DONTMAKEMEFALLINLOVE || Billy Hargrove, Stranger Things

XLVI.

Day 1

"Alright then, let me show you your room."

As soon as I signed some papers at the front desk I was being escorted down a beige hallway that was rather cold by Louis the nurse. Louis explains the schedule along the way, but his voice blurs out when I notice a terrace full of trees and chairs to the right. Through the window I spot a dark skinned guy sat on a lawn chair, reading a book. "To your right is the terrace–there's more freedom here compared to other places so you'll have almost all day to be there," Louis' voice finally floods back in to my attention span. Louis takes a left and past four other doors before coming to a halt in front of a brown door. He takes a pair of keys from his pocket to unlock the door and push it wide open. I go in first and realize it's my room, it's like a mini apartment minus the kitchen. I find the luggage I left at the front is already here next to my bed. Let's just say this room is a lot better than what I expected it to be.

"Now that you're settled in here your advisor will be with you shortly."

"My advisor?" I question, "what do they do?"

I could tell this Louis guy was losing patience with me even though this is the first question I've asked so far. "An advisor is the person you're assigned to. There's a few advisors here so you'll be placed in a small group with and meet together each day at six in the evening. In other words, a support group."

There is hundreds of other questions I have but I quietly decided to just let this nurse go. The questions already added a bit of anxiety and the thought of sharing some type of sob story to a support group only adds to it. Do these people really want to hear how I ended up in here? They must have a clue, a stable person just doesn't end up in rehab. A knock soon comes from my door, causing me to flinch.

God, why does something so normal make me jump all of a sudden?

When I stride over to open the door I'm met with a tall skinny blonde man with a smile almost to his ears. "Hello Diana Henderson, I'm your advisor for your time here! My name's Fred Sumner," he makes it sound like I'm at a resort hotel, "why don't we take a walk? I'd love to properly show you around and help you out with any questions you have."

"Hi, Mr. Sumner," I reply before stepping out my room and closing the door after, "I was told you meet with a group of people like me everyday?"

"I know it sounds atrocious, talking to the same people about topics that revolve around addiction and overcoming it, but I can assure you it's the most painless experience you'll go through on this journey," Fred Sumner explains to me as we slowly walk along the same hallway I passed through earlier with the terrace, only this time the guy reading outside isn't there anymore. "It is going to get worse before it gets better, but I believe everyone is strong enough to fight addiction."