Chapter 3

Rita was upstairs on the psychiatric ward speaking to the doctor who was in charge of the ward.

"So, Rita, what lead you to your suicide attempt? I know that I sound blunt asking it that way, but it's useful for me to know this, for your records." The doctor sat across from Rita in his office, which was considerably smaller than most in the hospital.

"A lot of things, it was a build-up really." Rita answered, before considering the rest of her answer. "It's a very long and complicated story." Then Rita began to tell the doctor, who she was struggling to remember the name of, the full story leading up to her attempting suicide. She explained about Mark, about Iain, about her lies, and about the stress at work she had been under on top of everything else going on.

The doctor nodded and made notes where he deemed appropriate, making as much eye contact with Rita throughout the meeting that she would allow.

After Rita finally finished speaking the doctor looked up at her and smiled. "I understand how much pressure you're under at the moment and everything with your ex-husband and ex-boyfriend all at the same time. You and I will be seeing each other on a one-to-one basis every two days to begin with, but this gradually decreases the longer that you're here and the closer to discharge you get."

Rita nodded to let him know she understood.

"The only exception to these appointments is that I don't work Sundays. We'll see each other Wednesdays, Fridays, and Mondays. I'll put you down at 2pm. Then twice a week, at 11am you will be going to group therapy. This will be Mondays and Thursdays for you." The doctor clearly explained all the rules of the hospital and the times that she would be expected to be in certain places, writing a draft of a schedule for her to keep so that she remembered everything. "And please do come to me, or any nurses on the ward, if you need any help at all."

X

It had been 8 days since Rita had been to work, and the anger at her lies and unexplained absence was quickly turning to fear for her health and her safety, since she definitely wasn't at home.

Dylan was the one person more concerned than most, although he had remained silent throughout Rita's disappearance. He had seen what Iain had said to Rita that evening, so had many other people, but Dylan had also been put down in a similar way by the people he used to love when he was younger, and he knew what damage those kinds of words could do to people.

Although Dylan had never visited Rita before now, he knew where her flat was so he decided to go round and see her, knowing that he hadn't turned against her as everyone else had and that if she was at home, she would be much more likely to answer to him than anyone else.

X

At the end of Dylan's shift he walked towards Rita's flat and as he approached he noticed lights on inside, despite the fact that every single time people had been to see Rita in the past week, they claimed the lights were off.

Dylan was apprehensive but he approached the flat anyway; he had promised to himself that he would at least try to speak to her.

When the door to the flat was opened there was a young woman, younger than Rita but approximately the same height, which opened the door. Her hair was slightly below shoulder-length and was light brown.

"Sorry, I think I have the wrong address." This seemed unlikely to Dylan, since he'd accidentally seen Rita come out of this same door on her way to work a couple of times during his own journey to the hospital. "I'm looking for a college; her name's Rita Freeman."

"Sorry, you're not Iain are you?!" The woman seemed angry at Dylan, all on the presumption that he was someone who he really wasn't.

"No, sorry. I'm Dylan Keogh, I'm a doctor at the emergency department where Rita works…or worked." Dylan was about to turn away when the woman's voice stopped him from doing so.

"Hi. I'm Alice, Rita's younger sister. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. Are you a friend of Rita's?" Alice smiled warmly, now confident that this man was not likely to hurt her or her sister.

"Not really, I really am just a work colleague. She probably won't want to see me anyway, I'm sorry." Dylan turned to leave again, Dervla waiting patiently at the end of the driveway.

"Wait." Alice's voice once again made Dylan turn to face her. "She needs all the friends, or anyone to support her, that she can get at the moment."

X

Alice had invited Dylan and Dervla into the flat to explain the situation to Dylan, hoping to get him to at least visit Rita, in the hopes that it would raise her sister's spirits even slightly.

Alice was going to be temporarily living in Rita's flat, at least until Rita was discharged from hospital, and she would be looking after Rita's cat, Sammy, who Dervla had taken an interest in.

Dylan knew that, even if he was no good at making friends, that he should at least make the effort to visit Rita, since she probably would not want everyone at the ED to know what had happened, and it would give him some human company as well. He agreed with Alice that he would drop by the psychiatric department that next day at the end of his shift to visit Rita.

Sorry this is so long overdue and so short, but I just started sixth form and things have been both busy and stressful recently. I'll try to update my fics a little more often from now on, since I am getting more used to being at college, but they may not all be updated weekly.