Reunion In A Restaurant In Michigan

Part 2

Mr. Johnson offered to show me how to drive the tractor. I was hesitant at first, but then I realized that meant he trusted me. And he didn't look like the type to get mad and hit me if I messed something up.

It happened to be very fun. I learned very quickly how to drive the tractor around their property. I let my fear fade away. For the first time in my life, I felt...loved. It was quite the new feeling. By the end of the session, I had timidly begun to call him Papa.

I had no idea, but it was already beginning to latch onto my brain by the middle of ninth grade. I was having problems with my memory. I was developing anxiety. I was oddly jumpy and couldn't relax. I freaked out at the weirdest shit.

At first, Katyusha and Mom and Papa thought it was just a few funny incidents. I even managed to laugh with them, despite my unease at what was happening to me.

I think Papa started to think something was wrong when I was helping him chop up firewood. He started up the chainsaw, and I flipped. The noise, the sharp chains spinning in the blade...it undid something in my head. All I could hear was Jack The Ripper laughing in the back of my head. At the time, I had an unhealthy obsession with horror movies and true crime documentaries. The weird shit I was binge-watching had really started to mess with my head.

Papa tried to calm me down, but I bolted from the garage and locked myself in the basement. It was a few minutes before I realized how completely stupid I had just acted.

He came inside, waiting right by the basement door when I shamefacedly emerged. "What just happened, son?"

I could only shake my head. I felt so incredibly stupid. "I...I don't know. I'm sorry.."

I went back to the garage with him. I tried to get Jack The Ripper out of my head and focus on helping him. But the minute he got out the chainsaw again, I was suddenly so paranoid I ran out of the garage and to the area we stacked the wood. Papa didn't push me and let me stack all the wood while he cut it. I went as fast as I could so I didn't have to hear or see that godforsaken chainsaw. He had to tell me to slow down so I didn't injure myself.

The next incident happened after I had stayed up late to watch a full documentary on Helter-Skelter with Alfred. I couldn't sleep. I was staring wide-eyed into the darkness, too afraid to move. I stayed like that until morning, when Mom woke up Katyusha and I for school. I was so paranoid that I yelped when Mom opened my door, falling off my bed.

She came right into my room at hearing the thud of me falling. "Ivan? That's a rude awakening. Is that your computer on your bed? You better not have been up late watching horror movies, mister."

I groaned from the floor. I was too tired to argue. I heard her sigh. "Well, you'd better get off the floor soon, or you'll be there all day."

She was right. I was so tired, I wanted to sleep right on the floor. With great effort, I forced myself to my feet and got dressed, mismatching my socks and almost putting my jeans on my head.

I shuffled into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fight with my hair, sharing a large bathroom mirror with Katyusha. Nothing real alarming happened...until she turned on her curling iron. She accidentally waved it towards me, and I became so scared I jumped into the shower and hid behind the curtains.

Of course, Katyusha peeked into the shower, chuckling at me. "You've moved to curling irons now? It won't hurt you, Vachenka."

I frantically shook my head. "Please don't burn me!"

She put the curling iron down on the counter and held her hands up. "I'm not holding it now. See? I'm not going to hurt you."

Eying the curling iron with great suspicion, I slowly emerged from the shower, clenching my toothbrush like a lifeline. I ended up brushing my teeth so hard they bled so I could quickly run downstairs.