"Teresa's POV"
The smell of an expo marker and cleaning supplies had taken over my nose. I squeezed my eyes shut at the bright light that was seeping through my closed eyelids. Everything felt overwhelming, especially my body. I was unable to move any part of my body. It didn't matter how hard I tried, nothing happened, I was powerless.
I slowly started blinking, desperately trying to open my eyes and see what's around me. All I could hear was the tapping of a foot and the muttering voices of characters coming from a T.V. with terrible satellite. As the blinding light that seemed to be coming from a window dialed down, I could take a look around my surroundings. I squinted my eyes, blinking every so often to clear up the blurring images around me.
I couldn't tell if I were in the bed of a hospital room, or taking a nap in a children's play room. The room was colorfully bright, and child-like. I laid in a typical hospital bed, IVs and a heart monitor beeped beside me. The walls were a sickly yellow color and the bed sheets were a dull pink. Child-like decor spotted the walls, a pic butterfly rug laid under the weight of a red velour arm chair, worn-down by the many of bottoms it had to handle. One of the soap operas that I remembered Grandma would like to watch when I was a kid, quietly played on the T.V .
I tried moving my neck since it was a little stiff from the position I laid in. I used my hands to help me sit up, only to realize that someone or something was laying beside me. Henry had found His way to my bed and must have fallen to sleep. Then, like lightening, it struck me, I shut my eyes, trying to remember what had exactly happened. The memory of it all starts to occupy my thoughts. The pills, the dieting, the excising, the fainting. It all hit me with a bang. The last thing I remember happening, or more like hearing, was Henry's voice. Something about, 'everything will be alright' but the memory was still a bit patchy on the details.
"Teresa?" I heard Henry's voice, his groggy eyes opened slowly, but when he saw me starring back at them, it was as if he had seen his mom again since losing her. He slowly got up, wiping his eyes before starring at me once more. I slowly smiled at Henry's wide grin, one that I haven't seen since Florida. A tear formed at the corner of his eyes, and soon a stream of them game running down his face.
"You're okay." He smiled. I nodded my head, "I can't die that easily." Speaking felt a little weird, almost as if I had spoke another language. I see Henry shoulder's slump. I could tell immediately that weight has been lifted off of him.
Surprisingly, Henry dropped his forehead on mine. The overall sensation felt astonishing, wonderful, and a little bit overwhelming. I didn't know what he was doing, but I liked it.
"Oh my God, you don't know how amazing this feels," Henry spoke softly, His smoothed forehead on mine. Henry eyes were closed, but i kept mine open. Starring at his cute birthmark and short-stubby eyelashes. Henry's eyes opening unexpectedly, starring back into my own. Even though Henry's eyes were as all most as dark as the night, the light coming from the window illuminated them into a beautiful gold. It was like a hidden cave that had been finally found with just a secret ingredient, being the sun.
Henry moved closer, placing a soft peck on my cheek. It was soft and warm, almost like the time he had kissed me before he left for Texas. His kissed still lingered on my cheek, even after lifting up to smile at me again.
A heard a door open and shut as Henry moved away from my face. A short nurse in striped green scrubs had entered the room. Her hair had looked deteriorated from walking around so much.
"Teresa?" her voice had called out, she looked to me with a sheepish grin. "Hi I'm your nurse Priscilla." She walked up to my bed, grabbing my hand at shaking it. "How are you feeling Hun?" She asked, walking up to a monitor and clicking on a bunch of junk.
"I feel fine, just a bit nauseated." And I wasn't lying. I tried to get up and it felt as if my stomach had ended up in my throat.
"That's quite common for patients after a short-term coma." She said as if it wasn't anything. Coma? I had thought that I had sleep through the night, and now it was morning of the next day, Tuesday, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
"If you're wonder, today is Friday, 7th of April." She causally said. I was out for more than 4 days? That's insane. It felt as if I had closed my eyes for a second and then immediately opened them again. But everything was just so off.
"Wow." Were the only words I could speak. Henry nodded his head, "yep, it's been a stressful few days." Henry stated. The nurse clicked one more button and turned to me. "Alright, so I'm going to check again to see if your vital are stable and hopefully there are better from the last time I saw them." She said, peeling off the tape to a needle that was injected into my wrist.
"Henry, I'm going to need you to exit for this, but," She looked in between Henry and I.
"This handsome young man has never left your side since you've gotten here." She smiled, putting the stethoscope into her ears.
I blushed a little, and so did Henry. It made me remember the night in my house when he confessed to me that he had had feelings for me. It seemed like a joke at first, but he didn't smile, or laugh. He was serious, and at the time, I didn't know how I felt about him, never even took a minute to think about how I felt for Henry, other than just really good friends.
Henry exited the room as the women continued on my chest, pressing the cold meter on different spots.
"Henry POV"
I walked backed to the waiting room, saying hi to the lady in front which I had made great acquaintances with. Lola sat in the ugly chair, looking down at her phone. Frustration seemed to devour her mood lately. I sat across from her, excited to share the news.
