“No!” I screamed. “No!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I jumped up from my seat and stared down at Darc.
“Cool it, bro. No need to tweak,” he said, waving his hands.
“NO NEED TO TWEAK?” I shouted. I couldn’t help it. I was practically shaking. I had no clue what was going on.
“Relax, Kev, relax. Sit down.” He motioned toward the bench as he put out his smoke with his shoe.
“What…what’s going on?” I asked, sitting down.
“You’ll figure it out.” And he smiled at me. The bastard smiled at me! I wanted to knock his teeth out.
“No, no, I will not figure this out. I do not want to figure this out. This is not what I want.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Kev.”
“You little shit, you better fuckin tell me what’s going on or I’ll smear your white ass so far and wide even an autopsy won’t be possible.” I was beyond pissed.
“Kev, one thing you’re going to learn is that around here,” he looked around us and continued, “negativity gets you nothing but a trip to the Quiet Room.”
“Motherfucker, tell me what just happened!” I must’ve been too loud, because Thomas came walking over.
“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” He said gentlemen, but he looked at me.
“No, no problem,” I said, eyes still on Darc, who simply smiled at Thomas and then at me.
“We don’t want any trouble, do we Kevin?” Thomas said.
“No, no trouble.”
“Good, keep it that way.”
Relax.
FUCK YOU!
“C’mon boys, time for breakfast.” We got up and followed Thomas inside.
---------------
This time, after grabbing our preferred menu items, Darc and I sat alone.
“What was that out there?”
“What was what?”
“You….what were you doing while we were sitting out there?”
“I was smoking, what did you think I was doing?” He noshed on a muffin.
“I…..heard something.”
“What did you hear?” he asked.
“I heard a voice in my head.”
“What did it tell you?” he wasn’t looking at me, he was still intently working on his muffin.
“It said….something its never said before.”
“Must’ve been something hella interesting for you to start screaming the way you did.”
“I don’t know if we should be talking about this,” I said, turning toward my food. What if what I heard was just my own crazy mind and not something real?
Motherfucker, stop doubting yourself. Your wussy little bitchass is making me sick.
Is that you, Darc?
Hell yeah it's me. Do me a favor and don’t talk about this shit. Just fuckin eat your food, would you?
Um…okay. You are going to have to explain a shitload of stuff to me, though.
Whatever, just fuckin eat for now though. Geez, you’re giving me a headache.
So I dug in to my breakfast, my mind running at full speed over what was going on. I could not believe what was happening. I guess this could be called telepathy. What it couldn’t be called was normal.
After breakfast there was a choice of things to do, none of which sounded interesting. There was anger management, relationship therapy, or if you didn’t want to do either of those you could just watch TV. Darc and I found our way in to anger management.
The room was full of big overstuffed bean bag chairs. Darc and I sat next to each other while three other patients made their way in to the huge seats. One of them was the guy I had seen during my first day at the hospital. I still didn’t know his name. I just remembered him as the guy with the taped-up glasses. He was still wearing the hunting cap.
“Everybody comfortable?” the therapist was a short white guy with white hair. “My name is Johnathan. Today we’re going to be doing some work on our tempers. Does anybody have anything specific they’d like to talk about? Maybeeeee…..what’s your name, Sir?” He was looking at me.
“Kevin.”
“Kevin, fine. Do you have a problem with your temper?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you usually do when a problem arises?”
“I try to ignore it.”
“And what happens when that doesn’t work?”
“Something bad.”
“Well, the goal of our little group today is to keep bad things from happening when we’re not able to control our tempers.” And then the spiel started. I tuned out, and I guess Darc did too, because he immediately showed up in my head.
Love of my life, where have you been all these years?
You are SUCH an asshole…
Why is that, Kev?
Couldn’t you have told me about this in person?
Told you what, that I’m a telepath? That explanation usually doesn’t go over too well, Numbnuts.
What is going on, Darc?
What do you mean?
Why does everything seem so different in here? Why did the old man tell me what he did? Why are you able to speak to me telepathically? And for goodness sake, how the FUCK do I get out of here?
Well, this place is different for everybody. The old man told you what he did because that’s what he does. I don’t really have an explanation for why I can speak to you like this, I just can. And getting out of here is a bitch and a half. To be honest, I don’t know how myself. I already shared my best idea with you and obviously it didn’t work too fuckin well.
Oh my God, I can’t handle this.
Dude, none of us can, that’s why we’re here.
You don’t get it, I’m here by mistake.
No one is here by mistake. We’re all here for different reasons.
What’s my reason?
Like I know. Dude…I don’t know anything about your shit. I’m too busy worrying about my own.
How can we be doing what we’re doing?
Dude…there are a lot of things that can’t be explained.
Obviously.
So don’t trip about it, and just enjoy it. No reason to bug out.
You’ve had time to get used to this. I’m not quite as versed as you are.
You’ll get there. Just chill out and have a good time.
I’ve got more on my mind than that.
Like what?
There’s something very important about this place.
Gonna tell me about it or do I have to kick you in the nuts a few times?
My son is here.
Niiiiiice. You’ve got your work cut out for you.
What do you mean?
“Kevin, would you like to join our discussion or are you in your own little world over there?” Johnathan’s words broke my concentration. I decided that this conversation was one better finished when I only had to worry about one activity at a time.
