We Come Alive 4

Rehabilitation

Thursday morning, Jessica was sitting in her second period class copying down the notes that were on the board while she heard Stephen humming along to his music that was playing in his earbuds.

Jessica nudged her boyfriend and nodded her head towards the board. Stephen looked up at the notes than back at his phone where he was texting.

"Stephen." Jessica hissed. "You gotta pass the class or you can't play."

Stephen stared at Jessica for a moment before pulling out his earbud. "Huh?"

Jessica rolled her eyes and continued to copy down the notes. "Alright fine, but don't come complaining to me when your coach says you can't play on Friday nights cause you can't pass a English class."

"I'm passing." He protested in a hushed voice. "Why you think I sit next to you? You're the brains and beauty, I'm the brawn. It's how we work."

Jessica scoffed and giggled as she continued to write. "Oh okay. When you wanna copy off of me again, I'll make sure you get all the wrong answers. See if you'll find a new cheating routine then."

Stephen glared at the side of her face while she finished off the notes. "Don't be like that."

"I'm not being any type of way." Jessica shrugged. "Do your work."

Stephen rolled his eyes and opened his notebook. He scribbled down the first row of notes before getting bored and dropping his pen. He ignored Jessica's looks as he continued to play on his phone and listen to music.

~**~

A few hours later during his gym period, Ethan was sitting against a wall in the gym watching some boys play basketball. On one side of him was Clover texting while on his right was Christin, who had skipped her lunched period to visit him.

Ethan reached out and stopped a ball from coming near them. "It just sucks, you know?" He complained, turning his attention back to Christin after throwing the ball back to the group of boys.

Christin nodded her head as she moved her ponytail off her shoulder and onto her back. "How many of them are going on the trip?"

"Only 20, but all my friends are going." Ethan sighed. "Not a lot of us are able to go. Some have weekend plans and other stuff. Plus it's not mandatory, just a fun trip with the team."

Ethan glanced over at Clover when he heard her laugh, get up, and leave. He saw her walk off to the gym teachers sitting at a table together.

"What happened to Mr. Williams? You know what happened to his nose?" Christin wondered, snapping Ethan out of his thoughts.

He took a glance at Danny talking with Clover before looking at Christin again. "I don't know. Probably fell or something. I don't know."

Christin smiled when they made eye contact. "Want me to visit you this weekend? Come to visiting hours at the facility?"

Ethan smirked as he looked at a group of boys playing basketball a few feet away from them. "You sure you wanna? It's like visiting a prisoner."

Christin giggled as she nodded her head and laid her head on Ethan's shoulder. "Yeah, I'm sure. I wanna be a good friend and come see you."

"We're not friends." Ethan said sternly. "You're my girlfriend but you just keep denying it."

Christin smiled and kissed his cheek as he watched people play basketball around the gym. "Fine, I'm your girlfriend. But what's it like in there? What do you do?"

"Nothing." He answered simply. "When you're checked in, you're cut off from the outside world. You're not allowed to have outside connection for a little while. An average of two weeks. Sounds a lot worst than it actually is. They give you detox medicine so you're not having anxiety, in pain, going crazy. Detox is the worst part of it. Darkest before the dawn."

Christin kept her light brown eyes on the side of Ethan's face as he kept explaining the part of his life that he didn't tell most people.

"You stay in the infirmary those two weeks. Depending on your condition on the end of those two weeks depends on where you go after that." He explained. "Some people have mental health issues from the drugs or alcohol, so they stay in the mental health ward. Some people are irrational and violent, so they put them in the confinement ward. Soft walls, own room, own bathroom. Sounds like heaven, but you're put in handcuffs every time we go to therapy. You're not allowed out until they deme you normal. A nicer solitary condiment."

"Where do you live?"

"General population three. There's five general populations. I live in the one with younger guys. Mostly guys 30 and younger. General population one is co-ed. Mainly siblings, spouses, families really. Population two is women 30's and younger. Four is guys 30's and older, five is women 30's and older."

Christin put her hand on Ethan's cheek and made him look at her. "What do you usually do in there? Work out? Read?"

"You can only workout like you do in prison." Ethan shrugged, keeping the eye contact. "We don't have a gym. Too much irrational behavior among us. I usually just read, do homework, watch tv, play chess. Sometimes we play blackjack or something when the guards aren't paying attention. Gamble up our pillowcases, our jewelry that aren't confiscated, small things. Sometimes I listen to my roommate go crazy. He honestly should be in the mental ward, but I guess they don't think he's that crazy cause he rarely talks most of the time."

"Do you have any friends in there?"

Ethan's brain flooded with memories of him and Craig and their weird relationship. Sometimes they acted like friends, sometimes Craig was abusing him.

"No. I don't have friends." He answered, looking away from her. "I don't call any of them my friends. I don't plan on keeping contact with any of them when I get out."

Christin sat up and moved his sitting position so she was facing him. "When're you getting out?"

"When I'm rehabilitated. When I don't crave pills and want to take them anymore." Ethan admitted. "There are no sentences, just your faith in the system on when you're allowed to come out. Most guys are going to college inside the facility. I got lucky and had people vouching for me that I could be on the outside to go to school and play football. If I didn't, I be taking my classes inside the facility."

Christin grabbed Ethan's hand and held it as she listened to him. When he finished, she asked the big question between them.

"How often do you crave pills?"

Ethan leaned his head back against the wall behind him. He gave Christin a small smile before dropping it.

"Everyday."

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(A/N)

I'm gonna skip the football game for the next chapter just because it's starting to get repetitive of them winning a meaningless game over and over again. They're undefeated so of course I'm not gonna have them lose to a random team that means nothing to the story.

On that note, thank you for reading. Love you all. Please vote and comment.

:)
;)