Project Masks

The Big Change

                                                                                    SETH

"Seth! Will you please stop yelling at the poor girl, I mean look at what you just did. You scared the girl so bad that she fainted again for crying out loud. If you can't control that temper of yours then you are going to have to wait in your dorm room and I'll send Monica down to talk to you when she is better." Dr. Jillian had nagged at me. She's always telling me that I need to think about my actions before acting upon them, she thinks that's why most people are frightened and want to stay as far away from me as they possibly can.  Jillian and the Oracle are always trying to think up different ways to make me socialize with people so they can see through my dark past and rumors spread about me to see that I am truly not as bad as I seem. "Hello, Earth to Seth. Talk about being hypocritical, you yell at Monica for not paying attention to you and then you turn around and do it to me." Jillian says as she gives me a wicked stink eye  "Huh?" I ask a bit confused as to what the heck she was talking about. "I knew you weren't listening to a word I was saying, and you just confirmed it too." Jillian said while sighing and shaking her head in disapproval. 

"So what if I wasn't really listening to a word that you've been saying for the past however long it was that you've been talking for, and anyways why are you guys fused again?" I say in a slightly irritated tone that can be noticed by even the simplest simpleton that it's dangerous to come close to me when my temper is rising if they knew whats best for them. "I thought that the Oracle told you what would happen to the both of you if you guys went past your limit, also you guys tend to scare the new people that come to The F.D.D.I because you have a habit of switching between telepathy and having  your conversations out loud and to be quite frank with you guys when someone walks in on you having a conversation between yourself, it just makes you seem like a total psychopath." "Hey we get that you're worried about Monica and that you're getting annoyed, but there is no need to take your frustrations out on us Mr. Hothead that doesn't know how to control his temper." Dr. Jillian says in an annoyed tone wail a cloud of smoke formed around her, as the smoke dissipated you could see a  Silhouette of two distinct figures holding hands rather than the single one when the smoke first appeared. " I don't see why you always letting Jill take the lead when you guys fuse Ian?" "FOR THE LAST TIME MY NAME IS ADRIAN NOT IAN HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THAT, HOT HEAD?!!"  "You know he just does that to annoy you Adrian, but I do have to agree with Seth that the nickname Ian does suit you quite well." Jill says with a loving smile on her face. "I don't see why you always take his side when it comes to that nickname, Ian," Adrian says with a pouty face. "And I don't see why you always whine about it after she does, maybe we should just call you CRYBABY for a nickname, How about that?" I say mischievously.

"You know what never mind the nickname Ian is great, and for your information, I do not let Jill take the lead all of the time that we fuse" Jill and I exchange a yeah right look with each other wail Adrian when to go check out the lab results that came back for Monica. "So have you figured out whats wrong with her yet?" all laughter void from my voice, the time for joking around is over I need to focus on Monica. 'I still don't understand how I could miss that she wasn't feeling very well, for crying out loud I was stuck in a car with her for several hours, it's like 7th grade all over again. I couldn't protect her back then and I still am not able to protect her now, sometimes I feel so useless.' "...th to Seth the hot head, are you in there?" I hear Jill's concerned voice say, snapping me out of my thoughts as I see a hand being waved in front of my face, that is a little too close for my comfort. Though the hand seemed to be blurred for some odd reason, it wasn't until I had the sudden urge to rub my eyes did I discover that I was on the verge of tears for this girl that I haven't had an actual conversation with before that incident in the 7th grade, and the last time I cried was before I met her. "Sorry I zoned out again, so what were you saying was wrong with Monica?" I ask while wiping away the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes.

"I said that she hasn't been sleeping properly, nor has she been drinking the right amount of water, she seems to be struggling with anxiety as well as depression, she hasn't been taking her asthma and allergy medicine regularly like she is supposed too, hey did you happen to buy her something that contained peanuts when you guys stopped to get food?" asking with a poker face on. "I don't think so because she was the one to order her food, though we did stop at this restaurant in Louisiana, she ordered a shrimp burrito looking thing but they called it a roll without peanuts, though now that I think about it the waitress wasn't paying much attention to Monica cus she was too busy trying to flirt with me even though I had made it painfully clear to her that I wasn't interested." "YOU IDIOT, IF YOU KNEW THAT SHE WASN'T REALLY LISTENING TO MONICA WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY HER ORDER AGAIN FOR HER TO THE WAITRESS?!" Adrian yells at me while his face is beginning to turn red from anger. "Why the heck are you yelling at me?, I thought she was being a drama queen when she asked for it." I say holding up my hands in defense. "For someone supposedly so smart you are such a moron, you need to work on your empathy towards people, the reason that she asked to have the peanuts taken out is she is allergic to them, that's one of the main reasons she's in this condition," Adrian explains to me as he is  turning around to look at Monica who is still fast asleep.

"Seth you really do need to work on your empathy towards others, you haven't been the same since after the incident that you had in the 7th grade, the Oracle and I both know what you've been doing every time you go missing from the F.D.D.I" Jill explains to me as I look at her shocked. "You think that no one notices, but we do, you need to start doing those exercises that the Oracle, Adrian and I have assigned you, the Oracle thinks that it's best if you start training with Adrian and me, just until Monica gets better then she will be your training partner." Jill looks up from the charts that Adrian had given her when she was in the middle of her speech, to see if I was listening to what she was telling me before continuing. "Training does help, take Ian and me, for instance, we used to only be able to fuse for 5 min now we can do it for four and a half hours and counting," Jill says as she looks at Adrian and snickers as he gives her the stink eye. "Promise that you'll try it out, without complaining for at least two weeks, please" Jill begs me as she pulls her irresistible puppy dog eyes. 

 "Alright I'll try it, but only for two weeks and you have to promise that you will never use your puppy dog eyes against me ever again," I say in the best serious tone that I can muster up without my voice cracking from the tears that are starting to form in my eyes again. "Alright, but no guarantees on the puppy dog eyes," Jill says with a slight smile. I fake a smile back.

                         But all I can think about is that I did this to Monica, it's all my fault.