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“A Slight Recovery” introduces us to Mind, a character who I knew was pivotal to the story but whose personality I had entirely forgotten. Arrogance defines him, and I imagined him to be someone who you would find on r/iamverysmart these days. As such, I wrote his dialogue to include superfluous diction and weird sentence structures. I knew such people existed out there purely because I was (and am still) one of those people.
Problematically, Mind’s dialogue comes out too stilted, much like it probably would in real life. However, sometimes realism does not translate well to paper. When I revised this chapter, I initially attempted to improve the writing, but after seeing how hard I had committed to Mind’s obnoxious presentation, I gave up. From this point forward, you will experience Mind in all of his glory.
I used to claim one of my strengths was dialogue. And by “used to,” I mean up until today. Possibly earlier. Now, I’ll just settle for, “I do dialogue good sometimes.”
*
Chapter 6 – A Slight Recovery
Shit.
I jolted out of my bed and crashed onto the floor, landing on my hand and knees. Woken by my fall, Tommy leapt from his bed and switched on a light.
“Oh God, they all had good grades,” I hissed through my teeth as I stared at the floor.
“Who had good grades?” Tommy asked as he knelt by me. “What are you talking about?”
I almost started to explain, but then I remembered last night. He hadn’t believed me then, so why would he believe me now.
“It’s nothing; you wouldn’t believe me,” I grumbled.
“Okay, okay.” He put his hands up defensively. “I was just trying to help. What time is it?” He snatched his watch from his dresser and checked it. “Thank God it’s past six. Don’t know what I’d do if I was stuck with you longer.”
“Same here, same here,” I replied, glaring up at him.
“What the hell, Warren?” Tommy burst angrily. “What’s with this sudden anger and paranoia lately? If this is about that stupid thing last night, well, then you’re an idiot.”
He turned away. Sitting myself on my bed again, I stared at the floor as Tommy dressed quickly. My blood boiled every time I caught him glancing at me.
“When you’re thinking clearly, Warren, maybe we can talk then,” he grumbled when he had dressed. He trudged out the room.
“I’ll do the same for you when you’re thinking clearly,” I murmured as I gazed at the closed door. My contempt was strong, but when I realized I was alone, it disappeared and fear replaced it. Every slight shadow in the room hid an unknown beast biding its time to mutilate and kill me. I slid under my covers and pulled them over my head, hoping all of it would leave me alone.
Enclosed by the thick layers of my blankets, I waited for the monsters to get me. The minutes passed, but as the heat accumulated under the blankets, no monsters came. I waited a few more minutes, holding my breath for that awful moment. It didn’t come.
“What am I doing?” I mumbled. If the monsters weren’t going to get me then, I had to worry about the teachers and my grades
Oh my grades. All those students who were taken away held the top academic rankings in the school, and with them murdered and removed from our roster, the opportunity to have the top grades just became easier. I could remember my grades by heart, and I cursed myself when I realized why. I had straight A’s and not low ones either. If I kept my grades as they stood now, I wouldn’t have much longer before Ms. Risped called me to her office.
I would have to rely on past methods. I would have to go back to failing purposely. I let out a pained sigh into the blankets covering my head. After enjoying success, I would have to revert to my old ways. I guess the system hadn’t changed that much for me. It just added something from hell to kill me on the way. Not much of a difference between the two.
Monsters, they looked so corny in the movies, but in real life, they weren’t remotely that. What did Ms. Risped call herself again? Lekthin. She called herself Lekthin. She even mentioned that it was a race. A race? Could a whole society of monstrous beings exist without humans ever knowing? It was too stupid to believe, and right now, I felt stupidly scared.
I forced my mind to stop thinking. If I kept it up, I would only traumatize myself even more, and I would never leave my bed. That would lead teachers to come find me because I missed class. Crap, I was thinking again.
I literally rolled myself out of bed to get me going. I plopped on the floor with a thump. I crawled over to my dresser. Propping myself on an arm, I opened up the drawers and pulled out some clothes. If they matched, I neither knew nor cared. I just needed the necessities to move on, and right now, stylish clothes seemed a luxury.
