𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐕.

sixty.

Sixty chapters already? I remember when I published the first chapter lol. Excuse any errors.

"I think what happened was, you rushed your healing process and thought you accepted your bipolar disorder but once you had your very first manic episode that's when it finally hit you and became even more of a reality for you. Am I right?"

"Yea," Ermias nodded his head looking back at his in-patient therapist he was assigned to during his stay here,"that sounds about right. It just made me realize that I really gotta' deal with it for the rest of my life. Rewatchin' that video of what happened that night made me cringe. I was disappointed, I was.. embarrassed." He says truthfully,"I wanted to die."

"How do you feel now, looking back on what happened a couple of weeks ago?"

"I'm thankful," as a single tear rolled down his cheek he shook his head,"I'm grateful and I just thank God for givin' me another chance. That was His way of giving me a wake up call. I realize now that I can manage my condition while also doin' what I love."

"How has your first two weeks been so far?"

"It's still takin' a lil' getting used to but so far, so good. I feel like I'm becoming myself again, I've been smilin' more and I haven't had any negative thoughts about killing myself or anything so..."

"Okay," Nodding her head she jotted a few things down on her notepad,"so since our session is about to come to a close in about ten minutes is there anything else you want to talk to me about Ermias?"

"Nah, I'm good." He stood to his feet,"Thank you for ya' time." Ending his own session early, he walked out and headed towards his room upstairs. Just when he made it to the second level of the treatment center, activity coordinator Emmy stopped him to talk for a second,"Hey, Ermias!"

"Oh," He looked to his right to see her approaching him,"wassup Emmy?"

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know I'm gathering a few people downstairs in the game room to have a cool little pizza party and play games and stuff. I haven't really seen you interact with people since you've been here so I wanted to extend an invite."

Since he kept quiet she continued,"It's just like a little pow wow kind of thing, power hour if you will. Just a way we kinda' get you guys to feel okay, I know the treatments and everyday therapy sessions can get overwhelming sometimes so this is my way of giving you guys a break."

Emmy could tell by the uncertain look on his face that he was about to tell her no,"I appreciate the offer Emmy but I'm cool on that. Thank you though."

As he attempted twisting the knob to open his door, Emmy reached out and took his hand in hers,"Ermias please. I mean— I don't want to be pushy or anything but don't you think it'll be good to be around some people for atleast a little while? You don't have to stay the whole time."

He looked down at their hands for a second making her chuckle nervously and let go,"I'm sorry."

"Nah.. it's all good," He stuffed both hands in his pockets,"What kinda' pizza y'all got down there?" Slowly, a smile spread across as she began to list everything she had for Ermias and his peers to eat downstairs. While he was being introduced to some people, Karlae and her girls were getting ready to leave for Mexico.