"Alright. You can be mad." Lucas stands up too. "But, what your not gonna do to tell me how I need to talk to my girlfriend. You sure don't have room to talk Jahseh."
And with that last sentence, Jah punched Lucas in the face.
"Oh shit." Ski stands...
I wake up in an unfamiliar white room. It smells of bleach and lemon. The bright white lights force me to blink for a while and I sit up, only to be pulled back from restraints.
"What the hell?" I yell. I thrash around and feel something heavy around my neck. I lift my hands as much as I can and lean forward as much as I can and touch the cold metal of- a collar? I claw at it and it shocks me. I fall back, convusling for a second.
The huge metal door clangs open and a nurse walks in.
"Lacey Mae Stedelin." she says.
"Where am I?" I growl at her.
"A place that will help you." she says. She holds out a glass of water. I take it and sip on it, the cool water sliding down my throat.
"I don't want help. I don't need help." I throw the glass and it shatters. The collar goes off and I fall back again, shaking.
"Have fun." the nurse smiles and clicks on music.
'Barbie Girl' starts blaring and I stare up at the ceiling.
Why am I here?
How did I get here?
"Nurse!" I yell but I can't hear myself over the song.
***
*Hours later*
'Barbie Girl' plays for the forty-fifth time and I finally start crying.
I don't understand.
Where's Mimi?
Jah?
Ski?
Billie?
What happened?
How did I get here?
Why am I here?
Help? I don't need help. I need Mimi. I need my friends.
The music abruptly stops and a doctor walks in.
"Why am I here?" I sob.
"You need help." she answers softly.
"What about my friends? Where is Mimi?" I ask.
"Who?" the doctor scrunches her eyebrows together.
"I was just at the brigde with Mimi. She was singing to me. She sang me a song...." I trail off my eyes watering. "I fell asleep and woke up..... here."
"Lacey..... you've been here for years." the doctor says. "You we're diagnosed with schizophrenia 5 years ago."
"But Mimi... Jahseh..... Ski.... Billie...—"
"They don't exist. You've been drugged up for 5 years. Their in your head. It was all in your head." she says.
"No!" I yell. "What about Lucas?"
"That was real." she says sadly.
"But- they are real... I know it." I say. "They— helped me. They fought Lucas. They were my best friends."
"You killed Lucas. You were diagnosed with schizophrenia after that. Your friends. Aren't. Real. You made them up in your head."
"No." I sob.
"They aren't real. Nurse!" she calls and the nurse walks in with a needle and she sticks it in my thigh. "Forget. Just forget."
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