Alone [G.D]

~13~

"I know Gray was at your house last night." Mrs. Dolan says, as we continue our slow drive to the hospital.
"I-"
"There's no need to explain, I know he just wanted to see if you were okay. Especially after how Sean acted." She interrupts me. "And I'm sorry by they way. I don't know why he acted like that, it's whenever Eth gets brought up."
"No, Mrs. Dolan, it's totally my fault, I shouldn't have talked back." I spoke.
"You can call me, Lisa, Madison. I've already told you that." She chuckles. "And it's alright, nothing to be sorry for, but I do want to know one thing, and that is what's been going on between you and Gray." She says.
"Oh, well, I guess you can say we've grown closer, but I don't really know." I really don't know what's going on between us.
"Have you guys kissed?" She asks, and I feel my face heat up, as the memory of last night replays itself in my head. "I'm sorry that's such an uncomfortable question. I'm just curious."
I awkwardly laugh, as I look out the car window, seeing the hospital in the distance. "To answer your question, we have." I am not going to turn and look at her. I doubt she's happy about this. Her son going to a girls house over night, and then finds out they've kissed? My mom would kill me.
"Oh." Is all Lisa says, as she pulls into the hospital parking lot.

"Madison Merrell." A lady says, as she holds the back hospital door open. Lisa and I get up, and follow the nurse to the back room. "So you're Madison, correct?" The nurse asks.
"Yes, ma'am." I say, as I sit myself up onto the hospital bed.
"Okay, well I'm going to have you change into this gown, so we can do some tests." The nurse says, as she holds a short hospital gown out to me.
"Um, do you have one with longer sleeves? I get cold really fast, and it's a real issue." I try to persuade the nurse into giving me something else. I couldn't have them see my scars.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have any long sleeved gowns. I'll give you a blanket, that you can use after we finish our tests." She says, as she smiles at me.
I bite the inside of my cheek, as I look at Lisa, then back to the nurse. "O-okay." I say. I take the gown from the nurses hand, and go into the cold tiled bathroom. I slip off my clothes, and put the gown on. I see the scars in my reflection, and the new ones from last night are barely scabbing over. The color drains from my face, as I unlock the bathroom door. I cross my arms over my chest tightly, as I hide the scars. I sit myself back down onto the hospital bed, my arms still crossed.
"You okay?" Lisa asks me, as I take in a deep breath. "You look a little pale."
"I'm just cold." I say, as I fake a shiver.
The nurse smiles at me once again. "Okay, I'm just going to weigh you now, so please take your shoes off, and step onto the scale."
I slip off of the bed, and use my opposite foot to take off my shoes. I step onto the scale, and look down at the number. "Can you put your arms to your sides." She asks, and I look at her in fear, my heart pounding out of my chest. I slowly put my arms down at my sides, and the room goes dead silent. Everyone was holding there breath, as I saw there eyes stick to my arms. I jump off of the scale, and run into the bathroom, locking the door behind me, as I break into tears. I cup my hands over my mouth, as I try to contain the loud sobs.
"Madison." There was a slight knock on the door. "Let me in, it's Lisa." She says.
I don't answer. Leave me alone. Another slight knock. "Please." She begs, as I hear her sniffle. "The nurse is gone, I told her I knew about your arms, and you were already getting help."
I look at the door, as my mouth falls open. "You did what?" I ask, my throat sore from crying.
"Let me in." She cries, as she smacks the door. I jump, and I slowly lift myself up from the floor. My fingers linger over the lock, before fully unlocking the door.
The door swings open, and Lisa hugs me. I feel her tears bleed through the gown.
"Does your mom know you do this? Is she helping you?" Lisa asks, as she holds my arms and looks into my eyes. I shake my head, as the tears from my eyes slip out. "Who knows? Does anybody know?" Her eyes still teary.
"G-Grayson." I say, as I close my eyes. I wasn't going to let myself cry forever.
"What!" Her voice echoed in the bathroom. "Why didn't he tell me? Is he helping? Or at least trying?" Her list of questions never ended.
"I asked him not to tell anyone, I don't need peoples pity."
"Madison, I'm just worried. You know I lost my son to this same shit, and if I lost you it'd be just as heart breaking." Her voice broke.
I held my arms as I stared at the ground. No matter what I do, I'm always hurting someone. When will it end?  "I'm sorry."
"I can't say it's okay, because it's not. I want to help you, I need to help you."
"You can't help me." I look up to her. "And you can't tell my mom. Do you know what she'll do to me?" I say, trying to contain my composure. I have to show her that I'm okay.
"Madison-"
"Mrs. Dolan, Lisa, please, if you care about me you'll drop it. I won't kill myself. Just let me be, please." I beg.
Her face pales, as her hands ball up into fists. Her mouth falling open. "I-I-"
"Please." I say again.
She shakes her head, as she covers her face with her hands. I wipe the tears from my face, as I wait for her to respond. "F-fine, but you're staying with me, at my house, until your mom gets home." She says, as she drops her hands to look at me.
"No, no, I'm not staying at your house." I say, as I furrow my brows.
"My mom's coming back Tuesday, that's only three days from now." I explain, trying to change her mind.
"Madison, you stay with me, or I call child protective services."
"What the hell! I cut not get abused!" I yell, making Lisa jump.
"Yes, but your mom obviously can't care for you if she's making you work so hard." Lisa says. "She's making you work three shifts, while she has one job where she gets to travel."
"You can't." I cry, as I felt my throat start to close.
"I'm going to get the nurse, and we are going to finish this appointment. Then, we are going straight home. No negotiations. Period." She says, as she leaves the bathroom, letting the door slam behind her.
I step out of the bathroom, and stand next to the bed, as I wait for them to return.

