No Pills, No Dog, No Reason to Live

I suffer from severe depression, while Jayden Sherwell's best friend, Mindy Quest, is always quick to call people out for being dramatic. When my condition flares up, Mindy poisons the emotional support dog that has been by my side for five years. When I learn about Teddy's death, I break down and try to kill myself. Mindy locks me alone in the bedroom. "Suicide is just stupid. She's trying to kill herself over a dog? Just leave her alone to think things through," Mindy says. I pound on the door. My hands tremble as I grip a knife and hover it over my wrist. I keep telling myself over and over that I can't kill myself. I crawl to the drawer and search for my antidepressants, but it's empty. Mindy's smug laughter rings out from outside the door. "I just flushed them down the toilet. Just hang in there. Taking medication for years has made you stupid. "Now you try to kill yourself over every little thing." My physical symptoms become severe. I lie on the floor, struggling to breathe as I fight to call out to Jayden for help. Unable to bear watching me suffer, Jayden opens the door, but the moment he touches me, he takes two steps back. "Mindy is right. You aren't depressed. You're just being dramatic," he says. "You can't expect us to cater to you forever. Just hang in there. You'll be better soon." I collapse over Teddy's cold body, and whatever warmth remains in my heart disappears. At that moment, I feel as if I completely lose the will to go on living. Chapter 1 Zoe's POV I held Teddy's body in my arms as overwhelming emotions crashed over me. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't even make a sound. Mindy Quest looked disgusted. "Some people are just too dramatic. It's only a dog. Even without the poison, I would've had it put down anyway." A flash of pity crossed Jayden Sherwell's eyes, and he stepped forward to help me out of habit. "Get up. We can talk about this." As he spoke, he turned and ordered, "Charmaine, take the dog out and throw it in the trash." "Don't touch Teddy!" I screamed with all my might. I held Teddy's body even tighter as the voices around me slowly became muffled and distant. The emotional support dog was the pet my mom left me before she died. Whenever my physical symptoms acted up, Teddy would nuzzle me with its wet nose. That was what helped me hold on until now. After Dad cheated on Mom and left, Mom and I only had each other. Mom developed severe depression and killed herself by slashing her wrists in our bathtub. Bright red blood spilled over the edge of the bathtub and spread across the floor to my feet. The trauma left me depressed, and Jayden immediately decided to marry me. "I'll never leave you. I'll stay by your side until the day you recover," he had said. The gentle face of Jayden I once knew no longer seemed to belong to the indifferent man standing before me. Jayden watched me lose control, and suddenly, there was nothing but exhaustion in his eyes. "Can you stop this? Mindy is only trying to help you," he said. "You can't depend on a dog to keep you alive forever. Teddy was going to die someday. Sooner or later, you have to face it." I stared at Jayden. It felt like an enormous weight was pressing down on my chest, leaving me struggling to breathe. But I couldn't die yet. "Give me my medication back. Please…" I pleaded. Jayden slipped his hand into his pocket. When Mindy heard the pill bottle rattle, she stopped him. "If you keep indulging her like this, she'll always be this dramatic. Don't you know you're hurting her?" He hesitated for a moment but still didn't hand me the pill bottle. "Zoe, you need to understand that I'm doing this for your own good. If I help you move past this sooner, you won't have to keep suffering." After saying that, Jayden locked the door again. He took Teddy's body with him and told Charmaine Blitz, the housekeeper, in a low voice, "Just burn the dog. Don't let Zoe see it again." The moment the door clicked shut, I completely lost the strength to fight. I swallowed the sleeping pills left in my pocket, one after another. Chapter 2 Zoe's POV My mental state kept getting worse. The next day, I practically stumbled into the psychiatry department. "Doctor, please prescribe me some more antidepressants," I pleaded. The psychiatrist treating me glanced at my file and lightly tapped the page with his finger. "Your family has canceled your treatment and stopped paying for it, so I can't prescribe you any medication for now." A loud ringing filled my ears. Jayden's name was written in the signature field. Before I could even process it, my boss called me. He was furious. "The depression-related position at our company is for people who actually need it. How dare you pretend to be sick when you're not? You're a disgrace to society! "Pack your things and get lost, or we'll call the police and report you for fraud!" He hung up without giving me a chance to explain and blocked my number. The accusation