Black Dahlia

Chapter Five

Laurent |

"Major depression!? Avoidant personality disorder!?"

I clinched the sides of my afro in frustration. That write-up Rai got in school was the last straw, so Rayne immediately set up an appointment with a doctor to see why Rai's behavior is so out of hand at a young age. And after her psychiatric evaluation, she's just been diagnosed.

"Relax, Mr. Bourgeois," Dr. Vyvanse said, "Major depression is not permanent."
"And the other one?" Rayne cut in.
"It can't be cured, but it can be treated. But that doesn't mean it will last forever. However, it is chronic, meaning it can last for years or forever."

Me and Rayne exchanged uneasy glances at her. I guess Rai must have saw us 'cause she look back and forth at me and Rayne with a face of confusion. She doesn't even know what conditions she has. And I don't even know why she has them, she's in a happy home!

Rayne sighed. "What can we do about this, Doctor?"
"I can describe her some anti-depressants-"
"No. None of those."
"Well... I can have weekly appointments with her. Thursdays at 7."
"Sounds good."

Rayne |

As Laurent drives us home, the car is silent except for Here by Alessia Cara playing on the radio. All I hear in my head are the words of the doctor.

Antisocial. Anxious. Depression. Bullying. Sadness. Shy.

Why would she ever be depressed in a happy home where we love her dearly? I know it's going on at school.

"Rayne?" I hear Rai's puerile voice from the backseat.
"Yes?"
"What did the doctor say? What's wrong with me?"
"You have 2 mental disorders, sweetheart."
"Does that mean I'm a monster?"
"No. It just means you're... special."
"Special?" I can hear the smile on her face.
"Yes, very special."

Rai doesn't do anything but smile really hard. Laurent looks at me with a smile then looks back to the road.

Even though I made Rai feel really good, the cause of her condition is still in the back of my head. She could have psychosis and schizophrenia and I'd still love her the same, but I need to understand why. The torture she's facing elsewhere must be horrible if she has major depression. Avoidant personality disorder is something I can live with; she doesn't want to interact with people, but she doesn't want to be lonely is basically what I narrowed it down to.

All night, I think about what torture Rai could be going through. I pray to God she doesn't go down the same path I went down. I can't and won't let that happen. She's too valuable to me.

"You okay?" I hear Laurent whisper in my ear.
"Huh?" I say half asleep.
"You were moving a lot. Were you dreaming?"
"Yes. No. Maybe?"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I say getting up out of bed. I check my phone and it's 2:07AM. I hate when this happens! I wanted a little nap and ended up sleeping my life away!

I walked down the hallway, and as I pass Rai's room, I can see the glare of lights from under the door. I open the door and I see Rai on the floor with a bunch of lava lamps drawing. "What you doin' up?" I ask her.

"I can't sleep," she says in her light voice.
"Did you try?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I'm gonna draw until I can sleep."
"What are you drawing?" I smile at her.
"Lava lamps." She holds up a picture with 4 different color lava lamps, but last one is being drawn. It's truly a beautiful picture. "Oh okay," I smile. "I'll go get a frame for that tomorrow. Does that sound nice?" She paused drawing and just looked up at me with a smile. "Yes, that sounds nice."

"Okay. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay."
I closed the door back, headed into the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of Coca Cola and sat in the living room. I turned on Netflix and decided to watch a horror movie. I scrolled through the selection of horror films, looking for something good. The Lazarus Effect caught my eye and I decided to watch that. It had a lot of jump scares, but overall it was a good movie. When that movie went off, I still wasn't tired so I watched Dope until I fell asleep.