I stood up shakily and moved to the bathroom. Inside, the person in the mirror looked ghastly. My face resembled a skeleton, dark bags making my eyes look sunken in. When I looked into my eyes, I saw a person uncontrollably scared. Tommy was right; I had changed. It just took two gory deaths and a couple monsters to change.
Miserable, I exited the bathroom, snatched my wallet from my pants on the floor, and went out of my dorm. I thought I could handle myself outside my dorm, but I overestimated myself. Every step taken away from my dorm pounded a nail into my courage. I knew nowhere was safe, but I longed to return to my bed. Unconsciousness was preferable to whatever feeling I had. I almost ran back, but to keep myself going, I thought of the worse consequences that could befall me.
I almost mastered my fears when I came upon a teacher. I didn’t even know the guy, but as I passed by him, my emotions erupted in ten million different ways. The images of Wendy’s and Allison’s mangled bodies flashed in my mind. I relived the moments in which my teacher and principal mutated from human to beast to human again. My emotional stability exploded. Unable to hold my ground, I fled to a set of bleachers in the gym and sat as far away from people as possible.
“How can I survive this when I can’t even look at a teacher?” I seethed into my hands. “Why was it me? Why do I have to go to this school?”
A few minutes passed, and the flashbacks receded, leaving only a sickened feeling behind. I wiped my cheeks, not knowing I had been crying. Both the emotional and logical parts of my brain attempted to reboot to a working status. After unsteadily getting back to my feet, I stumbled off the bleachers and back into the crowded part of the gym and trudged toward the cafeteria.
Getting breakfast never seemed as hard as it did on that day. The sight of the cafeteria crew triggered my imagination to create their monster forms. That caused my adrenaline to rise which in turn caused me to tremble uncontrollably. If a staff member saw me like that, only bad could come from it. With all my might, I swallowed my fear and stopped my quivering long enough to order my food. After getting that, I released my hold and jittered around the cafeteria to find a table.
“Hey Warren, over here!” In reply, I almost screamed, but I realized it was only Butch who had called out to me. He sat alone at a table in the corner of cafeteria, waving to me to come over. His spot suited my mood so I quickly weaved around tables to him.
“You look terrible, Warren,” Butch said once I had sat down.
“Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself,” I mumbled sarcastically as I checked over my shoulder subconsciously. Seeing nothing, I glanced down at my plate of toast and eggs. My stomach roared for it, but my brain roared against it.
I jabbed a fork into a scrambled egg and shoved a forkful into my mouth before my brain could retaliate. I chewed and swallowed. Reacting to the food, my mind formed a memory of Ms Risped eating Wendy. The egg came sliding back up my throat. Before it released, I sealed my mouth shut and placed a hand over it.
“You okay, man?” asked Butch, eyeing me as I entered a coughing fit to swallow the egg once more. “Is something stuck in your throat?” He reached over and started patting my back, only to increase the difficulty of swallowing the food. I attempted to wave him off, but he misinterpreted the signal and slapped my back harder. I finally managed to swallow the egg and breathe outwards to tell Butch to stop.
I looked at the rest of my food and wondered how I could get any more of it down. “Here Butch, take my food,” I sighed. “I’ll just have a piece of toast.” I grabbed a triangular piece of bread off my plate and passed the platter to Butch’s awaiting hands.
I remembered the conversation with Butch the night before. Nibbling on my bread carefully, I mulled over the idea of telling him what happened since I promised I would. I couldn’t break a promise. “Do you remember what we talked about last night, Butch?”
“We spoke to each other last night?” Butch asked puzzled.
“Yeah…I told you I would tell you what happened to Wayne immediately once I figured out what happened.” Doubts began to rise in my mind.
“That was nice of you to say that to me, but I don’t think it would matter, Warren,” he sighed as his shoulders drooped. “I don’t even know how long I’ll remember Wayne. Even now his image is fading.” He stopped fiddling with his food and looked into my eyes. “I know why you have been giving me your food lately. If you eat the food, you slowly lose your mind, your humanity-”
“Okay, okay, Butch,” I interrupted as all my hopes withered and died. “Believe it or not, I heard you say this speech last night.”
“Oh,” he replied surprised. “Well, at least I know I’m right about forgetting.”