"You were in there a while miel." Lola said without looking up.
"Well, Teresa woke up." I announced. Lola looked up from her phone, her eyes wide.
"OMG, really?" Lola clicked her phone off. All of her interest was now into me. "Yep, she just woke up." I nodded my head, remembering the the moment that will always be my happiest. I probably shouldn't have kissed her on the cheek, but i couldn't help it, My heart was beating so fast, and we were alone. The only thing I have ever wanted to do was kiss her, and I did. It wasn't anything big, like a kiss on the lips, more like a peck, but it still sent electricity down my spine.
"I'm going to go see her." Lola shot up from her chair, so excited that she left her phone behind.
"Lola, not right now there still doing a couple of test." I reached out and grabbed her arm. Her face twisted as she sat back down. I drew my phone from the back of my pocket and swiped right, unlocking my phone and clicking on Mr. Glaser's number.
"Hello?" She sounded strain. I could imagine her sitting on the couch, reading through most, maybe all of the Stephen King novels. I remembered her favorite being Heart of Atlantis, She would sometimes read it aloud to herself, motioning her face into different expressions as the character she was reading would feel. I remember she would only ever read it when she was upset, mostly because she was arguing with her ex-husband, or something at work didn't go right. When I came over Teresa's house, she had warned me everyday before we had even walked through the door, that her mom was upset, to not even greet her. There was a good chance that she had gotten up from a good book to answer this phone call.
"Hey Ms.Glaser, um Teresa woke up just a few minutes ago." I had announced. A large gasp came out of of the speaker.
"Oh my God," she whispered. I smiled.
"Alright, um I'm on my way." Was the last thing she said before she hung up. This was awesome. This was amazing. It might take awhile for her to recover, but everything will be alright.
"Henry, I don't like to be rude, but you smell like my brothers after a juego de fútbol." Lola exaggerated, pinching her nose and smacking the odor of me away from her nose. She playfully hit my shoulder laughing.
"But seriously Henry, when is the last time you've been to school? or home, or somewhere beside the mesita de Teresa?" She spoke the last part in Spanish, but I was pretty sure I could glue together what she was saying.
"I can't even remembered." I replied. Wow, I haven't even thought about school, or going home until Lola had brought it up. It wasn't like my dad or Carol were calling to check up on me, or inviting me to dinner, and I wasn't even sure if I could call the group of people I hung out with every single day friends. After everything with Teresa, it was like a joke with everything that was going on with me. Not wanting to talk to her during the days so I could keep my status up, hurting her in the process. I was her only friend when she first got here, and I pains me to know that she did this to her. Little by little, she was breaking inside, and I wasn't there for her.
"Henry, go home amigo de un amigo. Eat actual food instead fake hamburgers and nasty burritos." She playfully pushed me, concerned did actually cover her eyes.
"I can't think about that right now, Teresa needs me."
"And you're right, she does need you. But I think she would rather come back to a cleaner more alert Henry than sleepy and stinky Henry." Lola sarcastically spoke.
"I'll call you if anything happens, or if a war breaks out and you're the only one that can save us." She shrugged. I laughed. Maybe I should go home, not for long, but I should go home.
"Alright, but I will be back." I said. Lola nodded her head.
I called my dad to pick me up. it was time to go home.
"Teresa POV"
I stabbed my fork into the wet meat of my lunch. It was the same salad that they had made me eat three times each day. The lettuce was salty, the stringed cheese was mushy, and don't even get me started on the sour-smelling ranch. As I did for the past four day, I ate the salad while pinching my nose. This taste was so overwhelming that I gagged the first few times when I ate it.
I through down my fork in frustration. Why can't I just go home now? My vital had been in really good condition, even better than they were before. I was eating regularly, and physical therapy was going great; so why am I still trapped in this cell? Going to school seemed like a better thing to do than be here. I hadn't been outside in days. The nurses came in literally every hour to see if I were okay. I now have to take antidepressant pills for the time I'm here, and I'm only allowed six hours of internet to really 'develop the reality of my illness.'
The people here kept treating me like I was trying to kill myself every minute. I had told Lola, Caleb, Mason, and Alex that they couldn't come and see me anymore. Every time they walked through the door it was like they were about to say there final goodbyes. The only non-family that I had still come see me was Henry, but that was only because he didn't treated me like I was at a hospital, he treated me like it was just another day at his house. He made me feel still human and not a dying patient.
"Hey hon." I heard my Mom's voice walk through the door. She closed it slowly as she sat beside me in the arm chair.
"Are you here to tell me that I can go home?" I said, slumped down in my bed, pushing away the tray that laid on the mechanical moving desk.
"Not quite yet love." My mom replied. I threw my head back on the headboard. I have had enough!
"I feel like I'm trapped in a room with no door, no window, no life. I'm living in a freaking prison." I stressed out.
"They just want to help you, we all do." My mom scooted her chair closer to my bed side, I turned my body, facing away from her.
