Inside of You

OLIVIA

I searched for Garrett along the corridors. He had to be around here somewhere. I don’t know why but I felt like I really needed to talk to him to make things right. I didn’t want to have to burden my heart with unnecessary pain and besides, something must’ve happened inside Andy’s room. He wouldn’t just walk out if nothing did, right?

I stepped onto the elevator and clicked on the letter ‘G’. If I’m lucky enough, he’ll be in the parking lot contemplating on leaving or staying. I just hope I’m not too late.

Once the elevator dinged, I rushed outside the hospital and searched the parking lot for his car. I spotted it in a matter of seconds and saw that he was already in the driver’s seat. The engine wasn’t turned on when I got there so maybe he just came out here for some air.

I knocked on his window to get his attention. Once he turned to me, I smiled at him sheepishly and motioned for him to come out. He didn’t seem to want to but seeing as I wouldn’t go anywhere, he obliged.

“Why’re you out here?” I asked him as he shut the door to his car.

“She’s out of her mind,” he said frankly, startling me in the process.

“I, uh, don’t understand. What do you mean by that exactly?” I watched him with anxious eyes as he thought of a way to explain the situation to me. He thought long and hard and that worried me even more. How hard would it be to explain Andy’s condition?

“I think the drugs have finally hooked on to her system,” he said plainly.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I tried to analyze his statement. I knew she smoked but drugs? Did he mean the illegal ones? Why didn’t I know about that? I guess my lack of knowledge about what’s been happening to Andy is caused by my neglecting her at any time of day. But should I regret neglecting her? She probably went overboard a long time ago if I hadn’t done what I had.

“Garrett, she’s not crazy,” I tried to say but he just shook his head at me.

“You don’t know her like I do. I’m sorry for the words, but she is a manipulative bitch who wants everything for herself. She can’t be tamed.”

Garrett watched me carefully to see exactly how I’d react. I really wanted to yell at him for saying shit like that about my younger sister but I couldn’t deny it. What he said was real and there was no denying that. I hated how his words were so right. I hated how they really fit Andy’s personality. But maybe she can grow out of it, you know.

I made my way back to Andy’s floor to see if everyone had their time to talk to Andy, but as soon as I walked in the hallway, everyone was sitting with their heads down. Apparently, Garrett wasn’t the only disappointed one. I tried to make eye contact with John so that I could ask him what was up without having to say it but he wouldn’t even look up. I sat beside him and placed a hand on his back, rubbing it up and down. I hated how the ward seemed so gloomy now. Just a while ago it was filled with happy people but now…

John grabbed my hand and squeezed it once. I looked at him as he looked up at me with the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen on his face. I stroked his cheeks before making my way into the room that contained my sister. To my surprise, she was awake, but what’s more shocking is that she was making ribbons with the IV tubes. It kept unravelling but she didn’t care. She just kept going as if it was a hobby.

“What are you doing?” I asked in a pleasant tone. I sat beside her and watched her eyes travel from the tube connected to her arm to my face.

“I’m trying to block the liquid,” she spat out. I didn’t understand why she was so mad but again, we weren’t really on the best terms.

“Why?” I asked, taking her hands away from the tubes but she wouldn’t let me. She just jerked her hands away when I touched them and went back to playing with the tubes. “Andy, I don’t think you’re gonna get anything done.”

“I don’t care what you think. I don’t care about you and I don’t care that you’re my sister. I don’t care that we don’t have a mother and I don’t care about myself. I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care!” She screeched at the top of her lungs, alarming me.

“Andy, you don’t have to scream, I’m right here.” I don’t know how I managed to keep my patience with her but I’m glad I was able to.

“Get the fuck out of here,” she muttered.

I was hurt by what she just said but she didn’t even care to look up at me. I guess she meant what she said and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I’m trying to help you, Andy,” I mentioned as I got up. This got her attention. She started to laugh hysterically as if I just told the world’s funniest joke.

“Do you think I need help, Olivia? DO I look like some hobo on the street? I’m just a girl living her life. Why can’t you just let me be?” If I’m not mistaken, I think she’s facing some kind of personality disorder.

“That’s not what I meant,” I tried to say but she rolled her eyes.

“Of course, I just don’t get what you mean because I’m that dumb and stupid. Well, I’ll tell you what, I hope you die soon so I can live my life happily.”

Okay that went too far. I stared at her with the widest eyes. She didn’t look back at me. She just leaned against her bed and looked at the ceiling as she hummed some tune I wasn’t familiar with.

I was about to grab her hand but out of nowhere, she plunged a syringe into my hand and pressed down on the plunger. Some kind of liquid made its way into my veins as I screamed in pain. John ran in the room with a few nurses. They saw the syringe in my hand and took it out right away.

Andy was laughing as I started to grow dizzy. It seemed like the whole world was about to collapse before me and before I knew it, I blacked out and hit the ground.

JOHN

“What the fuck did you do?!” I exclaimed to Andy who was now being constrained by the nurses that rushed into the room with me.

Olivia was in epileptic shock by the time she hit the ground and I was scared shitless. Once they put Andy out, I called out to the nurses to turn their attention to Olivia. I carried her into another room and laid her out on the bed. A doctor rushed inside and I was escorted outside by another nurse. I followed her orders and backed away slowly but I never kept my eyes off her. Andy could’ve placed anything in that syringe. I just hope it wasn’t anything that could actually make her sleep permanently.

Kennedy asked me what happened as soon as I got out of the room Olivia was in. I told him what happened and he didn’t want to believe it. Garrett came back to the ward and I told him what happened.

“She needs help, man,” he mentioned as he sat on one of the chairs in the ward. He wasn’t even surprised at all. Did he actually think that she was capable of these things?

“You don’t think she tried to murder her sister, do you?” I asked him and watched him shake his head from side to side.

“I don’t even know anymore.”

I wanted to scream at Andy for what she did. Actually, I wanted to yell at her for a lot of things. Everything was going so well already and she had to ruin it. If she enters a rehabilitation center, everything might turn out to be a million times better. I mean let’s face it, nobody wants her here. I gave her so many chances but all she did was blow them up in my face. I’ve had enough. It’s about time that she gets out of this world she created out of her intoxication. I had to make a move.