Fragments of Hope

Chapter 9 New reality

 I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke again, my brain was woozy, and the restraints were gone, so I stood up. When my feet touched the ground, it sent chills through me. The floor was ice cold. When I walked, it felt like my legs were being stabbed, so I had to lean on the walls. I walked over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. I sat on the floor, banged on the door, and screamed,

"please let me go, let me go, please."

Then the door swung open. It was the same woman from earlier. She sat directly in front of me and said,

"Hope these visions you're having, the people you're seeing, the things you're hearing, there not real. You're making them up in your head."

I sat up and said,

"What do you mean, none of that was real?"

She grabbed my hands and said,

"You have schizophrenia."

I started to scoot back until I hit the wall, then I cried out,

"stop lying, stop lying, you're a liar."

She said,

"Hope, I will never lie to you. You were diagnosed about 6. Months ago." I yelled,

"my mom would have never brought me to this place. She would have never let y'all tie me down."

the woman stood up and said,

"you just saw your mom. You just talked to her."

I screamed,

"that is not my mom; y'all are trying to trick me."

Then the door flew open again. It was my mom, she was right there, but it wasn't just her this time. It was my sister and my dad. They were staring at me. It was like they were afraid of me. My sister was hiding behind my mom. Thought started running through my head. Did I really make it all up? Am I genuinely crazy?

My dad walked over to me and said,

"Mi Amor, you are really sick, and all these people want to do is help you."

I said nothing; I just reached out and touched his face, then he cried. I looked him in the eye and said,

"you were dead. Those people killed you."

He put my hand in his and said,

"no one killed me. I'm right here with you. We all are."

Then I looked over at Nadene. She said nothing still. She just stood there. Mom made eye contact with me and then looked at Nadene. She tried to get her to walk over to me. Still, she wouldn't. She was terrified like I was a monster or something. I stood up and when i did She flinched like I was about to attack her. My mom looked at dad and said,

" I told you this wasn't a good idea to bring Nadene here,"

then they both walked out the door. I looked at my dad and said,

"what happened? Why is she so afraid of me?"

He grabbed my shoulders and said,

"we will talk more when You're in a better state. Just get some rest."

Then he kissed my forehead and left. I turned to the woman and said,

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

She nodded her head no and said,

" You're not ready for that yet."

Then I whispered,

"Can you at least show me where the bathroom is?"

She grabbed my arm and walked me down a long hallway. There were screams and yells. Everything just felt so eerie. We finally made it to the bathroom at the end of the hall. I went inside. The woman stayed out. When I walked in, I went straight to the mirror. My face looked skinny, like I hadn't eaten in months, and my hair looked unkempt, like it hadn't seen a brush. I didn't know what was real. Were these people telling the truth, and the past few weeks of my life were a lie, or were these the Others playing a trick on me? I can't trust anyone; I don't even know if I can trust myself.

When I walked back out of the bathroom, the woman grabbed me by the hand like I was a child and walked me back to my room. When I got inside, I sat back on the ground. My entire world was just turned upside down again. I sat there just staring at the wall, thinking until the door to my room flew open when my eyes fell on the person standing before me. I started to smile. It was Scar. I stood up and screamed, Scar,

"how did you find me?"

She looked at me and didn't say anything; she just motioned at me to follow her. Then we both ran out the door. We ran until I began to hear sirens go off. Scar turned to me and screamed,

"They know I'm here. We need to get you out of here."

Then a group of doctors started to run after us, and they eventually caught up. Then one doctor pinned me to the ground.

Still, no one touched Scar. It was like they didn't see her. I screamed, "Scar, help me. Don't let them do this,"

but she just stood there. The woman who helped me earlier squatted in front of me and said,

"Hope, there is no such person as a Scar. Look, there is no one there. It's all in your head."

I tried to ignore her. I screamed even louder,

"Scar, please don't let them do this to me. Please help."

I could hear other people talking around me, but it was like my brain wasn't comprehending it until one of the men's doctors screamed,

"how did you forget to lock her door?"

Then everything went black again.