Neglectful Behavior

Twelve

I stared at the wall across from my bed. This shouldn't take long; blood moved fast. Almost as soon as the nurse shut the door behind her, I felt pain in my chest. It got stronger and stronger, and soon I couldn't breath.

I gasped for air, clutching my chest. God, this actually hurt a lot. No, I didn't want to live, I just wanted the pain to stop. I hope this goes quickly. I twisted on my side and groaned. All at once the pain exploded through my whole abdomen and shot down my arm. I bit my lip, trying to stay quiet. I didn't want this to stop. I put a hand over my chest and I felt my heart go from beating rapidly to completely stop in a second.

My head was pounding, I almost thought that would be enough to replace my heart. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my lungs. This pain was what I had been afraid if accompanying death. I couldn't get any air into my lungs and started getting lightheaded. Everything started to fade and go black as I heard the door open.

"Carly I almost forg-- Oh my god!" Fuck.

Vic's POV

I missed Carly. Sure, I didn't miss the suicide attempts and snarky comments, but I missed talking to her. Well, maybe not talking to her since snarky comments were about all I ever got out of her. But I still missed her. She was my daughter, and I missed the little shit. She's been gone almost a week. Today was Friday, she had her first group therapy today. I wanted to know how it went, but they wouldn't let me call her.

I hate having her so far away from me. Why did she have to go and do this to me? Why would she want to die? I wish she would tell me what happened to her in her old home. Maybe then I could figure out why she wanted to kill herself so badly. I wanted to talk to her so badly...

The phone rang, but I made no move to get it. There were three other people in this house, they can answer it. It rang a few more times before someone finally picked it up. A few seconds later Mike walked into the room.

"Vic? The rehab center wants to talk to you..." He said. He handed the phone to me and I snapped my head up at the sound of it. Maybe they would let me talk to Carly!

"Hello?" I asked.

"Mr. Fuentes?"

"Yes? How's Carly?"

"Um, well, that's why I'm calling you..." The female voice said. I didn't answer. This wasn't a good sign. "She attempted suicide again and almost succeeded." I froze. Please, not again...

"Wh-What happened?" I asked shakily.

"She tampered with one of the injections she was to receive and, in turn, was injected with an air bubble large enough to induce a heart attack." I furrowed my eyebrows. That can happen?

"Wait...that happens?" I asked.

"Yes, it is possible. It prevents blood from getting to the heart and the heart fails from lack of oxygen. It completely stopped for about three minutes. We were able to revive her and right now she is doing better."

"Oh god..." I whispered.

"We have her on oxygen just to make sure, but...oh my! Stop her, no just go!" The lady screamed frantically. "Can you please come down here ASAP?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah but what's--"

"Thank you." And she hung up. I ended the call and sat for a second. What the hell just happened?

"God damn it, Carly." I muttered and jumped up.

"Vic? Where are you going?" Mike asked from the kitchen.

"Rehab, I'll call you later." I said before running out the door. I got in my car and drove to the rehab center, undoubtedly going way past the speed limit.

"Uh, someone told me to come in. My daughter Carly Fuentes just...had a heart attack...?" I said, unsure if how I wanted to explain who I was talking about. The girl at the desk sighed and nodded.

"Yeah she just tried to commit suicide." I nodded.

"Yeah...I know." The girl shook her head.

"No, like she just did, again." I cocked my head.

"What?"

"Yeah she tried to strangle herself with the cords attached to the machines she's hooked up to." I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. Some doctor came running out of a room and came up to me.

"Mr. Fuentes?" I nodded. "Hi, I'm Carly's doctor. Thank you for coming in."

"Uh sure, but what am I doing here? Can I see Carly?" She hesitated and nodded.

"Yes, but I'd like to talk to you first. Let's go in here for a moment." I followed her into a small room that looked like a break room and we sat down. "So in the week that we've had her, Carly hasn't made much of an improvement at all. In fact, if anything, she may have gotten worse."

"So what does that mean? What do we do now?" I asked. They hadn't had her long, maybe she just needed more time.

"Well I reviewed her records and decided this is probably not the best place for her. This institution revolves around isolation to let the patient reflect by themselves. Limited human interaction. But with Carly's past involving neglect, I think what she needs in increased human interaction." I nodded; that makes sense.

"So what do you suggest?" I asked. She put a hand over mine and leaned forward a bit in a friendly way.

"Take Carly home. Give her more time to adjust and pay as much attention to her as possible. Just don't give her too much time alone." She explained.

"Okay. How long do you think it will take?"

"Could be a few weeks, maybe longer. Just be patient with her." I nodded and the doctor got up. "I'll go get her." I waited out by the lobby and soon the doctor brought Carly out and handed me her bag.

"Hey Carls, how you doing?" I asked her since I knew I wouldn't get a hug.

"Bored." I sighed and checked her out before leading her to the car.

We got home and Carly immediately started towards the stairs but I held her back. The guys heard us get in and came out to see what had me leaving in such a rush. They smiled when they saw Carly, but also looked confused.

"They said I could take her home." I said happily. They all went to hug her although she tried to avoid it.

"Can I go now?" She asked, again trying to flee to her room. Again I pulled her back.

"No, hang out with us for a while." I said, not giving her an option. I pulled her to the couch and the guys joined us. And so we started day one of trying to up her social interaction.