The Institute

Chapter Three- Picture of Dr. Shrueger

After I saw the scars on Brady’s arms, I was so tempted to just ask him about them, but I stopped. I didn’t want to make him feel bad. Besides, David and Lucy had told me he didn’t talk.

No one really said anything until dinner. We just sat and watched TV. Dinner was a cold turkey sandwich, a can of warm soda, a peach, and a cup of banana pudding. This time, I ate everything, leaving nothing for Lucy. I didn’t feel like staying out in the common room after dinner, so I just went straight to my room. I lied on my bed and thought about Dr. Shrueger and how either he or David was lying until it was time for showers. I took a quick one and went back to my room. I went right to sleep at lights out.

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Despite getting to sleep early the night before, I hardly slept at all, so when Nurse Linda came to wake me up in the morning, I had to drag myself out of bed.

“What’s the matter, Jeremy? Didn’t you sleep last night?” Nurse Linda asked. I shook my head.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No, I just didn’t sleep well.” She looked at me doubtfully but handed me my little cup of pills. I popped them in my mouth with the same routine as yesterday, hiding them under my tongue. Nurse Linda gave me my clothes and left. I spit the pills in the sink and washed them down the drain. I tugged on my clothes and ran my fingers through my hair. I was still stuck on the thing with Dr. Shrueger. I couldn’t figure out what to do. I was determined to crack this case.

I walked down to the cafeteria and saw that everyone had already got started eating. I grabbed a bag and sat down at the table.

“Good morning,” Lucy chirped.

“Hey,” I answered.

Brady nodded at me and Sean grinned.

“How’d you sleep?” David asked.

“Fine,” I lied. “You?”

“Wonderfully, thank you. Are you ready for Group today?” he asked.

“Group? That’s group therapy, right?” I asked, dumping the contents of my bag. It was exactly what they had served yesterday.

“Yep,” David said. I groaned inwardly. Truthfully, I was not looking forward to it at all. The rest of breakfast passed in silence with the occasional comment from Lucy. Soon after we had breakfast cleaned up and finished, the nurses directed us to sit in the common room. A few doctors came in and sat down with us. Dr. Shrueger was not with them.

“Good morning, everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Dr. Callibeam. Today is Group Therapy,” she said in very cheerful voice that sounded forced.

Oh boy, I thought. This was going to be interesting.

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I only spoke once during Group and that was to introduce myself to the doctors I didn’t know. One person would talk about their problems and everyone else would give advice. Mostly it was just David and Lucy talking. I didn’t feel like it, Brady doesn’t talk, and Sean just sat around looking very smug for some reason.

After Group, Nurse Linda took me to see Dr. Shrueger. I was hoping that I would get a break from him because I already had a form of therapy, but that was not the case.

“How do you think Group Therapy went, Jeremy?” he asked me.

“Fine, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you want to talk?”

“I didn’t feel like it.”

“Oh, well, maybe next time,” he said. Or maybe not.

“Yeah.” I shrugged.

“I have some very good news for you,” he said.

“You’re letting me out?” I joked.

“Sadly, no. But, you’re parents are coming to visit tomorrow. They are also bringing Joshua. How do you feel about seeing them?” Dr. Shrueger asked. I though for a minute. I hadn’t seen my brother in a long time. Since he was a senior and I was sophomore he was always hanging out with his friends, playing basketball and stuff like that. He wasn’t home much. He wasn’t even home the day everything went wrong. When my dad came back after he and mom had told me they were taking me to be tested, he brought my brother. I heard my mom and dad explain to him what had happened then he came upstairs. He knocked on my door but didn’t wait to see if I would let him in.

“Hey,” he said into my dark room. I didn’t answer. He stood there for a while then he left and went into his room, slamming his door. He didn’t come when they dumped me here either. I hadn’t seen him since that night.

“Weird,” I said.

“Weird? Why is that?” The doctor asked.

“I don’t know. He was never there?” I said.

“Who was never there? Your father?” Dr. Shrueger wrote something down on his paper.

“Josh. My brother. He was never around much.” I sighed.

“How do you feel about seeing him tomorrow?”

“Happy, I guess.” Although I wish he didn’t have to see me in this place.

“That’s good, Jeremy. Really good. If you want, we can be done for today. It’s about time for break anyway. I want you to know that it’s good for you to be talking about your feelings.” Oh, blah, blah, blah. I just wanted to be anywhere else but this office right now.

“One last question,” he said. “Has anything seemed out of the ordinary today?” This was becoming a daily thing.

“No, and why do you even care?” I demanded.

“Oh… I just have to ask you that so I can know if the treatment they are using is working and not causing any side effects.”

“Oh,” I said. I heard the door behind me creak open and I looked over my shoulder. It was Nurse Linda.

“Are you ready, Jeremy?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I stood up and walked towards her but stopped before following her out the door. I turned back to Dr. Shrueger.

“Oh, one last question,” I said, mimicking him. “How long did you say you worked here?”

“Fourteen long years, why?” he asked looking at me with his eyebrows raised.

“No reason, I just forgot is all.” Then I went through the door.

When I got back to the common room, the nurses were just getting lunch set up. I went right over to the table with the bags and sat down and started eating. Everyone else joined me almost immediately.

“Hey, guys,” I said.

“What’s up?” David asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, don’t play stupid with me. You have an it-feels-like-I’ve-just-been-shot expression on your face. What happened?”

I sighed and though about making something up. “My family is coming to visit me tomorrow,” I said, surprising myself.

“Well, that’s something to be happy about,” David said. “I mean, I only get visits from my parents once a month. Lucy, well, Lucy get’s them once a week. I don’t even keep track of when Brady’s parents come but I think it’s just random.”

“What about you?” I asked Sean.

“Um, mine never come. I mean, they used to, like, practically every day but they just stopped. It was around the time I stopped going to my doctor, actually.”

“Oh,” was all I could say. The rest of lunch passed quickly and afterwards, we all played cards, even Brady.

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Please comment if you are reading this story and you have any comments or suggestions:):)

I updated the cast a little... let me know what you think of it and let me know if you find someone who is even BETTER than who I picked!:)