To Hell and Back for You

Chapter 18: Partners

"I'm proud of you, Mark," Doctor Stokes told me, "You know, progress doesn't come easy, but it starts in that small, usually out-of-nowhere moment where we decide to make a change and rise above. It seems that you may have, in fact, had that moment."

I gave her a half-smile, still uncertain that I could pull through, yet definitely feeling far more confident, "Does that mean I can go home now?"

"Despite how I feel, I'm required to ask," she said, "Are you currently a danger to yourself or others?"

I shook my head, "No."

"Alright, on that promise, I can discharge you," her lips curled into a smile, "I'll have the papers drawn up and the nurse will call you when they're finished."

"Thank you," I lifted myself from the chair in front of her desk.

"I do want you to follow up with a therapist," the doctor added.

I knew that was coming, "Okay, I will," I lied and turned toward the door.

"Mark," she stated plainly, obviously waiting for me to give her my attention again.

Goddammit, just let me go, I complained silently as I spun around.

"I'll have an appointment set up for you before you leave," she was clearly not convinced that I would follow through; why was I still so bad at this? "The facility is here in town and they take your insurance so there's no burden to you."

I sighed in defeat, "Thanks."

After that, I was finally able to make it out. It had been another three days since Devin left, making my total time in the ward five days. A typical stay for a short term wing. I was just happy I had been able to show I was no longer suicidal so that I didn't get transferred into long-term treatment.

The days had gone by much the same with nothing happening. At one point, I almost had a conversation going with another patient. It had started off as stereotypical guy talk. Sports, fighting, women, but with the last topic, he randomly started talking about raping Patricia.

He said that he could get away with it because she was too far gone to report it. I had to admit that it made me really uncomfortable to hear someone talk like that so casually, yet somehow, I found the strength to say, "I'd report you."

The guy then turned on me, yelling something to the effect of shutting me up by fucking my pretty boy mouth. My heart jumped when he moved closer to me and raised his voice to say it. Thankfully, one of the male nurses rushed over and pulled the man back which just made him angrier and he kept spouting shit and fighting the nurse's grip.

Other staff came in and had to sedate the guy. I found it odd that nobody asked if I was alright, but I guess since they ended up putting him in the isolation room, it didn't really matter. More importantly, I felt I was starting to get somewhere with these dream powers. I had tried again the second night to somehow reach Devin and was still unable so I switched to consciously rotating the place I was in, being careful not to end up at Ames' home again.

That seemed to come easiest to me and I quickly concluded that I had the hang of it. My next task was drawing my sword. It was a little more difficult, but by the end of last night, I felt it was getting simpler. Admittedly, it was the astral travel experience that helped me to perfect these techniques. The more I focused on controlling that energy inside of me, my spirit, and using it to complete actions other than removing it from my body, I fully realized how connected the dream and spiritual realms were.

I had wanted to move on and gather other skills there like telekinesis or pyrokinesis, but I was awoken by the sound of a patient roaming the halls undergoing intervals of shouting and then mumbling to himself. By the time staff had him under control, I couldn't get back to sleep and not long after, the first meal of the day was provided.