Close As Strangers // Calum Hood

Chapter 20 - Rehab

Ivy's Point of View

After breakfast at the hospital, I put on Calum's hoodie. It still smelled like him, a bit musky and with a hint of his favourite cologne. I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent. It still felt familiar to me.

My eyes flew open when someone knocked on the door to the little hospital room. I hadn't time to let the guest know it was okay to come in before the door opened up and a girl came in. She looked to be between twenty-five and thrity years old. She had long blonde hair set up in a braid and friendly looking eyes.

"Hello Ivy. I'm Allison and I'm here to escort you to the rehabilitation center."

I took a tight grip around the handle of my purse and followed Allison out the door. Even though Calum's hoddie almost went down to my knees, I still felt a bit too exposed when I walked, without pants or anything, through the hospital's corridors. When we came down to the reception I had to fill in some papers and I found out, to my relief, that my visit at the hospital would be paid by my health insurance.

When I was all clear to leave the hospital, Allison led me outside and into a dark blue BMW. Allison didn't talk to me during the ride to the rehab center so I just sat and stared out the side window. It felt weird to sit in a car belonging to a complete stranger, especially when that stranger was driving me to a rehab facility.

When we came to the rehab facility after about twenty-five minutes, I had to fill in some more papers and I had to leave my handbag and my phone with the staff, but I got to keep the salve that I had gotten at the hospital. After that, Allison showed me to my room. The room was bigger than the hospital room but still one of the smaller sizes. There was a big bed in the middle of the room, a little bedside table beside it with some sort of phone on top, a round clock on the wall above the bed and a wooden drawer against the wall left to the bed. On the right side of the bed was a window with white curtins. The window faced a garden with a few benches outside. By the window was also a dark brown armchair.

"The bathroom is down the hall to the right." Allison said behind me.

"We provide you with the toilet essentials." Allison pointed towards the bed where two towels in different sizes rested and a hair brush together with a tooth brush and a tube of toothpaste laid on top of them. "If you have someone to call so you can get some of your own belongings here you're welcome to tell me." She continued.

I nodded but didn't know who I could call. It felt wrong and weird to call either Calum or Leah but I didn't know if my mom would care or have the energy to come with clothes to me.

I turned so I would face Allison. "Can I think about it for a few days?"

Allison nodded and smiled at me. "Of course, it's your choice."

I nodded slowly while she continued talking. "Take this day to get familiar with the facility and maybe find some friends, people to talk to and we'll start with your treatment and your sessions tomorrow..."

"Sessions...?" I said while frowning.

"I will be your psychologist, someone to talk to about your feelings and experiences with, in your case, drugs."

"O-okay." I didn't really think that I needed to talk to a psychologist, that was a bit over the line but I wasn't planning to be one of the pain in the ass patients who didn't obey the facility's rules and way of treating their patients. After all, I did agree on going here.

"If there's anything you need or want to ask, you can just use the phone to get in touch with me or anyone else here at the facility." She made a gesture towards the phone on the bedside table.

"I will put up a schedule on your door as soon as possible so you'll know when the food is served and when and where you should be for your treatment and sessions." I nodded and she gave me one last smile before exiting my room.

This place felt more and more like a prison but I would endure. This was for Calum, Leah, my mom and of course myself.

The rest of the day I just walked around the rehab facility, trying to feel at home or at least more comfortable in the big building. I passed staff members who greeted me and smiled at me. Wonder if it was a must to always smile when you worked here. I walked past some people who looked like they were patients but they didn't really give me much attention. I guess most people just wanted to get out of here, or didn't want to make friends.

When I came back to my room around five in the evening I noticed that someone, probably Allison, had put up my schedule on the door and I also noticed that I had missed lunch. I didn't even feel hungry. According to my schedule, the dinner wasn't served until 5.30 pm so for thirty minutes I just sat and stared out the window, watching the sky getting darker.

The dining hall was at the first floor so I had to go down two broad staircases to get to it. I stood in the queue and got a plate with lasagna, a colorful salad and something that looked like a little apple pie on the side. I took a glas and filled it with water before I stepped out of the queue.

There wasn't many in the dining hall. At some tables, people sat together and laughed while at some tables people sat alone staring into their food. When I slid my gaze over the different tables, I saw a girl with pink hair and she was staring straight at me. I recognized her well. When I came closer to her I noticed that her piercing was gone.

"Jenna?" I said hesitantly. I had only met Jenna three times at Theo's place and never outside of his apartment.

"Nice to see you Ivy." She made a motion with her left hand, which wasn't holding the fork, for me to sit down and I did.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my mouth from falling open. I was still very surprised to see her here.

"Well, I just couldn't deal with Kenny anymore and all the money he owes to all these different people, so I broke up with him and not long after that he just disappeared. And then my parents basically forced me to check in here." She took a few bites of her lasagna.

I nodded slowly and took a few bites of my own lasagna. Maybe Kenny disappeared together with Theo?

I got to know Jenna a lot better during that dinner and she actually gave me a little smile when we parted to our rooms. I went to bed almost exactly when I came back to my room because I didn't have anything to do. I needed to get someone to come with something for me to do and my clothes. But who would I call?

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Author's note:

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING, IT MEANS REALLY MUCH TO ME! Don't forget to vote or comment something nice if you like what I'm writing! xoxo