blue

IV

"Please make it stop, it hurts." I managed to spit out a few words to the nurse in front of me. Everyone was asking me questions I didn't know the answers to.
I wasn't sure if I was in a mental hospital or just a normal hospital, but both scared me.

"I know, sweetheart, but we can't put you on any other pain meds before we get a parent's consent."

I nodded to the tall blonde nurse as she walked out the door to get me more coffee because I desperately needed an energy booster.

Where was my mom? I asked myself. Did she know where I was?

I doubt she knew where I was since, well... I didn't even know where I was.

I pulled the sheets down from my neck as it was getting unbearably hot in the room I was staying in. The bed wasn't too uncomfortable, and I was definitely going to be able to fall asleep in it quickly due to the amount of pain killers I was on.

As I pulled down the white sheets, it uncovered my arms and bare chest. Bruises; lots of them, covered my body. There was only one person who would have done this...

John.

I yelled out in rage, causing five nurses to burst into my room.

"What's wrong?" They all seemed to ask in unison. I was having food, glasses of water and medicine shoved in my face by each of them all at once in an attempt to do their job and help me.

I wanted to be honest, so I told them what was wrong. I told them that I remembered everything that happened.

I started from the beginning, when he was chasing me down the street. I told every detail, and ended when he punched me in the tunnel. I didn't remember anything after that. I must have blacked out.

All the nurses looked at me wide-eyed as I told the story.

"Do you have any idea as to where your dad could be?" one of the nurses asked.

Cringing at the word 'dad', I shook my head. It hurt my sore neck even to turn it slightly.
She sighed, disappointed and let me know that they will be looking for him and as soon as they find him he'll be punished for his painful actions.

"I'm Liz," she said and smiled a welcoming smile. "What's your name?"

"Melia," I replied with a half hearted smile, not  near as genuine as hers.

"Well, Melia, welcome to Greenfield Mental Hospital." She shook my hand and headed out the door.

I took a short breath and went over the list of things I now knew.

One: I was in a mental hospital.
Two: My dad put me here.

And three, I was in Greenfield which was a town about two hours outside of London. I wasn't very familiar with it, but I have been camping with my family there before.

My mind was a mess, so I decided to take the anxiety medication the nurses provided for me earlier. The water they had set on my bedside table was shockingly cold as it touched my chapped lips, but I got use to it by the time it washed down my throat.

Feeling a sense of closure, I pulled the sheets back up to my neck and sighed. It was time to go to sleep. I deserved at least a good rest after everything I had been through in the past eight hours. I wasn't sure when I would be released or where I would go or how I would catch up on schoolwork, but I used all my strength to push those thoughts away. I would allow myself to address all my questions in the morning.

Drained from thinking an unhealthy amount of self-destructive thoughts, I slipped into a deep sleep.

"I don't belong here!" I screamed as I kicked my legs at the people who dragged me away from him.

His icy blue eyes stared at me. They showed anger; only anger.

"I don't even know who she is!" He yelled back.

Truth be told, I didn't know who he was either. I just knew we had to become friends and I somehow knew that I needed him. I was being drawn towards him like a magnet.

They dragged me into the mental hospital and strapped me to a table to force me to stop kicking.

"I need him!" I violently screamed again, this time kicking harder than before. I kicked so strongly that the straps released. I pulled myself off the table and threw the leather straps on the ground in rage. I ran for my life. I ran back to him.

Ironically, I still didn't know why I was running to a stranger.

"Go away, creep."

The familiar words rang in my head full of scars.

"Calm down Melia! It was only a dream!"

It was Liz. She ran her soft hands through my hair and it caused my heavy breathing to become slightly shallower. I stopped screaming and let her soft voice soothe me.

"It felt so real, I-I swear it was real," I muttered.

"Dreams can be that way, but I promise you're safe. Why don't you tell me about your nightmare and get it off your chest? It'll help you get an understanding thats it's not real,"
the nurse told me.

I smiled and began to tell her. I left out some details that I wasn't so sure of, but told her enough so she understood.

As I finished telling her, she nodded as if she understood me.
"Liz?" I asked.
"Yes, darling?"
"The dream... i-it was in colour."