Destiny

3.

Chapter 3

"We cannot leave her alone, Aryan."

I wanted desperately to know where I was but I was afraid to open my eyes and reveal that I was awake. Would they be mad if I woke up?

"She's asleep, Lucy. What harm could she do while she's asleep?"

The girl sighed and I could smell a sweet fragrance coming from her. Maybe a perfume or her shampoo.

The man sat down just a few feet away from me. The sound of pages turning began shortly after. "When she wakes up, you need to tell her what's going on."

"Why me?"

"You can handle it. I believe in you."

"That assures me so much."

A door closed and silence filled the room. I chose that moment to open my eyes. The room was small. I was on a bed with white covers. The walls were a dull pink and there was a picture of flowers hanging from the wall. The man with the dark hair was sitting on a chair near the picture, reading a book. He didn't notice me open my eyes.

I pushed the blanket onto the floor in one swift motion and darted to my feet. I took off for the door and was almost there when the man grabbed me from behind. 

I screamed and started digging at his nails, desperately trying to get away from him.

He walked back to the bed and dropped me, standing over me to assure I wouldn't try to run off again.

"Where do you think you're going?" He was beautiful. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail this time. He wore glasses that hid his green eyes from sight. White wings protruded from the dark shirt he wore. Wings just like the girl had.

"I need to get out of here." I said breathlessly.

"You're not going anywhere."

I gasped and my eyes flew open. The bright lights made me wince and turned my head into the pillow. The scent of cleaner and bleach filled my nose.

I glanced at the time of the clock that hung on the wall. 3:30. Dinner wasn't until five. Thankfully, I'd have some free time until then.

I'd just pulled my sketch book from the bedside table when someone knocked on my door. "Julia, are you decent?"

I groaned. "Yeah."

"I need you to come with me."

"Why?"

"Dr. Martin wants to talk to you."

"I just talked to him a few hours ago."

She held my gaze but didn't say anymore. When the nurses asked for anything, they got what they wanted. I knew I could either walk out or I'd be carried out.

I put my book down on the bed and followed her out of the room.

---

"Julia, we want to know what's going on. And we want to know now." Dr. Martin said from his side of his desk.

"Did I do something wrong?"

His shoulders slouched as he exhaled. His hands were clasped on his desk and his eyes were focused on me. "We've been informed that you have been faking some of your illness."

I shifted in my seat. "What do you mean?" I glanced between him and the security guard that stood in front of the door. I didn't like being blocked in. I didn't like not having a way out.

I couldn't believe Brayden told on me. I trusted him to keep our conversations private. How could he just go behind my back like that?

"You haven't attended group in a while. All of your incidents seem to be occurring just before you are to be there."

"They want me to talk about what happens. They want me to bring it all up and it sucks. I hate remembering it all and I hate telling everyone about it." Dr. Martin just watched me. He must have known I wasn't done because he said nothing. He just waited. "How am I supposed to get better if everyone stares at me, day in and day out, like I'm crazy?"

"We're here to help you, Julia."

"You're just shoving pills down my throat. That's not helping."

"Then we can increase your therapy though I doubt that will help you at the moment."

I rolled my eyes. "I just want to figure it out on my own."

"I'm afraid you can't do that here."

I glanced out my window and saw snow was lightly falling. It probably wouldn't stick to anything. That was my favorite kind of snow. "What if I hurt myself? What if I try to unconsciously strangle myself one night?"

"We can give you sleeping pills for that."

"I don't want any pills."

"I want to help you, Julia. But you have to let me or else this can never work and you won't get any better."

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Edited 3-14-19