Sick love ☾ muke au

2.0

The next morning I wake up around eight, having slept much better. As soon as I get up, Luke reminds me we have group therapy in an hour. I've never been one to have breakfast as soon as I wake up so I ask the blonde boy to bring me coffee when he gets back from the dining hall.

I put on some pants and make my way towards the bathroom as I hear the girl I met on my first day, Lynn, screaming at the nurses who're dragging her towards the therapists office. "You can fucking shock me all you want and drug me all you want, I'm not fucking giving in!" she shouts and kicks the air in a futile attempt to get away. She's right, it's not going to change us no matter how much they do that. But it must suck being shocked and drugged and stuff.

I go to the bathroom and see someone's already in the shower. A male nurse is standing in front of the stall and stares at me for a while. "You must wait for your turn outside", he says sternly and I sigh but step out anyway. Stupid rules. After a few minutes the previous guy steps out fully dressed and the nurse comes to get me. "You're up, Clifford. You've got five minutes", he says, turning his back to me as I get ready for shower. I undress and step into the shower. I shampoo my hair and body and the shower floor turns red for a moment as my fresh hair dye bleeds out. After rinsing everything I turn off the shower and grab the towel. I dry myself quickly before throwing on some jeans and a band tee.

As I get back to our room, I see Luke on his bed, reading again, and my coffee on the table. "Thanks", I mumble as I take a sip of the drink of the Gods.

I'm sat in the group therapy room with a few other patients. The room is slowly filling in and people are finding their seats. We are sat in the ridiculous boy-girl-boy order again and I'm trying hard to keep a straight face - no pun intended. As I'm done laughing at my lame joke and look up I see a familiar face walking towards the chairs: it's fucking Calum. I gasp out loud, catching his attention accidentally. I'm pretty sure we can't be here together but if they don't know we should be fine. So just play it cool, Michael. Well, that fixes the problem of having him on my visitor list.

"So, today we have two new boys joining us", Dr. Crawford starts the round. "Michael, you've been told to think about your root so could you please report it to your comrades?" she asks, and I bite my tongue to not burst out laughing at her choice of words.

"Yeah, sure. I thought long and hard about it and I think I'm gay because my dad showed me a lot of affection?" I say, trying to sound like I even believe myself.

"Yes, Michael, that's very good", the therapist says, nodding, and next turns to look at Calum. I immediately look down so we won't show any signs of recognition.

"So, our newest addition is Calum. He arrived yesterday so he's not required to have a root yet. I'd like you to think about it for Friday's group session though", she tells him, smiling and I'm sure Calum's barely nodding as an answer.

"So, this time I thought we could share some success stories too, to keep your eyes on the prize! So I called two of our fully recovered ex-patients to have a chat with you about how they did it", Dr. Crawford exclaims and the group mumbles 'great' in unison. Needless to say, no one's that enthusiastic about having to talk to people who're lying to themselves.

"Group, this is Alex", the therapist tells us, pointing her hand toward a guy with blue hair. He's wearing skinny jeans and an american flag tee with a snapback and he looks really smug but also kind of shy.

"Hi guys, nice to meet you", he says and waves a little at us.

"And this is Jenna", Dr. Crawford then says and I look at the person taking a step forward. Is this the Jenna Luke mentioned earlier? I'd love to know how they brainwashed her.