that I was faking my illness cut me to the core. I stumbled home in a daze, then finally snapped and confronted Jayden with tearful eyes. "Why are you telling everyone that I'm not clinically depressed?" Jayden rubbed his forehead, his voice full of impatience. "You never had depression. I just spoiled you too much over the years. "Besides, depression isn't something to be proud of. Do you really need to keep telling everyone about it?" With those words, he dismissed five years of my suffering as if it meant nothing. I tensed up when I heard a noise from the bedroom and quickly rushed inside. Mindy was packing up Mom's keepsakes, tossing them into plastic bags like they were trash. "Let go! Those are all my mom's things!" I yelled. Mindy grabbed the plastic bag tightly and showed no sign of letting go. "Seeing these things all the time is why you're suicidal. Getting rid of them is good for you!" With that, she tossed a photo of Mom and me into the bag. With a sharp crack, the glass split in two, and a crack ran between our faces, completely separating Mom and me. I rushed over and clenched the broken frame tightly in my palm as blood dripped down my arm onto the floor. Mindy reached over to snatch it from me, but a shard of glass cut her finger. She cried out in pain, and Jayden immediately rushed in and held her injured finger in his hands. "Even if you're trying to help Zoe, you need to take care of yourself. Don't you know you can't stand the sight of blood?" he said to Mindy. I stood there as the blood pooling around my foot soaked into the carpet. I dug my fingertips into the broken wood of the frame, and I didn't even feel my nails splitting. Jayden finished treating Mindy's wounds before finally turning around to face me. "So what if it's broken? I'll have someone glue the frame back together later. It'll look just the same." "Shut up!" I glared at him. Mindy glanced at me. Her eyes welled up with tears. Then, she pushed Jayden aside and ran out. Jayden chased after her for a few steps, then turned back and pulled me into his arms. Exhaustion was showing in his eyes. "Mindy is my best friend. She only did it because she wants us to stay together for a long time. Don't be so hostile toward her. "Just take your anger out on me whenever you can't control your emotions. From now on, don't give her attitude. Please, I'm begging you." His heavy voice was filled with fatigue he could no longer hide. In his eyes, Mindy was bright and sunny, just like Dad's mistress had been to him. Mom, his wife of so many years, could never compare. Now that I looked at Jayden, I realized he was no different from Dad. But I didn't want to end up like Mom. I pushed him away and reached into my pocket for the signed divorce papers. I took a deep breath and said, "Jayden, we're…" Chapter 3 Zoe's POV Just then, Mindy called out to Jayden from outside the door, cutting me off. "We're having a class reunion tomorrow. Mindy specifically invited you. It might help with your depression, and I'll go with you," Jayden hurriedly interrupted, planted a quick kiss on my forehead, and went after Mindy without hesitation. … The next day, Jayden came back to pick me up as promised, giving me no choice in the matter. When we reached the private dining room, Mindy boldly slammed a glass of liquor down in front of me. "Let's have a drink and put what happened yesterday behind us." "Just drink it." Jayden pushed the glass toward me. "Mindy is sincerely apologizing to you. Don't make things difficult for her." I didn't take it. I just stared at him in disbelief. I remembered how I had an allergic reaction to alcohol at our wedding and had to be rushed to the hospital that same night. Jayden had been wearing his scuffed and torn suit, sobbing uncontrollably, "I didn't know you were allergic to alcohol. It's all my fault!" After that, we never had so much as a drop of alcohol in our home. I pushed the glass away. "I'm not drinking." Jayden's expression immediately darkened. "Mindy means well. Don't embarrass her." The other guys around him chimed in. "Come on, Zoe! None of us have judged you for acting crazy. Don't make this awkward." "Honestly, we're risking our lives just to have a drink with you. What's wrong with taking one sip?" As they spoke, someone suddenly forced the liquor into my mouth. I struggled desperately and grabbed the fruit knife from the table without thinking, forcing them back. Just then, Mindy pretended to reach for the knife and suddenly brushed her arm against the blade. "Ouch! I was only trying to help you. How could you turn a knife on me?" She covered her bloody arm and burst into tears, sobbing into her hands. Everyone in the private dining room gasped. Jayden snatched the knife away, undisguised hatred clearly showing in his eyes. "It's one thing for you to try to kill yourself, but how could you hurt someone else with a knife? Do you expect me to spend the rest of my life dealing with your mess?" The fury in his eyes made