"Hey."
I looked up at the two guys looking at me. "Max, Craig,"
"You're okay?" Craig sat on the edge of my bed.
"Yeah, I..." I looked around. "Am I in a hospital?"
"Yeah, you..." Max stopped himself.
"No, what?"
Craig took my hand. "You got a few cuts on your face, and the glass was removed from your thigh. But they drug tested you and..."
"What?"
"They're sending you to rehab."
"No, no, no, I can't go, they're..." I clenched my fists. "They can't!"
"We can't stop them." Max said quietly. "I'm so sorry. I am. You have to go."
"Bullshit. I'm fine, I'm fine!"
"Babe, you have to go, okay?" Craig looked at me. "We don't want you to, no one does, but you gotta, okay? It's good, you'll become clean."
"I don't wanna become clean, I wanna go home and fucking snort some coke!"
He rubbed my shoulder. "Please. For me."
"What, I-"
"I'll let you two be." Max hugged me. "Good luck."
I watched him leave. "Craig, please don't make me go, I-
"Oh God, don't make me feel guilty for doing this, please. Ash, it's not our decision, we'd let you come home if we could, but the hospital is insisting. We all tried everything we could think of. We tried offering to sleep with people, paying money, everything. I'm so sorry."
"Craig, no."
"I'm so sorry. I am." He kissed my hair.
"No, please, no." I grabbed his wrist. "How long?"
"Not very-"
"How long?"
"Sixty days."
"No, that's too long."
"I know."
"Please. Stay with me for a couple minutes."
"Okay."
I reached up and kissed Craig. He kissed back, then pulled away. "I'm sorry."
"Babe, you can't do this to me."
"I have to." He stood up. "I'm sorry. Bye, Ash, I'll see you in a couple months."
"I can't have visitors?"
"No."
"Craig." I whined. "Please, don't."
"I'm sorry. Goodbye, Ash."
I bit my lip. "Bye, Craig."
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Two months later
"Look who's back?" Max smiled.
I hid behind Craig. "She's scared." He said.
"Oh, so rehab fucking broke her?"
"Don't use those words."
"What the hell happened?"
"She's still mad."
"I would be too." Max looked at me. "Hey, Ash."
I buried my face in Craig's shoulder, unwilling to talk. "I'm sorry." Craig said to him.
"No, it's okay, I get it."
"Hey, let's go lay down, hm?" Craig looked at me.
I nodded.
He brought me to his room and let me lay on the bed. "I'm gonna go, okay?"
I shook my head. "Craig, please stay."
"Oh. Okay." He came and sat down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Go to sleep, okay?"
I nodded, rested my head on his chest, and closed my eyes. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest while he breathed. Slowly, surely, I fell asleep to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
YOU ARE READING
Not Good Enough For Truth In Cliche
FanfictionIn the glory days, Ronnie Radke was best friends with his band - and Ash Charles, a girl he had grown up with. He was always getting drunk and high, and she was his sidekick. However, when Ronnie goes to jail for the murder of an eighteen year old...
