Henry

Chapter 9: Overdose

          As I was being led down the familiar hallway of endless rooms, usually counting the numbers to stay calm, I wasn't focusing on a single thing. My mind was doing laps, seeing who could destroy me first. Question after question, my brain was ready to burst by the time I got to Shelia's office. The guards lifted the tight grip on me and disappeared behind me, without a second glance to check on me. It's not like I would have noticed it anyway, my eyes and brain were glued to the girl with all the answers: Shelia. 

          "Elana? What are you doing here? Has something happened again? You're supposed to be in isolation sweetie, what's going on?" She asked me as her sharp, tiny hand gripped the doorknob and closed it behind us. Even though she had a worried tone in her voice, her body language was telling me another story. 

          "What happened to me, Shelia? Seriously, what happened?" I asked her as I was pacing the room. There was a comfy chair waiting for me to sit in, but my brain ignored it as I went on. "I don't know what happened, but I know I didn't overdose. I didn't do that, no, I wouldn't do that! Shelia, why is everyone lying to me!" My voice was rising as were my footsteps, hardly pausing to give her a chance to answer me.

          "One minute I was just sitting in my bed, the next I'm awake with needle marks and empty candies-cups waiting for me!" I wasn't even looking at Shelia now, my eyes on the floor as my brain rattled for an explanation, a reason, for all of this.

          "Elana, sit down, please. You have to calm down." Shelia was saying as she pulled me down to the chair in front of her desk. "We were coming down to give you your meals and you weren't responding to us, or responding at all Elana. You didn't just overdose. We couldn't feel a pulse for a full minute, Elana. Do you understand that?" Her tone was shifting to a more serious and threatening vibration that filled up the room. I never heard Shelia be mad or upset, but I could feel it in the room. She would always say my name multiple times when things got serious. 

          "We had to keep you on a drip IV for two days before you woke up. We were scared we lost you for good honey. I was terrified of seeing my poor girl like that!" Shelia was keeping her eyes on me at all times while she was speaking, studying every move I was going to make. "Now, I need you to tell me why you stopped taking your candies. I know you were saving/hiding them cause that's what we found in your system. I'm very worried about you and what made you decide to stop taking them. What change Elana sweetie?" 

          It took me a little while to digest what I had just heard. I couldn't believe or understand what she was saying to me. I know I didn't try to do that, I would have remembered something like that. My eyes took a glance up at her, gnawing at my bottom lip as I thought of how to respond. I knew I was talking to Henry right before I blacked out, but I was not about to tell her about him. She still couldn't know. 

          "I...I just...I don't remember ever doing that though. I didn't take the candies, Shelia. I'm sorry I stopped taking them, they were making me feel funny and tired. I'm tired of being tired, but I swear I don't remember taking them. I think," I paused while drifting my eyes away from her again, "I think I blacked out before."

          Her ears perked up when she heard the word blackout; at least something caught her attention. 

          "Blackouts, huh? You've never mentioned anything about having blackouts since you've been here Elana. Are they new? Have these blackouts happened before? Do you-" I cut her off quickly. 

          "I DON'T KNOW. You're overwhelming me with questions, Shelia! I just wanted to be okay! He told me that's what I had to do to be okay, to stop taking them, Shelia! He told me YOU don't know what's best for me. Only he does!" I blurted out in frustration, shocked by my own actions. My anger was fueling me right now and I knew I needed to calm down before I slipped up and told her something I shouldn't.