Being Enough: 2

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My dreams are always dark

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My dreams are always dark.

Not in the metaphorical sense, but the physical one.

It was as though someone had turned out the lights, and I could never properly see the monster just beyond my line of vision.

But I always knew that it was there, it's bright eyes slowly blinking every so often. Almost as though it was teasing me, letting me know that it would always be just out of my reach. But never too far that I could forget its presence.

It felt as though I was trapped in my dreams, and I'd always wake up with a heightened anxiety. My heart would pound in my chest, my hands clammy.

It was the only rush of emotion I felt all day.

But this time I didn't wake up on my own accord, I was instead awoken by an agitated Parker.

"Lee!"

I immediately sat up, placing my hand over my heart as I glared at him.

As if my dreams weren't already anxiety-inducing enough.

"Did you forget?"

Did we have a conversation already this morning?

"We're going to the rehab facility today," Parker reminded me. "Getting the psych eval and physical done."

Right. That.

I used the time he was talking to lie back down, turning away from him.

"I'm not joking, Lee."

I never said that he was.

He moved to the foot of my bed, hands folded across his chest. His jaw was set, and I could tell that he was close to losing his temper.

Part of me wanted to see it happen. To feel a sense of fear or irritation, just to feel anything.

But Parker shifted his weight, relaxing his shoulders as his hands dropped back down to his sides. He let out a long sigh, shaking his head. "I don't want to fight about this, Lee."

I'm not fighting.

"Either you come with me, or I'll have to call someone to take you there forcefully. And I don't think either one of us want that to happen."

I honestly don't give a shit.

"Change your clothes, brush your teeth, I'll meet you by the door in ten." And then he disappeared in the direction of his bedroom.

Parker was convinced that rehab was somehow going to fix me, like this was a drug addiction I could overcome with some therapy and self-evaluation.

Hi, my name is Lee Adams, and I want to die. That would go over well.

He didn't understand how much deeper this truly was. He didn't understand how I was in a constant state of feeling numb, that I was living in a shell of the person I used to be.

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