A wreck within

Chapter 9

How easy could your life get destroyed? How many actions you take before you collapse? James had not told to any of his friends what was going on with him. How messed up he was feeling. Everyone got suspicious of him, as he was a terrible secret keeper when it had to do something with his own life. You can tell that he is lying as every time he tells a lie he raises his eyebrow. And they could tell that something was off with him. James had ADHD but he was never that irritated with everything that was going on.
Kiara was the first person that noticed his altered behavior, as they were staying in the same house. She had seen James shattering a mug with a baseball bat. James would reassure her that everything was all right. But in reality, he was getting worse and worse. He had to spend a lot of time on his own to not harm the ones he loved. Kiara noticed the blur in his eyes and the intensity that was around of him. It was like a dark cloud following him all around.
It was a foggy morning. James was sitting in his armchair by the window reading a book. Reading books was the only thing that was not violent and could make James forget his troubles. Someone knocked on James' door. It was his father. With a very serious look on his face he said, "Get ready, we are going to the base"
James did not know how to feel. "Why?" he asked. He was not in the mood to be a lab rat.
"There are some psychologists and doctors that want to see you." Mike confessed to his son. "They might be able to help you... with the situation". You could tell that his father was nervous. There were many things he was hiding from James.
Along with his parents, they went to the base. James had been there 4 times in his life. When he was younger, they would tell him that it was an office, but in reality, it was not. The technology in the base was out of this world. They were collaborating with the government and NASA. They knew everything that was happening in the States.
A visit at the base would never end up well. Every person who was watching James and family would greet them with pity in their eyes. Everyone knew that James was messed up. James tried very hard not to snap at them.
They went to the lowest floor, where the labs were. The scientists there made James feel uneasy. At the end of the corridor, there was a big room with only two red plastic chairs in it.
There were almost a hundred scientists staring at him. Thomas Barnes, the head scientist turned at James' direction. "James you have to remember who gave you the dose. It will help us a lot."
James started feeling very uneasy. But not from the doctors or the environment. The kind of uneasy that you are before you get sick. He has the need to throw up. "I can't. Just like you can't remember your son's birthday" he replied. Everyone judged in silence. James had a cold look on his face.
"My relationship with my son is none of your business." Thomas replied with disapproval in his eyes.
James ignored the comment. "What was the liquid?" He asked with his turn. James' eyes seemed cold and they had an unpleasant tightness in them.
"We don't know son. It is like a missing puzzle" his father replied.
James was pounding his fists against his thighs. He could detect when someone was lying. "What was the liquid?" he repeated himself trying not to snap.
Everyone started whispering. "I don't care. He has the right to know." His mother looked him in the eyes "James it was a serum. When I was still in training, they injected a serum in me. It was a serum that heightened your senses, made you stronger almost invincible. When I was pregnant, you were not affected by the serum and we supposed that you were immune. But you have the serum in your blood. And in combination with the serum they gave you, we don't know what it can do to you." Natalie exclaimed.
"I know" Thomas said. Everyone turned at his direction.
"What do you think Tom?" Mike asked.
Thomas Barnes was Sebastian's father and the best friend of Mike, making him James' godfather. But after Sebastian's mother died, he became a lot more aggressive towards Sebastian. He was feeling sick whenever he would see his deceased wife's eyes in his son. That destroyed the relationship of the two.
He took a chair and sat next to them. "We have to run more tests. But I am pretty sure Nat's serum in combination with the one they gave you; it will mess up with your mind James. You might want to kill us all, yourself or something along those lines. It will make you aggressive." Thomas looked James dead in the eye.
James sank in his chair. The last thing he wanted was to kill everyone. There was a possibility that nothing would happen, but he was mad with the wrong people. "Is there a way to not kill you all? Or to get rid of the anger?" James asked hoping for a good answer.
"We have to get the serum out of your system. To do that we need an antidote which we do not have at the moment. The best we can do is teach you how to control your anger." Thomas replied. James hated him for the way he was treating Liz and Sebastian, but he had to admit that he knew what he was doing. He was good at his job.
"How am I supposed to do that if I get angry with everything?" James complained.
"We have a stimulation that can help you control your feelings. It is used to get rid off negative and toxic sensations" Mike said. James was curious why they did not put him in the stimulation earlier.
"You have to learn how to control the anger, not bottle it up, control the anger". All the scientists told him before putting him on a stimulation. The stimulation would train him to deal with his anger before it would be too late. They put a bunch of cables on him and gave him a drug to fall asleep.
His mother did not leave him for a second as she felt that it was kind of her fault. That stupid serum that she thought it would be a good idea to inject to her would destroy the life of the most important person in her life.
James woke up. It was the day he was going to ask Morgan out. When James knocked on her door, Mitchell opened it instead. "What do you want Stevens?" He asked with a rude tone. He saw the flowers James was holding "What is with the flowers? I hope you are not hitting on my girlfriend Stevens. You know you don't stand a chance with her" He laughed on his face.
James tried to not get angry, this was the goal of the stimulation. James clenched his fists which cracked Mitchell up "Are you going to hit me? I am twice your size" James punched Mitchell on the face, he didn't even flinch. He pushed James behind which resulted in him hitting his eyes.
