachel I swear I didn't…"

"You know what you did, now get out of this place and never come near me again. You think you're so much better than Malchior and all of the others that hurt me, but you're just the same," Rachel hissed.

Gar's mouth fell open again. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! What had he done that had made him and Malchior so comparable? "But Rachel I thought…"

"You lied to me…and I believed you…" The dark girl mumbled from the corner. Gar could just barely see her but he could tell she was shaking with every breath she took.

"Please, Rachel, you have to believe me I didn't do anything. I…I care about you and I would never want to hurt you. So, please just let me know what's going on," he practically begged.

Rachel shook her head slowly which quickly turned into full force shaking. Gar longed to reach out and hug her but he didn't think that was the best idea, or even if Rachel would let him. The lanky teen watched intently as she shook her hood off, her beautiful face writhing in pain. She looked hurt and fragile but why was she so…

Gar's eyes instantly shot open and he rushed to Rachel's side. "Rachel, let me see your arms."

She instantly stopped wincing and glared at him. "Don't touch me," she growled. "I swear Garfield, if you as much as lay a hand on me it'll be the last thing you do."

Gar sighed trying to muster up enough courage to respond to her bitter tone of voice. "Yeah, well, if you don't let me see your arm it might be the last thing you ever do," he snapped back.

"Why do you care?" She yelled back at him. "You don't care! You told me that on your letter that I got yesterday. You told me I could go ahead and kill myself because really it's all just a game so why should I sit here and pretend that you want to take care of me when this is all just a game. After your two weeks are up you're going to leave and never see me again and that's the way it should be, right Garfield?"

Gar balled his fists trying to restrain his anger. "No! That's not how it should be! I never said that and I never wrote you a letter! Can you please just let me see your arm?" He asked taking a long deep breath.

"Really?" Rachel asked? "Tell me Garfield, what's your address?" She asked seeming to calm down a bit.

"Uh…thirty-five Oak…"

"Drive?" Rachel cut in and letting out a chilling laugh. "That's what I thought. Tell me Gar who else knows your address because the letter was sent from exactly that address."

Gar was shocked to say the least. He knew he hadn't written Rachel a letter but who could have known his address to do so? That was unless someone was stalking him. The thought of that send chills down Gar's spine but he quickly shook the feeling off and turned back to the girl sitting on the floor. He let out a breath of air and sat down next to her making sure not to make any contact.

"Rachel, you have to believe me, I would never hurt you like that. I don't want you to be hurt anymore Rachel. Can you please just trust me and let me see your arm?" He pleaded. "You don't look good at all Rae, you're really pale and you're shaking, please I just want to make sure that you're okay."

Rachel looked at him skeptically before slowly releasing her arms from around her body and pulling up her sleeves. She winced as the cotton fabric brushed against her cuts. It was unlike anything Gar had seen before, it was as if she had managed to scrape open every cut that had been on her arms and her arms were coated in a crimson red color. Gar was thankful that he had always had an iron stomach or he might have lost his breakfast.

"Rachel…" Gar whispered. "I don't…why did you…"

Rachel bit her lip and turned away from him pushing the tears away that were beginning to form in her eyes. "I was upset and angry. I didn't understand what I had done to you…I just…I know I shouldn't have but it just seemed like the easiest way to…feel."

"You're losing a lot of blood. I don't think I can clean this up for you," Gar said keeping his eyes glued to her wrists. "I think I need to call down to the nurses."

"But…you can't! They think I'm getting better, if they know about this I'll be back to where I started. Gar, I don't want to be in here for another two years," Rachel finished in her normal monotone but there was a decent amount of fear shining through her eyes.

"And I want you to get better Rachel…and I'm worried that if I don't call down you'll die. You're losing a lot of blood I mean…I don't want anything to happen to you," Gar said quickly reaching out and giving her hand a small squeeze before she had time to yell at him for it.

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut as if she was trying to stop the pain from coming again. Her arms were badly beat up and Gar could tell that she was hurting from it.

"Rachel…" Gar began.

"Alright, alright, you can call down to the nurses. Just make it stop hurting," she mumbled through clenched teeth. Gar could tell that was a very bad sign and he quickly ran to the intercom on the other side of the room.

"Nurse Bee! Nurse Jinx! Any one! Emergency…Rachel's room…please hurry I don't know what's going on I'm afraid…"

"Garfield? What's going on?" Nurse Bee asked getting onto the intercom. "I'm sending some of the staff up now, tell me what's going on?"

