Mystery Girl

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Hey River. River? River, are you ok?"

"What?" I snapped up my head looking at my sister as I walked into the main hallway.

"I said, what do you want for dinner? Are you ok? You look like you've been thinking too hard."

Yes I have been. This was so much to process. "It's all good. New patient. That's all."

Even though she gave me a face that just screamed disbelief, she dropped it. "Ok. Do you want to just order out?"

"Yeah sure. Pizza or chinese?"

As she walked into the kitchen she called over her shoulder, "Pizza. We had chinese last week. Dominos or Italiana's?"

Pre-occupied I stared walking up the stairs to my room, "Whatever you want."

"K. Italiana's it is."

From my room I could hear Susan ordering the pizza. "Pepperoni with extra cheese" I heard her say into the phone. I tuned her out and turned for the bed. I unbuttoned the first two buttons of my shirt, kicked of my shoes and flung myself onto the bed. 

What was I going to do about Alana? As a grief councilor it wasn't really my job to get involved but, what else was I supposed to do? This indeed had to be one of my hardest cases. Should I get involved, or call her parents? This was so hard? I needed to help her, but it was never in the job description to get involved in her life. "Ok. This is what you're going to do River. You're going to talk to her on Friday. You're going to ask her more about this boy. Then you're going to see what else was happening." I thought to myself, making a mental note to get in contact with he parents. Ask them about home situations. For a moment I thought this would be all ok. Then my phone started ringing. I checked the caller id. The hospital.

*

After talking to the hospital I found out that Alana had cut herself again. What was going on in this girl's head? She had hit a vein and was now under surveillance. The hospital asked me to be on call. 24/7 for the next 2 weeks. Of course I agreed. My schedule was immediately cleared and I had to get to the hospital ASAP. I hurriedly tied the laces of my shoes, buttoned my shirt and thundered down the stairs to Susan.

"Susan I'm going. I have to go to the hospital, now."

A second later Susan was in the hallway with a confused expression. "Why? The pizza hasn't even gotten her yet."

"My new patient. She was put into hospital after she tried to kill herself. She was fine up until now. I guess she got a knife from her lunch tray or something but, she cut her wrist and hit a vein. I need to go, Now."

"Ok. Drive safe. I'll save you some pizza and put it in the fridge," she grabbed my wrists and looked into my eyes, "You an save her River. I know you can."

With those words ringing in my head, you can save her, I rushed to the hospital. Driving at the maximum speed limit I got to the hospital in just under 20 minutes.

I ran through the front doors and to the front desk. Georgia was still on call. She looked up at my worried face, "She's in stable condition. Same room. Here's her file, if you meed it. Go on in." I nodded and rushed to Alana's room. When I walked in she was asleep and her left wrist was wrapped in gauze. There was a doctor standing next to her bed, recording her stats and what not. 

"Hey Doctor. How is she?"

"Are you Mr Blemmings?"

"Yes. Call me River," I offered my hand to the doctor and he shook it, "Is she ok?" I questioned the doctor.

"Physically? Yes. Mentally? No. But that's what you're here for. Here's her updated file." He handed me another brown manila folder. 'Alana Wells' I opened the folder. I read it more thoroughly this time, instead of skimming. Name. Birthday. Symptoms. Comments.

"Ok. Thank you doctor. How long has she been asleep?"

"She'll wake up soon. We put her under for surgery. She'll be awake in about an hour."

"Ok thank you doctor. I can take it from here."

"Ok then River. I'll leave you to your job." With that the doctor left.

I stared at Alana. Oh god. What was she thinking? I really needed to get to diagnosing her so I knew how to treat her. Hmm what could be her illnesses? I had to start looking for signs of PTSD. After all she had been getting beaten and stalked. I needed to figure her out. Soon.

*

2 hours after I got to the hospital, Alana woke up. She was dazed and confused. "What happened?" She looked up at me. "River? What are you doing here?" I looked at her left wrist. She followed my gaze and a look of recognition flooded her features.

She looked down into her lap and mumbled and "Ohh"

I grabbed her hand and looked her in the eye. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Alana looked me in the eye and whispered, "Ok."