Chapter 1

As she sat in her cold, empty house alone Iain's words rang in her ears like repetitive chants from bullies, although they were much louder. Pathetic. Insane. Get some help. Stay away from me. Pathetic. Insane. Pathetic. Insane. Get some help. Stay away from me.

He had seen her legs and her hips, both littered with scars, numerous times – he knew she was ill. Some of the scars were much older, but some were recent – and Rita had added some more to her left hip since Iain broke up with her. He knew how bad she had gotten in the past – and he had the indecency to call her insane.

Get some help. She had tried to get help in the past, but with the NHS being so overrun she was told that she'd be alright; exercise, talk to your friends, and take time out of your day to de-stress yourself were what the GP had told her. She did exercise; it didn't help. Now she had no friends. And to think that Rita ever had time to take a break was stupid; she was always busy.

Stay away from me. All she had ever wanted was to be closer to him. Now she was alone – completely alone. In a matter of a week she had lost Iain, Louise, Robyn, Noel, and every other person at the ED. Most people that Rita had been friends with before she worked at Holby abandoned her either when they found out that her husband was a pedophile or when she was taken into a psychiatric hospital following Mark's arrest.

Rita hadn't drunk any alcohol in ages, since Ash had stopped her, but she knew that no-one was going to visit today and stop her from passing out on the living room floor. Rita had somehow survived this week sober, but that was about to end.

Rita took £45 out of her purse, knowing she could buy exactly 3 bottles of Vodka with that money, and walked to the corner shop at the end of her street.

By the time Rita was half way through her second bottle of Vodka she was questioning why she was doing this. Not the drinking, but the living. With no friends, no family, and no-one who loved her there wasn't a reason to live anymore. Rita had seen the hostile reception that Elle had been met with, and she was only trying to do the right thing, and she couldn't imagine how harshly she would have been treated if she went into work again. She saw no reason to bother.

The thought suddenly hit Rita to kill herself.

It terrified her, but she knew that she had no other choice.

After finishing the Vodka that she had bought that evening and finding a belt that she would be able to use to hang herself with he knew it was too late. She couldn't change her mind now – and she didn't want to.

Ellie, Rita's younger sister, decided to visit Rita that same evening, although she hadn't told Rita because she wanted it to be a surprise. Ellie and Rita usually saw each other once a week, or sometimes more often, but Rita had been so pre-occupied recently that it had been nearly 2 weeks since the pair had seen each other.

When Ellie arrived at Rita's house she knocked hard on the door, but Rita didn't hear – she was already hanging from her bedroom ceiling. Ellie continued to knock and wait until 10 minutes had passed. Rita was definitely in because the hallway, living room, and bathroom lights were turned on.

Ellie decided to pull the door handle down and found that the door was unlocked, which was unusual for Rita, but she walked into the house anyway.

"Rita?" Ellie looking into the dining room/kitchen as well as the living room, although she only found Rita's cat, Oscar.

Venturing upstairs Ellie continued to call her sisters name, checking the bathroom in case Rita had fallen asleep whilst having a bath after a long shift at the hospital. The only other room that Ellie hadn't checked for her sister was the bedroom.

Ellie was in two minds about checking the bedroom, thinking that Rita may have been too tired to turn off the lights, or she had forgotten, and that she was now asleep in bed. Ellie didn't want to disturb Rita, especially if she was asleep, because she knew how difficult and tiring being a nurse was for Rita, but she finally decided to quietly open the door slightly to check.

Luckily the door didn't make a noise as it was opened so Ellie was able to silently look into the room, her breathing the only sound that could be heard throughout the whole house. The bed was empty. But then something caught Ellie's eye.

It was Rita.

This story has practically written itself so far – and I'm really proud of it. This past week or so I've actually been proud of what I've written so I hope to keep that going for as long as possible. I'm going away on Thursday until Sunday – to Scotland – so I won't be able to actually upload anything but I hope to be able to write whilst I'm there, especially on the 3 hour train journeys to and from.

Anyone who wants Dylan to be a friend to Rita after her lies and other recent events, this story is for you – Dylan will feature from chapter 3 or 4.