I let my head fall and hit the table. I ignored the pain and covered my head with my arms as I heaved a wretched breath. The one guy who might have believed my experiences had short-term memory loss. Probably didn’t help I was giving him more food. I shook my head against the table in disbelief.
“What’s wrong?” Butch questioned cautiously. “Was it something I said?”
“Nothing’s wrong, man,” I mumbled, picking my head up off the table. “I just don’t feel very happy right at the moment.” To avoid further tedious conversation, I glanced down at my watch and said, “I have to get to class, Butch. I’ll see you around.” I sprang from my seat and exited the cafeteria as fast as my legs would take me. I didn’t want to deal with a brain-dead idiot.
I hurried back to my dorm and gathered some supplies together. I did have to go to class, and Ms. Deuce was up next. As I headed to her room, I fortunately encountered no teachers, but my mood never strayed from terror. I had yet to actually survive one class.
When I entered my first classroom, I released a sigh of relief when I saw the teacher wasn’t in. Without waiting for one, I hurried to the back of the room. Ms. Deuce had a hobby of bothering every table, but the back seemed safer. My spirits rose when I found the farthest table deserted. I sat myself at a chair, feeling the stress exude from my pores and leave me.
“Hey Warren, what are you doing all the way over there?” called one of my friends from the other side of the room. He, along with some other friends, sat at a table close to the front of the room. How could they stand sitting so close to Ms. Deuce when underneath that fake hide lurked a monster? How did I ever manage to do the same?
“Uh… I feel kind of sick today,” I sputtered. I pulled a smile timidly. “I don’t want to get any of you sick, that’s all.”
“Nonsense,” he responded as he stood up from his table and came to me. He grabbed my supplies in one arm and hoisted me up with the other. “If you’re sick, spread the love and let us cut class, too.” As he continued to look at my pained face, his cheery grin faded. “God, you do look sick. What do you think you have?”
“I have no idea,” I replied miserably. I watched mournfully as we neared his table. He sat me down in my usual seat before leaving for his own seat. The friends beside me, Tommy among them, greeted me enthusiastically, but I ignored their stupid banter and eyed the classroom’s door. In any second, the bell would ring.
The bell rang with a clanging shriek. It sounded like a banshee, its cry yearning to kill me. Simultaneous with the ring, the door gaped open and in strutted Ms. Deuce. On sight, my body froze and I could neither move nor speak. Images flashed through my skull of Ms. Deuce transforming into her hideous alter ego and killing the whole classroom. Blood and viscera covered the walls and tables. It took all my wits to prevent myself from becoming a blubbering mess.
“Good morning, students,” greeted Ms. Deuce in her ever-boring drawl of a voice. “We shall finish our experiment from last class. Due to the amount of trouble we experienced last time, I shall assist each table. Now, do not waste time needlessly. Please begin.”
I couldn’t believe my bad luck. She’d be coming around our tables to check our work. She’d be close to me. What could I do to avoid her? I jumped from my seat and pushed one of my friends back down to his seat when I noticed Ms. Deuce coming to our table.
“Don’t worry about it,” I gibbered awkwardly when he looked at me frustrated. “I can get the equipment. You’ve been getting them too often; it’s time that I do some work. Think this as a…” I trailed off as I shuffled away from my table as fast as possible. If my luck took a sudden turn for the better, Ms. Deuce would finish talking with my cohorts before I even made it back.
I waited at the back of the line patiently and hopeful. A large number of kids were ahead of me, gathering supplies at a relaxed rate. If this kept up, Deuce would be gone from the table by the time I got back. I glanced back at my table frequently to see if the teacher had moved on to another group of students yet. I had no such fortune; she seemed to be deep in a conversation with one of my friends. The line for the supplies seemed to be unnaturally speeding up too. My hope was quickly dying.
“What are you doing up here, Warren?” said a voice. I looked around wildly and found Tommy coming towards me with his arms full of various vials and measuring tools. “I told you I’d get all of our stuff.”
