Thanks
Chapter 36
Sydney sat at the edge of her bed as the sunlight flooded into the room. It was just after lunch, however she had barely eaten any of it. Her stomach was fluttering, her mind buzzing, everything spinning around in an anxious hell. She knew what was coming and she didn't know what to think or how to deal with it. She was terrified.
Today was the day her father was coming. It was the first time she had seen him in days. She couldn't remember how long it had been, but any minute, he would be here. Sydney didn't have any idea what to expect. Would he be angry? Would he think she was insane? Would he still love her?
Sydney sat there deep in thought, not even noticing as the nurse, Faith, stuck her head in the door.
"Sydney?" Faith asked.
Sydney looked up at her with grave eyes, already knowing what she was about to say.
"Your father is here. Can I send him in?" She asked warmly, understanding the anxiety fluttering its way through Sydney's mind.
Sydney nodded, not saying anything. She was speechless. There was just too much inside her head to say anything. So she just sat there, staring out the window as the sunlight flooded her eyes.
Suddenly there was a quiet knock at the door. Sydney froze.
"How are you?" Jack asked a bit uncomfortably, not really knowing what to say, as he appeared through the door.
She didn't say anything. She could feel him staring at her though. Everything was silent. Finally, she looked over at him. It was a quick glance, and soon her eyes made their way back to the window.
Jack had been thinking deeply of what to say next. When Sydney glanced at him, confused and scared, words immediately came to mind.
"Sydney... None of this changes my feelings for you. I love you. I... I just want to be here for you, whatever you need." Emotion was brimming inside Jack, his eyes intensely staring at her. He swallowed hard waiting for a response.
There wasn't one.
Instead, Sydney was staring out at the light as if it was her solace, her escape to take her away from this hell. She was frozen in the moment, tensely scared, her body frozen and her breathing shallow.
"Sydney?" Jack prodded quietly. She stiffened further.
Jack wasn't sure how to approach the situation. He watched her for a moment, his eyes grim and hurting for her. Finally, he took in a deep breath and walked over to Sydney, lightly putting his hand on her shoulder.
Sydney swallowed hard and she tried to make the tears go away, but they quickly rushed down, a sea of sorrow over her face. His touch was like a jab into her, a knife piercing through her heart. He said he loved her. She heard it. But... her mind was at a loss for thoughts.
"Sydney?"
"I..." She finally responded quietly, solemnly. She tried to find words, but there were none.
"Its okay," Jack replied as he stoked her back.
Tears streamed down her face even harder.
"I..." She choked out, trying to speak. She wanted to say something, anything, but her mind was bogged.
"You're going to be okay," Jack said comfortingly.
"No." Her voice was plain as she said it. Her head started to shake back and forth slowly. "No."
"Sydney, it will be okay again," Jack insisted.
"No. No it won't be." Her eyes never left the light, and her voice stayed plain as if she were in her own shock, lost in the situation, in that moment of intensity.
Jack sat down next to her, pulling her close to him. She was frozen as he touched her. Her breath stopped. Everything stopped. Even her tears. The moment was stilled.
All of a sudden, Sydney took in a deep gasp and pulled out of his arms as if electricity had just aroused her to the whole situation, to the rambling thoughts that were trying to speak to her. She quickly walked over to the window and stared out it intensely, hugging herself tightly as she stared at the blue sky.
"Sydney? What is it?" Jack asked baffled.
"I don't understand," she replied harshly, still staring out the window.
"What don't you understand?"
"You!" she screamed.
"Sydney, I'm here because I love you. I only want you to get better," Jack insisted.
"Then why am I here?!" her voice was rising.
"Because you are sick. But you will get better and in time, you will get out of here."
"No," her head shook, "No!" she screamed loudly.
"Sydney!" Jack said, standing up.
"You put me here! You can't possibly love me!"
"I do! I just want you to get better. Sydney, I love you," he tried to assure her.
"No! Just... Just go to hell! I can't stand the sight of you! Maybe this is all part of your conspiracy against me. Make me think you love me, when really you just want to..." She paused. She didn't know what he wanted. Nothing made sense anymore.
"Sydney, what do you think I want?"
"I don't know!" She screamed.
"I just want to help you. Please," he pleaded.
"Leave!" her shrill voice screamed.
Just then, Nurse Faith rushed into the room.
"What is going on here?"
"He's trying to hurt me, Faith!" Sydney cried.
Faith looked at Jack with confusion.
"She's not well," Jack replied, looking at the nurse with grim eyes.
"Faith, stop him!" Sydney screamed.
"Sydney, you need to calm down," Faith replied.
"Don't you see what's going on?! I thought... I thought you cared about me, you wanted me safe. Don't you see, its all a conspiracy. That's why he is here. You have to stop him. Get him away from me!" Sydney ranted on, tears streaming down her face.
Soon another nurse entered, followed by two security guards.
"Faith?" The other nurse asked, looking at her questioningly.
"Wait here with her," Faith replied.
"Where are you going?!" Sydney screamed as she ran after Faith, pushing Jack aside. "What the hell is going on here?!"
"Sydney, calm down," Faith said calmly as she walked quickly to the nurses station. The guards and the other nurse followed closely behind Sydney. Jack stood at her door, dumbfounded.
"Faith!" Sydney screamed, but the nurse soon disappeared into another room in the nurse's station.
As Sydney stood there with anger brimming her face, she felt the closeness of the security guards behind her. She quickly turned around and looked at them intensely in the eye.
"Go away!"
"Sydney," Faith said as she emerged from the nurse's station, a filled syringe in her hand.
