A maid and two brats

4

"Rehab?" I asked, eyes wide as I took in slowly all the information I had just been fed.

I was able to take a few gulps of the juice Sam had gotten from the cafeteria and almost immediately, I had been summoned to Doctor Kayla's office. Dad was not out of his operation theatre yet and from the look of things, he was going to be in there pretty long.

And now, I was receiving another nerve-wracking, heartbreaking piece of news.

Mom was going into Rehab.

"Why?" I blurted, trying to calm my breaths and thoughts that were racing a million miles per hour.

Why was I even worried? I was supposed to hate her right. She had done this to our family.

"It's an order from the court." Doctor Kayla explained in a cool and understanding tone.

"Why would the court give such an order and under such a short time?" I cried.

"She has received a lot of warning to self rehabilitate and now after what's happened with your father, she suspected in instigating his overdose. She could be charged. Whoever did this saved her by letting her have the option of Rehab instead of a jail term." she explained, as her fingers tossed a ball pen in her hands.

"But who could have possibly done that to her?"

"That would be me." An all too familiar voice spoke from the doorway.

Following Doctor Kayla's eyes, I turned around, coming face to face with the one person I had always recognized as a mother figure in my life or at least the closest thing to one.

"Gwen?"

"I see you are familiar with our head of medicine here." Doctor Kayla rose to her feet to greet Gwen.

"Hey little pumpkin," she closed the distance between us and grabbed me in a tight hug, one I could not return, seeing as I was still too shocked to even find my voice. Why would she even do that to mom? "I ended my vacation as soon as I heard what happened." she turned to doctor Kayla.

"What's going on with him?"

"We suspect an overdose of..."

"You still suspect?" she quirked a brow, authority dripping off her tone.

"I meant to say we have confirmed a high dose of Metamorphine in his bloodstreams, leading to the seizure following his collapse before he was brought here."

Worry lines formed across my father's best friend's face and her lips quivered, but she only showed her emotional weakness for a split second then it was gone, just before her face morphed into that unreadable and impenetrable expression. "Have his chart sent to my office and please make sure he has the best of everything he needs. I'll take care of Debby from here."

"Why did you do that?" I asked the moment we were out of the doctor's office, walking the hallways that led to her own office on a higher floor.

"Have you had anything to eat?" she asked instead of giving me an answer.

"'I don't want to eat, I think it's clear I'm no longer that chubby little two-year-old girl, right now I barely have enough skin to cover my bones." I retorted, not meaning to be so rude to the one person that gave me a glimpse of what a mother was supposed to be like.

As always she gave me a small smile instead of reacting back. "You will always be my pumpkin Debby." she punched the elevator button and we stepped in. "I love your father more than anything in this world, you second so I hope you understand that I would never do anything that would harm you."

"I know that," I said, feeling my nerves relax as we climbed higher.

"How was he this morning?" she asked.

"He was fine," Tears stung my eyes as my mind drifted to how he hugged me this morning and I hugged myself, hoping to feel that same warmth, but it was not there and it was probably gone forever. "she did something to him. He was clean after leaving rehab the second time, that witch did something to my poor father."

"I do not approve of you disrespecting your mother," she chastised almost sternly, but still had that loving and motherly tone. "she might have bad parenting skills but I refuse to believe your mother would willingly hurt your father. She loves him too much."

"Pfff." I scoffed, "why does everyone keep saying that? and why did you arrange for her to be taken to that horrible place if you believe she did nothing to him?" I arched a brow.

The elevator dinged open and we stepped out, taking a moment to reach her office. She pushed the door open and led me in, offering me a seat and some water before speaking.

"Your little accusations did not go unnoticed this afternoon and now your mom could be charged with poisoning him with harmful drugs if there is no proof that she is just as much as an addict as he is."

"Do you see the woman? One look at her and you would tell that she's always high. I don't want her to go to that horrible place."

"Can there be anything more horrible than the life they're living now?" she frowned, taking her seat across the table. "I never told you that your father and I began med school together. Did I?"

I knew my father was kicked out of college because he was found to have drugs, but I never knew it was med school. "He did not tell me either."

"He was full of potential and then one mistake, poof," she snapped her fingers, "he was in jail, the next moment he was always talking about this new girl he met there. Next thing she charmed his heart and before he knew it he was choosing to roll in and out of jail instead of trying to get his life together and completing his education."

