I wake up in the emergency room with a handsome young doctor looking down on me.

“She’s awake,” he yells, turning away from me. “Maggie?”

I open my eyes and look around. The bright fluorescent lights blind me, and I put up my hand to block some of the glare. Suddenly, Maggie Mae appears. She stands over me with a wide smile on her face.

“Oh, my God, you’re finally awake,” she says, giving me a warm hug. Keeping her long arm wrapped around me, I see her give off a sigh of relief.

“I was so worried, sweetie,” she whispers.

“About what?” I manage to say. My voice cracks and the sound that comes out doesn’t sound at all like me.

“What’s going on?” I try again. This time, I sound more like me. I sit up in the bed. The first thing that pops into my head is that I have no way to pay for this bill, and it’s going to cost thousands.

“How long have I been here?” I ask.

“A while. Two days,” Maggie Mae says.

Two days! No, no, no. This is crazy. This can’t be right. I couldn’t have been here for two days!

“I have to get out of here,” I say and start moving to get out of the bed.

“You can’t leave quite yet, Ms. York,” the doctor replies.

“Annabelle, this is Elliot.” Maggie Mae smiles at me. Elliot? Didn’t they break up?

“Yes, that Elliot,” Maggie Mae adds as if she’s able to read my mind.

“I thought you broke up.”

“We did. But then we got back together.”

“How long have I been here?” I ask.

“Ha ha,” Maggie Mae says sarcastically. “Very funny. But two days is a long time.”

I didn’t mean to be sarcastic.

“I still have to go.”

“I’m sorry, but you can’t. Not just yet.” Elliot puts his hand on my arm.

“You don’t understand. I just got fired. I don’t have insurance. And staying in the hospital for two days…that’s going to be, what, close to five thousand dollars? I can’t afford that.”

“Actually, if you’re not insured, it’ll be close to ten. But that doesn’t matter. You’re not well yet.”

“Of course it matters!” I brush his hand off my shoulder. He may mean well, but he doesn’t have to pay my bills.

“Annabelle, you can’t leave now. You just passed out in the park. On the top of Runyon Canyon. They had to airlift you out of there.”

Oh my God! I can’t hear this anymore. My mind goes blank.

Airlift.

“They airlifted me out of there? Like with a helicopter?”

“Yes, of course. You just passed out, and you wouldn’t come back.”

“Why didn’t they just leave me there?” I whisper. How was I ever going to pay for that? That was going to be thousands and thousands of dollars that I would never have. I was already saddled with debt for the rest of my life. And now, I was going to be saddled with debt for many lives to come. If there was such a thing!

“Are you insane?” Maggie Mae is talking to me. But only some of the words are coming through. I start to feel very dizzy again. The room starts to spin.

“They couldn’t just leave you there!” Maggie Mae adds.

“She’s going to pass out again!”

When I open my eyes again, I find myself in a large room with giant windows. The sun is shining, and no one is rushing around me. Soft classical music is playing in the background. The sheets are the softest I’ve ever touched. Egyptian cotton, has to be.

Sitting up in the bed, I notice that no more harsh fluorescent lights are blinding me. No annoying beeping noises. Come to think of it, this place doesn’t even look like a hospital. Is it a hospital?

I start to look around for signs of health and decay. No such luck. I look at my wrist and see a wristband with my name, age, and address on it. Yes, it’s a hospital.

A knock on the door startles me.

“Can I come in, Ms. York?”

The voice is familiar. But who does it belong to?

“Yes,” I say. My voice is frail and uncertain.

A handsome young man enters. I’ve seen him before. But where? Oh yes, of course!

“I’m Dr. Elliot Green.” He extends his hand. “I’m terribly sorry about before. That was all too much for you, and I should’ve predicted it. Too much stress and trauma.”

“What happened?”

“You don’t remember talking to Maggie Mae? Arguing about whether or not to stay at the hospital.”

Oh, yes! Everything comes flooding back to me. I have to get out of here. God knows how long I’ve been here this time. And this room looks much more expensive than the last!

“Before you start worrying again about the bill, I want to tell you that it has been covered. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s been covered. I shouldn’t be telling you this because we typically keep that kind of information private, but I don’t want you to try to leave again or worry about something you shouldn’t worry about.”

“Who covered it?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

“You have to tell me. Or I’m leaving.”

My voice is stronger this time. There’s power behind it, the strength of which surprises both Dr. Green and me.

“Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Maggie Mae knows, but that’s about it.”

I nod.

“You have to promise me out loud. I’m breaking the law here. If you tell anyone, I can get fired.”

“Okay, I promise.” I nod again.

“Gatsby Wild from Wild International is covering the bill. Maggie Mae told me that you know him. He’s your boss.”

I nod and then shake my head. “No, not anymore. He fired me.”

“Well, regardless. He came in a couple of days ago, after he found out what happened, and said to send him all of the bills. So you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

I shake my head. I can’t believe what he’s saying. This can’t be true. Why would Gatsby do this?

Twenty-four hours later, I’m finally released. Maggie Mae takes me home.

“No one knows what made you pass out,” Maggie Mae says in the car. “But Elliot suspects that you were severely dehydrated and stressed out.”

“That is one way of putting it,” I say. “Another way to put it is that I was heartbroken. Am heartbroken.”

“What possessed you to run up that hill like that, Annabelle? You haven’t worked out in so long. And you didn’t even bring any water with you.”

“I don’t know. I was just really sad. And I had all of these thoughts swirling inside of my head about everything that happened with Gatsby. I just couldn’t stand it anymore, I had to get away.”

Maggie Mae doesn’t say anything for awhile. She helps me up the stairs to our second-floor apartment. Then, right before we walk in, she turns to me.

“Okay, don’t get mad?” she asks. I wait for whatever she’s going to ask me that’s going to make me mad enough for her to say that.

“Promise? Okay, please promise?”

“I’m tired of promises,” I sigh.

“Okay. You weren’t trying to kill yourself, were you? Because that would be really, really stupid, Annabelle. You are such a great person. I love you, lots of people love you. And I would never want to think that you would even consider doing that. Let alone over some guy.”

I start to laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug, except that the one thing that didn’t occur to me through all of what was going on was trying to kill myself. “To answer your question, no. Of course not. I was just running. I had to run hard and fast, and I wanted to get away from everything.”

She nods and opens the door.

“You don’t know what happened, Maggie,” I say, sitting down on the couch. I want to explain everything to her. I don’t want her to think that I’m just some pathetic loser. There was a reason for everything that happened. Well, not everything.

“Yes, I do,” she nods.

“What?”

“Gatsby came by. After you were airlifted out of Runyon Canyon. Apparently, he heard about it on the news.”

“He came by?”

“Yes, he came by, and he told me everything. That’s when he offered to pay your bills.”

I stare at her. I don’t know what to think. When she says everything, does that mean everything about Atticus and their father? No, it couldn’t include that. But without that, none of this makes sense.