Thursday (Sequel to 'From Eden')

one

"No way, dude. Now I have to act like I give a shit about some rando from across the globe?" Carla groaned quietly from the folded chair next to me. I tried to suppress a laugh at her extremely accurate point, and hardly succeeded. Everyone within a foot radius of us heard her, and nodded their heads along. Not one of us really fancied the idea of having to write letters back and forth every other week to someone we didn't even know. Especially since, for me, rehab was ending in two months. How many letters would I be sending, five?

"If it makes you feel better, they won't be across the globe, but across the United States. It'll just be discussions between yourself and another college student for their end of the semester project." Melanie explained, hearing Carla's concerns from the front of the mess hall. She was actually one of the newest hires at Monroeville, and this was her first announcement to the group she was giving. "They'll just be asking you questions about rehabilitation, and all. We do this every year, and some of our patients end up flying out to wherever their pen pal lives! You can become great friends."

"Which college?" I felt myself ask, before I could stop myself. "And, uh...which class would be doing this as a final? That's like, a month long final." So, I'd be sending less than five letters.

Melanie smiled and answered, "We aren't sure which college we'll be getting yet. They're assigned all over, and a lot of rehabilitation centers do this little project. As for which class, I believe some type of English class centered around current events and world issues."

"Great, so we're a world issue." Carla said, only for comedic effect. I laughed again, as did the rest of the group, knowing she was only kidding. However, still a good point.

"Or a current event," I thought out loud, adding to the buzz. "Did anyone in a rehab center die or something recently?"

Melanie's smile faltered, and she sighed. "Not that I know of. I'm glad you all can use humor in this situation, rather than completely refusing the activity." I averted my eyes and took a bite of my hash browns, sensing she was upset with our reaction.

"If I may interrupt, Mel," Jackson, one of my group therapy counselors, interjected. His calm voice always scratched an itch I didn't know I had in my ear, and I felt myself go still immediately. "Everyone, I know this is going to be an interesting change to our daily schedule, but change can be good. We can talk more about how we're feeling about this during group today."

It was then that the announcement was ended, and we all continued eating. There was an exciting buzz around the cafeteria, though, which we called the mess hall due to the fact this was basically boot camp for addicts. I turned to the boy to my right quickly, whose name was Nick. He had been and out of rehab for years, but since his parents were loaded, he had the funds to keep returning. "You have to do this before?"

"Yeah," He answered, not even looking up from his food to talk to me. His long, dark hair brushed the milk in his cereal, and I cringed. "It's not too bad. Once I talked to a girl I ended up really liking."

"Oh, really?" I asked, leaning on the table. "Tell me about her."

"Yeah, spill, man," Liam, a boy with natural bleach blonde hair, said when Nick shook his head. "You know we can't judge you."

"Well...she was nice, asked me a whole bunch of questions like she actually cared in her letters. I met her outside the program once when she came to visit from Tennessee."

"Did she not actually care?" I wondered, drinking my juice thoughtfully. Liam and I made eye contact, and he shrugged at Nick's long silence.

Nick sighed, and brushed his hair behind his ears. "I think she did, at first. We kept mailing each other shit until I got out, and I actually went to Tennessee to see her finish up her Bachelor's."