Asylumstuck

Chapter Five: Dave, again

Dave didn't know how, but he'd managed to sneak a pair of scissors from the art room, skull fucker (that was what he called Jake, earning him a glare everytime) hadn't bothered to check him. So after John was asleep, he went into the bathroom, not thinking lock the door, dismantled the scissors, and carved long, ugly gashes into his arms, it'd been almost seven months since he'd last done this, but the aquired euphoria was still there.

Blood dripped off his fingertips and onto the floor, gathering in small, red puddles. He heard the doornob turn. Shit.

ShitshitshitSHIT.

John was horrified by what he'd walked in on. His eyes widened with shock and fear, he slammed the door shut and ran for the pager.

"John? Do you need something?" Jane's voice rang through the device.

"Get Jake here as soon as possible."

"Wha-" He hung up.

He could already hear footsteps slapping the linoleum outside, the door swung open and three Techs, Jake and two women he didn't know burst in. John pointed to the bathroom. Jake nodded and opened the door. One of the women gasped at the sight of Dave.

He was escorted out, most likely he would be spending the next day or two in the emergency unit.

John had done the right thing, right? Helping his roomate was just. He decided to stop pondering on it and sighed. One of the women re-entered the room. Her nametag read "Porrim".

Weird name.

She thanked him for alerting the Techs, and reassured him that his roomate would be fine.

The next day, Dave attended group activities like normal, despite the gauze covering his lower arms.

"Caught you staring, Egderp." John had, infact, been staring.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought."

They were sitting by themselves at a circular table in the cafeteria. John ate nothing, per the norm, and Dave sipped a juice box between sentences.

"Bout what?"

"Last night."

"Thanks for ratting me out, by the way."

"Sorry! I didn't know what else to do!"

A tray was placed on the table. A girl with large, round glasses and a mane if dark hair sat behind it. She began eating wordlessly, and the boys exchanged looks.

John spoke first. Cheeky bastard.

"Jade?"

The girl swallowed the bite that was in her mouth and smiled cheerily before replying.

"Hey!"

"I haven't seen you lately. You been okay?"

"I'm in a mental hospital, John, I am unaware of what okay is."

Dave watched as their sibling-like banter continued, leaving Dave completely out of the loop. Siblings were overrated. No they weren't, who was he kidding?

Dave decided that he was going to drop the ironic coolkid act and admit to himself that he missed Bro. Dude was all he had.

"Admitting you have a problem is the first step to overcoming it."

Fuck you, therapist in Dave's head.

He stood and threw his empty juice box in the trash before waving slightly to John and heading back towards their room. Damn this gauze was itchy.

He made a mental note to complain about it later.