I hated the way being sedated me feel. It was like being in a dream where every move I made was heavy and slow, sounds around me were muffled, and people came and went in a blur.

I could hear my parents arguing with the doctor about taking me home. The hospital wanted me to stay there and remain under their care. My parents wanted to take me back home where they could find me medical care instead.

"The stress of this entire ordeal," my mom said. "It’s too much for her! She needs to come home and we’ll get her a psychiatrist or whoever there!"

"I agree," my dad said. "We’re taking our daughter home. She needs to get rest and proper care without getting worked up. Every time that detective comes in here, Ryleigh gets more upset! If the police have any more questions for her, they’ll have to call us or have the local cops do it because we’re taking her home."

"I understand," the doctor said. "But I have to tell you, interfering with an active investigation and-"

"Interfering?" my dad yelled. "We’re not interfering with anything!"

My mom shook her head. "Doctor, I’m sorry, but as her parents, we think it’s best to continue this - the investigation, medical care, all of it - back home in Texas."

The doctor sighed heavily as I blinked my eyes trying to stop my blurred vision. He motioned to me and my parents turned to face me. They all wore matching expressions on their faces.

"I want to see Grant," I said, my throat dry. "And Beth...Will..."

"Stay calm, honey," my mom soothed. "We were just talking to the doctor about bringing you home. Wouldn’t that be nice?"

"Nice, yeah..." I said in a groggy voice. "But my friends...I want to see them..."

My mom patted my arm and tucked my blankets in around me. I drifted off again. When I awoke again, my room was quiet except for the sound of a nurse scribbling something onto my chart.

"How are you feeling?" she asked me.

"Where are my parents?" I asked.

"Oh," she replied. "They’re speaking with the doctor about getting you discharged. You should get to go home in a few hours, I’d say."

"Home? Oh, okay. What about Detective Larsen?"

She shook her head. "Oh, your parents said they didn’t want her or any law enforcement to come back here. Your dad was pretty angry! They’re going to pick it up when you get home. Your local police or FBI? I don’t remember, but they said something about continuing it when you’re home."

My dad must have been really upset if he had raised his voice. He was usually pretty even tempered. But after days of this, it was taking its toll on all of us. My parents had restricted my visits, even from the detective, until I returned home and was seen by a psychiatrist. They were too worried about my emotional well-being.

"I want to see my friends before I go," I told her. "Can someone bring Grant in here? And then can we see Beth? What about Will?"

She poured me a cup of water from a plastic pitcher that was sitting by my bed. I gulped it down and cleared my throat. My head still felt woozy, but I forced myself to not nod off to sleep again. The nurse took my pulse quietly as I waited for her to respond to my question.

"I’m sure that’ll be fine. Your parents didn’t say anything about not wanting you to visit with any of the other victims- sorry, patients. " She smiled. "I’ll go see. I don’t know if we can bring them all in this room...maybe one or two at a time."

I looked around the hospital room. It seems spacious enough to me.

"Really? I’m sure we can all squeeze in here. Plus, I know we’d all like to be together again, just once, before we all go home."

"I’ll have to ask the doctor," she said. "But I highly doubt we’ll be allowed to fit all five of you in here."

I shook my head and then stopped because the room started to spin.

"No," I smiled. "Not five. Four. There are only four of us, not five."

She walked closer to me. "You didn’t hear?"

"Hear what?" I asked in a whisper.

"Good news, sweetie," she reached over and squeezed my hand. "They found your other friend. The girl on the island. They were able to rescue all five of you! Isn’t that wonderful?"

They rescued Cal.

I snatched my hand away from hers and she flinched.

"She is not my other friend!" I screamed. "She’s one of them! Is she here? In this hospital? Where is she?"

I shoved the blankets off of me and struggled to get out of bed. I felt instantly lightheaded the second my feet hit the floor and I was upright. The nurse gripped me by my shoulders.

"Don’t get up," she cautioned. "Stay in bed. Ryleigh, did you hear me? Lie down, please. Ryleigh!"

She tried to gently hold me in place but I pushed back. My IV was tangled around my bed and I was still so weak. I couldn’t get past her.

"Is Cal here?" I screamed. "She stabbed Grant! Are you aware of that? And she’s here? Why isn’t she in jail? Where is she?! Let me at her!"

"Please calm down! Doctor! Doctor!"

More nurses rushed into my room followed by my doctor as I began shouting at all of them. My parents ran in and my mom looked horrified when she saw me. I must have looked erratic and out of control. She covered her mouth with her hand and leaned against my dad.

One of the nurses injected something into my arm and I flashed back to Gina and her injections. I screamed before I felt my legs go out from under me.

"Cal," I slurred. "She’s one of them...she’s..."

It wasn’t until hours later that I awoke. My head was pounding. My mom was seated on a chair beside me and I could tell by her face that she’d been crying. She reached out to take my hand.

"Mom, I’m sorry."

She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Don’t apologize, Ryleigh! We’re going to get you out of here, okay? We’re going to take you home so you can get whatever help you’ll need."

"Okay, but mom...Cal, the fifth person they rescued? She’s one of them. She’s working with the kidnappers..."

She patted my hand. Behind her, my dad walked in carrying more cups of coffee. They had probably been living off of caffeine for days, I figured. My mom glanced over and gave my dad a weak smile as she took a cup from him.

"Mom!" I said. "That girl, Cal. You need to call Detective Larsen! They need to come arrest her, unless they’ll let me have five minutes alone with her. I’d do anything just to get one good punch in, right to her lying face!"

My mom looked at my dad. They exchanged glances, but didn’t say anything.

"What?" I asked. "What is it? Did they already arrest her? Great! I mean, I’d love to kick her ass, but-"

"Honey," my mom said. "She wasn’t arrested, but Cal’s not here. She left."

"They discharged her? Where did she go?"

"Well," my dad replied. "They didn’t actually discharge her. She just kind of...left the hospital."

My eyes widened. Cal had been there, right down the hall, until they’d gotten her all patched up and feeling better. And then, just before they could ask questions and possibly suspect her, Cal had walked out. She was gone. I shook my head in disbelief.

"You have to be kidding me," I said more to myself than to them. "She’s gone."

"The most important thing here now, Ryleigh," my dad said, "is to get you home. Once we’re home and have had a chance to process this, we’ll talk to the police there and get you the best doctors-"

I sighed and my dad stopped talking.

"This is just all so much to take in right now," I apologized with tears in my eyes. "I’m sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," my dad told me. "If anything, we are the ones who are sorry. Sorry you had to go through this! We’re just happy you’re okay."

About an hour later, I was able to see Beth and Will. They were both doing all right and were set to go home. Beth’s mom had flown in and was eager to bring her back home, just like my parents felt about me. Will’s dad was apparently on his way, but I worried about leaving him there without the rest of us. I felt bad leaving them, even though I knew we would keep in touch as much as possible.

It was bittersweet. I had been dreaming about going home for so long, but now that the day was finally here, I hated having to part. It would be weird being without them.

Saying goodbye to Grant would be next to impossible.

Next Chapter: Fifty Two