Daddy's Medicine (A.K.A. "The Other Place")

It's nighttime right now, and Daddy is laying against a wall. His arm rests on the big, heavy trunk we keep all our stuff in, his fingers hanging over the lock on the front. He isn't happy. He's been sick for a while, and he's out of medicine again.
I'm standing over him in some kind of box with a broken metal fence in it. It looks like an empty room, but the fence leads to an alley outside. Every time I see it, I think of closets like the one I used to have, except it's all dirty and it doesn't have a place to hang your clothes. I never knew alleys had their own closets until I came here the first time.
Daddy's been sick for a while. I don't know what he's sick with, but it must be bad. He looks like a zombie. His skin is all tight and pale, and his eyes have big puffy bags under them, like people who don't sleep enough, but worse. Like he hasn't slept for years and years. He doesn't change his clothes that much, either.
I remember when we had rooms, and he wasn't so sick. He looked better. He had colorful pink skin and wasn't so wrinkled all over. His hair had more color too. Bright brown-orange, not dull like it looks now. His smile was brighter. His eyes were brighter. Everything about him was brighter.
"I need my medicine, Deb." he says, "Go get it for me. Go on."
I wish I didn't have to leave him behind with the trunk, but he gets worse when he doesn't have his medicine. His nose gets runny and he sweats a lot, and he always sounds like he's got a cold when he talks. Sometimes he even throws up if he goes without having his medicine for too long.
I'm waiting for the day Daddy gets all the way better. Until that happens, I have to keep going to the hospital and getting his medicine for him. He'll feel better as soon as he takes it. He always does.
"Go on, Deb. Don't waste time."
"Yes, Daddy."
I leave him and the closet with the fence behind and go outside. There's a hospital around here, across the street from the end of the alley. I've been there three times. They always have Daddy's medicine when I go there.
I can't just walk through the door, though. I gotta go in a different way.

