My eyes flutter open to be met with a bright white ceiling, this is a hospital. I look down to my arm and see that it's been bandaged up again, properly this time. I sit up and look around, I'm in a ward, there's a bed next to me, and two on the other side of the room. In each bed is another teenager, most of them around my age. They're all with who seems to be they're parents. I start to panic. I spot a nurse in the corner flicking through a file. She looks up and notice's I'm awake, she immediately rushes over to me.

"Hello sweetie, how are you feeling?" She whispers because it's already dark out. She checks over my vital signs and sits on the edge of my bed.

"I swear I wasn't trying to do it, I thought I had stopped the bleeding," I say. My voice sounds like I'm on the verge of tears, and I am. I can't tell anyone about what Eileen did, she'll kill me.

"Okay, stay calm. I think it's best if you just get some rest and we will figure out what's going to happen in the morning when you wake up."

"What do you mean?" I remember the three strikes. Jenna's going to send me to that crazy group home. "I can't go there, I just can't. They can't make me, please stop them!" I'm crying my eyes out now. She starts stroking my head.

"Shh, it's okay, there's no need to worry about anything tonight, don't stress yourself out." I begin hyperventilating. She tries to calm me down. I try to get out of the bed, but she holds me back, I fight back. I start screaming for her to let me go, the kids and all the parents around me turn to look at me. The nurse reaches into her pocket and pulls out something with a button on it, she pushes it. I continue trying to break free of her hold, but she pins me downs with my arms above my head, I kick my legs around and keep screaming.

Two men in white jumpsuits burst through the doors, followed by another nurse, one of the men holds down my legs, the other holds my arms and the nurse holds down my shoulders, the other nurse comes over to my arm and jabs a needle into it. I continue to struggle but my body begins to go limp. I feel the tears run down my face as my head flops back onto my pillow. Defeated. I expect to pass out, but I just lay there motionless, physically incapable of moving. After a few hours of absolute nothingness, I finally fall asleep.

When I wake up the next morning, I know I can't have a repeat of last night. I can't act out like that again. The same nurse from yesterday comes to my bedside. "I'm sorry about last night, I was just scared." I sit up in my bed, feeling blessed that I control over my body again. "So, what's going to happen now?" I ask.

"It's okay, I understand. So, you're going to be assessed by a doctor and that will determine whether or not you're fit to leave today."

"And if I am?"

"Then you will be escorted by your social worker, Anita to Montgomery house." My worst nightmare is coming true. "I'm so sorry, sweetie." I start to cry silently; I can't have another meltdown. She strokes my head again. "I'll go and get you some breakfast." She leaves the room. I look to my left to see the girl in the bed next to me looking at me. She doesn't stop when she sees me staring back.

"Hi. I'm Carrie." She says and smiles. As rude as it sounds, I'm not interested in making friends here. This is obviously the Psych ward and I do not need those kinds of friends. I don't want to make myself comfortable, so I return a simple smile and look down at my hands, avoiding eye contact at all costs. The nurse brings me a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice after I eat as much as I can stomach, I sit around for an hour until the nurse comes back with a doctor. I've seen Psych doctors before, they always try to tell me I'm just hormonal, they never consider my actual feelings. He sits in the armchair. He introduces himself as Doctor Jameson and asks me a bunch of questions about cutting myself and suicidal thoughts and all that depressing stuff. He makes me talk about my dad, how I felt the day I found his body in the bathtub. After watching me cry and shake with anxiety, he ends up saying he wants me to take this pill for my depression but it's really expensive, I don't think anyone explained my situation to him. I tell him that I won't be able to afford it. The state can cover my PTSD pills but not anything else. He simply apologizes and says that he hopes I find a forever family. I'm hoping for the same thing too. When he leaves, my social worker arrives only, she's got my suitcase with all my stuff in it.

"Hi Gracie, I'm sorry love it's time to go." I take a deep breath and nod. Anita's great, I like her just fine. But she doesn't seem to always have my best interest at heart like she should. I just have to get through this. After I change into some normal clothes, I thank my nurse and head to Montgomery house. The car ride isn't very long, or maybe it just feels that way. Time is going too fast; I don't have a second to myself to process all of that. When we arrive, I find it difficult to get out of the car. "Come on Gracie don't make this difficult for yourself." I decide to grin and bear it. I'll stay out of everyone's way, I can handle this, it's just until I'm old enough to get my own place. I'll be okay. I have to be.