Gar glanced at Rachel who was holding her hand to her temple. "Oh God, Oh God, I don't know, Rachel's arms are all cut up and I don't think I can stop the bleeding, she needs help now." Gar took a deep breath and kept his eyes on the violet haired girl. She looked so week and fragile it practically broke Gar's heart to have to see her like this.

"Alright, keep calm Gar, help is on the way," she answered before hanging up on the intercom.

Gar quickly ran back to Rachel's side and plopped down beside her. "Kay Rae, look at me, you're going to be fine don't give up now. You need to keep focused…um…what keeps you focused? Something that keeps you awake…give me something here Rae. Are you awake?" Gar asked reaching out and shaking her shoulder slightly.

"Shh…" Rachel mumbled. "I'm meditating."

"You're what?" Gar asked blinking at her obviously confused.

"It helps me relax, I just need to keep my mind clear and I should be…Agh!" she quickly jumped back from her position on the floor and clutched her arm.

Now Gar was afraid. Sure, he knew Rachel had done this before but she never seemed this upset about it and if she was afraid Gar didn't know how he should act. He had heard her say multiple times that she wasn't trying to kill herself but it seemed pretty clear that what she had spent the last few hours doing would result in suicide. "Rachel…it's going to be okay alright? The nurses will be here any minute and…"

It all happened suddenly after that. The door burst open and a flock of women in white came running in heading straight towards Rachel, who at that very instant let out a soft gasp. Gar turned to the dark beauty just as her eyes rolled backwards and she began to fall towards the floor. Thinking quickly the skinny teen grabbed her and held her upwards till the nurses could reach her and lift her onto the stretcher. Gar watched the whole scene in complete shock after that.

The nurses spoke quickly and poked around Rachel's unconscious form before one of them turned around the corner frantically yelling and in a flash they raced out of the room towards the medical lab.

Gar stood completely shocked with his mouth hanging open, he was pretty sure he would never experience anything like that moment of shock again. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't have to. He knew he had to get out of her room, there was no chance that the nurses wanted him in her room while she wasn't there but then a thought struck him.

Rachel had said that he wrote her a letter. Gar knew that he obviously hadn't. In fact he didn't think he had actually ever written a formal letter in his life, but he had to see this for himself. Therefore Garfield did the most logical thing he could think of at the time. He decided to snoop through her room for it.

Softly tiptoeing over to the door, Gar peeked out into the hallway looking both ways before whistling a happy tune and kicking the door shut with his foot. "Now…if I were Rachel where would I keep letters?" He padded over to her nightstand and decided beginning here was the safest bet. Gar was determined to find this anonymous letter even if it took him all day… which was actually quite possible.

"I do not believe it!" Kori yelled shaking her head madly. "I cannot believe our friend Gar would do such a thing! He seemed as if he genuinely cared for Rachel, why would he do this to her? Oh poor Rachel she must be feeling the heartbroken."

Dick sighed and put a comforting arm around the redhead's small shoulders. "Kori, this is normal. People outside of here, in the real world, they don't understand us. For some reason Gar had us all fooled. God how were we all this stupid?" Dick asked running his free hand through his perfectly gelled hair in frustration.

"I don't get it either," Vic began looking more confused then pissed off. "Yesterday Gar was just so happy because Rachel liked him. It doesn't make sense why he would tell her he didn't like her anymore not to mention telling her she shouldn't be alive. I don't think Gar's even capable of being that mean."

"You'd be surprised about how cruel people can be," Dick snapped. "I wish I could give Gar a piece of my mind. What's he trying to do now? Mess with us all and make us think he's our friend and then turn on us just like he did Rachel?"

"Perhaps one of us should talk to him?" Kori suggested weakly. She eased herself back on Vic's couch making sure to keep Dick's arm around her.

"I would love too," Dick practically hissed.

Vic let out a nervous laugh. "I don't think you should be the one to help Rachel with this one. We don't need to beat Gar to a pulp. We just need to find out what's going on in his head."

"Then maybe you wish to speak with our friend?" Kori asked looking at Vic hopefully. "I do wish I could but after hearing Rachel tell me of the letter this morning I do not think it would be best for me to see him." Kori looked down at her shoes, closing her eyes so she wouldn't cry in front of the two males.

Vic nodded looking at Dick and hoping he wouldn't try to insist that he speak to Gar. The electronic teen didn't think that would end too well. "I'll talk to the little guy it'll be fine. Maybe this is all just some kind of misunderstanding…"

"How could it possibly be a misunderstanding?" Dick interjected. "The guy sent her a letter saying that he hopes she dies! It doesn't seem like he should be able to defend that."

