Chapter 4 GEMMA'S POV

"Say what now? Inject what into you? Mad house? What does that mean?" I heard someone say and then it hit me, 'Oh shit, I had just thought out loud'

I turned to look at the expecting eyes waiting for answers to the questions just asked, I started to feel uneasy and anxious again and my breathing became laboured, my head was spinning and I could not control it, this made me realize how weak I actually am, I cannot fight, I am so pathetic. I never wanted to live this kind of life, I was forced to live like this, a damsel in distress? Oh please, fourteen year old me will be laughing right now because I had dreams I wanted to fulfill at that age and one of them was certainly not a damsel in distress, ughhh.

"What were you trying to say, damsel in distress?" The doctor said looking at me with amusement in his eyes.

'Ughhhhhh, what is happening to me, why do I keep thinking out loud?'

"Maybe you should stop thinking at all, we can hear your thoughts because you are telling us exactly what you are thinking so just calm down and do not stress." The stranger said this time.

I immediately nodded to his advice and laid down waiting for the doctor to do what he wants to do and also keeping my eyes open for any injection that will be given to me.

The doctor just checked my pulses, instructed the nurse to adjust the IV connected to my hand.

The stranger was looking so interested in what the nurse was doing with the IV, I had to look too so as to make sure she was not putting something into it. As she finished, she left the room the doctor also left the room and the stranger turned to look at me.

"The doctor said you will be discharged tomorrow, so you have to rest as much as possible so that you will be good to go tomorrow okay." He said with a slight smile on his lips, I nodded as he kept trying to make eye contacts and I was avoiding it.

After a few more hours of constantly typing away on his phone and me watching his every move like a hawk, he finally decided to leave and promised to come early the next day to discharge me.

The next day came so quickly and I still wanted to sleep in, I squinted my eyes to prevent the sun rays from entering my eyes, after a lot of thinking and strategizing ways to quickly bolt when the time came for the stranger to take me away from the hospital, just in case he was sent by Josh or Stacey or worse Mr Sten. The thought alone gave me shivers and I started to feel sweaty and short of breath, that was how scared I was.

I stood up from the very comfortable bed and my eyes started to adjust to my environment and it took me a moment to come to terms with the said 'environment', I looked around the room, there were furnitures that decorated it and my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets 'where am I? Is this some hidden place I was brought to by the stranger so that my family will come and get me or what?' I thought.

Just then, light shone in one corner of the room and I squinted my eyes see who it was sitting there, Josh' face came into view, then Stacey and lastly Mrs Sten, 'how did they find me? How do I get out of here?' I was so scared, my throat started to clog and I felt someone grab my legs and pulled me to lay down, I struggled to set myself free then I heard Stacey's say "Josh do not let her go, this is your chance to take what you've always wanted, she will never be able to face anyone again, ruin her just as she ruined my life and turned Nana against us". I kept struggling and his grip was getting stronger, I pleaded, cried, begged but no one was paying attention to me, they were just laughing at me and making fun of how pathetic I was.

" Wake up, Wake up, it is just a dream, come back to me, are you listening to me?" I heard someone say as I was still struggling against Josh' hold.

"Open your eyes, come on, just open your eyes" the person said again and I immediately opened my eyes to look around at the person and I saw the stranger looking at me with a very worried expression gracing his always calm face.

It was one of the many horrible nightmares that I always had which I was sometimes flogged thoroughly for, because they said I always screamed and disturbed everyone's sleep and out of fear of being flogged now, I started pleading with the stranger out of habit and fear.

"I am so sorry, please forgive me, I promise it will not repeat itself again, please do not flog me", I begged with my two hands clasped together not wanting to look them in the eye.

"Flog you, who will punish you when you just woke up from a scary nightmare?" The stranger asked me with confusion written all over his face.

My face was covered with tears and I was sweating profusely, I opened my mouth to speak but my throat was hoarse and I couldn't speak well.

"Have some water, you do not need to say anything and the discharge process has been completed." The stranger said casually as if he did not just witness one of my numerous nightmares. I was grateful that he didn't dwell on the matter but helped me to the gather my things to go home as he calls it. He handed some clothes which I am very sure were not mine, but I collected without question because I was still shook from the nasty nightmare I just had, it looked so vivid and it scares me.

I was led to the bathroom that was connected to the room but not before being warned to not do anything stupid like jumping out the bathroom's window, that made me smile for a short while but I suddenly began to wonder if he was actually sent by them because he has warned me a couple of times not to try killing myself or jumping out the window, hell, he even scolded me when I tried it the first time I saw him. I locked the door behind me silently hoping and praying that he wasn't sent by them because I don't know what I will do. A little voice kept telling me that I could trust him but I didn't want to take chances.

There is only one road that leads to that mad house, so if I see him try to take me there, I will scream as loud as I can to alert passersby and I will try my best to sit close to the door in case there are more men outside waiting to take me back to that house.

I came out of the bathroom after taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth with the tooth brush he gave me earlier and when I looked decent enough, I stalked into the room to meet him.

"No Mom, she will be coming home with me today, Walt has already given me all the instructions in order to get her back to being healthy and yes, when I am sure she is okay enough for me to take her back to her family I will. Besides she hasn't said anything about them and I haven't asked her because she has been in and out of severe panic attacks as Walt described, he said hers were too much and if she gets another on while at home with me, I should give him a call."

I gathered from that conversation that he was speaking to his Mom and they were talking about me. I didn't want to continue eavesdropping on their conversation so I walked to the bed to sit down because I was feeling very weak. He noticed me and quickly ended the call.

"I am sorry if you waited so long, Wal-, I mean the doctor said you can go home now and you are coming with me to my house. Are you okay with that or should we just contact any member of your family and inform them of your whereabout and tell them to come pick you up?" He asked.

Before he even finished the statement, I was already shaking my head to respond NO to that request, he could take me anywhere except that mad house.

He scrutinized me for a few seconds which I didn't know the reason but then it is so abnormal to not want yo be reunited with your family after getting into an accident, they should even be the first people you see after coming back from that near death experience but it was not so in my case and I accepted it like that, whatever he wanted to think of me, he could and not to forget, he is a suspect.