Learning How to Swim

My mom pushed me gently towards her, her and my father following me slowly. I smiled nervously, pulling out a chair and sitting down beside her.

“Hi, Keri,” I said softly, butterflies in my stomach. “It’s been a while, huh.”

“How long? I’ve lost track. It feels like three years,” she mumbled, looking at our parents rather than me. “So, Alyssa, any malicious rumors spreading about me yet? Go ahead and dish: I’m a big girl, I can take it.”

I frowned. “No. Lindsey and Beth are worried about you, though. They wanted to come, but as you probably know only family is allowed. So how is it here?”

My mother and father excused themselves for a few moments to go speak with the nurses. Kara’s eyes darted around the room before leaning closer to me.

“I hate it here, Allie,” she whispered, looking absolutely miserable. “They keep a watch on me all day, they don’t let us do anything, and the food is terrible. They’re convinced I’m starving myself to death just because I won’t eat their disgusting cafeteria food. Could you bring me a sandwich or something next time? Hell, I’d eat dirt as long as it’s not from the ground around here!”

I bit my lip. Was it really that bad? “Maybe you just need time to adjust.”

She scowled, taking in a deep breath and leaning back in her chair. “Whatever. So did you enjoy the show being put on for you? The screaming, I mean. That was Ronald. He was having a fit, so they dragged him off to be locked up elsewhere. They did it to me, too. If you speak out of line, they just throw you in some little room, telling you to cool down so you can come out. Ron’s been in there nearly every day.”

She started picking at her nails, making her fingers bleed in outrage. Kara didn’t even seem to care that her hands were all bloody and her lips were just as bad.

“You know what it’s like being in here?” she asked suddenly, throwing her head onto the table. She mumbled into the plastic, “It’s like being on display for the world. It’s like we’re being used to teach little kids a lesson. ‘See, little Johnny? You better calm down or we’ll ship you out here like these little monsters.’ It’s disgusting.” She groaned. “I’d kill for some of Dad’s disgusting lasagna about now.”

I shook my head, glancing around the depressing room as my sister absorbed herself in picking every last piece of lint off of her pants. The room was so plain. Would it kill them to see that their patients are people just like them?

Our parents came back and told me that they wanted some alone time to talk with her. I knew that they really meant to say, We don’t want you to bother her anymore. She’s been through enough without you saying something to upset her. I obeyed nonetheless, reluctantly leaving the room.

There was a single snack machine at the end of the hallway, but I knew that the patients never had permission to go in the hallway. Well, unless they’re going where Ron was going. I pulled out a dollar and bought a bag of chips. I wasn’t hungry, but it gave me something to do while my parents tried to justify sending Kara to such a desolate place.

I heard my father calling my name, so I headed back for the room with my chips. I’d only eaten one chip, so I handed my sister the bag. She greedily chomped them down, not even stopping to breathe.

“Sweetie, we thought you might want to say goodbye. Visiting hours are over,” Mom told me with an apologetic smile.

I glanced to Kara. She looked down, tossing the trash to the floor.

“I’ll see you next time?” she asked me, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Yeah, I promise.”

She pulled me to her, hugging the life out of me. Right before she released me, she shoved a piece of paper in my hand.

As we drove home, I took out the small note. Her writing appeared to be frantic as it wasn’t the neat writing she used to own. Nonetheless, I could still read the two heartbreaking words:

Save me.