Vic shrugged. "It just doesn't seem like something Gar would do…we have to give him a chance to talk before we judge. Kori, you agree right?" He asked.

Kori looked up feeling tears brimming her eyes and nodded weakly. "I agree."

"Bingo!" Gar screamed slamming Rachel's dresser drawer shut. He had opened up every door possible trying to find what he was looking for and just when he least suspected it the drawer smacked him in the face. No, literally he had hit his face against the drawer when he had face planted towards the ground.

Gar let out a very relieved sigh and sat down on the floor next to her one good lamp to read. There were at least five letters in his hands. He knew one of them had to be from the faker who had decided to impersonate him. "Alright, number one!" He began pulling it out of the envelope.

Dear spawn,
When you wake up from your state you're in you may not know where you are. So I am writing you this letter to tell you. You are currently residing at the Canyon Recovery Center in Jump City. After finding you sprawled on the bathroom floor passed out from blood loss I figured that I should do something. So here you are. This will be your new home until you snap out of the mode you're in.

Sincerely, your father.

Gar quirked an eyebrow at the letter. "Well, that was…nice," he said sarcastically. "So, Rachel didn't even know she was coming here? He just put her here like some sort of animal. Bastard," Gar mumbled under his breath as he picked up the next letter.

Dearest Rachel,
I have decided it is unconventional for us to go on any longer. Try as I might you are not getting better. In fact I feel as if you will never get better. We will not have a future together if you cannot get out of this place and because of that I'm going to let you go. I feel like you should do the same. Just let go Rachel. I've decided to give you what you want most in life and I know it is not me so enclosed is a present for you. I think you will find your true salvation inside this box.

Love, Malchior.

Gar could feel his anger bubbling up and he quickly threw that letter aside only to find the letter under it was exactly what he was looking for. Addressed to Rachel and sent directly from his address. But how did whoever send this know his address? Gar shook the feeling off and quickly pulled opened the letter.

Dear Rachel,
I'm sorry for everything that I have done this week to lead you on. It's not that I'm not happy with you it's just that…I don't feel like we're getting anywhere. You're cooped up inside of this psycho ward every day and it's unrealistic to think we have a future. You don't want to get better so I'm done helping you. Feel free to do whatever you want to yourself. Perhaps if you're not around anymore it may be better for everyone. I can't help you anymore, it's too hard to stop you and I don't want to be a part of this madness you bring.
I'm sincerely sorry, Goodbye Rachel.

Love, Garfield.

Gar stared down at the paper blinking his eyes and hoping what he was seeing was just an illusion. It wasn't. "Who would do…this can't be happening. Someone's…wait a minute…Garfield?" He questioned staring down at the paper. "Sincerely sorry? Madness? Who talks like that anyway I…oh no, no, no!" Gar yelled as realization dawned upon him.

He quickly reached out, grabbed Malchior's letter and held it next to the note supposedly signed by Gar. The handwriting was changed a bit, so it wasn't like you would call it an exact mach but it was close enough that if you looked really hard you could tell the L's had the same loop and the S's were complete matches. "That son of a bitch!" Gar cursed under his breath.

He quickly gathered up the letters and headed towards the door. "I need to talk to someone, shit, who I can tell? Vic! He'll know what to do. I need to find Vic!" The lanky teen yelled as he threw open the door and began charging to Vic's room down the hallway.

"Vic!" Gar yelled. "Vic open the door this is important I need to talk to…you?" He began as the door flung open to reveal three not so happy faces.

Kori looked beyond sad. In fact Gar thought she was going to break down and cry at any moment's notice. He figured she probably would already be crying if Dick wasn't holding her hand to comfort her. The expression on Dick's face wasn't any better though, actually it was much worse. He was looking at Gar with such an intent glare that he thought Dick was going to leap out of his seat and attack him at that very moment.

Gar quickly turned to Vic who was looking at him with a very confused and disappointed expression. It basically said that he was willing to talk but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. That was the expression that hurt Gar the most.

Aw poor Gar! It breaks my heart to make the poor guy's friends hate him. But don't worry, it'll get better, I promise. This would have been done much sooner but my computer was blocking fanfiction for like a week. i have no idea what was wrong with it buuut i'm glad it's back and i can continue to giving you guys updates.
So lemmie here all of your opinions. Feedback is always appreciated.

Xoxo-Megz