For Real? ✅

Chapter 46

LEAH

I had been discharged from the hospital today.

It has been a month since I've been admitted, and I have to say that it's finally a relief to leave my boring hospital room, with the plain blue walls. I still had to attend Dr Scharf's therapy sessions, which I had begun to look forward to.

I had spent most of my time in the hospital by myself, immersed in my arts. To the others, my paintings were just paintings.
To me, they showed the best moments that I had had with Adam.

One picture was of the view from the balcony, with a sky full of stars.
The next one was of a beautiful sunset in a park, peaceful and romantic.
Then I had an abstract painting of the first kiss between Adam and me.
The last one was of a serene pool in the middle of the lush green forest.

Only Tess had found out what the paintings really signified.
"You loved him that much, huh?" She asks, her smile sympathetic.

"Yeah, I don't want to forget him," I reply.

These were the paintings that I had submitted for my evaluation and once they were graded, I would get them back.
I had already decided where I wanted to hang each of them in my room, where they would look best.

My parents had asked me to stay with them for a while since college was now closed for the summer vacation. I had readily agreed, I was looking forward to spending more time with them too.

However, just before that, I had wanted to stop by my apartment and pick up some of my stuff. Most of it was just clothes, but I had some of my books too.

When I reach my apartment, I can't help but think that it looked as though it had missed my presence. It had a dull, isolated look about it.

I smile at the place, and sit on my favourite armchair, wishing for a cup of coffee. The doctors had asked me to not consume coffee as it could interfere with my drugs.

That's when my eyes fall on the letter, placed on my table. "To Leah, " it says on the outside. There's no stamp on it, which means that it had been placed here by someone.

I open the letter and realise that it's from Greyes. I begin to read it.

Dear Leah,

By the time you are reading this letter, I would be far away. I don't even know if you might even be able to ever read this letter, especially in the disturbed state you're in. It pains me to know that I had been a cause for your misery.

Leah, when I had first met you, I had been keen to sell drugs to you. You were rich and all I wanted was to make some money off you.

I had carried you back from the party, hoping to gain your trust. I did too, and I also did gain your friendship.

In the past two years at college, I hadn't had a single customer who would care about me. All people wanted were my drugs, not my company. You had seen beyond all that, you had seen me as a person, a friend. I am extremely grateful to you for that.

This is why, after a while, I had been guilty of selling you my drugs. I had refused to even speak to you, but you began to demand them, and I knew that you had a serious addiction. Andy had warned me about this earlier.

I gave you fake pills, ones without any drugs in them. I now realise that it's such a stupid blunder because you began to have terrible withdrawal symptoms. You seemed to have more hallucinations and nightmares than ever. The added effect of your cousin's death just pushed you off the edge.

I am extremely sorry Leah for what I have done. I gave you fake pills, not intending to scam you, but because I cared about you. The money for the placebo drugs is kept in your bedside drawer.

I don't think we can meet again, but if we do, I would be very happy to see you.

I hope you are well, Leah, and I hope that you never do drugs in your life again. I know for sure that I'm not going to be a drug dealer again.

Your friend,
Greyes.

By the time I am done with reading the letter, I find that my eyes are already wet with my tears. Wiping my cheeks, I hurry to my bedside drawer and pull it open.
Inside I find neatly stacked dollar bills, with a note that said,

I hope that this is the exact amount.
-Greyes.

I fall to the ground, thinking of Greyes, of how she had switched the drugs. I hadn't noticed what she had done, because I had been too preoccupied with thinking about Adam.

In fact, now that I thought about it, I am grateful to her. I had, in reality, been doing drugs for only three weeks, and Greyes had withdrawn my drugs suddenly, preventing me from being an addict.

Of course, her method wasn't the best, but it showed that she had cared and that she had managed to save me before I had ruined my life. Therefore, it was easy for me to be cured, and I was discharged from the hospital in less than a month.

I am eternally grateful for everything Greyes has done. There was no need for her to go into hiding because I had told my parents to not go after her for selling me drugs.
I wish I could see her and thank her in person, but I can only hope that she knows how I feel.

I'd like to think that Greyes is with Andy and that they both are free from danger.
Greyes and Andy had been going about their own business, with no regard to what kind of lives they were leading.
Nonetheless, they both had changed for me, and I am touched by that. In the end, they had given up their ideals and changed for the better.

Making the right choice, I guess that what matters the most in life. And to think that I had somehow influenced them to make the right choice, makes me feel better about myself.

I'd like to imagine that Greyes and Andy are sitting in a cafe, happily laughing away at some joke, without a care in the world, and I can only hope that it could be for real.