Inpatient

Prologue

Lucas Brennan walked into his sister, Charlotte's bedroom, to return her laptop to her, when he was met with his worst nightmare. He ran in and fell to the floor next to her limp body. He touched her neck hoping for a pulse. "Charlotte? Wake up, come on please wake up! MOM WHERE ARE YOU? Charlotte? Are you awake? Oh my god."

"911 what is your emergency?" "Hello? Uh I just found my little sister on her bedroom floor! I can't find a pulse, there are empty pill bottles next to her. I need an ambulance as fast as possible." Cried Lucas into his phone. His voice was shaky and quiet. "Sir, please try to remain calm. Where are you? Can you give me your address? I'll send an ambulance to you right away." Said the woman on the phone.

Less than five minutes later, two men rushed into the Brennan household armed with medical supplies. "Quick, come upstairs, she's in here. Please wake her up, do something quick!" Cried Lucas through his tears. They checked her neck for a pulse and almost immediately began CPR. Two sets of footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. "Lucas? What is going on? Why is there... Oh Christ! BENJAMIN? COME QUICK!" Screamed Victoria. "What happened? Will she be okay? Oh my god. Lucas, what happened?" Said Victoria. "I found her on the floor, I don't know what happened, I just found her." Said Lucas. Victoria began to cry. Benjamin rushed into the room and fell to his knees in tears. "My baby girl, no, not my baby girl." He cried.

Suddenly, both medics sighed in relief. "She's alive." Said one. "Oh thank God. What a relief. Did you hear that Ben? She's alive." Said Victoria, still crying, but now crying tears of joy. "We would still like to take her to the hospital to check her out, just to be on the safe side." Said the doctor. "Yes, yes of course. I'll come in the ambulance with you. Ben, follow me in the car." Said Victoria putting her arm into the sleeve of her coat. She turned to Lucas. "You stay here, Alex will be home soon and I don't want him to be home alone right now. I'll ring later to let you know how she is." Said Victoria. She kissed his forehead and walked downstairs. Benjamin helped the medics to lift Charlotte onto the stretcher and to carry her down the stairs. Once they were in the van, they sped off with the sirens roaring and Benjamin following close behind.

Lucas made his way to the living room and sat down on the couch with his head in his hands. He couldn't make heads nor tales of this. What happened? Why did she do this? He didn't even know she was so sad. Did his parents know? As he tried to piece it all together, Alex walked through the front door. "Hey bud, how are things?" Chirped Alex. He dropped his school bag on the hall floor and hung his coat up on the back of the front door. "You alright? You look really pale? What's going on?" Asked Alex sitting down next to his big brother. "Put your coat back on and get into the car." Said Lucas grabbing the car keys.