Eve’s parents arrived at the hospital and after being notified of what had happened they held their daughter’s hands as they worried for her. Mrs. Montfort stroked Eve’s greasy hair away from her face and cried, while Mr. Montfort patted her shoulder to comfort her. They sorted out the things that needed to be sorted out for Eve, even though Eve was an adult she never had been responsible for cleaning up her own messes and this time was no different in that sense. When she was in good enough condition to leave the hospital, they took her home and even though they were all quite shaken up about what had happened, it was time for Eve to make a decision about her future recovery. Her parents sat her down and her mother cried some more as her father asked about her next steps. 

“You know we want to support you as best as we can, but quite frankly we don’t think you’ll be able to heal here at home, we’re not professionals, dear. We think you should consider getting professional help.”, Mr. Montfort said, the concern for his daughter evident on his face. 

“How did it come to this? Oh, my little girl, how could this happen to you? I should have raised you better, it’s my fault.”, Mrs. Montfort cried, hiding her face in her hands as she sobbed. Mr. Montfort put a comforting arm around her, but looked at Eve with sad eyes. Eve felt like she’d been run over by a bus, her whole body aching and still reeling mentally from what had happened so she burst out in tears right alongside her mother. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry mom,”, Eve got out through hiccups and sobs. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault, you did nothing wrong.”. 

Eve was still hesitant to go to rehab, but as the withdrawal symptoms soon reared their ugly heads, she resolved to get better and she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it on her own so she got ready to leave. Before she left she called her best friend, Audrey, and broke down as she confessed everything to her that she had been keeping to herself. Audrey wanted to drop everything and fly to visit her, as she lived quite far away, but as Eve was getting ready to go to rehab it wasn’t the best idea for her to delay her departure, so they decided that Audrey would come and stay with her after Eve came back from rehab. 

“Shouldn’t you call Irene as well and tell her what’s going on?”, Eve’s mother inquired, still tearful every time she talked to or even looked at her daughter, as they got ready to leave for rehab. 

“I’ll tell her when I’m better. Please, don’t tell her when I’m away. I don’t want her to see me like this.”, Eve pleaded with her mother as she took her arm and they walked to the car together, her father already waiting for them by the driver’s side. Her mother promised to keep it a secret, although Eve doubted Irene would even ask about her as they were broken up. She found comfort in the fact that Irene didn’t have to see her hit rock bottom like this. She wanted to shield her from all the ugly parts of herself. It was a relief that they were broken up so that Irene wouldn’t have to deal with this, Eve thought to herself. She missed Irene terribly and wished she could melt into her warm embrace, but ultimately it was for the best that they were apart for now. When she got better, that’s when she would apologize to Irene, that’s when she would do everything to show that she was worthy of her, that’s when she would get her back, for good. Irene was her one true love, she believed it with all her heart, she had always believed it and she was convinced that they would get through this. There was no obstacle they couldn’t get past, right? Eve didn’t want to doubt it, but she was afraid she had screwed it up too bad this time… but if she just managed to get sober, they would be okay. They had to be. 

.

As Eve struggled through each day in rehab, she gradually changed her mindset, she knew she couldn’t get sober just for other people, like Irene, her parents or Audrey, she had to get sober for herself. Some days she broke down completely and other days she felt she could get through it, but it was hard. It was harder than anything she had done. The time passed excruciatingly slowly and flew by at the same time. Her recovery was painful, but she held out hope for better days, even when her own body and mind scared her with how intensely she felt everything and how little control over herself she felt she had. 

Eve was sitting by the window, trying to recall her memories with Irene, for a glimpse of light in what felt like a never-ending darkness, but she had noticed that her brain didn’t want to work like it should. The details were hazy and she felt like her memories were slipping just out of reach every time she tried to grasp them. Being on the path to recovery had made her realize that this wasn’t new, although it had gotten worse after her overdose. She had had trouble remembering before, her memory had gotten worse and worse as time went on, but she had tried to ignore it, not wanting to acknowledge the signs that something was wrong, because that meant she had to do something about it. Doing something about it meant changing something and deep down she had known it had been the drinking and drugs causing it, and so she had known she would have had to give them up and back then she wasn’t ready for it. It scared her now. What if it got even worse? What if she wouldn’t be able to remember Irene and all their time together? She had to get better. Nothing was worth forgetting the love of her life. 

.

Eve had hoped that after getting out of rehab everything would feel a lot better, but every day was a struggle. Sometimes it felt even worse, more difficult, to be out of rehab. In rehab there had been no opportunities to get alcohol or drugs, outside was a different story. Thankfully, Eve’s parents and Audrey were there to support her. They helped her pour out all her liquor and to get rid of her stash of drugs, it took everything in Eve not to lie and keep some of it hidden. Mr. and Mrs. Montfort had locked all their alcohol up, removing any wine bottles that had been on display and only they had the keys to where they kept their liquor now. Audrey watched over Eve as she deleted any and all her dealers numbers from her phone. It was also decided that Eve would not have access to any of her cards or bank accounts until her parents felt she could be trusted and responsible for her own money. The amount of money her “friends” had robbed her off was no small amount and her parents felt they couldn't trust her to manage her own accounts during her recovery, especially since having access to money would only tempt her to buy alcohol or drugs. 

Time passed and Audrey helped Eve keep a good sleep schedule, waking her at a reasonable hour and making sure she went to sleep on time. She also made sure that Eve got enough exercise, taking her along for a jog every morning and additionally had her try different sports and forms of exercise in hopes of finding something she could do long-term. Eve ended up rediscovering fencing, which she had done for a bit as a kid, but quickly had abandoned as she was more into singing and songwriting. Now she had time for both fencing and songwriting as she didn’t have anything else going on in her life besides her recovery. Mrs. Montfort suggested Eve try equestrian sports, going as far as offering to buy her a horse, as she had read somewhere that pets can help with sobriety. Eve declined as she felt it was too big of a commitment and explained how the exercise kept her body busy and the songwriting helped her sort out her thoughts and feelings. Mr. Montfort ordered the staff to only serve the healthiest of healthy meals and they sat down as family every evening to eat dinner together like always, Audrey included of course. 

Audrey stayed with the Montfort’s for a month, until she had to get back to her own life. Eve appreciated her leaving everything to be there for her, but understood that it was time for her to go back. Audrey had helped Eve transition into some healthy routines after rehab and she hoped it would last even after she left. She could see how much effort Eve was putting into getting through each day and she was proud of her. They promised to call each other every day. Audrey also made Eve promise to call anytime she needed her and she would drop everything to come back to her. They hadn’t talked much about Irene and the break up, Audrey was scared it would distract Eve from her recovery, but she hoped everything would work out for the best for both of them. 

Audrey and Eve said a tearful goodbye to each other as Audrey left for the airport. Eve now had to figure out how to be sober on her own, granted she still had her parents but they couldn’t join her for everything they way Audrey had. Eve was grateful for her best friend and parents, now she had to dig even deeper to truly heal.