- - -

When me and Daddy still had our house we used to live in, in that neighborhood he called a "cull-da-sack", I found out I could do things that other girls and boys couldn't.
It happened when I was outside playing hide-and-seek with the other kids. I was angry because they kept finding me first every time I tried to hide. One of them, Tommy (I hated him, but all the other kids in the neighborhood liked him for some reason), teased me about it all the time. He said I'd never win. Said I didn't know how to play right. Said I was too dumb to know.
When I ran off to hide again, I went behind one of the houses. Joey's house, the one with the messy backyard that had all the toys and buckets and the inflatable pool him and his sister never used. His backyard had a back porch with some wood stairs. I hid under them. Curled my knees to my chest with my fists at my sides so I wouldn't get splinters from the old wood. I was so mad, I kept telling myself over and over in my head; He's never gonna find me. Nobody's gonna find me. I don't wanna be found.
Right up until some kind of change happened around me. It felt like I went "up", or maybe the world went "down" while I stayed in the same place, and my body started to feel lighter all of a sudden. I had my eyes closed after I crawled under the stairs. I opened them again.
I was still behind the neighbors' house, but everything around me was different. All the colors I saw were more colorful, all the lights were lighter and brighter, and there were weird patterns in the grass and the trees that weren't there before. The grass in the yard was all fuzzy, and it looked like it was rustling and standing still at the same time. The toys and buckets and the deflated pool looked like they were melting, all their colors blending together like runny paint. All the sounds in the world started to echo more than were supposed to.
And I felt free. Like I could run around wherever I wanted and nobody could stop me.
When Tommy ran around the corner right then (he looked all weird and fuzzy and colorful too), I swear he turned and stared at me, right at the place I was hiding under the stairs. He even ran up close like he was gonna pull me out and laugh at me like he always did when he found me hiding. But then he looked right past me, like he was trying to find something behind me. And then he got under the stairs and crawled right through me.
I didn't feel him. When I looked down, it looked like our bodies were blending together and I thought I was gonna be sick just from seeing that. But even though he was in the same space I was, it didn't feel like we were anywhere near each other. It felt like I was in my own little space and he was still stuck in his. Stuck back in his own world where Joey's backyard still looked normal.
Then, as quick as he came, he crawled out and ran off to look somewhere else. He never saw me. He didn't even know I was there.
I remember I crawled back out and went back to the middle of the cull-da-sack, to watch Tommy look for everybody else in a whole world that looked like somebody was microwaving it. Every time he turned toward me I felt like hiding again, but he couldn't see me. Once he started finding the others and they went looking for me with him, they couldn't see me either. I shouted at them a few times, and they didn't even hear me.
I thought it was funny for a while. But then I started to worry. I didn't know what this was. I was standing right near everyone, but it felt like I was far away from them. Nobody could see me. Nobody could hear me. Nobody could find me. They called for me and I called back, but my voice never reached them. It was like I was in another place. Like I was on another floor of a building that only I could get to. And I didn't know how to get back.
When time passed and all the other kids looked everywhere they could, they got worried too. One of them told my dad I went missing, and he came out looking for me. I tried to yell out at him, but even though it sounded like my voice echoed for ages, nobody heard the sound but me.
I started to get scared. Started to think I was gonna be stuck like this forever. This wasn't what I meant when I said I didn't wanna be found! I wanna go back! I wanna go back!!
...Something changed again the moment I started thinking that, and just like that, everything was back to normal. No bright lights or colors. No patterns in everything, no stuff melting together or looking fuzzy, no echoes on every sound. When I called Daddy, he heard me, spun around and saw me. Then he ran up to me and hugged me. Said I had him worried sick, and told me never to disappear like that again.
That was how I found out about the Other Place.
I don't remember how long it took, but after a while I learned how to go back. The place was just like being in the normal world, except that whenever I went there, nobody in the world could find me. In the Other Place, I could walk anywhere I felt like, anytime I wanted, and I was the only person who knew where I was. I never disappeared as long as I did that first day, but once I knew how to go back and forth, I went there more often.
After that, I figured out that I could do more in the Other Place than I could in the normal world. I could walk through walls and sink through the ground without getting dirty. I learned how to quickly find stuff and people I already saw before, just by thinking about them a certain way. Later on, I learned how to take things with me to the Other Place and back, and I started bringing stuff to do whenever I went.
I didn't tell Daddy about any of this when we were still living in the house. But when Daddy started getting sick and stopped being able to go to work, he said we were gonna have to leave the cull-da-sack. He said if we couldn't find a new place to stay, I'd get taken away and put somewhere without him. I asked him why we couldn't just stay with my friends. He said they were afraid to let us in because he was too sick. Said we couldn't live with anyone but ourselves, and to do that, we needed somewhere safe to live.
I told him we had another place. Told him I knew somewhere else we could go. He didn't believe me.
So I showed him...

- - -

I walk through the hospital without looking at anyone. Nobody saw me when I stepped in, and nobody sees me now.
The first time I came in here, Daddy showed me a bottle of his medicine so I could find it easier. He said the doctors stopped giving it to him once we left the cull-da-sack. I still don't understand why. When I asked him, he said he didn't either. But he said he needed it, and that if they wouldn't give it to him, I should get it for him. I thought that was stealing at first, but he said it was already his. 'By keeping it from me, they're the ones stealing. We're just taking back what's supposed to be ours.' I guess that makes sense.
As I go down the hospital hallway, the Other Place tells me where his medicine is and how to get to it. I make myself stay in the hallway. When I tried to take a shortcut through the walls the first time I was here, I ended up going through a bunch of rooms where people were being looked at and treated. One of the rooms had a woman with red all over her. She looked hazy like everyone else does when I'm in the Other Place, but I could tell that all the red stuff was blood, and I felt sick just looking at her. If I was in the normal world when I saw her, I feel like I would've thrown up.
It doesn't take that long for me to find the stairs and go up to the third floor. Like last time, there's less people up here; only a few doctors and nurses, some standing around while the rest hurry to places they've gotta be. I don't look at any of them. I keep my eyes pointed at the ground. In the Other Place, the hallway looks so bright and white that it almost hurts to look anywhere. It's like walking in a big spotlight that never ends.
I'm still thinking about that when I pass by a doctor and a nurse talking to each other. Right after I do, something goes off in my head like an alarm.
I feel it immediately. My brain tells me someone's watching, looking right at me. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I freeze in fear. Someone can see me? How?
I turn around, and the nurse I just passed is looking in my direction while the doctor speaks. Now that I'm staring at her, I realize I've seen her somewhere before...

