Nadir

680 Days

You woke up slowly, your eyes gradually blinking as you tried to comprehend your surroundings. White. So much bright white light. Had you gone early?

Hurt. Everything hurt. Your eyes focused, and you saw Amanda, her eyes rimmed red.

"W-" you said, and you realized how dry your mouth was. Amanda gave you a bottle of water. You sipped at it.

"Where am I?" you asked.

"University hospital," she replied. "Oh, Dani. How could you? They found you --"

"Face down, ass up, butt ass naked in a old tire," Gus finished. "ODed on meth. Your lucky a non-meth head saw you and call 911."

"Fuck," you said in a small voice. You looked down between your legs. They'd cut off the cage and removed the piercing to put in a catheter. Trevor was going to be pissed.

"We've already arranged to post bail for you and got you an attorney. But you're still going to have to ... you know ... get booked. What were you thinking sweetie?"

You looked down at the bed, not wanting to make eye contact with Amanda.

"There was just so much racist vitriol coming out of your dad's mouth. And so many personal attacks. So I wanted to stop feeling, to stop hurting. So I went out, and got some. And I filled that void with poison, and then I wanted to stop everything. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Dani," Amanda said, going over to you and hugging you tightly. She felt so warm, so fit, so ... perfect.