Third person
Rico cried silently as he paced around the waiting room worried sick.
Sya held Alex with wet eyes she mentally prayed asking God to help her daughter. Sya just got Alex back after a long 2 year custody battle with her ex-husband August and couldn't handle the thought of losing Elora. She didn't care about the cost or how long it took, she just wanted El better. They had her under close watch and wouldn't let them see her.
After the ambulance came and got El from the bridge they brought her back to the hospital and we're able to stop the heart attacks by giving her heavy doses of morphine to keep her heavily sedated.
The medicine had left her unconscious to keep her relaxed. Sammie made a suggestion to keep everyone away from her so nothing could spike her blood pressure and that she would monitor El around the clock to make sure all her vitlas were stabalized.
After consulting a few of his colleagues, Dr. Francisco determined that Schizophrenia is the final verdict for the reason why Elora is having trouble but he needed her to answer some questions from him. He sat next to her in a chair as she sat up in the hospital bed waiting for him to speak.
"Elora I need you to please answer these questions for me so I can be sure what you have is Schizophrenia. These questions are questions that i ask all patients, these aren't to upset you, these are standardized questions, you understand?"
El nodded slowly.
"I need to hear you say it." He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in his seat.
"Yes. I understand." Her voice was low and raspy from not talking.
"Good. I'm gonna ask the questions and then I'll read off a list of responses like a one through ten scale. Got it?"
"Yes." She closed her eyes getting irritated by his presence. Her chest felt like it was on fire. It didn't help that she was back to being hooked up to wires and two different IV's with different medicines to keep her calm.
"First question: I hear or see things that others do not hear or see? Not at all, Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, All the time." He read from the list of responses for her to chose from.
"Quite a lot." Dr. Francisco checked the square on the paper that was on his clipboard.
"I feel it is very difficult for me to express myself in words that others can understand. Not at all, Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, All the time."
"All the time." She was ashamed to say it. She knows Rico wouldn't judge her or make her feel bad for how she felt or what she was feeling but she couldn't explain to him what she was feeling because she didn't even know herself.
"Others don't believe me when I tell them the things I see or hear. Not at all,Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, All the time."
"I've never told anyone. So not at all."
Dr. Francisco made a side note next to the answer.
"I respond back to the things I see?"
"Not really. I mostly just tell them to leave me alone. Which never works."
"I can't trust what I'm thinking because I don't know if it's real or not? Not at all, Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, All the time."
"All the time." She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands in her lap. She was uncomfortable discussing all this. She was embarrassed to be admitting she had a problem to someone she hardly knew.
"I find it difficult to get a hold of my thoughts? Not at all, Just a little, Somewhat, Moderately, Quite a lot, All the time."
"All the time." Dr. F looked up from his clipboard and looked up at her.
"Why?" It's a side bar question he always asks out of curiosity.
"There's always a voice who's always telling me that I'm not allowed to do certain things or Rico's gonna leave me, and things like that. So i get consumed by the thoughts. So I go out and go shopping. And for that short amount of time that I'm swiping my debt card at the register or filling my cart I don't have those thoughts. But then as soon as I'm in the car I hear that voices again."
Dr. Francisco made note after note on his paper. Elora was a special case. Most of his patients are shaking, trembling, and hysterical by now but he could tell Elora is trying to fight the battle inside of her.
"I sometimes have trouble distinguishing whether something I experience or perceive may be real or may only be part of my dreams? No, not at all. Yes, slightly. Yes, somewhat or moderately. Yes, definitely"
"Yes, somewhat. Sometimes I realize what I'm seeing isn't really and I can snap out of it. But sometimes I can't."
"Last question. I sometimes feel completely unresponsive emotionally, as if I don’t feel anything. No, not at all. Yes, slightly. Yes, somewhat or moderately."
"Sometimes."
"Like recently?"
"Yes."
Dr. Francisco looked over the papers again making sure he didn't miss anything.
"Elora, you have mild or acute Schizophrenia. I'm starting you on a medication called Haloperidol. You'll take the highest dosage at 100 milligrams. That'll make those voices go away and could quite possibly make your night terrors and the images disappear. I'm setting up a therapy sessions with my friend Carla Mitchell. I think you need to talk to someone. I'll send Rico in here. He's pretty worried about you."
"Thank you." Elora said looking at him for the first time since he'd been in the room.
"You're welcome." Dr. Francisco left the room leaving Elora alone.
"You're trying to get rid of us?"
Elora closed her eyes and put her hands through her hair.
"You'll never be able to get rid of us. You're stuck with us forever."
She shook her head and tried to think of something else.
Rico rushed into the room and grabbed Elora's face in his hands. He kissed her lips with everything in him.
She kissed back just as hungrily as he did.
Elora knows she was stressing Rico out. She was so worried about stressing him out before but she knew she should've just told him from the beginning when the voices and nightmares first started.
"Are you okay?" He sat on the edge of the bed holding her hand.
"Yeah."
El saw how red his eyes and nose were from crying and guilt hit her. "I'm sorry." She looked at her lap sadly.
"For what?" Rico didn't care about anything besides the fact that she was okay now. They never gave Rico any real answers when they took her from the bridge. He had to just trust God to help her.
"I'm sorry I keep putting you through so much. I was trying to keep everything all to myself so I wouldn't have to put you through anything like I had before. You went through enough shit through the whole Florida situation and me being in prison. I just didn't want to add to all of that." Rico wiped her tears as they streamed down her face.
"You could never stress me out. You can only break my heart by not telling me what's going on with you when something is wrong. If you would've just let told me sooner maybe we could've prevented this. You can't do everything on your on El. I know you're used to being independent but I want you to be able to depend on me. Lean on me when you need me. Come to me when you need someone to listen to what you got going on. I love you too much to lose you. Besides you I don't really have nobody. If you would've jumped off that bridge...." Rico began to tear up just thinking about it. "I don't know what I would've done. Just promise me you will tell me when somethings wrong no matter how hard it is to tell me." He held out his pinky with a slight smile.
"I promise." She looped her pinky around his, locking in the short vow.
Rico kissed one more time since it had been days since he kissed her. They puked away and tears of joy ran down his face.
She wiped his tears like he had done for her. He turned his head and kissed the inside if her hand.
Sya and Alex came in after giving them some time. Of course Sya had to cuss her out for worrying her to death. That was Ru'Sya's usual way of expressing herself when she didn't know how.
But Elora didn't mind. She was happy that she had people around her that care about her.
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