- - -

One of the places Daddy used to take me before he got sick was a park in the middle of town. The sign said "Douglas Park". I dunno who Douglas is, but it felt good to walk around his park. It was peaceful, and I liked sitting and daydreaming by the pond.
One of the times we went, I managed to get away from him while he was distracted. He started talking with one of his friends and wouldn't come with me to the pond, so I went ahead without him. I knew I could find him again if I had to. The Other Place always let me find whoever I was looking for as long as I knew what they looked like. I just couldn't sit around and wait for him to get done. Whenever he gets started talking, he kinda...doesn't like to stop.
When I got to the pond, I looked out at the water and lost my thoughts for a while. I always stared off into space whenever I was near the pond, but something about the way things looked in the Other Place made me want to daydream even more. It all looked so beautiful and colorful and strange, and I felt foggy and dreamy whenever I stopped paying attention there. It was nice. I told myself I should do this more often.
Eventually, I came back into the normal world so I could see my reflection in the water.
The girl that looked back at me was short and pale with orange-red hair, round eyes, a small nose and a thin mouth. She was in my favorite dress, a white one with pretty trim around the chest and at the hem of the skirt. ("Emm-broy-der-ee" was what Daddy called it one time. I dunno what that means, and he didn't know how to explain it to me.) The dress came down past her knees, and it was so bright and white that it made her skin look less pale than it really was.
She looked just like me. Because she *was* me. Or at least she was supposed to be. But right then as I was staring at her, I felt like something was weird about her. When I looked at her face-- at her eyes-- I started to see what was wrong.
Those eyes staring back at me weren't mine.
I dunno how I knew, but I could tell just from looking. Her eyes were different from mine. The way they stared at me wasn't right. They looked scary. Hungry. Like the girl they belonged to was getting ready to eat my soul! I wanted to turn and run away as fast as I could, but I couldn't. I couldn't even move. I was too scared--
"Hey, are you okay?"
The voice made me jump and I nearly let out a scream I didn't realize I was holding in. I spun around in the direction of the voice, and ended up looking at a short, thin lady with black hair who wasn't there when I first showed up. She had on some kind of sleeveless black shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged her legs all tight, with some kind of necklace on that had a symbol on it I didn't recognize. Her skin was pale (almost as pale as mine), and her long, dark hair made it look even closer to white.
While I was trying to think of something to say, I looked back at the pond. Whatever was wrong with my reflection, it disappeared when the lady showed up. I should've felt better after that, but I didn't. I was afraid of what'd happen if she left me alone and whatever it was decided to come back.
"I'm fine." I said finally, turning back to her, "I was just looking at the pond."
"You sure?" she said back. She sounded worried, like Daddy does when he knows I don't feel well. "You look like you saw a ghost."
I didn't wanna admit how right she was, so I said, "My dad says ghosts aren't real..."
"Where *is* your dad? Does he know you're here?"
'Oh no!' I thought to myself, 'I forgot all about him! What do I do? I can't go to the Other Place while she's here. What if she tells someone?' I started to worry. I was going to get in trouble again...
I guess she saw everything in my face, because as soon as I started to think about how badly I messed up, she said to me, "Hey, it's okay. If you don't know where he is, we can find him for you. How does that sound?"
I felt weird about saying yes. I didn't know her that well, and I could've found Daddy by myself if she wasn't here. But she was trying to help, and I didn't want to be rude.
"Sure." I said slowly.
"Then let's go." she responded. "The sooner we start looking, the sooner we'll find him."
"You don't know what he looks like, do you...?"
"No, but I'm sure you'll point him out when you see him."
I dunno why I didn't think about that.
It took a few minutes, but we found him near where I left him. His friend was still with him, but I guess they'd just realized I was missing, because they were looking around for me when I saw them. When Daddy asked who the lady was, I told him she helped me find him again after I got lost. She explained the rest herself. He seemed satisfied, but after the lady left, he told me I shouldn't walk around with strangers.
I didn't tell him about what I saw in my reflection when I was at the pond. I knew he'd just think I was making things up, like the time I thought there was a monster under my bed. He's never believed in that kinda stuff. Or at least he didn't, before I showed him the Other Place.
I think he saw something in my face though, because after a while he asked,
"Hey, Deb? Is something--"

