The Guidebook To Sobriety

Chapter 11

"Good afternoon everyone," Amir called cheerfully as we drifted in, trying and failing to uplift the somber atmosphere.

We all sat in our usual spots in the circular chairs gathering.

"I understand that there's no sense of excitement from a game like last time, but could you guys look any less like zombies?" Amir asked.

"How long are we going to be here?" I asked. I refused to admit that it was somewhat comforting to be here with everyone than in my room alone - or rather, alone with my suitcase.

I don't know if I would be able to resist this time.

"As long as we need to be," Amir responded rather unhelpfully.

"Sounds promising, I don't think anyone actually wants to be here," Indigo pointed out.

We hadn't talked since this morning, not even a glance at the other, but it didn't feel awkward per se.

Amir smiled good-naturedly. "Good thing I said need and not want then." He paused, sweeping his gaze around the circle. "Since you all seem in a hurry to get out of my presence, how about we get started?"

"Thor!" Amir called after a brief pause, scaring the poor boy out of his thoughts. "Tell me how you're feeling?"

"I...I'm not sure," he said hesitantly. "A little numb. I'm not in pain or anything but it's a bit hard to...form thoughts, li-like there's some sort of...static."

Amir leaned forward, focusing his kind eyes completely on Thor. "Is it disorienting?" He asked.

Thor met his gaze. "Not really...everything just feels kind of muffled."

"I want to divert our focus quickly on what you mentioned last time; the burning stare of people as you mentioned, the hyper self-awareness of their scrutiny, really."

Thor gulped and cast a quick nervous glance around the room but nodded.

"I'm only going to touch the surface here don't worry, we'll get more in-depth in the family session with your caretaker." He waited for Thor's nod of approval before continuing. "Now, I want you to look at your peers who you've gone to battle with. Though you haven't known them for long there should be a sense of camaraderie with at least one of them." He paused, giving Thor time to do as instructed.

Though timidly, I noticed he was able to make direct eye contact with us --something he probably couldn't have done at our first meeting.

"Do their stares burn like the others you mentioned?" Amir asked.

Thor seemed to ponder this for a moment, furrowing his brow as he thought about it, casting fleeting glances at us every once in a while.

"...I don't think so," he finally muttered.

Amir nodded slowly. "Can you think about why that may be?"

Again he pondered the question before ultimately settling with a shrug.

"Anyone has any ideas?" Amir asked, focusing his attention back on the group as a whole now.

"He's associated us with some level of familiarity in this otherwise unfamiliar situation," Indigo answered after a prolonged silence.

"I really like how you put that. Are you sure you're against becoming a therapist in the future?" Amir asked with an intrigued expression.

Indigo kept her deadpan expression but I suspected from the squinting of her eyes that the thought had amused her. "I thought you were supposed to be able to read people. Caring about people as a job would be about the last thing I would ever do - right next to karaoke."