Isolation

Making a home

Mike had known that something was off. The drive ended up being roughly an hour long and was quiet almost the whole way there. It was a strange and slightly frightening thing to see. Mike shifted around and fidgeted nervously, knowing that something was wrong. It was something they wouldn't tell him and that scared him.

"Hey," Peter whispered, putting his hand on Mike's shoulder. Mike yelped and quickly turned to face him. "Are you alright?"

He didn't know how to answer that. The look in Peter's eyes only made him worry more. Peter frowned and scooted a little closer to him.

"Michael, can you hear me?" He asked softly. Mike's only answer was letting out a slight whimper as he continued to fidget. Peter let out a sigh as tears filled in his eyes.

"It's okay..." he said, his voice breaking. "It's gonna be okay, I-I promise..."

He didn't know why he expected Mike to snap out of it right then and that idea had gotten his hopes up a little too high when he still wouldn't respond. Peter let out a sigh but kept a close eye on Mike as he gave him some space.

"How's he doing back there?" Davy asked, turning around. Peter frowned and crossed his arms.

"He's right here," he said darkly. "You shouldn't pretend like he's gone."

"He's not here, though," Micky sighed, taking a split second to look at Mike through the rear view mirror. "Mentally, I mean. That's the whole reason we're doing this right now. He is gone."

Tears filled Peter's eyes as he turned to face Mike again, who was completely oblivious to the conversation around him as he moved around restlessly in his seat. He looked so frightened and confused.

Peter grabbed onto Mike's hand and squeezed it, which seemed to calm him down slightly.

"Why do we have to send Mike away...?" He asked sadly as Mike turned to look at him, unable to understand the conversation but still curious and confused.

"We're not sending him away," Davy defended. "We're just..."

"Peter, we've been over this," Micky added. "We need this, and he needs this."

Micky took in a few shaky breaths before he continued.

"I wanna sleep," he said sadly. "I wanna relax, knowing that my friend will be okay, even if I'm not constantly there trying to protect him or taking care of him. I wanna be able to do things without worrying about him all the time..."

"But I thought friends are supposed to take care of one another," Peter said, looking at him.

"They are," Micky said with a sigh. "But Peter, I need to sleep. And...I'm sorry but we just can't take care of Mike."

Davy nods and turns back around to look at Peter, who looks like he's about to start crying with the statement.

"Look Peter," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "It's okay. We tried our best for a few months—"

"And made it worse?" Peter asked, making the realization himself. Davy frowned and looked down, trying to think of the right way to phrase it.

"Peter...we couldn't help him," he sighed. "We tried but we couldn't. That isn't to say that Mike can't be helped."

Peter looked at him, a little bit confused as to what he was saying. Davy turned back to him and smiled.

"Instead of thinking about it as us sending Mike away, think of it like...we're giving him the chance to get the help he needs."

Peter nodded slowly.

"Did we hurt Mike?" He asked under his breath. The other two didn't respond for what felt like too long.