A Brand New Ending Read online

  He looks at me confused.

  “Well, let’s just say he hears voices like you too.”

  “Oh.”

  Liam finishes up the cookie and milk, wiping the tears from his face.

  “Finished?” I ask.

  He nods. Holding out my hand, I take the milk carton from him.

  “Do you want to try to go back to sleep?”

  “Yeah,” he says yawning.

  I walk over to the bedside, tucking the sheets in around him.

  “If he gives you any more trouble, I want you to tell me…ok?”

  To be honest, he should be moved but the reality of it was we didn’t have to space. He nods again.

  “Good night, Braeden,” he says softly.

  “Good night, Liam,” I respond.

  Slipping out of the room, I throw away the carton and head into the day area.

  “Is he alright?” I ask the other aide.

  “Yeah, got him to calm down, but I had to give him an injection,” he says.

  “Great,” I say. “I think the situation has subsided, he can go back to his bed now but we’ll monitor them closely.”

  When I walk back past the nurse’s station again, one of them stops me.

  “Are all of your beds full?” she asks me.

  I stop to think for a minute, knowing that the hospital has been at max occupancy for quite some time.

  “I might I have one spot open, in Rain’s room. Is it a female?”

  “Yes,” she says, looking at a piece of paper. “She’ll be coming in soon from the general hospital. Suicide attempt.”

  I become instantly nauseous, memories flooding my mind.

  “How?” I ask, while swallowing the lump in my throat.

  “Jumper, from the Golden Gate.”

  My eyes widen. We’ve never had a jumper before. How did she even survive?

  “How old is she?” I ask.

  “Nineteen,” she says, continuing to read from her paper.

  “Your father was her attending physician in the emergency room.”

  A strange chill runs down the length of my body, the sensation scaring me a little. The nurse notices.

  “Are you all right?” she asks me.

  I nod, saying nothing.

  “Well, she should be here around four,” she says.

  “Ok,” I say, heading to get the bedroom ready.

  Chapter 3

  Phoenix

  I feel nothing. The pain is gone from my body. My anger with the world and those that caused me that pain is no longer there. Nothing but peace. And then, instantly, the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life. Needles. Thousands of them hitting all over my body, my heavy, wet jacket pulling me further underneath the cold blackness.

  Every time I gasp, my lungs fill with water instead of air they so painfully need. That’s when the panic sinks in. I try to cry, my body not able to ignore the pain. I thrash around, trying everything I can to reach the surface but it feels miles away. I don’t know how long it has been since I jumped. Each second seems like an eternity. As I struggle to keep myself upright, I start to feel something swirl around my feet. I didn’t die from the fall but now I am going to be eaten by sharks.

  I then realize that whatever is swimming in circles around my feet is not harming me, but helping me stay afloat. However, the frigid water is making me become numb, my arms and legs not wanting to move anymore. Soon the darkness overtakes me, my mind numb.

  ~

  Light. Lots of light.

  My eyelids are being pried open, the light waving in front of me. I can make out an outline of a figure leaning over me but no sharp details come through. Their mouth is moving, but I can’t make out any of the words. After an unknown amount of time I begin to pick up on things. I can hear a constant beep and the sound of a siren and then a faint male voice.

  “Can you hear me?” the figure standing above me asks.

  I swallow, trying to talk but I can’t. Instead, I just nod. Looking down at me, I notice I am strapped to a gurney, with oxygen tubes stuck in my nose. My chest begins to tighten and tears want to fall. I have failed.

  “Do you know where you are?” he asks me.

  I nod again.

  “Can you tell me your name?”

  I swallow hard.

  “Phoenix,” I choke out.

  “Last name…” he says, as he continues to write down stuff on a piece of paper.

  “Harper,” I continue.

  He doesn’t ask any more questions. I try to sit up but I notice that I am tightly bound, and I can feel my clothes no longer on.

  “Where am I going?” I ask nervously.

