A Second Chance

"post-traumatic stress disorder"

Sara

His laugh echoed in my head. Trembling, I tried to stand up, but I slipped on a bloody cloth on the floor. I fell on my bum, which hurt. I looked around, and saw the sun rising outside the window. I then heard some talking outside the door, and the nurse walked into the room.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"M-My P-Papa, he's h-here." I stuttered, tightly closing my eyes.

"He's not here, sweetie." She told me, rubbing my arm soothingly.

"H-He's h-here." I told her, starting to cry.

"No, he isn't." She said, hugging me tightly.

I cried into her shoulder as images of Papa hitting me appeared in my mind.

"Sara, I- what happened?" A doctor walked in the room.

He looked oddly familiar, and he was definitely not the doctor who had been here before. He walked up to me, and reached for my arm.

Almost instantly, his face appeared as Papa's. Papa's dark brown eyes, the bags under his eyes, the anger written all over his face. I screamed, jumped out of the bed, and ran out the room. Hysterically crying, I made my way down the narrow halls through my blurred vision.

I bumped into nurses, who called the security, who came after me. When I looked back at them, they all looked like Papa, his red hair sticking up, his dirty hands reaching for me. When one of them barely touched me, it felt like a bullet and I fell to the floor.

"PLEASE, PAPA! DON'T HURT ME!" I yelled, trying to scurry away from him.

"Wha-"

"PLEASE! PLEASE! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! PLEASE DON'T!" I broke down crying, holding onto a random nurse's leg.

I looked up, and saw them trying to grab my arms and legs. I let out a scream that made them back up. I crawled away and behind the nurse I was holding onto. I quickly stood up and started running again, but I ran into someone, and hit their chest hard. I fell, hitting my head on the floor.

Everything started spinning. I looked up, and saw a blurry Luke. I saw and felt him bent down and hug me. His voice seemed so quiet, I couldn't hear it. I opened my mouth to say something, but everything went black.

Luke

"Sara? What's wrong?" I asked her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but then she closed her eyes and slumped into my arms. She felt heavy, and it didn't look like she was breathing properly. Panic crashed into me when nurses, doctors and security guards ran up to us and took Sara away.

"Wait! What happened? Where's she going?" I asked.

They all ignored me, and rushed her into a room. A nurse told me to wait outside. I watched as more and more people walked in and out the room.

All I did was bump into her. Did I hurt her by mistake? I was just coming to visit, maybe have a chat. Maybe ask her a few things. But she had been running down the hall. Why was she running down the hall? Was she running from someone?

Just as I was about to ask a passing nurse something, I heard a scream come from inside Sara's room. Without thinking, I ran in. I dodged the multiple doctors asking me to get out, and rushed towards Sara. I knelt down near her bedside, and watched as she tried to back away from me.

"Sam?" She asked, her voice quavering.

"No, it's Luke." I told her. "Don't worry. Eve-"

"S-Sam?" She repeated, her voice cracking.

"Sir, please leave." A doctor put his hand on my shoulder.

I quickly pushed it off, and looked back at Sara.

"Sara, what happened?" I asked her.

"S-Sam? Is it really you?" She asked, hugging me tightly.

She started crying and laughing. Everyone was silent as Sara continued acting as if I was Sam. She started talking about how much she missed him, how she'd escaped from her Papa, how she'd bumped into a group of boys who had 'saved her life'.

"They took me to the hospital. They visited me a lot. They took me to their house when I was released, since I didn't have anywhere to go. I ran away with a girl I had meet out of no where for some reason, but then returned to them. We went for burritos, and one of them took me shopping." She laughed, holding my hand. "But then Papa came back, and hurt one of them. He chased me into the police station, and he beat me. The police arrested him, and I hope he's locked up somewhere far away. And now I'm here. He was just chasing me down the halls. I think I had bumped into Luke, one of the boys I was talking about, and blacked out or something. Wait, how'd you get here?" She asked.

"Uh." I stuttered. "Y-You see, I-um."

"Sara, he's not Sam." A doctor told him.

Sara looked up at him in utter confusion. She looked back at me, and looked shocked. She quickly let go of my hand, and started breathing funny.

"W-What? S-Sam, he-"

"He's not here. Sara, you have PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Something triggered it when you saw Dr. Dom and you thought he was your father. He wasn't, but you'll ran out the room terrified by what you saw." The doctor told her.

"But, Sam. Why'd I think Luke was Sam?" She asked.

"I don't know. But I do know that you do have PTSD. You'll have to be more careful, and you'll need a psychiatrist to help you get through it." The doctor explained.

I didn't realize it was just us in the room now, and I didn't notice Sara was holding my hand either. I watched as Sara and the doctor talked about PTSD and how it'll affect her life, and how she'll need medication and a psychiatrist.

I listened closely to it all, even though I didn't need to. When they started talking about what she had seen, I zoned out. I caught the attention of a familiar girl watching us out the window.

"Uh, guys?" I pointed at her.

"May." Sara gasped.

She quickly stood up, and walked toward the window. The doctor contacted the security, and I followed Sara. She tried to open the window, but the rusty hinges wouldn't open.

"Let me try." I said, and she stepped aside.

I pulled on the hinge until it finally lifted. I opened the second one, and pushed the window open.

"Sara, come on." May quickly said, grabbing Sara's arm.

"Why?" Sara asked, pulling back her hand.

"I need you for something." She said.

"For what?" I asked, moving closer to Sara.

"Someone needs to talk to her."