One Flew INTO The Cuckoos Nest

Chapter Five

I can tell by that smell, that chemical Clorox smell, that I'm in some sort of hospital wing. I don't need to open my eyes to know that the room is clean and white and pristine. I spent lots of time in the hospital downtown before I got to the ward. Before they knew I was crazy and I had to go for monthly brain check ups, I used to be in there 'cause I was always breaking something while horsing around with Jamie. But the last time I got sent for horsing around was a few years ago. After that time mom wouldn't let me out in the woods anymore because 'I was a danger to myself.' I don't understand how what happened was me being a danger.

It was a warm summer's day, the kind of day that you can smell the need for adventure in the air. I, myself, have always loved a good adventure! This was back in the days when Jamie and I were real close and I ran all the way over to her house in town just after noon with a proposal.

"Lets go build a tree house!" I said to her real excited. She grinned at me, showing off the small gap between her front teeth. Her mom was always wanting to fix that gap, but Jamie said she liked it. I think she just was against being changed. I think she didn't care if she was different. I think she didn't want to be like them other kids striving for those perfect pearly whites and perfect picket fences.

Jamie was always an adventurer just like me and she threw on some work jeans and an old over sized t-shirt. Even in an old beat up ball cap and with her red hair back in a pony tail, she looked like one of them princesses in the movies she used to make me watch with her. We stole some of her fathers tools and threw them into an old wicker basket and then the two of us rode Jamie's bike back to my house 'cause I was the one with the trees and the forest. Jamie rode on the handle bars that day even though we both knew she could ride a bike better than me. Jamie had taught me how to ride when we were in elementary school.

I liked driving her though. It was nice knowing that I was the one taking care of her. She sat so proud on them handle bars I thought she felt good being protected by me too. Only, real recently actually, Jamie made it very clear that she doesn't need me protecting her. She said to me I should keep my nose where it belongs. But that day, that summer, my nose belong right where it was. Taking in the soft scent of Jamie's perfume as the breeze blew against us on that bike.

Finding the perfect tree, now that was the challenge. At my house we had acres of forest. A small river drove through the property and Jamie said we should build the tree house in a tree on its bank 'cause then when it got hot outside we could swing off a rope into the water. I thought that was the best idea ever.

So the search began. Jamie and I climbed bunches of trees that day. We were perched on a fat winding branch over the water of the river when Jamie grinned at me, "This is the tree. Don't you think so?" I did think so. I thought so with all my heart! Only something felt funny about the tree. Something felt wrong.

I looked up at a branch above us and I saw something. I saw a monkey. When I told mom this later she reminded my there were no monkeys in Ohio, but I swear I saw one. It was one of them big mean looking monkeys. The kind that looked like it might eat your face off. I tried to show Jamie, I whispered for her to look up. But she didn't see it.

"What are you going on about now Ethan?" she laughed loudly. She thought I was kidding. I wasn't though and that monkey heard her loud laugh and it hissed and it made a lunge for us. The only thing I could think to do was push Jamie and I from that tree. Jamie landed safe in the water below, but I wasn't so lucky. I hit a branch below us and broke an arm before landing in the water head first in the shallow end and cracking my head open. The water ran red and Jamie ran for help. After that incident Jamie's mom and dad began to get worried about her spending time with me. They weren't the only ones either. Jamie came to visit me a lot in the hospital but that was the month she said she'd made a new friend. His name was Liam.

I didn't think Liam was a bad thing at first. I swear I thought he and Jamie and I could be great friends! Only, Jamie didn't want me to meet Liam. She didn't want to say it but I knew the truth. I had been seeing and saying strange things a lot lately, my parents kept insisting that I was just creative, but kids were starting to avoid me, and Jamie was embarrassed by me.

I sigh at the thought of this I ought to just forget it... Just forget the whole thing. But how can I when the cloaked monster is always reminding me. I open my eyes. Maybe I can distract myself here somehow.

Instantly I'm blinded by the bright lights above me and I her a gasp. "Ethan? You're awake! Thank God!"

It's Jenny. I sit up with a grin, "Yeah, of course I am! You didn't think a scrawny ten year old could really shut me down, did you?"

Jenny smiles and shakes her head, "No I guess not."

See, I remind myself, I have Jenny here. I have Jenny at the very least.