Charlie caught my arm before I slipped past my door. “You take care of yourself, kid.” I nodded and left the house with all its memories, both good and bad, without so much as a glance, and got into the waiting taxi. Guess Charlie couldn’t be bothered to drop us off at the airport. But I knew better. He just wasn’t good with goodbyes. Neither was I, apparently.

–

 “You know, Isabella, if we are to get anything out of these sessions, you are going to have to make an effort. A real effort,” Dr. Turner said during my fifth session with him.

What the hell was I supposed to say? That my vampire boyfriend left me because his sort of brother tried to eat me? I’d be institutionalized before I finished.

I shrugged. “I didn’t ask to come here,” I mumbled in a croaky voice that hadn’t been used much in the last few months.

“Have you at least been keeping your journal as I instructed?”

“Nope,” I replied.

“Fine. You may leave. I need to have a word with your mother.”

I didn’t much like the sound of that. Were they discussing committing me? And if she decided to, what then? I'd be powerless to stop it because I was still only seventeen. Granted, I was almost eighteen, but almost wouldn't provide me any legal footing. I just had to go along with this psychoanalysis bullshit for the meantime, then, in a few short months she would no longer have any real control over what I did. Funny, that was the first time I’d even considered that notion. I would soon legally be an adult and wouldn't have to stay here putting myself through these pointless sessions.

Mentally calculating how much money I had and if it would be enough for airfare out of this wretched country, I decided I would have to limit myself to one of the fifty states. But what then? School was out, as I would need to find a job.

I was interrupted by a prick to the inside of my elbow and a cool liquid flowing quickly throughout my veins. The orderly caught me effortlessly and placed me on a gurney where he proceeded to strap me in. My eyes found my mom who had tears streaming down her face, before the darkness swallowed me whole.