Dark Like Me 3: Open Up

7

The next day, I am standing in front of the local Rehab center that Andy admitted herself in when she found out she hit rock bottom. I enter the Renaissance Rehabilitation Center and I am greeted by an extremely bubbly brunette receptionist.

"Hello, are you here for Andy White?"

I nod. "I am. Is she available?"

"Of course." She grins and stands up. "She has been waiting for you."

"Really?" I arch my brow.

"Yes," she slides me a clipboard with a sign-in sheet and pen attached to it. "just, sing in and you can go to see her."

I sign in and she leads me to the visitor's room. The room isn't drab or gloomy like what the television tries to portray. It is well-lit with comfortable sofas and dining tables also a snack bar and soda machines. "Thank you."

She nods and goes back to her desk. The room is empty except for the female that is running the snack bar. A few minutes in, Andy along with a few other patients start to fill in the visitor's room. I wave Andy over and she waves back with a smile. She ambles over to me and we embrace each other in a tight hug.

The other patients' families begin to come in and the chatter starts to increase annoyingly. Andy and I move to another corner so we won't have to yell or strain to listen to each other.

"I am so glad to see you, Sirrah. Really, I am."

"Likewise, Andy." We take a seat.

"How have you been?" Andy asks as she crosses her legs at the thigh.

"I have been wonderful. Yourself?"

"Doing a lot of therapy in here. Come to find out I've got a bad case of bitch and I am being labeled a narcissist. Not cool around here." Andy complains.

"I see. I don't think you are a narcissist. I just think you probably have some insecurities that you need to work on."

"I know I do. But, that doesn't explain how I treated you. I should not have done that to you. You were my best friend and I should have been happy for you. Instead, I turned into the same person we were trying to stop."

"Andy," I shake my head. "What happened?"

"I know, but it still was not right for me to have done that. I mean...I was jealous and I don't have the proper skills to handle that. They are helping me with that a lot in here. I turned into my sister." She rubs her face.

"I am glad that you are getting the help that you need." I really am happy for her. But I don't know how much I can take of these people that are supposed to be my friends betraying me. How much longer can I take this? When Andy switched up on me, I felt like I was back in high school.

"But, I wanted to apologize to you, Sirrah. And not like that apology I did that year, it was invalid because it wasn't sincere. A real apology is what I owe you. You have been nothing but sweet to me, Sirrah. And I felt like I stabbed you in the back so many times then poured alcohol all over the still open wounds from high school. I should have been supporting you like you did me."

I sit there and listen to what she has to say.

"It was not right to do and I know that. I was taught and raised better than that. It was all because of jealousy. Like my sister, I saw what she meant. You did have your life together and all figured out. I did not. I just went with the first thing that came to mind and I ran with it."

A lot of people seem to believe I have always had my life figured out. But, I did not. I just had a few plans and some didn't work out. I had to continuously switch majors until I finally settled on a major that I wanted to do and that would have me set for life. Me having my life figured out, it didn't come overnight.