We walk to the front door and I can hear someone screaming inside. I take a step back. I'm frozen in fear. But Anita pulls me forward and knocks the door, completely ignoring the scream. After a few seconds a woman comes to the door, she's out of breath. "Ah, you must be Gracie, welcome!" She opens the door and I take a step inside. She's smiling like she isn't in charge of a house full of lunatics.

"I'll check in on you tomorrow." Anita hurries away. She doesn't want to be here any longer than she has to. The woman closes the door behind me. A girl runs past me screaming her head off, she's stark naked. And the panic I've been trying to bury comes bubbling to the surface. "Oh, don't mind Jessica, she'll calm down soon. Anyway, I'm Nancy." She shakes my hand. Another girl runs past, fully clothed thankfully. She's mumbling something to herself. "I'll show you your room, we've put you with Cara, she's very friendly, quite quiet, you'll be okay here." We start to walk upstairs when there's a loud thud followed by a lot of shouting. Nancy rolls her eyes. "Wait here." She leaves me standing in the middle of the staircase. Two more girls run past me shouting at each other about someone stealing something. My last home, as bad as it was, is nothing compared to this. Another woman chases after them, she stops when she sees me.

"You must be Gracie, where's Nancy?" She looks around. "Never mind, come with me." She leads me upstairs. "This is your room." She opens the door to reveal only two wooden beds and two dressers, nothing on the walls, only a dull cream colored paint that's chipping off at the edges. There's another thud from downstairs. "I'm sorry, I've got to go, unpack your things." She closes the door and I hear the lock turn in the door, I'm trapped. I perch on the edge of the unmade bed. I try to breathe through my anxiety, I can't lose it again or they'll send me someplace even worse if that's at all possible. I've put myself in the worst situation imaginable. What if manage to get on the wrong side of someone? Everyone here is crazy, someone might actually hurt me. Like Eileen did every day, but worse.

Out of nowhere, I hear a knocking sound. I jump up and look around the room until my eyes land on the window. Callie and Sophia are there, they've climbed up on the roof of the garage. That's when I notice the window is barred, but still openable. I slide it up.

"What are you doing here?" I whisper. If I get in trouble here, it would be bad. I reach out to hold Sophia's hand. I start crying.

"We tried to come to the hospital, why did you do that G?" Sophia asks, she's crying too.

"I wasn't trying to do that, I swear, it just went wrong." I can't even tell Sophia about Eileen. She'd tell her parents who would probably call the police and then I'm dead.

"Listen we can't stay long, we just wanted to give you this." Callie slides an old cell phone through the bars. "Keep it hidden, if they find out you have it, you'll be even worse off than you are now," She says.

"Thank you." I shove it into my boot. "I don't know what to do, the girls here are crazy, I'm so scared." I squeeze both of their hands.

"You'll be okay, I promise. You'll see Callie tomorrow, my dad spoke to your social worker, you're being transferred to Anchor Beach Charter," Sophia says. New school? Maybe it's not all bad.

"Gracie?" I hear Nancy yell.

"Go, she's coming." I slide the window shut and sit down on my bed as they scramble down off the roof. Nancy unlocks the door.

"Sorry about that." She comes to sit next to me, "Some of the girls here are very difficult." She laughs like it's not a big deal.

"It's okay," I say under my breath.

"Listen, I know it's scary, but you'll be okay, you just have to keep your head down and do your chores, and you'll be going back to school tomorrow. Your doctor thinks it will be best for you to get stuck in, but don't worry you're not going to the same school as the other girls. You'll be going to Anchor Beach, you're lucky you have friends in high places. I'll be driving you in the bus with the other girls, just sit near the front, okay. You'll be eating in the blue kitchen today, then once you're more settled in, you'll be in the brown kitchen with the calmer girls. The blue is more monitored, we have to make sure you don't try anything, in the brown kitchen you have a lot more freedom." I nod. "You'll be okay, and I'm sorry about the whole door locking thing, but you have your own bathroom, so that's something. I'll come and get you at dinner time." She leaves and locks me in again. I look over to the dresser, on top, there is a folded stack of bedding. I make my bed and get in. The sheets feel rough and cold, like sandpaper. But Nancy is right, I can get through this. I'm strong. I have to be.