"Okay, Ms. Merrell, let's take a few back xrays." The nurse says, as she holds open the room door. I slide off of the bed, as I follow her out of the room, and down to a section of the hospital called; Radiology. As the nurse spoke to the radiologist, I scanned the waiting area. There was a little girl cradling her arm, as she continued to cry, her mom desperately trying to calm her.
"Is she okay?" I ask, interrupting the nurses conversation. "Have you guys helped her out?"
I see the mom look up at me in surprise. "No, we have not yet." The radiologist says, as she hands the nurse my file.
"The girl is in pain, you need to help her." I say, as I furrow my brows. "She should be your priority not me." I say.
"Ms. Merrell, we can't do that." She says, and I shake my head.
"What a top notch hospital this is! Not helping a little girl, who's arm is potentially broken. What a review I'm going to leave." I say in disgust.
"Dr. Donber, she has a point." The nurse says, as she sets my file down.
"Okay, fine, Mrs. Serwaye, come on back with me." He says, as he opens the door. The mother stands up, as she carefully picks up her daughter.
"Thank you so much." The mom says to me, before disappearing into the hallway. I slightly smile knowing I helped them out.
"Now, we'll have to wait here for ten minutes until they're done." She says, as she sits herself down onto one of the waiting chairs.
"It's okay." I say, as I sit across from her. "She should have been priority."
"And you are correct, but an appointment was never made."
"She didn't know she was going to injure her arm." I fight back.
"You're correct again." The nurse says, as a small smile appears on her face. "You amaze me Madison."
I feel my face heat up at the compliment. "Thanks." I say.

"You're not wearing any metal are you?" She asks, as we stand in the cold x-ray room.
"No, I'm completely nude under this gown." I say chuckling. The nurse and I have grown a little close in the past ten minutes.
"Okay, then stand right here." The nurse says, as she puts me into my spot. "Now don't move, and hold your breath, okay?" She says, as she slowly backs away from me.
"Yup." She goes behind a wall, and counts to three before I hear a loud beep.
"One more time!" She yells. One, two, three. Beep. "And you're done." She appears from behind the wall. "Now you can head back up to the room, and I'm going to look over the x-rays with the radiologist, and I'll be back up in a second."
I nod my head, as she opens the door. I walk back to the room, and sit up on the bed. "How'd it go?" Lisa asks, as she puts her phone away.
I shrug my shoulders. "She's checking the x-rays with the radiologist right now." I say.
"Okay." Is all she says, before the room goes silent.

Knock. Knock.
"Come in!" Lisa says, and another lady I've never seen comes in.
"Madison?" She questions, as she holds out her hand.
"Yes, Madison." I say, as I shake her hand. "Nice too meet you."
"I'm Dr. Dodoberra." She says, smiling widely. Must be good news. "So, the nurse and radiologist showed me your past x-rays and we compared them to today's." She says, her smile quickly fading.
I slowly nod my head, as I lace my hands together.
"And you're back went up five degrees in one week." She says, as she pulls out the x-rays. She puts them up onto the board, and turns on the light behind it. "As you can see this is your old x-ray, you can clearly see a bend. Now, this one, is your new x-ray from today, and the bend had drastically changed to forty-two degrees."
"So, what does that mean? Is my brace going to be bigger? Harder?" I ask, as I slightly tilt my head.
"No, it means we'll have to schedule a surgery day." Dr. Dodoberra says, and I feel my heart drop.
"What? But today was just supposed to be bracing." I say.
"Yes, but you're back still has a year and a half of growth progression, and if we only brace it will get worse, most likely. And if we also only brace, as you age your back will give you issues, which can cause an immense amount of pain." She explains.
I shake my head. "That's crazy." I mumble.
"Doctor, I am not her legal guardian, I am just watching her till Tuesday, so what do we do about that?" Lisa asks, as she shifts the purse on her lap.
"Could we call the legal guardian, so we could schedule the appointment today? I think its very serious, and action needs to be taken quickly."
Lisa nods her head, and digs in her purse for her phone. "I don't have your mom's number, so could you call her?" Lisa asks, as she hands me her phone. I dial my moms number, and bring the phone up to my ear.
"Hello?" My mom's voice boomed through the phone.
"Hi, its Madison." I say. "I'm currently at the hospital, and they said I'm going to need back surgery, so we need to pick a date."
"What the hell?" My mom says. "But I'm getting held back here for another week or two, the boss is being an idiot."
"Okay, hold on." I say, as I sigh. I put the phone on my lap. "She won't be back for another week or two, so?"
"Well, let's just pick a date, and we'll figure the rest out later." The doctor says, as she clicks her pen.
"Okay."

~<3~

A/N
Sorry, for the long delay/break. On my break, I was prewriting a bunch of chapters, so that when I did come back, I would be able to update consistently. So I hope you guys enjoyed this COME BACK chapter, as much as I did.
Don't forget to vote, comment, share, and most importantly ENJOY! :) Peace.