Back To December

{ Chapter 4 }

Every step I take down the beaten path to my previous life, no amount of words can express what I feel or how I want to feel. The doctor seemed to think I was just a normal girl living a normal life with normal parents in a normal house. Well unfortunately, people like me just aren't all that. Yeah, tough luck rich boy.

I descend down the surfaces of every roof until I reach the edge, unable to measure the drop down to the road below. Even in the smallest distant, the risk of injury or death is very likely, not that I'm ready to be stuck in either position to make a choice, not again. The wind brushes across my face harder this time, the surrounding trees swaying back and forth. I'm barely able to keep my balance on two feet. The only object between me and the ground is a thin, metal railing that lines around the entire perimeter of this level. From there, it's just emptiness. If I jumped, would I survive? That was a question I couldn't bare to answer. What other choice do I have? No one would find me up here, until one of the staff members realized I was gone. I don't have a phone either so I can't call for help. Being stuck here with limited options isn't quite the dream I've always wanted to live.

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Pondering the only decisions I have, a cry for help grabs my attention back towards my room. Someone found me.

"Daria! What are you doing?" calls Dr. Matthews.

My breathing increases as I glance at the road below and back at him.

"Daria, just come back to the room, it's okay. What are you afraid of?" he gingerly steps over the windowsill, holding his hands out as if he were under arrest.

"I don't want to go back, I-I can't go back home. Just leave me alone," I respond in a creaky voice.

"Just let us help you..."

"No. I don't need your stupid help. And I don't need your stupid mood pills either," tears roll down my cheek.

"What mood pills? They're just aspirin to help relieve your fever.... You're still burning up," the doctor inches closer, nearly a few feet away from me.

"Just stop!" I lunge forward and grab his nearest hand, pinning it behind his back tightly.

He winces, "Ow, Daria!"

"I won't let you send me back to my parents, I won't!" I refuse to release the hold.

In his free arm, Dr. Matthews pulls out what looks like a very small walkie-talkie from his belt and clocks in a button that buzzes in response. All I can hear was static and few muffled sounds.

"Security! I need security on the second floor roof right now! Repeat I need security!"

Clearly knowing the consequences, I continue to fight with Dr. Matthews, shoving him forwards onto his stomach and apply extreme force with my foot to his right arm. My body trembles uncontrollably, like something is forcing it to do so.

Momentarily, a squad of security guards dressed in their black uniforms with black bulletproof vests, thick boots and multiple stashed rounds of glock 19 ammo hidden shoved in their pockets appear. My dad showed me a few guns when I was younger, what they were called, and how to shoot one. I was making a lot of progress until he turned mentally unstable and abusive by the massive amounts of drugs he took. To this day, the hardest thing to earn is my trust, something that's been broken one too many times by one too many people.

"Daria Knight, put your hands up!" one shouts out, raising his gun.

I finally release Dr. Matthews and stumble backwards as far away from the group as possible.

"You're not going to shoot..." I yell back. "You don't have to guts to pull the trigger."

"Try me Goldilocks," the officer in the front retorts.

"First of all, I'm a brunette, and secondly, I don't want any trouble. I just want to get out of here," I admit. "Please, just let me go."

"Go where? Wandering the streets? How about you go back to your home,"

"I don't have one, can't you see that's what I'm trying to tell you? Remember Marcus Knight? He used to come here all the time and he was always high on drugs or some random shit. He's a dirty liar and a thief and everything bad in this world, that's why he's in jail. You and your fellow police mates put him there," I explain thoroughly without hesitation.

"Wait, you're related to Marcus Knight?" Dr. Matthews questions with a shocked tone.

Pausing, I answer, "I'm his daughter,"

Every officer raised their gun and aims at me, in unison.

"Where's your mother?" the doctor asked.

"Why do you care?" I sneer in his direction to focus back on the group of men.

"Answer me," Dr. Matthews calls again.

"No," my voice cracks again.

"Daria, answer the damn question... Where is your mother?"

"She's in jail, okay? I have no one left in my family, they've all abandoned me,"

Wind continuously blows harshly in my face, my thick brown hair falling into my line of vision. I never intended for my days to be over like this. Lucky for me, I held on against my parent's wrath for the longest time. All the hurt jumbled into one massive wave of pain that would leave and come back whenever my emotions go out of whack.

"We've tested your entire family for any case of previous abuse of drugs and alcohol which is why they are all in the place they are in now,"

"What does that mean?" my tone is creaky.

An officer smirks and lowers his gun to his side. "It's means you're next."