Page 64 of Girl Like Me

“Rory, the last time you needed my help....”

“I know and that is what friends do for each other. I have been that person for you for years Cin and you know it, drop the bitch act. You know as well as I do that we’re only friends,” I explain, using air quotes to add extra emphasis on the word friends. “That we have no spark. You never wanted to be with me, you have your sights on bigger and better things. I hate this world where you love it. I would give my money to charity before I turned into my father.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just hard thinking that it was going to be us and then everything changed. What do you need me to do?”

I run her through what happened and that I really need her to call and book in to see my mother as soon as they will let her. She agrees to help but warns that my mother still isn’t happy about us not being together and engaged by now. She agrees to lie if she has to, to get the message across.

I sit and wait while Cindy makes the call, it’s too late to visit today but I hope that she can get an appointment for the morning. I twiddle my thumbs as she talks to someone that she clearly knows.

“Thank you so much Mallory, I know it’s late notice but she sounded so upset when we spoke earlier that I wanted to surprise her.”

She hangs up the phone and smiles. “I can visit as soon as they open in the morning, but you owe me Rory, that means I have to wake up super early.” She groans dramatically as I roll my eyes.

“Well now that you mention it, I need an invite to an event that even our wealth can’t buy but people in her circle would get. Find me a date.”

“To where?” I ask.

“There’s a small list, I’ll send them to you.” she says with a super sweet smile.

I agree to her demands and tell her I will send her what we want her to pass on to my mother and she better be convincing if she wants me to hold up my end of the bargain.

By the time I get back to my house everyone is waiting. I fill them in and Jarva promises to get her family invited to all the events she wants and that he will even pull strings with the most wealthy families to get the right dates on her arms.

Me and the guys gather in the kitchen and come up with a simple message to get to JD. It can’t be too long or complicated. So we settle on something simple.

Sit tight, we’re coming for you.

JD’s uncle is the first to leave, he promises to continue to do what he can on his end.

Echo, Mossy and Chloe hang around for a while but when there is nothing for them to do they all head out. It’s a long drive back and we just need some time to ourselves, to process what the hell is going on.

I order some food, not that anyone is likely to eat anything but at least there will be something here if they do decide to.

Mercer switches on the tv and we all sit around mindlessly, no one saying anything. All of us numb being in the dark, not knowing if she really is ill or if it’s all tied to her lost memories.

All we want is answers and I’m hoping her uncle can find out something by the morning.

I don’t know how long I’ve been here, time escapes me just as my memories once had. The doors to my room slide open and I cower further under my blanket. The nurse has kept me on drugs that make me disoriented since I was brought in.

“Good Morning Bristol,” she says, a voice I don’t recognize. I peek out from under the covers, it’s not the large nurse that has been visiting me daily since I left the doctor’s office. This lady is younger and has a smaller build with a nice smile. It seems they’re trying a different tactic today. No matter how much I cried and screamed about my boys being real, they kept telling me that I had manifested them in my head and then topping up my drugs to keep me in a haze.

“I thought we could try to have breakfast with the other patients today.”

“Okay,” I chirp, my heart beating quickly at the thought of being around other people. I want to ask her if she believes me but I know that she won’t so I just have to play along and wait. Surely someone knows where I am and is coming to get me.

“How are you feeling today?”

“A lot better than I have been. Do I get to speak to the doctor today?”

She nods as she places some clothes on my bed. A very basic light green pair of long cotton pants and a plain white cotton shirt.

“You do and I will need you to get changed. I’m sorry I can’t leave the room.”

I shrug and take off the hospital gown they’ve had me in when I stripped off naked after one of the nurses pinned me down and stuck me with something. Whatever it was, it made me feel like my damn body was on fire.

I quickly change, the nurse opens the doors with her key tag and we walk along a plain corridor lined with locked rooms. More people like me, forced to be here. I wonder how someone like Rory’s mum is here and also someone like me, it makes no sense.

She leads us into the dining room, though I would probably call this the everything room. There are tables set up next to a cafeteria style kitchen but on the far right there are lounge chairs facing out towards glass windows. The view outside is a sea of green grass that leads to a small lake that makes it look so tranquil but for me it’s anything but.

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