AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How’s my new favorite patient?” the doctor asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“I’m tired,” I admitted. “Of everything.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He pulled a sheaf of papers from his briefcase. “I have some…information…that might shock you, but I want you to remain calm.”
Through the cracked door, I saw Eugenia move past. I wondered if she was listening.
“Since you weren’t admitted to the hospital, I couldn’t run a toxicology report on you, but I did give the bottle of your medication I took to a pharmacist friend.”
“And?”
“And, unfortunately, the pill you took wasn’t a Valium.”
I waited for him to continue, but he seemed to want to draw out the suspense for as long as possible.
“What was it then?” I finally asked.
“Your Valium was replaced—pill for pill—with MDMA. Commonly known as Molly or Ecstasy.”
“What?” I hissed. “Ecstasy? I’ve never taken Ecstasy in my life.”
“Unfortunately, based on your actions and loss of consciousness, if I were a betting man, I’d say that’s exactly what you took this afternoon. I’m assuming the pill you took was small, white, and round? Unless you were looking closely, it would be difficult to tell the difference. Were you looking closely?”
“No. I wasn’t,” I admitted on an exhale. “I didn’t mean to take…that. Someone…”
Realization dawned. Someone had gone into my room, emptied the Valium out of the bottle on my nightstand, and replaced those tabs with a hallucinogenic sex drug. Only I hadn’t felt sexy at all. I’d felt terrified.
“What’s going to happen to me? Am I permanently damaged?”
Dr. Stevenson chuckled, flipping through his pages. “Long-term? Probably not from just one use. In the short term, though, it’s important that you rest. Keep your stress level low. I have to ask—you’ve been so adamant that you didn’t take MDMA purposely.”
“I didn’t!”
“I believe you,” he reassured me, “but do you have any idea who might have switched out your pills? Because, as a medical professional, I’m telling you that swapping the medications could have been very dangerous. What if you had taken more than one? What if it’d been something fatal, like arsenic?”
I did have an idea of who had switched the pills. The attic ghost. The person terrorizing me. Maybe a figment of my imagination. Now that I knew I’d been drugged, I couldn’t even say for sure that I’d actually seen Anna. Maybe she’d been a dream or a vision. But I wasn’t going to say any of that to Dr. Stevenson. I wasn’t even sure he believed me when I said I hadn’t taken drugs on purpose.
“The only other person with a key to the house is Eugenia, and she hasn’t even been living here,” I said. “But it wouldn’t be that hard to…break in, I guess?”
“Greer, I think you should call the police and report this.”
“Oh, I will,” I lied. Maybe I would. Someday. But right now, I didn’t need any more outsiders prying into my personal business.
He sighed, as if he knew what I was thinking.
“Fine. I spoke with Dr. Waters a couple of hours ago.”
“You did? How is she?”
“It was late when I called. She said she hasn’t spoken with you since you arrived in Astoria several weeks ago. She’d like you to call her when you get a chance.”
“Of course I will,” I said, feeling guilty for not reaching out before.
“She also recommended, and I agree, that you take a low-dose Xanax daily until your symptoms are back under control. I brought enough samples to cover you for the next few days until you can get into town and pick up a prescription. If your symptoms persist, we’re looking at putting you on an SSRI.”
“An antidepressant,” I said flatly. “I’m not depressed.”
“These medications are versatile and have proven effective at helping combat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as well as depression and a whole host of other illnesses.”