  “The hospital,” he says dryly.

  My heart quickens as my infinite fear of hospitals rises up. I can only imagine how they’ll treat suicide victims. They’ll call my family. She’ll be there. He’ll be there. As my heart begins to race, the beeping of the monitor increases. I try to get out of the restraints and the guy in the back of the ambulance notices.

  “Phoenix, just calm down,” he tells me, as he holds onto either side of my shoulders.

  I start to cry again but I don’t stop thrashing my body around. I hate the fear that he has created inside me and the inevitable pain that always followed. I have no way out. What I thought was my only option has failed miserably. Life now clings to me like a disease.

  The EMT rummages in a drawer beside him, pulling out a syringe. My heart races even more as I watch him place it into my IV drip and, within seconds, I am lost in the darkness. The darkness is what I’m beginning to crave more and more.

  Chapter 4

  Braeden

  I spend the next hour setting up the room for the new patient, trying to keep the noise down while Rain was sleeping. As I lay out the sheets, I feel a rustle behind me and I quickly turn around. Rain is now standing directly behind me. I jump, clutching my chest.

  “You should be asleep,” I say, throwing the sheet on the bed.

  She just smiles at me. I look around the room, the situation creeping me out a bit.

  “Each of us is an angel with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

  I look at her confused, as a long shiver runs down the length of my spine.

  “What?” I ask.

  I look into her eyes and they seem glazed over, like a dark cloud has eclipsed them. Seconds later, she shakes her head, as if pulling herself out of whatever trance she was in.

  “Oh, hello, Braeden,” she says, the same smile on her face, but her expression seems confused. “That’s funny. I don’t remember getting out of bed.”

  “I, uh, think you were perhaps sleepwalking,” I state.

  “Oh,” she giggles.

  She looks down at the bed that I had just prepared, a new gown folded on top. Her smile widens.

  “I can’t wait to meet Phoenix.”

  Chapter 5

  Phoenix

  I open my eyes slowly, realizing that I am no longer in the back of the ambulance, but in a hospital room. I also know that I am not alone. Though a small crack in the sheet that divides the room, I can see a mass in the opposite bed.

  I shift a little, every bone and muscle in my body screaming with pain. Rubbing up and down my arms, I can feel the IV that is attached to me. I continue along my chest, feeling the heart rate pads that are glued to my body.

  Extending my neck backwards, I look at all the machines, the constant buzzing and beeping still apparent. I watch the heart rate line jump up and down and it saddens me. I silently curse at it. As I watch, a familiar sense overwhelms me - Fear.

  I start to panic. Reaching down, I feverishly rip all tubes and pads from my body. A long constant beep fills the room. I have to get out of here fast!

  Peeking around the curtain divider, I notice that the person in the bed is asleep, their body facing away from me. I also see something of theirs that will come in handy. Tip toeing over to their bedside chair, I pull off the long coat that is ha
nging behind it. Sliding it on over my hospital gown, I cinch it tight to cover any of the exposed fabric. Looking down, I notice my feet are covered in nothing but socks. Maybe they won’t notice. I take a few steps away from the chair and head directly to the door. My heart is racing so fast I swear it is going to explode, but I know I can’t stay here. He’ll find me, like he always does.

  Just as I reach the doorway, I just barely notice the door handle moves downward. I freeze. The door pushes open abruptly, whizzing past my face and missing me by mere inches. In front of me stands a tall man in a bright white doctor’s coat, a smile a mile wide on his face. He turns around to tell someone something.

  “It’s OK, Barbara, I don’t need your assistance after all.”

  The man turns his attention back to me. Maybe he will think I am a visitor. I divert my eyes away from him and try to take a step around him, but he matches.

  “Gonna be a little cold out there without any shoes on,” he says, looking down at my feet, his face turning from a smile to a grin. I look up at him again, an intense blue looking back at me.

  “I can’t let you leave here, Phoenix,” he says, a look of compassion on his face.