“What?” I stuttered. I checked my table, and sure enough, Ms. Deuce still jabbered on to that one kid. I swore I would kill him when I got the chance, but now I needed a way to get back to the table without getting yelled at. Ms. Deuce had a habit of chastising people who got out of their seats for no reason, and I looked like a perfect candidate for her punishing itch. I quickly formed a response in my head and spewed it out, “I just came over to help you out. Do you have anything for me to carry?”
“Nah, I’m fine. I got everything in a pretty good grasp,” Tommy replied politely. Damn, why did he have to use his manners right now?
“Please, let me help you, it looks like you might get into some trouble,” I pleaded, reaching for a few measuring cups.
Tommy dodged my hands. “I got it, dude; leave the stuff.” He stormed back to the table angrily. I cursed Tommy for his ignorance. Why did this have to happen to me?
I sluggishly meandered back to my table. Tommy was already passing equipment to each of our table members as Ms. Deuce observed with slight amusement. My chair remained inelegantly away from the table as I had left it. Luckily, it stood out far enough from Ms. Deuce’s vision. I swiftly lunged into my chair and casually scooted closer to the table. I began to busy myself with the experiment immediately so I could avoid attention from the others.
“So…Mr. Bent, where have you been?” questioned a voice that chilled my blood. I jerked my head to look into the eyes of Ms. Deuce. She stood above me, her arms crossed over her chest. “Well? Let’s have your excuse.”
“I-I-I got up to help carry supplies over here, ma’am, but I didn’t notice Tommy had already gotten the supplies,” I stammered meekly.
“So although you noticed Mr. Bean, you arrived in your seat after he did?”
“Uh…yes.” I stared timidly up into her cold eyes. Could she kill me now, in front of everyone? “It’s the truth; I promise you.”
Ms. Deuce clamped a hand down on my shoulder. My nervous system went haywire on contact. My body trembled as Ms. Deuce leaned her head to meet mine and whisper, “Well, I don’t really care; just don’t get out of your seat for any nonproductive reason. You understand?”
Her cold, heartless stare scrambled my brain. Both my mind and stomach did back flips. Breathing came out in wretched, hoarse gasps. I couldn’t understand or create anything with my current brain status. Only instinct could get me to choke out, “Yes.”
“Good.” Ms. Deuce let go of my shoulder and let me slump in my chair. My breathing returned almost simultaneously with the release of her grip. “I expect better of you, Mr. Bent.” She smirked and walked away from our table.
Out of my whole table, only Tommy saw the incident that took place between Ms. Deuce and me. When met with my pleading eyes, he averted his gaze and hurriedly set to work on his science paper. The rest didn’t even acknowledge my presence.
Gradually, I could sense my abilities coming back to me. My stress and fear dissipated. When I could handle it, I occupied myself with my class work. Despite my emotional and mental pain, I knew I had to keep at my work and not anger Ms. Deuce anymore. I just had to do not too well. I carefully placed mistakes – a slight miscalculation here and there – on my science paper to ensure my descent to from a 4.0.
Time crept along painfully but steadily. Ms. Deuce’s class ended and Mr. Ripner’s boring ordeal began. Although I never collided with the teacher, my fears weren’t as painful. I no longer shook within his presence, and I never felt close to an emotional breakdown. I exited his class when the bell rang in a slightly happier mood. Lunch went fine as well. I socialized with my friends and reassured them that, despite my sickly look, I felt fine.
“Man, when I first saw you come in the cafeteria, Warren, I thought Death was hanging over your shoulder,” Eli chuckled.
“I believe I felt that way too for a moment,” I joked emptily.
I finished my half of the meal discreetly. I gave the rest to various kids at the table to eat. They thanked me graciously and wolfed down the food. I studied their eating habits and growing weight. Butch was becoming a hulking mass and Silas was growing ever so flabby now. Only Tommy didn’t seem to change; his build remained normal as well as did his eating habits.
Our hate for each other hadn’t yet settled. At that moment, he sat on the other side of the lunch table glaring at me. He was the only one who knew why I looked so ghastly and why I so charitably gave away my food. It puzzled me why he didn’t forget as easily as the rest, or why he didn’t use my grim stories as gossip. I brought my gaze over to him. His glower didn’t change despite my friendly smile.
I turned my head away from Tommy. Similarly, I turned away from the table’s conversation and shifted my body to face the whole cafeteria.