Richard Hartmetz

It's often disorienting to wake up in a strange place, a different bed... Especially if you weren't expecting to wake up at all... The last thing I remember, is closing my eyes, for what I thought would be the last time. When I finally awoke, my head was really screwed up. I wasn't sure if I had really done it, whether this was the afterlife, if there was such a thing, or if I had screwed up once again."You're going to be all right..." someone said hesitantly. The way she looked didn't fill me with much confidence though. I could feel the pinch of a needle as it entered my arm, a strange taste cascaded across my tongue and I became light-headed. The adrenaline surge kick-started the remaining portions of my brain and I suddenly realized where I was. This was a hospital! A goddam emergency room! I had screwed up again. I was still alive. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Everything went black...* * * * *When four boys, from vastly different backgrounds, wake up in a run-down, prison-like psychiatric facility, after separate suicide attempts, they struggle to adjust to life inside and each other, as their therapist attempts to discover what brought them to this point to begin with. Eventually, they are thrown together as unlikely allies against the dictatorial administrator of the facility, and the cruel guards, dealing with depression, neglect, racism, sexual abuse, physical abuse, homophobia, loneliness, friendship, and life itself. Will they all make it back to the outside world alive?* * * * *This story deals with the very real scourge of teenage depression and suicide in the most realistic manner possible, peeking into the lives of four very different young men as they encounter life's struggles and how to deal with them. It shows the terrible conditions that existed in early psychiatric facilities, but could take place anywhere, at any time, with anyone's children.

Richard Hartmetz

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