"No, there drugging me with antidepressant pills and I want to go home." I argued back.
"They're drugging you? Teresa, I'm still trying to come to terms that you stole my pills and use them to get slimmer." My mom's expression was probably the same one she gave me when I was 10 and stole her necklace to impress all the girls at school. big-mouthed Mrs. Salem just had to say something to my mom though. I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for her.
"There making you take those pills so that you can start feeling more alive again and get over whatever catastrophic event that happened to you that you won't tell me about." My mom started to get defensive, I could hear it in her voice.
"Cause you don't ever understand!" I argued back turning to look at her.
"Oh what? You don't think I understood when you told me you had sex and went to go get tested with your sister?" She brought up the past like she always did in these types of situations. I could see now, her at my wedding making a toast and something about me possibly being pregnant coming up into speech.
"Don't bring that up." I shook my head, laying back down in the position I was in before. It stayed quiet for a while until my Mom spoke again.
"Look; your friends and I just want the best for you. And if staying in the hospital for however long you have to will help, than we're going to do it." She explained.
I closed my eyes, wanted to be able to teleport into my own clothes, into my own bed.
"Your Dad and Sister are coming to visits tomorrow, they have been really worried about you."
"Well, you can just tell them to stay where they are. I don't want anymore sad puppy eyes and flowers and stuffed animals in this room like I'm about to die or something." It was true. I probably own more stuff animals right now, than I did as a kid. Almost each and everyday that Lola walked in, she would have about five stuffed animals from people at school that I didn't even know to give to me. She would just add it to the pile of other stuffed animals that threatened to spill at any minute. I don't even know how my old dance team that I danced with in the seventh grade heard about me, they sent over a large rose bouquet and a teddy bear that stood almost taller than me.
"That is so selfish Teresa. Does it really hurt you that bad to realize that your family cares about you?"
"I don't want them seeing me like this." My voice cracked. Jennifer was my role model, in someways. I didn't want her to feel sorry for me, or to want to stay here and protect me like some bodyguard. She would storm into this room and demand to know who made me feel this way and do the things that I have done.
"Nobody wants to see you like this Teresa. It hurts me everyday to see you in this bed, alone and isolated from what a teenager should really be doing on a Wednesday at 2 o'clock."
I rolled my eyes. Just sick of hearing that same saying. She never ask me if I'm okay, just argues that I should've known better and I should've known where this was headed when I avoided my first meal. She just doesn't understand.
The door had opened again, and in came the nurse and two doctors by her side. This checkup was unusually different than the others.
"Hello Teresa, Ms. Glaser. We would like to talk to you and your daughter for just a moment." The nurse had walked through the door and shut it closed, the two doctors had stood on two opposite sides of the room.
"We need to have a serious conversation." She got serious. I sat up in bed, crossing my toes under the sheets for extra luck that this would finally be the news that I have been wanting.
"As you know, that you have been suffering from depression and minor anorexia, and we need to have a discussion about you recovery road." She explained. Recovering road? Wasn't me suffering from boredom recovery enough?
"The doctors and I have discussed the two options for recovery, and we had it finally approved from your mother today."
I looked over at my mom, her face stayed planted on the nurse's. What in the world had she signed me up for?
"Relapse is a very common thing to happen with anorexic patience. I'm very happy that you have become healthier and are eating, but we have two therapeutic options for you to decide from." The nurse said.
Therapy? "I don't need therapy." I said before she started.
"Teresa-" I cut off my mom.
"No, I'm better now. I don't need therapy, all I need is to be home and live like a normal person." I argued.
"Teresa, normal people don't starve themselves and take pills to get slimmer."
"Wow." I laid back in my bed.
"I'm giving you tough love Teresa. I care about you, and I want you to get better." She said. She took my side by the bed to tell me the options.
"Option number one, do a two-month therapy unit. You would come to the hospital everyday for just 2 hours. Have therapy sessions with a therapist and do therapy group classes." She explained. I gaped my mouth opened. My mom didn't have anything to say as she just listened with her head down.
"Option number two, stay at the hospital for another month and do the exact same thing, but I'm telling you now, therapy will be 24/7 which is why it is only a month." She finished.
"Mom, I just want to go home." I cried. My mom just looked back at me with weary eyes.
"You can't Teresa. You have to choose, you have to get better." My mom stressed.
"Why are you making them do this to me mom? I'm fine, I'm better, I'm so much better!"
"I'll feel better about this when this is all over with and you're better." My mom made no sense.
My mom and the nurse stayed in the bubble that I couldn't pop because they wouldn't allow me to. I was tired of this. Just let me go home.
AUTHORS NOTE
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Hey guys!!! Thinks for reading you guys, seriously. I know I haven't been posting for a while, but thanks for keeping up with my weird posting schedule.
I know, this is all so wrong! Do you believe that Teresa should be let out of her cage? Or do you think therapy will be good for her? PLEASE COMMENT DOWN BELOW!!!
QOTC: "The two enemies of the human happiness is pain and boredom."
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