Lost // michael clifford

One

"This is for the better Ashleigh, I promise." My dad said to me as we were driving to The Hills, a rehab centre that my parents found online.

"I still can't believe this is happening to my little girl." My mom said sadly, tears clearly threatening to fall. I just looked out the window. Who knew how long I'd be in here and how I'd do. I haven't had anything to drink or taken any pills in two weeks and other than the initial detox, I've been doing well. Much better than I expected I would.

It was Kim that really made me realize that I need to get better. I want to be here for my best friend and her baby. It's still a shock that she's pregnant. She was always the careful one, the one that would never do anything to jeopardize her future as a nurse, but here we are. Me going to rehab, and her preparing for a baby. Who would've thought. We always said I would be the first to get pregnant, because Michael and I never used condoms. It just didn't feel right, but thankfully there was never any babies.

It's been 5 months since Michael left and I'm still thinking about him all the time and wondering where he is. How he's doing. Why he left, but those are questions I'll never know the answer to. I need to move on and accept the fact that I'm never going to see my first love again and sober up from that.

I turned my head to look out the window and saw that we were turning into the rehab. There were big gates that opened up for us and my dad drove through, and continued up the hill to The Hills. I decided to come here when I was high and now I'm hoping that I can actually better myself here.

Ernest Hemingway, one of my favourite authors, said once, 'Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.' and damn he was right. I was starting to really feel the reality of everything that was happening.

When we pulled up to the front, it didn't look like a rehab centre. There were three people standing outside smiling and waving to us. An older woman and two guys. We stopped and I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. Both of my parents stepped out of the car also and the older woman smiled and came up to me and my mom.

"You must be Ashleigh Ford." She smiled and I nodded my head. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Julie. I'm the director of The Hills. I run everything. These two gentlemen are Zach and Max. Zach is the activities co-ordinator and Max does support group." She said and I felt really overwhelmed. My dad joined us with my stuff and Julie turned to Max. "Max, take Ashleigh and her luggage to her room."

"On it." He said. He had a deeper voice. It wasn't attractive like Michael's but it was attractive nonetheless. "It's this way." He lead me inside and when I walked through the doors, I was overwhelmed. This can't be a rehab. It was beautiful. The feel in here was really warm and loving and it smelled like cinnamon buns.

"It's not what you thought it would be huh?" He turned around and smiled to me. I was just standing there, taking everything in. I can't believe I'm going to be living here for god knows how long.

"Not at all." I said looking at him.

"C'mon, I'll take you to your room." He smiled and led me down a hallway. "We do things a lot differently here than most places."

"What do you mean?" I said confused.

"Most places have girls room with girls and boys room with boys, but here we have girls room with boys." He explained.

"Oh, why's that?" I said. Okay so I'm going to be roommates with a boy. Hopefully he's not creepy.

"We just think that it gives you the opportunity to meet new people and step out of your comfort zone." He smiled and stopped in front of a room which I'm assuming is mine. "Your roommate is pretty quiet so I don't think you'll have any problems. He's currently out though, so that gives you a chance to set up your side of the room and get comfortable."