Stepbrother

Chapter Twenty One

Carter's POV

I was sitting in my hospital bed when the two cops returned, but this time they were accompanied by two nurses and my doctor. "What's going on?" I looked at all of them in confusion. "Carter, we have to transport you to a psychiatric hospital." I was in complete shock. "Excuse me? No, there's no way. I'm perfectly sane." I insisted as one of the nurses rolled a wheelchair over to the side of my bed.

"Carter, there's proof that you did this to yourself. You need help, and you're going to a safe place where you can get it." I started to freak out when the nurses tried to put me in the wheelchair. "No! Let go of me! I would never hurt myself, someone else did this to me! Stop it!" I kicked my legs and flaired my arms around, refusing to be taken.

"Carter, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." One of the officers stepped forward. "I am not crazy! I want to go home!" I screamed as the nurses tried to stabilize me by grabbing a hold of my legs. I kicked one of the nurses in the face, breaking free from his grasp. I sprinted past the doctor and the cops, running down the hallway.

My legs were weak and my head ached, blood was dripping down my arm from the IV that I had ripped out of my arm when I made my escape. I slid around turns, running for my life. Just as I turned another corner, I came crashing into a large body, hurling me to the floor and knocking the wind out of me.

"Carter? Oh my God, Carter! Are you okay? What are you doing?" Andy crawled to my side, he had fallen too. "I- can't- breathe." My chest heaved up and down. I heard shouting in the distance, I tried to get up and run but Andy held me in place by my arms. "Get- me- out- of- here." I begged, but it was too late.

The nurses, doctor, and officers caught up to me. I tried to get up once more, but it was useless. "Sedate her, now!" The doctor ordered. A needle was punctured into my arm, I could feel the liquid seep into my veins. My eye sight slowly became blurry and the hallway started spinning. The last thing that I saw was Andy hovering over me.

-o-

I woke up in a sleepy state, I sat up and took in my surroundings. White walls, twin size bed, a single dresser, and a fenced-in window. I was in the looney bin. I looked down and noticed that I was dressed in a light blue t-shirt, grey sweatpants, and slippers. I sat up in bed, the room door opening. A friendly and very handsome face peered in.

"Hello Carter, I'm Nick. I'm gonna be your nurse for your remaining time here. Now, I'm new so forgive me if I'm a little slow." He chuckled and rolled in a computer chair, taking a seat right across from me. He had slicked back blonde hair with piercing green eyes. He wore blue and back scrubs.  "Now, on your profile I have here it states that you-" I cut him off. "It's not true." I gave him a serious look.

"Alright, well there are still some things that we can work on together." He smiled nervously and flipped through the packet of papers. "I didn't poison myself. I know it says that I can't remember anything, but I know for a fact that I didn't try to hurt myself." I tried to convince him, but I knew that he wouldn't believe me.

"And that may be true, but that's what I'm here for. To help you come to terms with and understand why you are here." I just nodded and plopped back onto the bed. "First up is... physical therapy." He looked at me and smirked, knowing that I was not the kind of girl who hit the gym in her spare time. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I know how to walk, thank you." I argued, but Nick wasn't having it.

He grabbed my arms and sat me up, looking straight into my eyes. "PT helps you remember things, it's a proven fact. Now, if you are so sure that you didn't do this to yourself, remembering is going to be the only way to prove it." I sighed and stood up, Nick gesturing for me to follow him.

We walked down a long hall, and then took the elevator down to the first level. I wasn't out of my room for 5 minutes and I had already walked by nearly three people in straight jackets. Finally, we reached the PT room. It was completely empty considering new patients didnt have the priveledge to interact with others. 

During PT Nick explained how everything there was earned, not just given. If I wanted to interact with other patients, I had to be well behaved for three days in a row. If I wanted to go outside, I needed to complete all of my assignments and attend all of my appoinements for a whole week. There were other opportunities as well, such as visitors, swimming, field trips, electronics, jobs, bigger rooms, room mates, etc. 

As I sat on the floor across from Nick, passing a medicine ball back and forth, I asked him a dreadful question. "How long am I in here for?" He gave me an unsure look. "A month, depending on your improvement." I nodded and tossed him the medicine ball. "What about visitors? What do I have to do to earn that?" I picked at my nail polish. "Why? You gotta boyfriend you can't go a month without?" He joked and set the medicine ball aside.

"Very funny, but no. But it would be nice to see my step brother, he's like my best friend. He's always looked out for me, at least that's what I remember." Nick nodded with a small smile on his face. "I don't usually do this, and it's very much against the rules, but if you do 10 more minutes on the treadmill, I'll schedule a visit with your step brother." Nick suggested.

I moaned at the thought of running again, but seeing Andy was worth it. He was the only thing that could keep me sane, well accept for Nick. "Fine." I sighed and jumped up, stepping onto the treadmill. "Alright, lets start off with 3 miles per hour." He pushed the buttons as I groaned, running in place.