  I now notice how he is towering over me and flashbacks instantly take over my mind. My palms begin to get sweaty and my heart rate flies at an all-time high.

  His face.

  His hands on me.

  His fingertips clutching onto my arm.

  His hand hitting my face.

  I begin to feel extremely light headed and the doctor notices immediately, the grin from his face falling.

  “Phoenix, I need to take you back to your….”

  His voice trails off and my vision becomes blurred again. My body feels weak and moments later, I feel myself being lifted into the air then being gently set back down on the bed. And as much as I try, I can’t seem to stay awake.

  Chapter 6

  Braeden

  The last few hours of my shift drags on, my body fighting to stay awake. Once I finish setting up the new patient’s bed, I get Rain to go back to hers. I stand in the hallway, my back against the wall, replaying what she had said over and over in my head. No one knows about the new patient but me and the nurse. I look down. The hairs on my arm are standing upright. Something about this new girl has got me in a trance.

  I saunter through the halls again, wishing I was home in my bed. Walking into the laundry room, I transfer the things from the washer to the dryer. With nothing else to do I walk back into the staff room, grabbing my book. Maybe I’ll actually have some time to read now. Opening it up, I pick up where I left off, but the minutes pass by slowly. I begin to yawn frequently. After some time, I glance up at the wall. Four thirty in the morning. Two and a half more hours. I see the door being pushed open, Lucy entering.

  “New patient is here.”

  Chapter 7

  Phoenix

  I swear that my life is becoming the same scene over and over. I wake up in a hospital bed again, all the tubes and pads reattached. I still feel pretty drowsy, and I notice that my arms are restrained against the bed. I look to my left, noticing the same doctor next to me. He is writing inside a chart, and notices that I am awake.

  “Hello, again,” he says with a smile.

  I don’t respond, my nerves still on edge.

  “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier, I am Dr. Harris.”

  He holds his hand out and I look at him confused. He laughs lightly, almost like he is nervous.

  “Sorry,” he states. “The arm restraints are just protocol.”

  He reaches over, letting me loose.

  “I can trust you, right?” he asks.

  I nod my head as I look up at him shyly. When he reaches over me, I tense up. I don’t think I’ll ever get use to being in a room alone with a man. When he stands back up I’m able to relax a little. He opens up what I presume is my file and furrows his brow while he reads it. I swallow the growing lump in my throat.

  “There is something I want to talk to you about,” he starts. “We both know why you are here, Phoenix, and I just want to ask you a few questions.”

  “OK,” I say softly.

  “When you came to us, you had a mild case of hypothermia from the cold water, but once we got you out of your wet clothes and some fluids in you, you vastly improved.”

  My heart beats faster.

  “However, when a female nurse examined your body for other injuries, we noticed multiple scars and bruises along your body.”

  I can feel my throat starting to close, the anxiety growing. I’m pretty sure that he can gauge my reaction because moments later, he pulls up a chair and sits down next to me.

  “I want you to know that anything you tell me will stay between us. Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

  I remain silent. Looking down at my arms, I remember every scar and how I obtained them. I open my mouth, only to close it abruptly. He probably thinks they are self inflicted.

  I look over at him, wanting to tell him, wanting someone else to know what that asshole has done to me. Just as I go to speak, the door opens slowly. We both turn our heads and what I see shoots a wave of fear through me. Elaina and Carl squeeze through the door, her face lighting up when she sees me. But I can’t take my eyes off of him. I shift in my bed, a pool of tears forming in my eyes, my vision blurred because of it.

  “Excuse me,” Dr. Harris says, standing up from his chair. “Can I help you?”

  “No,” I hear Carl says harshly.

  “We’re here to see our daughter,” I hear Elaina state.

  Our daughter.

  “Oh, well, welcome,” Dr. Harris says, holding out his hand.

  When Carl reaches out, my stomach wrenches.