- - -

"--Is something the matter?"
The nurse lady's head jerks back towards the doctor she was talking to, and while she's distracted, I turn around and run.
I wasn't going to go through the walls at first, but if she saw me in the Other Place, then I need to hide. I sprint through the wall on my right and keep running, not even bothering to look around me at where I'm going. The Other Place tells me the room with my Daddy's medicine is nearby, so I go as fast as I can in the directions it tells me to go. I zip through a dozen white rooms, zooming past doctors, nurses and a few people on tables. Can't stop for anything, can't look at anybody. Too afraid that someone else'll see me like the lady did.
If it wasn't for the Other Place, I bet I'd be making so much noise right now...
As soon as I burst into the next hallway, I recognize the glass door that leads to the room and start to relax. The feeling of being watched is long gone, and the medicine is only a few steps away. Finally.
I go inside and find the metal box with the stuff in it right away, peeking my head through it and looking around until I see the bottles I'm looking for. Two of them this time, both of them clear and made of glass. I grab them fast and turn to leave.
And then the feeling from before comes back, right as I almost walk into the nurse I thought I got away from.
She looks at me with angry eyes, blocking the door with her arms folded across her chest. But that isn't what bothers me. What bothers me is that she doesn't have the runny paint look that the rest of the world around her does. She looks normal. Everything about her looks clear as day.
All at once, I realize that she doesn't just *see* me this time; she's in the Other Place *with* me.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asks, and I wince at how her voice sounds. She isn't being nice like she was the first time we met.
"I-I...Um..."
"You're the one who's been stealing from our cabinets for the last few weeks, aren't you?"
"Wh-..." I don't know what to say anymore. Have the doctors been noticing all this time?
"Okay, look. I can't let you have something like that. I don't even know how you *found* it, but you need to put it back. It isn't--"
"No! It's my dad's medicine. He needs it!"
The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. I didn't come all the way up here just so I could go back to Daddy without his medicine. I don't care if she thinks I'm stealing. I've seen how much better he gets after he takes it and how much worse he gets without it. I can't just put it back!
I turn sideways and start running towards the wall, but the nurse gets there first. I've never seen someone run so fast before. I barely even see her move before she grabs me and picks me up off the floor, yelling and kicking at her the whole way.
"Let me *go!*"
"I can't do that. Those aren't yours, and they're dangerous! Give them to me!"
"No!"
All of a sudden, I get an idea. If we're both in the Other Place, then maybe I can surprise her by dropping back to the normal world with the bottles. It's worth a try. I concentrate on going back with the medicine still in my hand, and instantly, everything looks normal again. My hands are still closed around the bottles, and I don't see her in the room with me anymore.
The first thing I think to myself is that I need to get out of here. But then I see my reflection in the glass of the door and everything stops.
I don't remember the last time I saw myself in a mirror, but seeing my reflection now, I look awful. My skin is all grubby and dirty, and my hair is a filthy mess from Daddy not being able to comb or wash it. My dress is torn at the hem, and the fabric is caked in dirt and grime. I didn't realize it was this ugly now...
...But I'm not looking at any of that. I'm looking at my face in the reflection. There's a wide grin there, and I know I'm not smiling.
I forget all about the nurse lady and jump back to the Other Place, trying to leave my own reflection behind. As soon as I do, the glass door explodes. Pieces of broken glass fly all over, and I end up shielding my eyes out of habit. When I turn to look again, the thing that looks like me is standing in the middle of the pieces, its face starting to stretch and pull at itself. Its eyes get too big and its smile grows too wide, and suddenly I want to run away screaming. But I know it's gonna follow me no matter where I go, until it catches me and--
"Get behind me!"
The nurse's voice calls out from the back of the room, and before I know it, I'm turning and running towards her. The thing makes a sound behind me like a garbage disposal full of rocks and glass, and then she steps forward, grabs me by the front of my dress and pulls me away right before something snaps closed right behind me. I look over my shoulder and regret it the second I do; the Me-Thing's face is all messed up, its eyes white and wide, its mouth stretched past its cheeks. It looks like something you'd see in a nightmare.
When the nurse steps forward, the thing tries to jump at me, reaching for my face with claws it didn't have before. She pulls her arm back and then does something I don't really understand. Her hand shoots forward and something goes off in the air like a bomb. The whole room seems to rock like a box that got kicked by some sort of giant. The Me-Thing flies off, but slows to a stop in midair outside. Its face keeps stretching, and its arms and legs start to grow long and nasty looking.
The nurse's voice gets my attention again. "We can talk about the 'medicine' later. You've gotta get out of here. Now!"
