Between the Lives - By Jessica Shirvington Page 0,70

had one today. He seems to think I might need some medication. That part of this could be a chemical imbalance or something.’ Which was total rubbish.

My father let out a quivering sigh. ‘That’s good, that’s good, Sabine. I think Dr Levi really knows what he’s doing.’

I didn’t correct him – didn’t explain that Levi had no idea what he was doing, that I wasn’t the average patient.

‘I know you hate me right now. I know you think we let you down, but we just want you back.’ He ran a hand through his hair, struggling for words. ‘I’m sorry about how things went at home, we handled it badly. But, Sabine, please understand that we didn’t know what to do. We just want our daughter back.’

Their daughter – the one who had to lie every day, I thought bitterly. But looking at his face, I could see that he’d meant it as his own kind of olive branch.

‘How’s Mom?’ I asked, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

He shook his head. ‘You know your mom. She likes things to be a certain way. This whole thing has really sideswiped her. She feels responsible, like she should’ve prevented this before it got so …’

‘Will you tell her that’s not true? No one could have prevented this.’

He smiled weakly, looking relieved.

‘Maddie misses you terribly.’

My heart twisted. I hated not seeing her and dreaded finding out what Mom and Dad had told her. ‘I miss her too. What does she …? Does she know that I’m …?’

He knew what I meant. ‘We told her you’ve gone away on a future careers camp. That you got a last-minute placement and had to leave straight away.’

I nodded. As desperate as I was to see her, I agreed with that decision. ‘Do you think …?’ I swallowed. ‘Dad …’ I choked on the word. Calling him Dad was a big concession on my part. ‘Do you think we could keep this from her? Like, never tell her? I don’t want her to ever know I was in here. Ever.’

He nodded. ‘It would be better if she didn’t. Let’s just see how things pan out.’

The trouble was, I knew how things were going to pan out. I looked down. ‘Okay. Tell her I love her. And Mom too.’

He stood, looking more himself. ‘I will. Your mom will visit soon.’ He leaned over to give me an awkward hug before leaving.

I dedicated the rest of the day to developing an indifference to all things Ethan – especially the ache in my heart.

Macie popped her head around my door in the afternoon to let me know I had phone privileges, so I called Capri. Luckily I was no longer on day watch, so Macie didn’t have to hang around for the call.

Despite Davis’s promise, he’d gone ahead and spilled to Capri, telling her he’d seen me out on the town. She was barely talking to me. After half an hour of grovelling she forgave me enough to demand every detail about the mysterious guy Davis had also, accidentally on purpose, mentioned.

I guess he figured he owed me no favours.

I guess he was right.

I told Capri it was just a brief thing that lasted a couple of days, and that it turned out the mystery guy didn’t actually care about me at all.

True enough.

‘So are you in hospital or not?’ she asked with a huff, possibly feeling a little sorry for me now that she’d heard the state of my pathetic love life.

‘Yeah, I am.’ And then I made a decision. ‘Mom and Dad had me committed.’

‘Huh?’

‘They think I’m crazy.’

‘What? How the hell … Sabine, what is going on with you?’ ‘It’s complicated. But I’m basically locked away in a clinic. Did you go see Maddie?’

‘I saw her yesterday. She’s fine – thinks you’re away on some camp or something. I told her that I’d spoken to you and that I might be seeing you soon. She asked me to give you a really big rabbit hug or something.’

I smiled, looking at my cast, running my fingers over Maddie’s bunnies.

‘Sabine, I’m seriously starting to freak out and that goes totally against my beliefs. Even Angus thinks this is weird, and you know he doesn’t like to think. We need some answers here.’

‘I know. Can you come meet me tonight? I promise I’ll have answers.’

‘Sure. What time and where? Do I have to break into the clinic?’ She sounded almost hopeful. Capri did like to

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