We Are Broken (Tayley)

Introduction

Her hair had been green once, but the color had long since faded and blended into her now long roots. Her fingernails had been ripped off so short that the skin above them had started to develop scabs, but she still picked at them as she sat down. Red blotches speckled her face made worse by the constant scratching, and her green eyes were bloodshot and dull. Her cheeks were sunken and her lips thin and dry. Even with the effects of the drug, Dr. Patel could tell that his patient had been beautiful once.

Hayley refused to make eye contact with the man in front of her when she sat. Neither of them spoke for a while, before the psychologist set down the clipboard with his patient's information placed in it next to him on his desk. "Good afternoon, Ms. Williams." Silence. "I'm sure you know how this works, so I'm just going to be blunt for the time being. What are you doing? This is your fifth time in a rehabilitation center of this kind, each time by choice. You obviously don't want to be addicted to this drug, so why do you keep on it? Have the centers not been the right fit for you?"

The emotionless woman shrugged, and Dr. Patel noted that the pale blonde of her hair made her appear even more pale and sickly than she already was. "I'm tired," She finally 'spoke. Her voice was void and gravely.

"Well, I'm sure you know, insomnia is a common symptom of both meth and withdrawal." The man offered.

"I don't mean I'm physically tired." She looked at him directly for the first time, even though she was still avoiding his eyes. "I'm tired of having everything from the past seven years trapped in my head. You're lucky. I usually just bullshit my way through rehab, but I can't do it anymore. I have to tell someone and by now, you're the only person who will listen."

Patients had come and gone in his experience that had begun the same way and had only proceeded to do the same there, but something about Hayley made Dr. Patel feel like it was near impossible for her to be lying.

"Well, you're right. I am interested in hearing this. Please enlighten me." He leaned back a bit as she sighed heavily.

"He was everything I wanted. I craved his presence whenever he wasn't with me, and I still do." She whispered, barely audibly. "I don't think he even remembered my first name most of the time. He always just called me Williams, and I never minded. He was too amazing to stay mad at. It was remarkable, really. He was a genius, charismatic and charming. I wish we didn't have to meet the way we did. That's not where it really begins, though.

"It started when I was seventeen. Things were better back then, for me and for everyone around me. I was a straight-A student, I had a full ride to Cornell, I was even a cheerleader once. My life was perfect. And then one day it wasn't."

I finally finished ANBoR! It took forever, but I did, and now I'm going to start work on this one. It's very different, but I hope you like it. It's a lot darker and I'm going to go ahead and put a trigger warning for future chapters. If I do my job right, it'll get pretty fucked up. I hope you like it anyway, though. I love you all and thank you for taking the time to read this!