my whole body tremble uncontrollably. Some people screamed. Others bandaged Mindy's wound while some kept their distance from me. Their mocking voices rang in my ears. "I can't believe she's really crazy. She's just as terrifying as her mom!" "A nutcase like her belongs in a psychiatric hospital. If she comes out and injures others, that's on her!" "What did Mindy ever do to you? She went out of her way to arrange this for you. How could you be so cruel to her?" My legs went weak, everything in front of me blurred, and the sounds around me became muffled. Jayden's face slowly came back into focus. His eyes were blazing with rage. "Zoe, when are you going to leave me alone? Stop ruining other people's lives! Is it so hard to let me live a normal life?" So every time I had cried for help while barely holding on, all he saw was me ruining his life. The last bit of hope I had held onto vanished completely. I gave a weak smile, picked up the knife from the floor, and aimed it at my abdomen. The color drained from Jayden's face. "Don't touch her!" He thought I was about to hurt Mindy again and charged toward me, knocking me away without hesitation. I hit the floor hard, and a sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen. As Jayden stared at me in shock, everything went black. A horrifying pool of blood spread beneath me. Chapter 4 Zoe's POV When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed in a psychiatric hospital. All four of my limbs were strapped down, and I couldn't move at all. Panic hit me at once. "Why am I tied down?" I yelled. Jayden's voice came from the glass observation room in front of me. "Zoe, what you did earlier was far too dangerous. The doctor recommended electroshock therapy. It might cure you right away." My blood boiled. "I'm not crazy! My body won't be able to take that! As soon as I said that, Mindy appeared beside my bed in a white coat. She was holding the remote for the electroshock device. "If I say you're mentally ill, then you are. Jayden and I have been close for years. Of course he believes me," she said. "He even believed me when I told him the blood on you was your period blood." Only then did I realize that there was a little life growing inside me, one neither Jayden nor I had known about. I looked down at my abdomen, tears welling in my eyes. "Don't give me that look. If I cure your depression, you can thank me afterward," Mindy said. As she spoke, she pressed the remote for a large screen. I was hit with a wave of shock. The screen began playing security footage of Mom taking her life in the bathtub. She lay in the tub full of water, calling my name into the camera. "Zoe, don't ever let a man put you through what I went through." Mom's face was filled with despair as she slowly pressed the blade into her pale wrist. "Mom, no!" I screamed. The pain in my chest became unbearable. I fought against my restraints with all my strength and broke down sobbing. Mindy's sinister laughter rang in my ears. "Can't take it already? This is only the first step of exposure therapy. There's still a second step." In the very next moment, Mindy raised the remote and turned on the electroshock device. As the current intensified, my body gradually went numb, but my mind was still clear for brief moments. The lights blurred together, and the physical and emotional torment left me staring blankly. Jayden's voice came from the room next door, sounding panicked, "Isn't that enough? Let her out." "The psychiatrist said the electroshock needs to last for 20 minutes. Just wait a little longer," Mindy replied. Jayden stepped back and said nothing more. In the enclosed room, the pain in my lower abdomen grew more intense. I looked down and saw a horrifying amount of blood. The baby had to be gone. I couldn't take it anymore. Tears streamed down my face as I begged, "Jayden, let me out. I'm pregnant!" "Just hang in there a little longer. If this really cures you, we can finally have a normal life," Jayden said. "Didn't you want a child? As long as you listen to me, I'll make that wish come true." Just a few days ago, he had held me in his arms in bed and said he wanted to have a child with me. He said, "Our baby will probably take after you more. They'll be smart and beautiful." That baby was gone forever. I let out a bitter laugh and shook my head as I watched Jayden and Mindy laughing and chatting in the room next door. Then, I freed myself, yanked out the burning-hot wire beside my bed, and drove it into my body. In an instant, a searing jolt of pain shot through me, bringing a sense of relief unlike anything I had ever felt. … Third-Person POV On his way back with dinner, Jayden saw a young nurse hurrying in one direction. "The new patient, Ms. Statton, tried to kill herself! Notify her family right away!" Jayden's heart skipped a beat, and for some reason, he followed the nurse to see what had happened. He anxiously pushed through the crowd, then froze at the sight of the pool of blood.