One Flew INTO The Cuckoos Nest

Chapter Four

"Hey Ethan, dude, wake up!" I hear the mousy voice of Ricky and my eyes crack open.
The small boy's face is right in mine. I can feel his breath heating my nose. "What?" I ask groggily.
"Get up it's breakfast time!" He says with a wide excited smile. I look at him and it terrifies me that this young boy could be what Jenny said: a schizophrenic. That this boy could actually be crazy at what? 10 years old? But then again, the ward isn't a place that favors normality. Well, it favors it, but it doesn't get it too often.
I nod to him, "Alright, you go ahead, I'm coming." I tell him placing a hand to my head as I swing my legs over the bedside. Ricky disappears into the hall, trotting away in his dinosaur pajamas.

Boy my head feels like mush. Jenny said those pills wouldn't change me, but help me sleep. I guess she was right but it wasn't a good sleep. It was like being buried alive, even if I wanted to wake up I couldn't 'cause I was 6 feet under! I wish I never had to take them things again but how can I not? Jenny was real upset with me last night. I don't want that to happen ever again.

I find myself swimming through the air, slow and zombie like, as if I'm treading through thick molasses. The hallway seems to go for miles. I only ever felt like this once before. Back when I got my wisdom teeth out. They pulled those things out in my sleep and when I woke up I was a big ball of pills. Jamie said it wouldn't last too long but for me it seemed to go on years. Years of fog so thick you could swim in it. Just like Bromden says.

Speaking of Bromden, it strikes me that I left my book in the room. Well I'll be damned if I'm to turn around after all the progress I've made. I look over my shoulder just to check... A whole two feet. Yay. Well there you have it, I can't take those pills again. I just can't. If I spend the rest of my days in slow motion I'll end up crazier than they ever thought I was. Silently I apologize to Jenny. She can't hear but just because a person doesn't hear it don't mean it meant nothing. Like in them movies when our hero takes his final breaths, whispering out a fading 'I love you'. Whether that girl hears it or not, we all know it means something. Right?

"Ethan, why the hell are you walking so damn slow?" Oh come on, not this kid again. I glare at Drake and his big chubby loud mouth.

"Is it really necessary to yell?" I spit.

"Is it really necessary to trudge like a turtle?" he shouts.

I just growl and decide to keep quiet. I've dealt with plenty of Drakes in my time and let me tell you, the best way to handle them is to not deal with them at all. Back in elementary school there were a lot of Drakes, Drakes everywhere! I found it was most peaceful to just forget they existed. They always wanted me to be just like them, but the truth was: I wasn't. I never would be. I didn't and I don't care if that makes me weird.

After an agonizing trip to the cafeteria with Drake that I'm lucky is basically quiet, I shake him at the breakfast bar and set off looking for Jenny, at least she knows what an indoor voice is. I spot her beautiful blond hair off in the corner at an empty table. Thank god above, I don't feel like dealing with people. I push through the thick air toward her, taking a heavy seat next to her.

I smile at her pleasantly, trying to forget my fogged up head. "Morning Jenny." I say.

"Good morning Ethan, how'd you sleep?" Jenny says with a happy grin and I watch as she picks up an apple off her tray and takes a huge bite out of it. Jenny sure isn't modest but I think I like that about her. I think she holds herself so strong it makes the world look weak. She shouldn't be in here that's for sure, and I bet you she knows it too.

"I sleep like a rock!" I say in my best well rested voice. Jenny just smirks and shakes her head.

"You better keep taking your medicine. We have to get out of here you know. All of us. We never will if we don't take the pills." Jenny tells me confidently. Something about the way she says this makes me feel funny, that or them pills are just driving me crazy. Aren't they supposed to be doing the opposite?

"Why are you sitting here alone?" I ask after a moment of awkward silence. It occurs to me that maybe I don't want to be alone with Jenny, not if she's going to talk about them pills again. I glance around at the empty table puzzled. Jenny never struck me as the kind of girl to sit alone anyway. Then again I met her yesterday.

"I'm not! You're here." she tells me with a grin.

"Yeah well..." I look around the cafeteria and spot Ricky sitting with his knees to his chest at an also vacant table. "Well, how come you don't sit with Ricky too?" I say. Ricky sitting at that table alone reminds me of me back in the days when Jamie was my only friend and I had to sit alone at lunch 'cause them mean girls would pick on her for keeping me company. Those lunches were the worst. Everyday the cafeteria seemed louder and louder and them kids always seemed to aim their spork catapults at my head...

"With Ricky? I don't know... Usually those seats are for his friends." Jenny says eyeing the empty chairs by the small boy. Breakfast is half over, I doubt he has friends coming.

"Come on." I say and take her hand dragging her up behind me. Lightning shocks up my arm and I let her hand go instantly. Ricky doesn't even glance at us as we stand next to the seats across from him. He's too busy doodling in a notebook to care what we are up to. That is until I sit down.

"What are you doing? Move! No! You can't sit there!" the little boy starts shouting at me like an old man protecting his lawn.

"Why not?" I argue but it's as if he didn't hear me.

"Move! Move or die! Go away! Stop! Move! That's not your seat! That's not your seat!" Ricky's in hysteria and I am shell shocked. So shell shocked I don't see him jump from his seat.Don't feel his pencil stab into my shoulder. I don't even feel my head as it's slammed to the table like a slab of butchered ham. The only thing I see is the drawing of the cloaked monster, crawling off the page of his notebook toward me as the lights flicker out.

Author's Note!

Hey guys! So, I'm Tem and it's come to my attention that I've never left a note to you guys before! Ever. How rude right? Yeah... I'm sorry about that. Anyway I'd first like to thank you for reading! YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME! Secondly, I want to encourage you to not only keep reading but feel free to comment and critique! Advice is the best gift I could receive, I don't even care if you vote just tell me what causes you not to!!! If there is one thing I've learned it's that writing can ALWAYS be bettered!

I also take reading requests so comment comment comment and I'll be happy to check out your stories too!!!!

Alright, well I'm pretty pooped now. I think I need to take a break and do some reading! Love you wattpaders!

~TEM