All I Want

CHAPTER 6: I Have Nothing Left

‘Dennis, I swear…’ Heather began defensively but Dennis was quick to shush her, stating that he wasn’t done yet. Heather was scared that Dennis would find out the truth about her, and it was utterly visible.

Dennis, holding the tiny white plastic container right in front of Heather’s face said, ‘I found this in her bag. Don’t ask why I was looking through Lily’s things because, Heather, that isn’t the point. Do you have any idea what this is?’

‘Prescription pills?’ Heather said stupidly, almost jokingly in fact. This was it, then. Dennis had found the drugs she had been supplying to Lily, and, being Dennis, word that Heather was a drug dealer was sure to reach the principal’s ears. Her eyes were glued onto his like they were pleading with him to keep his damn mouth shut for the good of everyone involved.

He pocketed them again in case someone walked up to them and saw the drugs. Heather was still staring at him in silence, waiting for the bomb to explode on her. Dennis, massaging his nose bridge, backed away slightly, saying, ‘They aren’t just any prescription pills. These are antipsychotics.’

Heather’s first instinct was fear that she had been made, and that her short run was over before it had even began. But, just when she was about to own up, something hit her like a good slap from Athena. ‘What did you say?’ she asked in a state of slight disbelief.

‘They are antipsychotics,’ Dennis repeated. ‘Lily was… or is… overdosing on antipsychotics.’

Well, it was true, and nothing could have pleased Heather more since she knew that she couldn’t have been accused of being a dealer if the pills Lily was found with were antipsychotics. “That’s the idea,” she was thinking. Dennis knew exactly what the drugs were, meaning she was more or less off the hook. ‘I’m not sure I understand you,’ she said if only to play along.

‘I know these pills because they were all over the news some time ago. It’s called Halo, and it was taken off the shelves because its side effects contradict the fact that they are antipsychotics.’

‘O… kay…’

‘They said the medicine caused patients to have massive emotional breakdowns,’ Dennis explained. ‘The patients would either become bipolar, their mental illness may worsen, and they may suddenly become neurotic and go as far as suicidal. Of course these cases were rare, but they were deadly side effects nonetheless. The question is, if this is what pushed Lily over the edge, then how much of it did she take?’

‘Why is that important?’ Heather continued playing dumb.

‘Because it takes a significant dosage to develop such side effects, Heather. As far as I’m concerned, Lily has never been diagnosed with a mental illness, so where the hell did she get the drugs?’

‘Family member maybe?’

‘Maybe. But if she felt she really needed to do drugs, why antipsychotics? And why Halo of all drugs?’ There was a moment’s pause as Dennis’ questions sank in, and as the confusion grew even more; for one of them, at least. ‘What the hell is going on here, Heather?’

Knowing it was a lie, Heather barefacedly replied, ‘I don’t think I’m the person to be talking to about this. I’m just as confused as you are.’

‘Let me get this correct,’ Kyle was saying to a very used Lily, ‘you tried killing yourself… and you have no idea what made you do it?’

‘Yes,’ Lily responded, oblivious to how she sounded at the moment. With everything that was going on, she might as well have been mentally challenged than not.

‘Okay, Lily,’ Kyle said, vigorously rubbing his nose bridge and pressing his jaws together, ‘you cannot repeat what you’ve just told me to anyone else; less so the hospital staff.’