Believe It or Not

Fruit Snacks>Brown Pill

Nettie:

*Sunday September 26th 2021*

I fight with George. He's not putting that pill in my mouth.
    He woke me up early. He told me that it's not mandatory for me to take a pill every morning and night so I stay healthy. Obviously after what I went through with pills plus overdosing after. But this pill was different. It wasn't one color, it was two. "Natalia! This pill is your vitamins! If you keep fighting I'll have to sedate you and force it into you!" He yells.
"No!" I argue.
"Open your mouth!" He yells.
"NEVER!"I yell.
"Natalia please!" He yells. He stops fighting me and sighs. "Fine. Would you at least eat your snack?" He asks.
"What's my snack?" I ask.
"Fruit snacks," He says. My eyes light up.
"I will! I will!" I say excitedly. He nods and stands up. George comes back with a small bowl filled with fruit snacks. He sets it down.
"Go crazy," He says exhausted. He leaves the room and I dig into the gummies.
"Yummy, Yummy, Gummies. Yummy, Yummy, Gummies," I sing. "Yummy, Yummy, Gummies. Yummy, Yummy, Gummies," I cough and carry on with eating my gummies. "Mm, so good," I say to myself finishing up the bowl. "George! George!" I say. "I need more gummies!" I say loudly. "Oh George! Georgie my boy!" I say with a british accent. "George!" I exaggerate at the end of his name.
George comes in handing me a regular sized bowl of fruit snacks. "Yes! Love ya George!" I say.
"Please stop," He says walking out. I dig into the bowl.
"Yum yum yum yum yum yummmmm!!" I sing. I dance around the room, holding the bowl and eating the fruit snacks. They were so good, I can't get enough.
George comes back into the room. "Ready to go outside?" He asks.
"For what?" I ask.
"To get some sunlight and exercise," He says.
"Do I look like the person who likes to work out for fun?" I ask.
George laughs. "Come on. It'll be fun, you'll see," He says guiding me out.
"We'll see about that," I say. We walk down a flight of stairs to the next level. It quiet on this floor. As we walk I look in all the rooms as we pass by. I see a familiar face laying down on a bed in room 100. "Addie!" I say. I'm not sure if she saw me cause we've already passed her doorway. She looks depressed honestly. But can you blame her? Look at this place.
We arrive outside in the front courtyard. I look around confused. "Ok so what do I do?" I ask.
"We'll start with 25 push ups on your knuckles," George orders.
I laugh. "Oh my god that is hilarious. But no seriously what do I do?" I ask. George gives me a look. "Oh, oh you're being serious," I say. "Oh," I lay on the ground and get in plank position, but on my knuckles. Oh my god I'm gonna cry this is gonna he so hard. My arms shake as I slowly push myself up. And continue to shake as I slowly go back down. My arms shake going up. "One!" I say through the pain. Then I just flop on the ground, out of breath. "Oo! That was fun. Well I'm gonna just lay here for a few days," I say.
"Get up Landcaster," George says. "You can make that 30 push ups,"
I stand uo and look at him simplicity. "Who hurt you?" I ask. He gives me the look again. "Alright alright. I'm going. I'm going," I surrender. I go back down and continue to shake like a cold chihuahua with breathing problems.

Addie:

Today's To-Do list: lay in bed and do nothing

Sounds good to me! And I do just that. No one comes in to bother me. Until I hear footsteps walking towards the door. Ugh! Why can't people just eave me here to rot?!

      "Addie!" A voice says.

      My head shoots up. Only one person would call me that. I know that voice. But it couldn't be. No. But it had to be. No. Maybe? Is my mind making it up. I stand up and look out the doorway. Left. No one. Right. Two people. A large man and a girl in white scrubs and dirty blonde hair pulled by in a ponytail. No...could it? No Nettie hates wearing her hair pulled back like that. She feels like it makes her forehead look huge. It's definitely not her. And the voice must have been my head making it up. Nettie's still not here. And she's not coming back. I flop back on the bed and look back up at the ceiling. The same boring cream ceiling I've been looking at for over a week now.
     I hop up out of bed and go sit by the window for a change. Maybe I could see some cars pass by. As I sit I see the same man and girl outside in the front courtyard. I can watch them for awhile. The man talks but I can't hear. We're able to open out windows just a crack for some fresh air. I crack it so I can hear. The girl goes down and does push ups on her knuckles. Ew that's gross. I feel bad for her having to do that. She does one and flops down.
       "Get up Land-," The man says.
       "Knock, knock," Jill says behind me. I turn around.
       "Hey," I say. I shut the window.
       "Mail call. It's from your little boyfriend," Jill says handing me an envelope. I take it.
       "He's not my boyfriend. For the last time. We're just-," I start to say. I look down at the envelope. Normally it says "Wilbur Freck" but not today. Today it says "Samuel Semi". Sam sent me a letter? What? I open it and read his letter.

