Lead Me Out of the Dark

Deck's POV

DECK'S POV

                I tapped my fingers in an uneven beat against the wooden table in the conference room. Joey didn’t give me any odd looks. He must have understood how nervous I was. The psychiatrist, on the other hand, was staring at me like I was a foreign creature. Joey had had to convince the psychiatrist for twenty minutes to let me come into the meeting. She had said that it was supposed to be private. Joey had argued that I was her closest companion. I had pulled the woman aside. I don’t know what had motivated me to do it. All I had been thinking about was Skye’s broken form on the floor.

                “Listen. This is going to sound cliché and you’re going to think I’m just like every other obnoxious mentally upset teenager, which is probably true, but I need to be in there with you. That meeting is going to decide a lot of things that have to do with me, and Skye means everything to me. She’s all I have, and I’m all she has. We’re a package deal. I got committed to a mental hospital and she came with me. She goes into that meeting and I’ll come with her. I’ll even stay quiet the entire time. I’ll just be there for moral support.” I lectured. She had shaken her head sadly, but before she could say anything, I’d interrupted.

                “Please don’t make her go in there alone. She’ll feel cornered and scared and she won’t respond appropriately. She’ll have another attack. Please, Dr. Muralee. I love her,” I said. Whoa, had I just said the “L” word? I was losing my mind just like Skye was. No, I convinced myself. She wasn’t losing her mind. She was just scared. I could save her. I would comfort her, just like I always did. Just like I would do, for as long as she needed me. Dr. Muralee had said yes, and I thanked the good lord for that. I didn’t necessarily believe in God. I was more of a… selective believer.

                “She’s coming in,” Dr. Muralee declared. She straightened up in her chair. My tapping against the table became frantic. Skye was going to feel like we were cornering her. I just knew it. When the door opened, and Skye walked in. I held my breath. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced around the room. When the door closed behind her, she jumped slightly. She tried to hide it, but I knew her better than that.

                “What’s going on?” She hissed. She was looking around the room, but I felt like she was speaking only to me. I knew I had promised not to talk, but that promise had been shot straight to Hell when I saw how afraid she was. Her hands were shaking. She thought she was going crazy, and I knew exactly what that felt like. I stood up, crossing the tiny room and taking her hands in mine. Usually I hated physical contact, but touching her felt so natural, like I didn’t need to think twice about it. It was like she was changing everything about me, and she had no idea.

                “The psychiatrist, Joey, and your treatment coordinator want to talk to you,” I whispered. I didn’t bullshit. I laid everything out exactly like it was. I knew that I’d want to know exactly how it was. I saw relief flash across her features.

“Why are you here?” She asked. She was slightly too loud, and Joey stood up behind me.

“He absolutely insisted. He wouldn’t let us meet you without him here,” Joey declared. That was more or less a lie, I winced. Joey was the one who’d fought for me to be here. I realized while Skye was crying that Petra and Joey were the good guys. Joey wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. He looked out for Skye, and he was gay. Well, he was mostly gay. Possibly gay.

“We’d like to talk about possible medications,” Dr. Muralee said. Skye’s eyes found mine. Damn you, I hissed to the doctor silently. She just had to be so upfront about that. She had practically screamed we think you’re crazy, and pills will help! Skye said the one thing I didn’t expect her to say. The one thing that made my stomach pang like she had thrown a brick at me.