The Invisible String in Mystic

Bittersweet Goodbyes

POV: Madeline Montgomery

I look around, mom's sleeping in the little white recliner, she moved it beside my bed. She probably made Dad do it, he's not in the room, probably talking to his coworkers. He works at the hospital I've been at for the last three days. I'm here because I fainted, I fainted because I haven't eaten anything for a week. I was supposed to be getting better, I was getting better until I saw the most perfect girl at school. She was wearing shorts and all the girls were complimenting her on how great her body looked. I fell into a spiral.

My mom turns over and I know she's about to be awake so I close my eyes and pretend to sleep. I hear her walk over to my bed, she kisses me on the forehead and I can feel a tear drop from her eye. I didn't want to disappoint her or Dad. I was doing good, I was doing really good but I can't control it. The feeling of hating every part of my body isn't an easy feeling to shake.

The door opens and I turn over to where Mom can't see my face. I'm still pretending to be asleep when I hear my Dad's voice say, " You ok?"

"I just want her to be ok with herself," Mom says. And my heart shatters.

"Come here", Dad says in a gentle voice, I hear mom walk over to her and I know they're hugging.

"She's going to be ok, I'll make sure of it," Dad says but his voice is shaky, he's unsure of the promise he's making.

I decide I'm done pretending to sleep so I turn over to them and rub my eyes.

They come over to my bed, "Hi guys," I say, I'm holding back my tears.

"You ok," Mom says I can hear her voice breaking.

"Yeah, do you know when I get out of here?" I'm trying to avoid the rush of tears that everyone seems to be hiding.

They look at each other, they're hiding something from me.

"What?", I say sitting up on the hospital bed.

"Mom and I think you need a new environment," Dad responds to me, but I'm still confused.

He looks at Mom for help and she rolls her eyes a little and starts talking, "New York City is a big place, so we decided maybe we should take you to somewhere smaller, you know, more intimate."

"Like on vacation or what and where."

"No, like a fresh start, a new place to live. The town where your dad and I grew up."

I smile a big smile. I think this is the first time I've actually smiled in weeks. Everyone at my school always knew there was something wrong with me, I've never had any friends growing up but when I fainted at school three days ago, everyone figured out that I don't eat and now everyone at my school has made it their top priority to make me feel like shit about myself. As if I don't already do that myself. They've been messaging me things like "Are you gonna starve yourself to death" "I always knew something was wrong with you", and "You just want attention". One girl even sent me pictures of herself and said, "Does this trigger you". It did.

"When do we leave, I have to go home, I need to pack my stuff !" I say trying to get up from the bed.

My Dad put his hand up and ever since I could remember any time he did that meant I had to freeze." Your Iv" he says. I look down at my arm, "Oh" I say disappointed, I sit back on the bed.

Mom sounds a little confused when she says, "So you're happy about this." she looks at Dad, "I knew she would be happy about this" and he says "Yeah I told you". And they both nod in agreement while looking at each other. They're so weirdly in love with each other it's crazy to watch.