The Psychotic Life of Charlie Keynes

CHAPTER SEVEN

It’s been 3 months ever since I found out that I have cancer, and I still go to treatment thrice a week, I also go to my psychologist every second Saturday of the month, you know, in case I go nuts again, they’re trying to keep me on a steady track. I admit that I still do remember or keep seeing the tragic incident that happened to me and my uncle in my head, and I only tell this stuff to my psychologist, Mrs. Lamensoff, she never tells my family what I say to her, and that actually helps me, my family not knowing, because if they knew, they’ll all gat crazy checking up on me every once in a while, it’s bad enough that I have cancer. Anyway, I’m now on my way for my treatment, my Mom suggested to drive me there but I refused, I wanted to do something on my own now, while I still can, I finally arrive at the hospital and as I went out of the elevator I immediately saw cancer patients getting their treatment too, I approached a guy I know, he’s name is William, he’s about 25 years old, he kinda looks like a model, he has wavy brown hair and dark green eyes,  but  there’s only one thing that keeps him out from being a male model, he has leukemia. I shook his hand as he shook mine, “Why do people shake their hands when they meet?” asked William

“It’s a way of greeting each other”

“Yeah, but why not we slap each other on the face and say hi?”

“That’s violence”

“Yeah, but why shake?”

“I don’t know William”

“How the hell am I gonna find out the answers to my questions when in any moment I am going to die”

“Why don’t you find a way?”

“How exactly?”

“I’ll help you, don’t worry”

He smiled at me like what I said made his day, as I smiled back, the nurse grabbed my arm and shoved a needle in it, it hurt a little but it’s kinda my routine now, thrice a week an extremely sharp needle gets shoved into my arm, just so I could feel better. The treatment lasts in about an hour or so, it’s relieving, yes, but sometimes it’s painful yet satisfying. I’m used to it and I’m looking forward for more treatments, especially when I am about to die. Anyhow, it took about an hour and my treatment’s finally done, so I said goodbye to them and took off, I was about to go to my appointment with Mrs. Lamensoff, I entered her office or as she calls it “The Mind room” she gestured to the chair, I sat down and waited for her to say something, after a few minutes she finally spoke up

“How’s your life doing today?” she said

“I got my treatment a while ago, and I haven’t passed out or see things today or the past days” I replied

“Very good, you’re improving but we still need to do these “psychological stuff” okay?”

“Okay”

30 minutes had passed and my appointment was finally done. I went to the mall, at the food court, I ordered a piece of pizza and a diet coke, as I ate, I was reading The House of Hades, you may not know this but I have finished reading the rest of my Greek mythological books, and this is the final book that I haven’t read yet, I am now in the last chapter and yes, I am a fast reader. Today I feel like a normal, healthy person it’s because of the treatment I get, I feel strong, it’s awesome whilst it lasts but maybe one day I can feel like a healthy person again, one day… Anyway, right after I finished reading my book, I saw Robbie and Rhean waiting outside of a store, I was curious and went to peek, then I saw that they were waiting for Maddie and Franz, they had a lot of shopping bags with them, it’s not anyone’s birthday and I don’t think they’re really shopaholics, so, for who are those? I saw Rhean turning her head to see her surroundings, I immediately hid under the table, and she didn’t notice me at all, thank God. As Maddie and Franz was done buying “stuff” they met up with Robbie and Rhean, as they exited the building, I got up looked around, just to be sure that they are really gone. So I went to the store and as I entered the store, I quickly saw branded clothing’s and shoes, who the hell are they gonna give that stuff to? I couldn’t resist not buying a pair of shoes from the shop, so I bought these amazingly awesome adiddas shoes, I still receive my daily allowance so might as well make use of it. As I was about to exit the building, I saw Robbie waiting by the car, I went back inside the mall and decided to watch a movie, Rio 2 is still showing, well I guess I better work up my mind into kid zone, I entered the cinema and it was jammed pack, there were a lot of people and it’s hard to breathe in this kind of places, plus I am claustrophobic. So I passed in the front and saw an empty seat on the first row, so I ran and sat down immediately, I looked at the screen and I realized that the movie is not yet starting, minutes passed and I got a little irritated, there are many people here and it’s getting hard for me to breathe, I should have just watched Divergent again. As I was about to lose it, the lights went out and the movie started rolling, “Finally” I said aloud just so that the people beside me could hear, I grabbed the nebulizer, inhaled and exhaled slowly, it was kinda relieving but it was still not good enough, well, good than it’ll ever be. When we were in the middle of watching the movie, I noticed that many people were leaving, and only a few of us were left in the cinema, I breathed easily now, and I hope it stays like this, unless I’d collapse here for being claustrophobic and for having cancer. The movie lasted about an hour or so, as I exited the building again, Robbie wasn’t there anymore, I finally could go home, then I looked at my watch and saw that it was already 7:00 pm, I didn’t notice the time a while ago, and now Phoebe is gonna kill me, I’m supposed to be home at 5:30 pm, so I took the bus home, as I slowly approached the front door of the house, my heart beat started pounding, I was scared that I’m gonna be grounded again. See here’s the thing, when Phoebe grounds me, she doesn’t allow me to watch television, play video games, read books or even sleep, she let’s me do all the household chores, cancer or no cancer, I turned the door knob slowly and opened the door, I step foot inside of the house and I didn’t hear anything, I yelled out “Mom?” no one replied, “Dad?” silence all over the room, “Robbie, Rhean, Maddie, Franz?” still no one answered me. I went upstairs and knocked in every door. All the rooms are empty, no one was in the kitchen, the living room, the game room or the comfort room, so I checked at our backyard and front yard, still no one was there, so I drove to Enders house, I was hoping they’d be there. I knocked on they’re door, Ender opened it and said “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Is Mom here?”

“Nope”

“Dad?”

“Uh-uh”

“Phoebe, Earl, Robbie, Rhean, Maddie, or Franz?”

“None of the above”

“Do you know where any of them are?”

“Ah… No”

“Well, they’re not at home and they’re not here, so where are they?”

“Maybe they’ve gone out for dinner?”

“Without me?”

“Gee, I don’t know bro, come on I’ll help you find them”

“Not without me” said Chloe as she went down the stairs

“Thank you” I replied to them both

“I call shot gun” said Chloe

“Okay, I’m driving” said Ender

“Guess, I’m sitting at the back seat”

We had laugh and drove off to the mall, in case they went there. Chloe went in and checked if any of them were there.

“Their car isn’t there” said Chloe

“Let’s try at the hospital” said Ender

So we drove off to the hospital. I went in and I asked the doctors and nurses, but they haven’t seen them anywhere.

“None” I said to them as I entered the backseat

We passed by the park, museum, playground, malls, schools, airports, police stations, and we tried calling them every minute but they weren’t there, and they weren’t picking their phones, “I think we should go home, it’s getting late, we’ll look for them tomorrow” said Ender, I agreed and headed back home, I went to my room, laid down and closed my eyes “I hope everything’s back to normal tomorrow”.