Later.
Oh yes.
“Cool it, bro. No need to tweak,” he said, waving his hands.
“NO NEED TO TWEAK?” I shouted. I couldn’t help it. I was practically shaking. I had no clue what was going on.
“Relax, Kev, relax. Sit down.” He motioned toward the bench as he put out his smoke with his shoe.
“What…what’s going on?” I asked, sitting down.
“You’ll figure it out.” And he smiled at me. The bastard smiled at me! I wanted to knock his teeth out.
“No, no, I will not figure this out. I do not want to figure this out. This is not what I want.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Kev.”
“You little shit, you better fuckin tell me what’s going on or I’ll smear your white ass so far and wide even an autopsy won’t be possible.” I was beyond pissed.
“Kev, one thing you’re going to learn is that around here,” he looked around us and continued, “negativity gets you nothing but a trip to the Quiet Room.”
“Motherfucker, tell me what just happened!” I must’ve been too loud, because Thomas came walking over.
“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” He said gentlemen, but he looked at me.
“No, no problem,” I said, eyes still on Darc, who simply smiled at Thomas and then at me.
“We don’t want any trouble, do we Kevin?” Thomas said.
“No, no trouble.”
“Good, keep it that way.”
Relax.
FUCK YOU!
“C’mon boys, time for breakfast.” We got up and followed Thomas inside.
---------------
This time, after grabbing our preferred menu items, Darc and I sat alone.
“What was that out there?”
“What was what?”
“You….what were you doing while we were sitting out there?”
“I was smoking, what did you think I was doing?” He noshed on a muffin.
“I…..heard something.”
“What did you hear?” he asked.
“I heard a voice in my head.”
“What did it tell you?” he wasn’t looking at me, he was still intently working on his muffin.
“It said….something its never said before.”
“Must’ve been something hella interesting for you to start screaming the way you did.”
“I don’t know if we should be talking about this,” I said, turning toward my food. What if what I heard was just my own crazy mind and not something real?
Motherfucker, stop doubting yourself. Your wussy little bitchass is making me sick.
Is that you, Darc?
Hell yeah it's me. Do me a favor and don’t talk about this shit. Just fuckin eat your food, would you?
Um…okay. You are going to have to explain a shitload of stuff to me, though.
Whatever, just fuckin eat for now though. Geez, you’re giving me a headache.
So I dug in to my breakfast, my mind running at full speed over what was going on. I could not believe what was happening. I guess this could be called telepathy. What it couldn’t be called was normal.
After breakfast there was a choice of things to do, none of which sounded interesting. There was anger management, relationship therapy, or if you didn’t want to do either of those you could just watch TV. Darc and I found our way in to anger management.
The room was full of big overstuffed bean bag chairs. Darc and I sat next to each other while three other patients made their way in to the huge seats. One of them was the guy I had seen during my first day at the hospital. I still didn’t know his name. I just remembered him as the guy with the taped-up glasses. He was still wearing the hunting cap.
“Everybody comfortable?” the therapist was a short white guy with white hair. “My name is Johnathan. Today we’re going to be doing some work on our tempers. Does anybody have anything specific they’d like to talk about? Maybeeeee…..what’s your name, Sir?” He was looking at me.
“Kevin.”
“Kevin, fine. Do you have a problem with your temper?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you usually do when a problem arises?”
“I try to ignore it.”
“And what happens when that doesn’t work?”
“Something bad.”
“Well, the goal of our little group today is to keep bad things from happening when we’re not able to control our tempers.” And then the spiel started. I tuned out, and I guess Darc did too, because he immediately showed up in my head.
Love of my life, where have you been all these years?
You are SUCH an asshole…
Why is that, Kev?
Couldn’t you have told me about this in person?
Told you what, that I’m a telepath? That explanation usually doesn’t go over too well, Numbnuts.
What is going on, Darc?
What do you mean?
Why does everything seem so different in here? Why did the old man tell me what he did? Why are you able to speak to me telepathically? And for goodness sake, how the FUCK do I get out of here?
Well, this place is different for everybody. The old man told you what he did because that’s what he does. I don’t really have an explanation for why I can speak to you like this, I just can. And getting out of here is a bitch and a half. To be honest, I don’t know how myself. I already shared my best idea with you and obviously it didn’t work too fuckin well.
Oh my God, I can’t handle this.
Dude, none of us can, that’s why we’re here.
You don’t get it, I’m here by mistake.
No one is here by mistake. We’re all here for different reasons.
What’s my reason?
Like I know. Dude…I don’t know anything about your shit. I’m too busy worrying about my own.
How can we be doing what we’re doing?
Dude…there are a lot of things that can’t be explained.
Obviously.
So don’t trip about it, and just enjoy it. No reason to bug out.
You’ve had time to get used to this. I’m not quite as versed as you are.
You’ll get there. Just chill out and have a good time.
I’ve got more on my mind than that.
Like what?
There’s something very important about this place.
Gonna tell me about it or do I have to kick you in the nuts a few times?
My son is here.
Niiiiiice. You’ve got your work cut out for you.
What do you mean?
“Kevin, would you like to join our discussion or are you in your own little world over there?” Johnathan’s words broke my concentration. I decided that this conversation was one better finished when I only had to worry about one activity at a time.
Later.
Oh yes.