Push to the Limit (the sixth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 36: Didn't I See This Movie?

"Come on," said Sam with as much sweetness in his voice as he could. "Walk on, don't be scared."

He stood next to Julie at the doors of her new rehab center, which were wide open for her. Her allowed belongings were being carried inside, though there wasn't very much she was allowed to have to begin with, but she was frozen still, unable to take the necessary extra step that would put her inside the building.

"You don't have to be scared," he told her. "This is going to be great for you, ok? It's not what you think it'll be like."

Julie didn't move. She had spent sleepless hours waiting for someone to go into her hospital room and tell her that the results of her medication had come in and the pills were accidental placebos or she had taken the wrong thing. Something that would remove blame for her and make them see this was all just a misunderstanding and she didn't need to get locked up, just needed to start taking the right medicine again.

But those news never came and now after several hours in a stuffy jet, she had arrived at the treatment center. Her dad and Veronica were inside, Sam was waiting with her, and Kitty and John were once again elsewhere taking care of her children. To top it off, Alex had promised to show up and give one last try and keeping her out of that place, but he hadn't shown up.

Unsure as to whether she was buying time or just frightened, Sam put an arm around her and said, "Come on," using as little force as possible to make her move forward. Once she was inside the building, the doors shut behind them and there was no going back.

Julie shivered, looking around and seeing all the different type of people in sight. Nurses mostly, but also several patients, some of them in regular clothing and others in white gowns. She wondered whether she would be forced to wear one of those too or if she was going to have the freedom that everyone had been assuring her she would have for the last few hours of resistance.

As Sam joined her father in the front desk, making sure all the arrangements were ready for her, Julie looked to the entrance, wondering if there was a way to get past the guards and escape. She had to find a way out.

Suddenly everything started moving faster and before she knew it, she was being led down the hallway to the room she would be stuck in for a while.

["Didn't I See This Movie?" from Next to Normal.]

Julie: Didn't I see this movie, with Mcmurphy and the nurse? That hospital was heavy but this cuckoo's nest is worse. 

On the way, she got a look at the other rooms. They seemed more like fancy hotel rooms than mental asylum bedrooms, and the few people she spotted in them didn't seem miserable like she thought they would. But still, she was terrified that it was all for show.

Julie: And isn't this the one where in the end the good guys fry? Didn't I see this movie? And didn't I cry? Didn't I cry?

At the end of the hall, a nurse stood by an open door, smiling and waiting on her, and Julie caught a glimpse of a medicine trey. She knew at once she was about to be sedated once again. They could tell she was about to make a run for it.

Julie: What makes you think I'd lose my mind for you? I'm no sociopath... I'm no Sylvia Plath... I ain't no Frances Farmer kind of find for you... So stay out of my brain. I'm no princess of pain.

As she reached her room, she saw the open door in front of hers. A guy was sitting on top of a bed at the edge of the room, his legs crossed as though he had been meditating. But his eyes were wide open and staring right at her. Then, as she was pulled into her own room, he slowly shook his head warningly at her until her door was closed and she could no longer see him.