Page 37 of Cross + Catherine: The Companion

Has the patient ever self-harmed?

Has the patient ever self-medicated?

Untreated depression?

Trauma?

Words like mental health, emotional instability, and more harsh realities stared back at Catrina. The question that stood out the most above the others also burned the very worst.

Has the patient ever attempted suicide before?

No, she wanted to write. Yet, she didn’t put anything at all. How could she when she didn’t know for sure, and couldn’t currently ask her eighteen-year-old daughter?

How awful of a mother did it make her that she didn’t know the answers? That she was scared to ask? What would Catherine say?

How would Catrina respond if her daughter did actually tell her the truth?

A while back, Catrina watched—unsure of how to help or what to do—as her daughter faded further away from them, and too far out of reach. To where, Catrina hadn’t known. A dark place, surely.

Catrina saw Catherine come closer again—be vibrant and bright again.

Now … this.

Now, a fresh wound on a delicate wrist. Now, a bloodstained bathroom to clean. Now, a broken young woman to somehow save from herself.

A broken heart didn’t do something like this, Catrina knew.

A shattered mind did.

Hopelessness did this.

Wounded hearts did not.

“Mrs. Marcello?”

Catrina looked up to find a man peering down at her. Under his white lab coat, he wore a dress shirt, tie, and slacks. A doctor, most definitely.

“Yes?” she asked.

“I’m Doctor Powski. I was called in by the ER doctor to come down and assess your daughter’s case. I understand that you and your husband have requested she be put under a seventy-two hour psych hold.”

Catrina flinched. “For a suicide watch, yes.”

Powski glanced around. “Is your husband nearby so we can all sit down together and discuss—”

“He stepped out.”

Catrina offered no other information to the doctor. Dante wasn’t handling all of this very well. What else was there to say?

“Okay,” the doctor said, and then he took a seat beside hers. “First, I’ll give you an update on Catherine’s current state. If you would like that, of course.”

“Please.”

“She’s stable now that she’s had two blood transfusions. Her counts are looking positive, as well. She did have quite an amount of alcohol noted in her blood.”

“Likely—she downed two bottles of wine.”

The man nodded. “I see. Well, currently she’s sedated to allow her some time to rest, and continue to get fluids through the IV. Right now, she’s in a private room on this floor, but once the paperwork is signed for the seventy-two hour hold, she will be moved.”