“Kevin…wake up, son…,” Thomas shook me on the shoulder.
“Yeah…yeah…what? What happened to the old man…?” I asked.
“He’s at the hospital, Kevin, he had a stroke.” The words sunk in slowly. I felt that I needed more information from my old roommate, but if he had a stroke, how in the world was I supposed to get it?
“But…..but…..,” I tried to speak, but words just couldn’t come to me. There was no way I could explain to Thomas what the old man had told me. I decided to just store the information away till I needed it.
Good idea.
“C’mon, Kev, let’s get you back to bed.” I got up and followed Thomas through the hallway. As we passed the Quiet Room, I looked inside and noticed that Mary was still in there, fast asleep.
“I guess she won’t be coming out anytime soon.”
“Not until we believe she won’t burn herself again. There will be severe penalties for anybody that gives that girl a cigarette - including you, hotshot. Got it?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied. I looked toward Mary again.
Kevin.
Uh oh.
I turned away from Mary. We arrived at my room.
“You get some sleep, okay?” And Thomas walked off, leaving me at the doorway of my room. How was I supposed to get some sleep? My roommate had just had a stroke, I had just had a massive nap, must’ve been at least an hour, and right about now my mind was going about a million miles a minute. My thoughts were flowing free and fast and I truly did not know what to do about it.
Kevin.
Oh, please, no. Not now.
I went in to my room and grabbed the cup of water that was sitting on the dresser. He had said to keep water with me at all times. What could he have meant by that? Why would I need water? What was I in for? And right about now, I was wondering exactly what that voice in my head was. I decided that none of these questions was going to be answered tonight, so I took off my clothes and decided to dig in to the Bible that my dad had brought me.
I opened it up to the index to see if there was any indication of what kind of scripture may be helpful for a man that was in the kind of bind that I was. Was there a reading in the bible that dealt with the kind of trip that I was experiencing right now? And right now I really was experiencing a trip. Everybody I talked to, everybody I interacted with seemed to convey a different message to me. Everybody seemed to have their own little bit of information that I alone was supposed to interpret and use.
You’re not alone.
And, of course, there was that. That little voice inside of me that I just couldn’t seem to figure out. And I also felt that the time available in which to rescue Christian was winding down. How could I get to him? What was I supposed to do? Wait, what’s this, there’s a note on the back inside cover of the Bible:
TO KEVIN - MAY THE LORD ALWAYS EQUIP YOU WITH WHAT YOU NEED – Dad. This was a little bizarre. Dad wasn’t the note writer in the family, that was mom’s thing. What’s this? As I opened up the Bible a little more, I could notice an indention in the back cover. There was something actually sewn in to the book. I bent the back cover and the spot where the indention was split open to reveal……a razor blade! It was stashed in its own little leather holder. This was TOO strange. Why would dad give me a razor blade? I heard footsteps. I stuck the blade underneath my mattress. Thomas walked in.
“Kevin, I realize that you may not be able to sleep because of the big nap you just had. Would you like to come in to the TV room and talk to me for a little while?” He seemed amicable enough about it, so I took him up on his offer. We walked down to the TV room and sat in the same place where we had talked earlier in the day.
“Kevin, there’s a few things that you have to do to get out of here,” Thomas said. I felt like I had heard this speech a million times before. When I was in the hospital years ago, this little situation had happened quite a few times - with mom, dad, Amy, doctors…everybody. And I could never see their side of the argument. However, right about now, I was willing to do anything it took in order to get a little more freedom. Christian couldn’t be THAT far away. This hospital was only SO big.
“I know, take the medication, do the therapy, not be violent. I understand.”
“I hope you do understand, Kevin, because the next stop for you if you don’t understand….is jail.” Wait, he had never known about my crime. Why would he be insinuating jail? This wasn’t making sense.
“Got it, BOY?” He looked at me hard. I returned the stare. At the moment I had to acquiesce.
“Yes, SIR.”
“Now, why don’t we just sit down and watch a little TV?” Frankly, I’d had enough TV today. However, I didn’t have much choice but to do what Thomas said. So I settled in to a seat on a nearby couch and watched as Thomas clicked on the set.
Right about now, the situation I was in was way out of my control and I had no idea what to do about any of it. My main goal was to run this maze well enough so I could actually figure out where Christian was and then get word to my dad. The conversations with Darc, Dr. Melcher, Dad, Thomas, and my old roommate, were really wigging me out though. What did it all mean? What was I supposed to do about it? And what’s up with the voice?