I nod and start running immediately. She doesn't have to tell me twice. But as soon as I do, I hear another garbage-disposal noise followed by a loud yelp from behind me. When I turn around, I see the nurse on the ground and the Me-Thing chasing after me, scary-fast.
I start screaming out loud as I run. The Other Place tells me the ways out of the hospital, but I'll never make it to them. It's too fast!
I'm gonna die!
Another enormous booming noise goes off behind me, and the Me-Thing yells out in what sounds like pain. I keep running, hoping and praying that the nurse got back up and hit it with another one of those weird blasts she did before, and that she's gonna keep it away from me while I dash for the closest exit.
A few seconds later, I remember that I can go through the floors without hurting myself, and I drop to the first floor immediately. I don't look back. Not even once.
- - -
As soon as I'm heading down the alley to where my Daddy is, I start to feel tired and worn out. This was supposed to be easy. Just go in, get his medicine and leave. Why did things have to go so wrong? Why did the nurse have to try and stop me?
And what was that thing that came out of my reflection? How long was it following me? What would it've done if it'd caught up to me at the hospital?
At least I managed to keep the bottles. I look at one of them again, just to make sure they say what they're supposed to. Then I walk the rest of the way back, thinking about everything that's happened along the way.
Everything went bad as soon as Daddy started getting sick. Before that, we lived in a nice house in the cull-da-sack and had a lot of friends. I ate every day, I went to school and met other kids, and I had all kinds of pretty clothes to wear and dollies to play with. After he stopped going to work, we had to leave all that behind. No more house, no more friends, no more school. No more pretty clothes or toys...I don't even get to eat as much as I used to. I keep having to go find places that make food and then take some of the stuff that's there, the way I do with the medicine. Whenever I don't, I get hungry and my stomach starts to feel like it's touching my back.
I miss my bed and my room. We sleep on the ground in the Other Place now, and we keep all our stuff in that big trunk we have to share. I haven't slept in a bed in months. I never realized how hard it was to sleep without one...
I remember when I said something about how the Other Place lets me find things I've seen before. That was when he told me about the medicine he was taking to help get better, and asked me if I could find him more of it if he showed me what it looked like. Then he showed me a bottle that was almost empty. Said one of his friends got it for him from a hospital that was near us, and that the hospital was being mean now and wouldn't let him have any more. He took me to the hospital after that and put the bottle in my hands. Said he'd wait while I went in and saw if I could find more.
The way he treated me started to change after that. He started to act all crabby whenever he didn't have his medicine, and as soon as he ran out, he'd always send me for more right away. Even when I was hungry and hadn't gone to go get myself food yet, his medicine had to come first, because he was the one sick and not me.
But whenever he did have his medicine, he got better. He didn't move or talk much; he just sat there and stared off into space with a sorta happy look on his face half of the time. The other half of the time, he just fell asleep. Whenever he did talk, he'd speak slow, but he was always happy and smiled at everything I said. All those times, I thought that maybe he'd get all the way better and we'd be able to go back to our house again. But it never happened.
I hope he gets better soon. I want things to go back to normal again. I want my bed and my room and my house and my friends and everything else I had to leave behind. I don't wanna live like this anymore...
...
...It takes a few minutes for me to stop and get myself back together. Eventually, I stuff away all my bad feelings and start to walk the rest of the way down the alley again. 'Just give Daddy his medicine so he can be better for the next few days.' I think to myself, 'He won't be sick forever. Nobody is sick forever.'
A few seconds later, I reach the alley-closet with the metal fence again and see Daddy where I left him, laying against the wall with his shirt open. Maybe it's because I saw what I look like now, but I realize his clothes look even worse than mine. His pants are grungy and worn-out with big holes in the knees, his shirt is all raggedy and missing buttons, and his shoes are scuffed up and falling apart from walking around in them all the time. If I didn't know better, I'd think his clothes were sick too.
A few seconds after I make it back, Daddy sees me and sits up fast.
"Deb! Jeezus, I thought something happened to you. Did you get the medicine?"
"Yeah."
"Made sure it's the right stuff?"
"Yes, Daddy. It says 'Morphine Sulfate', just like you told me."
"Good. Hand it over."
I do what he says. He reaches out and snatches it out of my hand and soon as I try to give it to him. It'd be nice if he wouldn't do that. I don't snatch things away from him when I want them. He turns and unlocks the trunk, then starts rummaging in it until he finds a baggie full of those weird needles he uses to take his medicine.
"Good thing I had you get extras of these last time..." he says. It doesn't feel like he's talking to me anymore.
"Yeah." I say back, "Good thing..."
After he fills one of the needles with the medicine, he turns back to me and jerks his head to the side. "Alright Deb, you know the drill."
"Why do you always make me look away when you take your medicine?"