"No!" Sydney yelled as she saw it. She tried to run away but the guards grabbed her arms and held her there as the nurse injected Sydney.
Sydney stared at her with dark eyes, tears staining her face.
"Take her to the seclusion room," she instructed the guards. "Sydney, I gave you a sedative to calm you down. You can spend an hour in seclusion until your calm, okay." The nurse maintained a nice tone of voice, but Sydney saw through it.
"Go to hell," Sydney replied as they dragged her.
Within a few minutes, Sydney found herself back in the dark prison, alone, the door shutting away her freedom. She had messed up her whole plan, her anger taking over. Everything was so confusing and hard.
Chapter 37
Light flooded into the darkness, white and harsh, drowning into her eyes as she squinted them. Her head felt wobbly as she lifted it up off the mattress and sat up. There was a dark figure standing in the light. It frightened Sydney. Her heart raced as she tried to make the person out. She could only think that they had come to torture her, to bring her to the room with all the painful instruments and force whatever information they wanted from her trembling mouth.
"No," Sydney groaned as the person's shadow drew closer over her.
"Sydney, are you ready to come out now?" a soft voice spoke.
"Wha-? Who are you?" Sydney asked, her face wrought with confusion.
"Sydney, its your nurse, Faith," the nurse said in a pleasant tone as she smiled at Sydney. "How are you feeling?"
"Um, I don't know. Sleepy," Sydney replied groggily.
"Why don't you go to bed for a few hours then."
The nurse helped Sydney off the mattress and guided her down the hall towards her bedroom. As soon as she got to her room, she immediately flopped down on the bed and went back to sleep.
It was a deep and dreamless sleep. She woke up to the sound of someone's voice in the distance. She tried to get out of bed, but her grogginess caused her to stumble a bit.
"Ouch!" She said as she stubbed her toe on something.
She felt annoyed as she walked forward, muttering how much that hurt and how people should be quiet.
As she got to the door and opened it slightly, she froze. She could hear the voice crisp and clear. Her breathing nearly stopped as she stood there. She couldn't move.
***
An hour earlier, Vaughn had been lounging on his couch brooding over Sydney. He loved her so much that it pained him to see her like that. Images ran through his mind of her in the forest. She shot at him. He shot her. She fell to the ground. Vivid images. They made his heart feel like it was stopping, being told it couldn't beat anymore. He swallowed hard as he took another drink.
Vodka.
It burned as the last little bit of each shot trickled down his throat. It was a good burn, a soothing burn, as if it would burn away all his problems. But it didn't. So he took another drink. And more.
Soon his head was swimming in a mix of vodka and bitter emotions.
"Damn it!" Vaughn said pounding his fist into the coffee table.
Across from him was a picture of him and Sydney together. He stared at it, his eyes longing and pathetic, tears stinging his eyes.
"I miss you," he said to himself. "Damn it, Sydney, I just wish..." He shook his head. "Damn it!" Vaughn sighed as he poured another shot.
The phone rang.
"Yeah?" Vaughn said as he answered it.
"Hey, its me. How'd your visit with Syd go?" Eric asked.
“What? What time is it?” Vaughn asked in confusion.
“2pm. Didn’t you see her?”
“No. I lost track of time. Look, I gotta go.” Vaughn slammed down the phone.
He couldn’t believe he had forgotten. The minute he heard he was allowed to see her, he couldn’t think of anything else. But as he sat down and thought about it, about seeing the person he loved locked up in a psychiatric ward, his emotions went hard. It hurt him to think of her like that. He tried to take the edge off with a drink, but it turned into several and now he sat there thinking how stupid he was. He needed to see her.
Vaughn immediately got in his car and drove to the hospital, completely negligent of his unsober state. Still, he managed to make it there, though with sloppier driving than normal.
As soon as he found a parking spot, he quickly rushed up to the ward she was in. He rang the buzzer to get in and waited there for a nurse. His nerves were buzzing in his stomach as he stood there.
“May I help you?” a female nurse asked as she answered the door to the ward.
“Yeah, I’m here to see Sydney. I’m a little late.”
“Oh, I’ll go check with her nurse. Just wait here,” she replied politely.
“Yeah, sure,” Vaughn answered with irritation.
After a moment Faith emerged from the nursing station. Her face held a regretful look on it as she approached him.
“I’m sorry, Sydney isn’t to have any visitors,” she told Vaughn.
“What?! Her doctor told me I could see her today,” he replied.
“I realize that, but things didn’t go well with her last visit. We’ve decided it would be better if she had no visitors right now.”
“I want to see Sydney.”
“I already told you, its not a good idea.”
“She would want to see me. We’re together.”
“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m not leaving until I see Sydney.”
“Sir, we will call security if you don’t leave now-”
“Wait,” a voice called from a few rooms down the hall. They both turned around to see Sydney standing at the door to her bedroom, a hesitant look on her face.
“Sydney?” Vaughn said, slightly in awe as he saw her for the first time since it happened.
“Its okay. He can come in,” Sydney told the nurse.
“Sydney, I think you should go back to your room.”
“Please,” she said to Faith, her eyes portraying a longing sadness for the man who stood before her. As much as she was afraid to see him, as much as she was angry at him, she felt she needed to be with him at that moment.
“Fine, but I want you to keep your door opened so I can hear if there are any problems, alright?” Faith said.
“Okay,” Sydney replied.
Vaughn immediately followed her back to her room. She sat on the bed and stared at the floor, too scared to know what to say. Everything fell silent.