She didn’t say much on the car ride there. She sat, slumped down, and cried most of the way. As we filled out the paperwork and sat in the lobby, she still didn’t say much. The counselor came out for her assessment and she followed him into the office without a backward look to me. After that, she was admitted. As they led her through a back hallway, I could still see where they were searching her bags. That was when she looked up and I saw a frightened little girl staring back at me. The counselor spoke her name, but Mandy looked haunted. I narrowed my eyes, wondering if she was more scared of herself than of going into rehab. Then he touched her arm and she looked away. The small window she had given me to see inside of her closed up. Taking her bag, she followed him and I couldn’t see them anymore. When I left, with a doctor’s note to give to the high school administration, a ball of emotion was in the bottom of my stomach. It wouldn’t move.