"I told you already, Deb. It's embarrassing."
"Why is it embarrassing?"
"Just look the other way, Deb. Don't make me ask you again."
I sigh and turn away. I wish he wasn't like this, but I guess I'd be grouchy too if I had to be sick all the time. I dunno how taking medicine could be embarrassing, though. I never got embarrassed when I was taking medicine for the cold I caught last winter.
Pretty soon, I hear him speak up behind me. "Alright, I think I'm good now. Come sit with me, Deb."
I turn around and go to sit between him and the big trunk. He puts an arm around me, and it feels loose and limp on my shoulders. I can already tell from looking at him that this is gonna be one of those times where he falls asleep after he takes this stuff. His words are already coming out slower when he talks.
"This won't be forever, Deb. I'll be better before you even know it. Just keep bringing me my medicine, and nothing in the world will be able to stop me."
"How much longer do you think you're gonna be sick?"
He laughs under his breath for some reason. Then his face starts to change, like he's thinking about something he doesn't wanna think about. For a while, he just sits there like that, looking thoughtful and unhappy at the same time. When he finally replies, his voice sounds just like his face looks.
"You know, Deb...I don't think I've got an answer for that one..."
"I hope you get better soon, Daddy."
"Yeah...I know..."
A few minutes later, he falls asleep. A little bit after that, I do too.
- - -
It's still nighttime when I wake up. Daddy is still passed out next to me. I start to get up from the ground and wipe the crud out of my eyes. Then I realize I'm not alone.
The nurse lady is standing outside of the alley-closet. I dunno how long she's been standing there, but she looks like she's been thinking to herself for a while. Or at least I feel like she does. It's hard to see her in the dark.
"I thought you looked familiar. I didn't recognize you at first, but now that I see your dad, I remember where I saw you before."
Great. *Now* she remembers me--
"Don't worry." she says. "I'm not here to take anything from you. I just want to talk. Is that okay?"
I was about to tell her to go away, but what she says stops me. What does she wanna talk about if she's not here to take the medicine back?
"...What happened to that thing that was trying to get me?" I end up asking.
"I took care of it. It's not here anymore?"
"What was it?"
"A monster. The place you and I were in has plenty of those lurking around. If you weren't attacked by one before today, then you're lucky. Really lucky."
"Did you kill it?"
She looks caught off guard by what I said, but she answers anyway. "Yeah, I did."
There's a moment of quiet after that, because I'm not sure what else to ask. A few seconds later, she changes the subject for me.
"I'm guessing he took his 'medicine' already?"
"He did, yeah." I turn and look at him while I speak, "He's probably gonna be asleep for a while. After he takes it, he gets that way sometimes."
"Yeah, I can imagine..."
"Why are you really here?"
"What?"
I look back at her. "Why are you really here? If you're not here to try and get me to give the medicine back, then there's gotta be some other reason you're talking to me. I'm not stupid, you know."
For a second, I feel like she's gonna start being mean to me again like she was in the hospital. But then she sighs.
"Earlier, you said your dad needed the stuff you took from the hospital. I came here to see what he needs it for. Now I know..."
I squint at her. "What do you mean 'Now I know'? How do you know?"
"I'm a nurse. It's kind of my job."
"Okay..." I say slowly, "How do you keep finding me?"
"The same way you keep finding your dad's 'medicine', I'm assuming. Now that I've seen you once, I can use the place we were in to find you again."
'I should've known that...' I think to myself, but I don't say it out loud.
"You know we can help him get better, right? Professionals treat people with his...sickness all the time."
"My Daddy said you guys didn't *want* to help him get better."
"That's not true." she says after stopping again, "I think you're misunderstanding what's going on here."
"No I'm not!" I'm starting to get mad at her now. "The doctors won't give him his medicine. You guys don't wanna help him. *That's* what's going on."
"We're not *supposed* to give him that stuff. It doesn't do what you think it does."
"You're lying! You--"
Before either of us can say anything else, I hear some kind of gurgling sound behind me that makes me nervous. I wheel around in the direction of the noise...and what I see freaks me out way more than the monster from before.
Daddy's face looks pale and blue, and his mouth is filling with lumpy sick. His body twitches and suddenly it sounds less like he's gargling and more like he's choking.
"Daddy?!" I start to panic. "What's wrong?! Daddy!!"
The nurse behind me mutters a swear word under her breath. "He must've O.D.'d. Get him off his back and try to lay him on his side. I'm getting some help from the hospital."
"Why can't you help him? I thought you were a nurse!"
"I'm not the right kind of nurse for this! Just make sure he doesn't lie on his back. I'll come back with help soon."
As soon as she says that, she disappears in midair. Probably went to the Other Place, where she can run faster. I let her go and focus on Daddy, pushing him onto his side and trying to keep him off his back like she said. The choking starts to die down, but he doesn't stop twitching.
All I can think to myself, over and over again, is 'Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay...'
...Until finally, I break down and start to cry...