I knew she had always been the push behind his problems. Doctor Gwen pushed and took a deep shaky breath, it was the first time I had to see her so close o crying. "She ruined his life. I curse every day I remember that I did not do enough to make her leave his life. I hate her, absolutely loathe her, but he is my best friend, the one friend I could always count on and I know your father loves your mother. Rick would never forgive me if I let her go to jail for this."

Another pause. I swallowed hard, before pushing the words past my lips. "He can defend her when he gets better." because he would get better after this surgery.

With a sigh, she picked up the chart on her table, giving me a skeptical look, before going through it slowly. "Pumpkin, I know your father has made it out of overdoses alive before, but if he really had this amount of Meth in him..." she trailed off, her breath hitching up and I could hear the words she left hanging between us like a heavy bag of stones. One we could not avoid no matter how we tried.

"He has to make it out this time." I did not bother to hold back my sob, I never did around her. "I cannot lose him, Gwen."

"I cannot either, but you have to know something Pumpkin. Just washing his system clean is not going to help this time and even if he does come out alive..." she chewed her lips and from the tears swarming in her eyes I knew she was not going to say anything good.

"Tell me," I demanded, my voice barely a whisper.

"People go to jail for Meth possession and even worse for administering it on themself or others."

I closed my eyes, giving a defeated sigh as tears trickled down my cheeks. "Pumpkin, please don't cry," her voice was croaked, she was almost sobbing too.

"I don't know what else to do."

So no matter how tonight ended, I was going to lose my dad in one way or the other. Fear and anxiety raced through me as I wondered what would be happening tonight.

"I cannot lose him," I sobbed, "either way." why was my life so hard?

I was just 16. 16 years old.

I was not nearly old enough to have to be going through these heavy problems that threatened to break me apart every time.

Gwen walked around the table, gathering me in her arms. "I hate that I have to give you this final blow now, but I would hate for it to come to you as a surprise."

I looked up at her through tear-filled eyes, "what else?"

"You're still a minor."

My heart skipped a beat twice as the meaning of her words weighed on my heart heavily. I thought my life was difficult until I had to go stay at foster care for barely a month the first time my parents went sent to compulsory rehab. It was their fault they had to be treated like they were inmates at the rehab. Every time they were sent there, they never followed through, until they were jailed and forced to through with the complete term of their rehab.

This time, I had a feeling, my parents would have to rehabilitate for longer, so that would mean I would be locked up in that foster home for a prospective longer time.

"I don't want to go there Gwen," I sobbed, soaking her lab coat in my tears.

"It's not in my power. Your parents have no siblings or family to hand you over to. I might love you, but I own no legal rights over you."

Her phone chimed on the table and she kissed my forehead softly before turning her attention to pick the call up. "Gwendolynn Jones, medicals, Brookstone, NYC...You have got to be kidding me," he voice croaked, "be there in two."

She dropped the phone quickly and got to her feet. "We have to go."

"What happened?"

"They're here for your mom." she took my hand leading me out of the office in hurried steps.

"Who's here?" I asked standing my ground, and unwilling to move until I knew what was going on.

"For her arrest."

"Why are they arresting her?" I cried, feeling my knees weaken so much they threatened to buckle underneath me. "she was going to go to rehab."

"I know sweetie, I thought so too. We have to go and see what's going on first."

As the elevator door dinged open, I froze at the face I saw. Sam had waited with my mom for dad, why was she up here, and most of all why did she have those tears spilling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"No," I shook my head tersely, refusing to hear anything. Without thinking, I turned around and raced down the hallway, in the direction of the stairs.

Sam was crying because their mom was getting arrested. That was the only reasonable explanation. There was no other.

I was out of breath when I reached the second floor after racing two floors down. The sight that lay before me was a sight that would stick to my brain forever. My mom was in a handcuff, weeping uncontrollably and asking to see him just once before she was dragged away.

Gwen sat in one of the seats next to the theatre, face in hand, and as her loud sobs added to the noise that bounced through the walls. Sam was crying too, and she approached me the moment she saw me but my eyes were fixed on only one place.

The theatre doors.

He had gone through those doors, he was going to come out fine, and then I would help him grow past this miserable stage of his life. It was a promise I had made myself.

"Bestie," Sam's eyes glittered with tears. "I'm so..."

"No!" I raised a hand, "no-no-no. What's going on?" I felt the bile rising in my throat.

"Debby, maybe you should sit down." her voice was low, breathing ragged and uneven.

"Tell me," I demanded, whatever it was I could handle it. I was a strong girl, I would live through whatever it was, I could live through it.

She didn't.

Instead, she grabbed me in a tight hug and whispered, "I am so so sorry bestie."