Baby May

Getting Help

Happy Christmas Eve 🎄

The room Alyssia is in is definitely a hospital room, but it doesn't feel like she's actually in the room. The door opens and Freddie walks in, "Why do you only come to me in moments of crisis?" Alyssia huffs, sitting up to hug Freddie.

"I like to think I'm your guardian angel, lovie," He muses, liking that concept.

She smiles, "Your missing your wings."

"So tell me what's going on? Why are we here again?" He sits on the bed beside her, arms still around her.

"I'm starting to wish I never went back after the car accident. Eva came back and messed with my mental state, I've failed at skating, I've hurt the boy I like and I've made my friends hate me," Tears fall and she leans further in her uncle's hug.

"Sounds like a lot has gone on but taking your own life is not the answer." He'd actually been with her on the bridge watching the events unfold but he couldn't do anything, "You can try again at skating, I'm sure your friends don't hate you, just apologise and see what happens. As for the boy, again apologise, if he likes you too then he'll be willing to give it a chance and know you weren't in the right mental state, if not, then he's doesn't deserve you."

"I wish you were still alive, I miss you. I wish I could go back to that day on the plane and shout for help. I could have spent so much more time with you."

"But you can't go back, as much as I'd like to. I'll try to pop up again in moments that aren't crisis moments, but I'm telling you to go back this time. Talk to your parents and take all the help offered."

------

Brian has been at the hospital for a few hours, Anita joined not long after they arrived when Roger rang her to inform her of what happened.

For the few hours, they barely spoke taking in the events from this afternoon. "I should have seen she was getting this bad, I know what feeling that low feels like and I couldn't help her."

"Brian," Anita grips his hand across the bed, "This isn't your fault and if it is, then I am as much to blame as you are."

"No, you're not to blame," Alyssia whispers.

She stirs from her sleep hearing her parents talk, "I did everything I could to hide my problems from you. For a reason I don't know, Eva knows how to affect me. Maybe it's because somehow she knew what I was thinking already but she just..." She doesn't know how the finish that sentence.

"This isn't all coming as a result of what happened at Nationals then?" If Alyssia had been in her right mind the day of Nationals, Anita is sure that fall would not have affected her this way.

"The day before the competition, Eva teased me about my mental state and it was already something I was thinking about. I knew my mental state hadn't entirely recovered from what happened with the foodstuff. She often teased that I probably picked up some of Tina's psychopathic tendencies, as my thoughts got worse I believed it more and more."

"That's the depression taking over," A calm voice speaks up, a woman around Anita's age comes in, "I'm Doctor Melrose," The woman introduces herself to Alyssia and shakes Brian and Anita's hand, "I spoke with you on the phone Mr May."

"Yes, thank you for coming. Lissy, Dr Melrose is a therapist, she links her work with Depression Rehabilitation."

Alyssia catches on quickly, "Your sending me to rehab?" She shouldn't be surprised, she did try to kill herself but rehab?

It's the last thing they want to do but it could be the best way to help her, "That's your choice, love," Anita squeezes her hand. Their normally, sassy, smart, talented 12-year-old is giving her the look of a scared 6-year-old, "Your dad and I want you to get better and we want you to do that with the best options."

"Your mum is right, Alyssia, you have a choice here," Melrose lays out the options, "You can rehabilitate at home and you'll have therapy sessions a few times a week with me at my office for a month, or there is a centre that is a 20-minute drive away from your home in Surrey, where you will stay for a minimum of four weeks and have therapy sessions every other day."

"What about school?" She whispers.

"I have spoken to your school," Brian squeezes her hand, "They have agreed that school will take a back seat, though they will send some basic work to help you keep up. I've also had another word with Eva's dad and unlike before, we really don't have to worry about her coming back this time. He has a new job in Australia so she will be removed from the school and she will be going with him."

The first option is what Alyssia wants to choose but after how close she came to jumping, she needs proper help and the next day, she arrives at the rehab centre with her parents.

The place is a large countryside house away from the roads, quiet and serene. They're shown around the place by Dr Melrose and then shown Alyssia's room for the next four weeks, she leaves Brian and Anita to say goodbye to their daughter.

"I'm sorry," Alyssia mutters, placing her suitcase on the bed and sitting on it.

"What for?" Brian crouches in front of her.

"For being such a problem. The kidnapping, eating disorder and now depression, I've given you endless amounts of worrying. You might have had a better life if I never existed in the first place."

Anita sits on the bed beside her, cupping her face gently, "That is the kind of thinking you need to get rid of. It's a parents job to worry and it doesn't matter if you're struggling and hurting or happy and enjoying life, we'll still worry about you. As for you never existing, that is not an option. Life without you in it is rubbish, we got a glimpse of it when you were missing at it was horrible. You're struggling in life, sadly that's just the case for some people but I honestly believe that everything that has happened is down to the bullying and a backlash from you going missing."

"This place is going to help you and so will Dr Melrose," He moves to sit on the other side of Alyssia pulling her into a side hug, "She was my therapist when I was in a dark place, though I did my rehabilitation from home, not here. She knows what she's doing so trust her."

Not wanting to drag this out and make it painful, they say their goodbyes to her. She hugs them both so tightly before they go, "I promise I'll make you proud."

"We already are," Brian kisses her head.

So as you know, Doctor Melrose is the doctor I use in all my books but until now, I've never given her a face because I couldn't find the right person.

But in this book, I've finally done it. So Doctor Melrose is played by Joan Cusack.