- - -

- - - -

- - - - -

It's been four years.
They managed to save my Daddy. The nurse said that us being right near the hospital was a 'stroke of luck'. I dunno what's so lucky about what happened, but I guess it could've been worse. I just wish I knew how to feel about it now.
Turns out, he was lying to me. He wasn't sick at all. He started taking that morphine stuff before he lost his job. He spent his money up trying to buy more, and he was missing work because of how lazy and sleepy he got when he was on it. After he got fired, he couldn't pay for our house, and nobody wanted to help him because they knew what he was doing and why he needed their help to begin with. The whole sick thing was just a tall tale he made up so he wouldn't have to tell me what was really going on.
I dunno what's worse; the fact that he came up with a whole story just to cover up what he was doing, the fact that I was feeding his problem the whole time we were out on the street together, or the fact that me trying to help him get better almost killed him.
After they sent him to rehab, I ended up in somewhere they called a 'foster home'. I never would've guessed that they had places like that for kids who lost their parents, but it makes sense, sort of. I've made peace with the idea that I'm probably never gonna live in the old house again, so it's nice to know that I've got somewhere else to stay instead.
I still miss my room, my toys, my friends and everything else in my old life. I'll probably be missing them for a long time. But I'll leave them all behind if it means never having to sleep in an alley or steal my food again.
Besides, I have a new friend now.
The nurse? Her name's Morgan. We've been talking off and on ever since the incident happened. She's been showing me how to get more out of the Other Place, how to use my powers there in ways I never would've found out on my own. According to her, she came across the Other Place when she was a kid, just like me. She used to call it "The Attic" because of the feeling of going "up" that you get every time you travel there. I like that. Maybe I'll start calling it that too.
I've asked her about what her life's been like since she found the Other Place, and she told me something that keeps sticking with me. She said that she started having horrible luck not too long after she discovered the Other Place, and that over time, she began to lose touch with all of the people she knew in life before her first trip there. Ever since then, she's only been able to keep friendships with people who have some sort of connection to the place. Whenever she tries to grow close to anyone else, she always winds up being separated from them by circumstances outside of her control.
I still think about what happened with my Daddy, and how his actions dragged me out of my old life. Even though it makes sense that what happened to Morgan could be happening to me too, I can't shake the feeling that he would've gone down the same road whether I'd discovered the Other Place or not.
Either way, it doesn't look like I'll be back living with him anytime soon. I can't help him, and with the way he is right now, he can't help me either. We're both on our own now, and maybe that's for the best. He might've thought he was lying to me about being sick, but he was telling more of the truth than he realized.
I do hope he gets better, though.