All in due time.
Whatever.
“Yeah…yeah…what? What happened to the old man…?” I asked.
“He’s at the hospital, Kevin, he had a stroke.” The words sunk in slowly. I felt that I needed more information from my old roommate, but if he had a stroke, how in the world was I supposed to get it?
“But…..but…..,” I tried to speak, but words just couldn’t come to me. There was no way I could explain to Thomas what the old man had told me. I decided to just store the information away till I needed it.
Good idea.
“C’mon, Kev, let’s get you back to bed.” I got up and followed Thomas through the hallway. As we passed the Quiet Room, I looked inside and noticed that Mary was still in there, fast asleep.
“I guess she won’t be coming out anytime soon.”
“Not until we believe she won’t burn herself again. There will be severe penalties for anybody that gives that girl a cigarette - including you, hotshot. Got it?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied. I looked toward Mary again.
Kevin.
Uh oh.
I turned away from Mary. We arrived at my room.
“You get some sleep, okay?” And Thomas walked off, leaving me at the doorway of my room. How was I supposed to get some sleep? My roommate had just had a stroke, I had just had a massive nap, must’ve been at least an hour, and right about now my mind was going about a million miles a minute. My thoughts were flowing free and fast and I truly did not know what to do about it.
Kevin.
Oh, please, no. Not now.
I went in to my room and grabbed the cup of water that was sitting on the dresser. He had said to keep water with me at all times. What could he have meant by that? Why would I need water? What was I in for? And right about now, I was wondering exactly what that voice in my head was. I decided that none of these questions was going to be answered tonight, so I took off my clothes and decided to dig in to the Bible that my dad had brought me.
I opened it up to the index to see if there was any indication of what kind of scripture may be helpful for a man that was in the kind of bind that I was. Was there a reading in the bible that dealt with the kind of trip that I was experiencing right now? And right now I really was experiencing a trip. Everybody I talked to, everybody I interacted with seemed to convey a different message to me. Everybody seemed to have their own little bit of information that I alone was supposed to interpret and use.
You’re not alone.
And, of course, there was that. That little voice inside of me that I just couldn’t seem to figure out. And I also felt that the time available in which to rescue Christian was winding down. How could I get to him? What was I supposed to do? Wait, what’s this, there’s a note on the back inside cover of the Bible:
TO KEVIN - MAY THE LORD ALWAYS EQUIP YOU WITH WHAT YOU NEED – Dad. This was a little bizarre. Dad wasn’t the note writer in the family, that was mom’s thing. What’s this? As I opened up the Bible a little more, I could notice an indention in the back cover. There was something actually sewn in to the book. I bent the back cover and the spot where the indention was split open to reveal……a razor blade! It was stashed in its own little leather holder. This was TOO strange. Why would dad give me a razor blade? I heard footsteps. I stuck the blade underneath my mattress. Thomas walked in.
“Kevin, I realize that you may not be able to sleep because of the big nap you just had. Would you like to come in to the TV room and talk to me for a little while?” He seemed amicable enough about it, so I took him up on his offer. We walked down to the TV room and sat in the same place where we had talked earlier in the day.
“Kevin, there’s a few things that you have to do to get out of here,” Thomas said. I felt like I had heard this speech a million times before. When I was in the hospital years ago, this little situation had happened quite a few times - with mom, dad, Amy, doctors…everybody. And I could never see their side of the argument. However, right about now, I was willing to do anything it took in order to get a little more freedom. Christian couldn’t be THAT far away. This hospital was only SO big.
“I know, take the medication, do the therapy, not be violent. I understand.”
“I hope you do understand, Kevin, because the next stop for you if you don’t understand….is jail.” Wait, he had never known about my crime. Why would he be insinuating jail? This wasn’t making sense.
“Got it, BOY?” He looked at me hard. I returned the stare. At the moment I had to acquiesce.
“Yes, SIR.”
“Now, why don’t we just sit down and watch a little TV?” Frankly, I’d had enough TV today. However, I didn’t have much choice but to do what Thomas said. So I settled in to a seat on a nearby couch and watched as Thomas clicked on the set.
Right about now, the situation I was in was way out of my control and I had no idea what to do about any of it. My main goal was to run this maze well enough so I could actually figure out where Christian was and then get word to my dad. The conversations with Darc, Dr. Melcher, Dad, Thomas, and my old roommate, were really wigging me out though. What did it all mean? What was I supposed to do about it? And what’s up with the voice?
All in due time.
Whatever.