And They Were Roommates

Downhill Spiral|4|

October 29th, Saturday Morning
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Things were going well, rather as well at it could be. Larry and Travis surprisingly kept the deal in tact, ignoring each other's existence as much as they could. Of course it was hard to pretend a person wasn't in the same room as you, but at least they didn't fight or talk to each other.

Larry looked at the schedule printed in the back of the front page in his notebook, instead of the usual there was something different.

"Exercise, huh?"

"It's basically the equivalent to gym class, but less."

"Isn't this room a bit too small for that though?" He gestured around the small room.

"Nah, we're going to another place. Looks almost exactly like the gymnasium at school."

"Oh." Larry said as he went back to doodling. Then the usual chatter became louder.

"All I asked was what you were reading that's all-"

"It's obvious. Are you stupid or something?!"

Larry wasn't surprised even a single bit seeing Travis getting into a fight, just didn't expect him to last this long. He felt bad for the poor girl though, she looked like she was going to cry.

"Since you're completely dumb, it's the Bible. Maybe if you read it, you would've been cured by now."

"You're stuck in here Travis, what's your excuse?" Philip spoke up completely unfazed making Travis get flustered.

"None of your business!"

Larry was just about to say something back when a stern voice entered the room. "That's enough all of you, Travis sit over there." Dr. Brown came in, placing his hands on Travis' shoulder. Travis stop speaking immediately and was guided to the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" Larry sat next to the girl.

"Oh, um, yeah. Just didn't expect that to happen. I was just trying to be friendly since he always sits alone."

"Yeah, there's good a reason for that. As you can tell."

With that, Philip came over as well, starting a casual small talk until they were asked to line up down the hall. The walk was a bit longer than the one to the cafeteria, but when they got there it was exactly as Philip described. Just like the schools, except with no equipment or hoops.

"Good morning everyone I'm Mr. Smith, I'll be your 'coach'. We're going to start with some stretches because a healthy body is a healthy mind. Spread out, arms distance let's go."

Following what everyone else was doing, they spread out. The teacher blows his whistle loudly, which was way too loud for anyone's liking.

"Twenty jumping jacks let's go." He yelled blowing his whistle again, making everyone do as he said so he wouldn't do it again. It was nothing but basic stretches after that, arms, legs, the whole shabang.

"Alright start running laps. I'll tell you when you can stop." Then he blew that damn whistle again. Even Larry started to flinch and cover his ears which is saying something since he always blares his music. Though it got them running, he noticed the teacher not even paying attention, instead favoring talking to the doctor.

It seemed like forever until the teacher finally did it again, signaling everyone to stop.

"Alright, good job everyone. For the rest of the hour do whatever, no fighting. Also, keep moving no sitting down unless there's a reason to. Have fun." With that he started talking to the doctor again, not even the fake enthusiasm could mask the fact that he didn't have a fuck to give. Philip was definitely right about the staff, not that Larry doubted him anyways.

"You wanna walk around and talk?" Philip ran next to him, barely breaking a sweat.

"Yeah, sure man. Not like there's anything else to do."

"I swear, if he blows that whistle one more time I think I might break it off his neck." Philip muttered giving an quiet yet exaggerated groan.

"It's worse than the gym teacher, why the hell did they make those things so loud anyways? We're indoors! With walls that echo like crazy, what the fuck!" Philip laughed along with him.

"Not to mention the hallway lights."

"Or the fucking flashlights, like dude we're trying to fucking sleep you don't need to check on us every five fucking seconds! Stop shining that shit in my eyes!" They both started cracking up a bit, Larry was happy Philip also like to joke away problems as well. His company definitely made things a bit better.

"Watch where your going freak!" They turned around to see Travis bumping into one of the other patients. He kept on walking when Larry smirked at a thought. As Travis was walking past he suddenly put his leg out, trippy him. He fell pretty hard.

"What the fuck was that for?!"

"What don't like the taste of your own medicine?" Larry looked down on him with a smug look on his face.

"Stupid faggot, out of my way!" Travis got up from the hard ground, staring daggers at Larry.

"Ha! Trying to act touch now huh? Didn't your daddy teach you not to be such a prick?"

Travis stopped in his tracks. "Shut up." He didn't tell this time.

"What's the matter Travis? I thought him sending you to that religious camp was to help you. Seems like you're still the same asshole as always. Having to hurt others to make you feel better about yourself, you-"

"Shut up!" Travis screamed punching Larry straight in the jaw, making him lose his balance. Larry fell to the floor as Travis got on top of him throwing punch after punch at him. The teacher finally noticed and said something into his radio. Meanwhile Philip and some of the other people tried to pull Travis off of Larry, Larry fighting back as well.

A bunch of staff members came in the room, two muscular guys managed to pull Travis off, yet he still struggled. Barely being able to escape just to quickly be held again. There was a lot of screaming and yelling, Larry was frozen at the scene despite the blood flowing down his chin. A nurse came close to the scene as the guards focused their attention to his arm, pulling it back and keeping his back forward. He screamed louder as if he knew what was coming, the lady injected his arm with the syringe.

Travis continued to struggle despite the pain in his arms and the room becoming more and more blurry, it was spinning. Everything around him became dark and noise silenced until there was nothing but ringing. His body soon stopped as he fell limp. What seemed like cuffs were placed on his wrists as he was carried away.

To say everyone was a bit shaken up was an understatement. Philip helped Larry up as he quickly helped him to another nurse. Larry couldn't say anything, too shocked by what just happened. It was too fast. Too fast to process. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder, 'what were they going to do with him?'.