    Hey Baker,

         I'd like to say that Wil forced me to write you this but I'd be lying. I decided  on my own to write your stupid ass this letter. Obviously this changes nothing about me hating you. But even though I hate you and you hate me, I still, I guess, miss you in a way. Seeing you're stupid face when I turn around in science class or when you walk into the cafeteria or on the sideline of a football game. My point is, please come back asap. I don't look forward to school knowing there will be no one there to show off and brag to. So get your ass back here.
       Ok that's all.
                                         bye, Sam

        Holy shit! I rush to my desk and start writing a letter back.

Nettie:

     "Three," I say slowly going back up.
      "Landcaster, it's been twenty minutes and you've only done three push ups. What do you do in gym class everyday?" George asks.
     "Pretend to play knock-out when I'm actually watching the guys play a sweaty game of basketball duh," I say.
     "What? You got a boyfriend on the the basketball team?" George asks.
     "Mm....next question," I say.
     "Oo! So there is a boy. Tell me about him," George says. I stop doing push ups.
     "Does this mean I can stop?" I ask.
     "Nope. Use him as motivation," George says sitting down in front if me.
     I continue my push ups. "Well, his name is Will. He's in my grade. He has brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. I met him this year. He makes me feel happy, as if I don't have to feel ashamed about myself. I feel more confident and comfortable when I'm around him. He makes me feel safe. The way he looks at me makes me feel as if he just has to have me now," I explain.
     "Wow. Does he look at you like that a lot?" George asks.
     "Yeah, when I walk into the cafeteria, gym class, english, history," I say.
     "You know I met my girlfriend in high school," George says.
     "You have a girlfriend? Since when?" I ask.
      "Since college. We were close friends during high school until she asked me out in college. And we've been together ever since," He says.
       "You're like 30 right?" I ask.
       "Uh rude. And no. I'm 25," He says.
       "What made you want to get a job here?" I ask.
       "To help people. I grew up with spending my father's day at a mental hospital. Sitting with my father who didn't move. He was just an empty body. Nothing going on in his head," George tells me.
      "Aw. Why was he like that?" I ask.
     "His father, my grandpa, wasn't the nicest man," He tells me. "Left my father like that since he was 35 years old," He says. "My father then died due to an accident. They were transferring someone who they thought wasn't dangerous. And she killed my father. The guards could have done something but they didn't," He says.
"Aw, so you decided to because a guard here so that doesn't happen to anyone else?" *I ask.
"Yup," George says. "Are you done yet?" He asks.
"I would be if you didn't add on five more," I say.
He laughs. "Ok continue," He says.
"Hey I think I'm getting the hang of it," I say.
"That's good," He says. "We'll go inside for some water once you're done,"
"Oo! And gummies?" I ask.
"I don't know. You had a lot," George says.
"Well then they shouldn't make them that good," I say.
"Yeah but it's unhealthy to have a lot of gummies. Too much...sugar," He says.

Addie:

I throw another ball of paper onto the floor. It has taken me all day to come up with something to say to Sam. But I can't think of anything good to say. "Hey! Audra! I can't breath with all these paper balls. Can you throw them in the trash?" Jill asks.
      "Yeah sorry," I say.
      "Trying to figure out what to say back to your boyfriend?" She asks.
      "Not my boyfriend Jill," I say gathering up all the paper balls everywhere.
      "Hey did you hear that ever since that girl died from an overdose they changed the brown pill into a gummy fruit snack so it's less life threatening but still gets the job done?" Jill asks me excitedly.
      "Oh. Good. They all deserve to go to hell because of what they did to her," I say. I walk out of the room carrying all the paper balls in my arms. I carefully take a few steps when someone bumps into me. "Ah shit," I say to myself.
"Oh I am so sorry. Here let me help," A girl says. We both bent down and start picking up the paper.
"It's fine you don't have too..." I trail off. I look up at the girl. I lose my breath. But somehow able to let out. "Nettie?"