When James opened his eyes, he was in the schoolyard. He tried to approach Sebastian, only to be laughed at. "You could not even beat up Mitchell. Do you think you can take me? You piss your pants with me just raising my voice" he scolded.
It was not real. It was not real. James repeated to himself again and again. This was not coming from Sebastian. "You let Freya away and now Morgan. Why you always chicken out James? LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU" Sebastian screamed.
James was taking deep breaths before he snapped. With a piece of wood, he found, he started beating Sebastian with it. He started bleeding badly, James did not stop. Not even his best friend crying for help made him stop. "WHO IS THE WEAK NOW? WHO IS CRYING NOW? WHO IS THE ONE THAT IS A CHICKEN?" He took the piece of wood and did the impossible. He stabbed it in his stomach.
James woke up in cold sweat. Some parts of his skin had black marks. The serum was working. The room was quiet, the stimulation was over. James ran away without telling anything, to anyone. He did not want to talk to a single soul. Feeling so ashamed, he was willing to walk back home. He killed his best friend without even flinching. Without feeling guilty.
He returned to his home. He went straight to the bathroom where he took a hot shower. He was planning on getting used to the steams as he would probably go to hell. After he showered, he reached for his phone. Morgan and Freya sent him 100 texts and calls each asking whether he would come at the party. If he wanted to continue pretending that everything was alright, he had to go. If he skipped the party everyone would get suspicious. He decided to go to Moira's birthday party. If Moira knew one thing was how to throw a good party. The house was packed with people. He immediately got even more pissed and left.
He passed from Morgan who was holding a shot of Vodka in her hand. "James where are you going?" She said.
"I am busy" he replied and went in the gym that he had in the house. This time he did not punch the punching bag. With a knife he found in the kitchen, he cut the bag open. Even when it got open, he did not stop,
"James, what in the world is going on with you!" Morgan screamed. Sebastian was right behind her.
"We are worried, dude. We are not used to you acting like that" Sebastian confessed. James' behavior was making everyone freak out.
"I can act however I want. You are not... any better than... me" James broke down. He curled up in a corner and start gasping. He was having a panic attack.
That was what worried Morgan and Sebastian the most. "Go get his inhaler" Morgan shouted at Sebastian. She sat next to James, "James calm down, we can figure it out. All together" Morgan tried to make him feel better
"Why you aren't with that idiot Mitchell?" James shouted.
Morgan slapped him "James Stevens, I thought you would know better than that. I only like one person, but he is too busy to even turn and look at me." Morgan confessed.
James understood that she meant him but then he started feeling the urge to faint. Sebastian came with James' inhaler. He immediately took a puff and closed his eyes.
"Bro tell us what is wrong. We will find a solution to all this together. Together Jae. Not on your own. You are hiding something from us for the past month. We want to help you out." Sebastian said.
James was trembling. He revealed the black veins out of his sweatshirt. Morgan was trying to understand what was wrong. "I am going to kill all of you. That is what the doctors said," James confessed. "I am going to kill all of you, and I won't even feel guilty. I will hurt you. I will taste your blood that will be in my hands. I will not even cry on top of your dead bodies. They put me in a stimulation, and I killed you so easy like it meant nothing to me. I am infected with a serum that makes me angry, violent. Makes me thirsty for blood. I black out all the time" Sebastian and Morgan were very concerned about James.
Morgan placed her palms on James' face. "We are going to help you. I am going to help you. Even if that means to tie you with chains in a prison. I will do anything to make you feel better because I love you and I want you to be happy. You are always there for all of us. Now it's time for us to be with you" Morgan confessed. After she hugged James, she realized that he was skinnier than before. She did not want to mention anything.
"For the moment I do not want you to say anything, to anyone. I want all this to stay between the three of us. I will talk to Howard and Freya when I am ready" James announced.
Kiara was listening to everything behind the closed door. Morgan liked James and James liked Morgan. And James was going to kill all of them. Kiara felt goose bumps all over her body.
A voice inside her mind guided her body to the red velvet box that she always seemed to ignore. When she opened it, she lost her breath. The ring of the heir. It was the last story her father told her. The legend said that when a king died, the ring was going to the heir of the throne, on its own. Kiara had to go back to Celestia.
Kiara did not want to be alone with her thoughts. She went back to Moira's party even if she felt like an alien with those people who did not have anything in common. She wanted to go to the toilet. She opened the door but there was someone vomiting in there. It was Morgan.
Kiara wanted to go. "Morgan are you alright? Do you want me to call Howard or Someone?" She did not want to be a jerk.
"You d-don't know how hard it is to be me," Morgan said.
"What? Even drunk you want to fight with me." Kiara complained.
"I don't know how long it will take but I-I will snap." Then Morgan started crying "My robot is gone, and dad can't find it. Howard will kill me" She sobbed.
Kiara realized that the robot in Edith's attic was not for a school contest. That was the reason Morgan did not want her at her house. But still, she did not mention that she knew where it was.
"I have trouble with things people wouldn't expect me to. You have the option to ran away. I don't. I have to be a certain person." Morgan said.
Kiara flinched. Morgan was not speaking to her. She was talking to the universe in general. But Kiara wanted to run away. She didn't want to be the one that took Morgan home, so she left with nobody realizing.