  “Oh, sweetie,” Elaina says as she sits down on the bed, reaches out, and starts playing with my hair. “You gave us quite a fright.”

  Liar. I know that this is all a show for the doctor, Elaina has never cared about me before, so why would she start now? I look over at Dr. Harris and he is directly staring back at me, a worried expression on his face.

  “Listen, man, can we get some privacy?” Carl tells Dr. Harris.

  I cringe at his words. I continue to look up at Dr. Harris, silently begging him to stay.

  “I’ll just give you guys a few minutes,” he says, sliding past Carl.

  Alone. With the people that caused me to be here. As soon as Dr. Harris leaves the room, Elaina sits upright, removing her hand from my hair.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” she says in a harsh tone. “How dare you put this on Carl and me?”

  “On you?” I shout.

  “We have been worried sick about you,” Carl says in a raised voice.

  His voice makes me nauseous. Tears instantly start to fall and I can’t seem to hold them back. I want them to leave; I never want to see their faces again, but I have now realized there is no escaping. I notice a small women coming through the door and Elaina instantly puts back on her mother act.

  “Shhh…there, there…” she coos, while rubbing her hands on my shoulder.

  I begin to feel nauseous. Minutes later, I see Dr. Harris come back in the room, my nerves calming a little. He can’t hurt me with all these people here. Dr. Harris and the women who entered earlier are now standing at the foot of my bed.

  “She is just having a hard time,” Elaina says, turning around to face Dr. Harris.

  Carl steps closer to me, reaching out to put his hand on my shoulder in a fake attempt at consoling me. Instinctively, I jolt my upper body sideways, everyone clearly noticing my reaction. Everything falls silent except for those god damn machines. For once I welcome the noise.

  “Phoenix,” Dr. Harris says after a long pause. “This is Dr. Young, she would like to speak with you.”

  I swallow as I try to wipe the tears from face. I keep my eyes on the doctors, not wanting to look at Elaina or Carl.

  “I’m sorry, but we need to take Phoenix into another roo
m so I am afraid that you will have to leave this room while she is away,” Dr. Harris says to them.

  I hold back a smile. It’s the best news I have heard all day.

  “And may I ask what you are going to be asking my daughter, as her mother I have the right to know,” Elaina says harshly.

  “I am afraid I can’t divulge that, we have a strict doctor-patient confidentiality agreement.”

  “That’s fucking bullshit,” I hear Carl say, his voice sounding agitated.

  Elaina puts her hand on his forearm as if to comfort him. She turns her attention back to me.

  “We’ll be back later sweetie,” she says, giving me a kiss on the cheek before getting up from the bedside. As I watch them walk closer and closer towards the door, I feel I can breathe again.

  “Phoenix,” Dr. Young says. “If you wouldn’t mind…”

  I pull the sheets off myself, pivoting my feet around so that they touch the floor. Dr. Harris helps me, my body still extremely tired from the medication they gave me earlier. I don’t retract from his touch this time. When we leave the room, I glance out at the rest of the hospital, a million things going on around me. I look down the hallway, a pair of dark eyes glaring back at me.

  Carl is standing at the end of it and he is staring straight back at me. A chill runs down the length of my spine, my knees becoming wobbly. It’s like he is in my head because I know exactly what that stare means. I’m dead if I tell.

  He slips on his jacket before exiting out the front of the hospital. I shift my attention back to the doctors.

  “Were going to be in here,” Dr. Young says, holding a door open for me. “This is my office.”

  I walk over slowly and enter the room. Inside is a nicely-furnished office and I instantly know what I am doing here. She’s a psychologist and I tried to commit suicide. The next hour goes by slowly, my heavy eyelids drooping from time to time. So many questions about how I feel and why I felt like I had no way out. I give short answers, just wanting to get through this as fast as possible. That is until she asks me about my scars and bruises. All I see is his eyes, the hair on my arms standing up. I wrap my arms around myself.