"We've got 'em, we've got 'em!"

Blinding lights flashed that made eyes irritated.

Troy inhaled a deep breath, and his eyes shot open. They quickly shut as he winced and covered them.

"Troy, are you okay? Troy!"

He groaned in pain and shook his head.

Muffled sirens raided his clogged ears. They soon began to get louder.

"Am I in heaven yet?" He asked groggily.

"No, you're in an ambulance." The voice said slowly.

Troy shook his head and sobbed. "Shit… "

"Were you planning on dying?"

"Yeah… " Troy said. "Don't think I'm an addict, because I'm not… "

"I understand. You have a lot going on, I hear."

He nodded.

"Things get better."

At the hospital, a tube was shoved down his nose and they began pumping his stomach. He could see a little stomach bile, but there were massive amounts of blue liquid rushing through it. The Xanax.

The heart monitor was beeping like normal, and his breathing was normal.

"How did someone find me?"

"I think your neighbor noticed that you had not left your house like you usually do every morning to go get a coffee." The doctor played with a couple buttons on the monitor and scribbled some things down on his clipboard, then rearranged the wires again.

Troy felt as if he had failed everyone. He failed his parents, he failed Talon, he failed Gabriella. He even failed himself.

He never wanted anything bad to happen.

He just wanted Gabriella and Talon back.

"Mr. Bolton, may I suggest that you go see a psychologist?"

Troy raised his eyebrow and chuckled. "A psychologist? No way."

"I know things have been tough, but a psychologist can help you work out those problems. "

"I don't want a psychologist. I want to get out of here."

"It won't be for a while, Mr. Bolton. You'll just have to deal with it."

Troy sighed. "Well then, just leave me alone."

"As you wish. If you need anything, just press the nurse button."

He slipped out of the room quietly.

In between beeps of the monitor and the pumping of the tube, Troy's mind hummed about how he would be able to get out of the hospital quickly.

Lie about taking medication? Tell them that someone drugged him?

It wouldn't work.

They already knew that he was an addict.

But, on the bright side, he knew that he would spend a couple weeks of hell in rehab and then be back in the world again.

Before he knew it, there was a tapping sound on the door, which got a little louder and then stopped. A few seconds passed. The knocking began again.

Was someone outside, or was it someone's bratty kid just trying to disturb the patients?

"Come in." Troy said with a clear, harsh tone, as if to scare away the kid who was doing it.

It wasn't a kid.

The door creaked open very, very slowly and then suddenly came to brutal stop. Voices rose, declined, and the door started to open again.

His room became filled with more than one body, two of which he didn't want to see.

She stood there, tears in her eyes as she stepped inside the door. She was followed by he who was trying to comfort his shocked wife, but at the same time, still very upset about his son.

His son…

"Look at him, Jack." She sobbed and whispered at the same time.

"I know… " He didn't really know what to say.

"Why are you here?" Troy sat up a little to be more formal.

"We got a call from the hospital. You obviously had us down as your first contacts in case of emergency." Jack grumbled.

Troy knew he was in some major trouble.

"Honey… " Tears poured down Kay's cheeks as she began slowly walking towards Troy. "Look at you… "

"Mom, I'm fine." Troy insisted.

"You're not fine! You are in the hospital for overdosing!"

"Yeah, so what?"

"What would ever make you do such a thing?"

"I'm under a load of stress right now."

"That doesn't give you the right to just kill yourself!" She sat on the edge of his bed. "Sweetheart, why didn't you give us a call?"

Jack sat down in the chair, unzipped his coat, and sighed, looking at the wall.

Troy grasped the blankets between his fingers. "I'm a failure. You wanted me to be the awesome superstar football player, or the doctor who has the Ph.D and owns a huge hospital, and I'm just not that."

"What do you mean? Troy, we just want you to be yourself. We want you to get through college and get a job. We want you to be an independent man and be able to provide for yourself and Talon- "

Troy broke into tears as soon as Talon's name came from her mouth.

"What's wrong?" She grabbed his hand. "Are you just upset because of all this?" Kay gently pushed his hair back.

"I lost Talon… " Troy sobbed loudly and shook his head as tears fell off his cheeks.

"Troy Bolton!" Jack stood up. "How in the world did you lose your son?"

"I… " He couldn't even speak. He was so choked up with tears.

"Damn it!" Jack couldn't take the stress. He opened the door and slammed it behind him.

Kay grabbed both of Troy's hands and looked into his eyes. "Tell me what's been going on, or else your father is going to choke himself with pain."

Troy could barely speak.

"Come on, just tell me."

"I don't want to." He said, turning his head away.

"I won't be mad." Kay reassured.

"Yes you will!"

"No I won't, I promise."

Troy turned himself away from her.

"I have a horrible drinking problem and I wasn't watching Talon. He walked out my apartment door and fell down three flights of stairs. He shattered his leg. I felt so horrible, mom… But his babysitter called Child Services and told them that I was neglecting Talon, because I was, and they took him away."

"Oh my… " She shook her head. "You should have just picked up the phone and called!"

Troy shook his head also. "It's been going on for a long time. Like right when Talon turned about three months old… "

"Are they going to send you to a rehabilitation facility?"

He nodded.

"Maybe you would have a chance to get him back if you proved you were an okay father."

"Mom, it's hopeless."

"Don't say that. Nothing is hopeless."

Troy sobbed and curled himself up. "I don't have anything anymore… "

"You have your father and I, Troy. You always will." She stroked his hair. "We're here for you, sweetheart- "

"Just leave me alone… " He rolled over and sobbed, curling himself into a tighter ball. "I don't want your help or anyone else's."

Kay's eyes filled with tears. "You're stuck with us, Troy. We're your parents whether you like it or not."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!" He yelled as he buried his head into his pillow. "I LOST MY SON! I LOST GABRIELLA! I LOST MY LIFE! EVERYTHING IS GONE!"

Kay shook her head. "You're much stronger than this, Troy… I know you are… "

"I'm a fucking wreck… "

"Sweetheart, you have made nothing but a little mistake. It can be fixed."

"What? With 40 days of rehab? With the rest of my life paying for what I did when I was 21?"

"Things get better." She wiped her eyes. "It will get better."

Hopefully, she was right.