30 Days In Rehab

Day 23: Tuesday

Three swift knocks land on my door and I sit up immediately, alarmed. I wipe the sleep out of my eyes as I rush out of bed and towards the door which someone is still knocking on. I open it as tee bursts in, "You're awake? Great! Get in the shower and put this on." She says quickly as she tosses clothes on my bed. I yawn and stretch, "why? Where are we going?" I ask as I look at the semi-professional clothes.

"You're meeting with the board has been expedited." She says with a squeal. My eyes widen, her words snapping me out of my sleepy state, "what?!"

"Apparently Willaby went before the board yesterday after your talk and expressed that you're ready! I got the call this morning!" She laughs and spins in a circle, "isn't this great?! You get to come home!"

"But Tee, I'm not ready!" I shout before brushing past her and out the door, "Willa-"

"No need to shout, I'm right here." He says with a smile on his face. "Willaby I'm not ready, you know I'm not ready." He raises a hand, "do not tell me what you are not. I don't know a lot of things but I know that you do not need to be here anymore." I shake my head, "we still have things to talk about! We have to talk about Daniel and me miscarrying!"

He steps closer to me and gives me a knowing look, "You and I both know that is something we definitely do not need to talk about. Those are topics that you've already dealt with on your own terms." He says lowly. I take a step away from him in shock, my mouth open, my eyes watering.

Closure. I'm going to get my closure, today.

How did he know?

"Oh, I'm really here Steph. And I'm here to stay. Forever." He promises.

I shake my head, "I am sorry Daniel." I begin, looking up and watching as his ghostly face turns into confusion. "I'm sorry for the way I made you feel."

"You mean before I let them niggas kill me."

I inhale, "There is nothing that you can say that will stop me from giving myself this closure."

"Are you sure? Are you sure I can't pull the dead baby string?"

"You can try if you want but," I pause, inhaling and exhaling before smiling, "I've realized that I can no longer focus on things I can no longer control. I couldn't control the loss of my baby. I couldn't control you passing away. I can no longer allow those things to allow me to be broken. And I accept your apology."

"I never apologized."

"And you never will. And I accept that. I have to accept the apology I will never get so that I can heal."

"That will never work."

"It will." I declare before inhaling, "With every breath I take, I release the parts of me that's toxic, including the parts of you that caused those parts of me."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I do."

"If you believed that, then why am I still here?" He chuckles, "Why am I still in your mind?"

"Because you're a scar that will fade with time." He grins at the answer, "But you're a scar that I will forget because I will push you to the back of my mind with ease for the rest of my life."

"You're just going to forget me, Steph?" He asks, sadness washing over his face. I smile, "Never. But I will forget the bad parts of you, which includes this part of you. And I think this discussion is finished. And I will take this closure."

"Stephanie, you will always have things that you need to work on and heal from. But that doesn't mean that you need to be here. There's healing that can be done while you're home and alone because no one knows how to fix you better than you." He whispers. My tears spill over and my heart pounds in my chest. He's right. I've been tackling my demons on my own unknowingly and now there's not many of them left. "Now," He begins, dragging me out of my thoughts. "Your meeting is in half an hour, go get ready and show them what you show me. It's time for you to go home."

This is the only book series I've written that I've gone through with and it's success is insane! Even when I stopped writing for months, it still prospered due to you all, my excellent readers! You guys push me to be more creative with my writing and I appreciate all of you! By the way, this book is almost over, but someone tell me, is Stephanie's story almost over? 👀