Escapism | Muke

Prologue

Thursday, session 30 Micheal liked to believe. Never good at keeping count but as long as they were helping he didn't care if he had to have 100 of them.

"Very good. Now, you can take your time with this but I think you're ready. He's the other recurring character here... Could you tell me about Luke? From the start."

"How do you mean? I say that's quite a vast question if you were to know him like I did." Micheal asked, eyes lifting off his lap to meet his therapist's own.

"Well, what was he like? Exerts from past-," Lauren darts her eyes shortly to her notebook and flicks back a handful of card pages with her dark red nails. "-He seemed to have a large handful of personalities around him, including you. So, he's likeable, reliable, and outgoing. Should I assume an extrovert?" Her pink lips purse into an O shape softly and her eyes meet Micheals again. 

Michael chuckled and looked back down at his hands for a moment. His fingernail was deemed the only other interesting thing than this conversation. "Doubtful. He seemed like the loneliest person in the world when I met him."

As Lauren started to write into her small leather journal upon her lap, Micheal could hear the scratch of the ballpoint on the paper. Her notes were always deemed so short and lyrical, like some sort of code only she and other therapists could make out. Maybe It was all a part of the system, secret codes, overcharging and government joy.

"Continue, Mike" She encouraged and put down the pen.

"Anything particular or to when I started seeing him? Because apart from the way this looks on the outside, it did have a level of depth and normality. We're people. But it's difficult to imagine I was that person that time ago too. That we did those things and that we were those people."

"Depth is a given. Evidently, you had another life together behind closed doors." She paused. "Whatever you please, Micheal. Start where you're comfortable and fill in the gaps as we go. When you're ready."

He let out a deep breath of air and rolled his shoulders out. "Right, okay. Luke Hemmings." 

The first time Michael had said his name with his chest. It was about to be all about him and no longer was Luke the important but bleak side character in Micheal's side of things.

He had to talk about Luke, and he was not sure where to begin.