Incurable

Six

Alex walked back into his own room, and sat down on the bed beside Jake, who was reading a book.

Jake set it down and smiled at him. "Hi. So, how was everyone?"

"They just went to check on Scott. Something happened between him and Kirstie, I guess. Um. Can I ask you something?"

Jake turned towards him a little more. "Yes. What is it?"

"You've... Been here a decent amount of time, right? I mean, I know of the seven of us, Kevin was first. But you.. You've been here longer than I have."

Jake nodded slowly.

"What exactly... What's Mitch's mental disorder? I have tried so hard to figure it out. And just when I think I have a handle on it, he does something else to completely change my assumption."

Jake smiled a little. "Yeah.. He's one of the hardest to figure out. As far as I know, he has some kind of... ADHD mixed with... I don't even know. Peter Pan Syndrome maybe."

Alex chuckled a little. "Yeah, okay."

Jake blinked at him. "You know that's a real thing, right?"

"Peter Pan? I don't think that's a disorder."

"It definitely is. The only reason it relates to him is because of his like.. Random bursts of emotion, you know? But I'm honestly not one hundred percent sure about his illness."

Alex nodded. "Okay... And what about Kevin?"

Avi knocked on the door, seeing as how Alex left it open. "I'm sorry to eavesdrop. But I'm actually really curious about this too. Can I join you?"

Jake shrugged, and Avi walked in, closing the door behind him.

Jake looked back to Alex. "Anyways.. All I know is that he gets panic attacks sometimes. And he has like... Severe anxiety. That's why he's always freaking out about being late. Avi, I'm sure you'll come across one of his panic attacks at some point."

Avi shrugged. "I mean.. He just sticks to a schedule. That's the only unusual thing about him so far."

*******

Mitch walked into Kirstie's room, and stood beside her while she dug through one of her drawers. "Yeah, Mitchie? What's up?"

"You made him start again."

She sighed and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry, sugar. I didn't mean to. I was just... I laughed for another reason, and he thought I was laughing at his voice."

"And now he's all upset again. Why did you do it?"

"Mitch, it's not like I did it on purpose."

Mitch sighed, and his body hunched a little. "I don't want him to be sad. It's so easy for him to hide it from me because he doesn't ever say anything about it, and no one expects him to."

"I said I was sorry."

"But sorry isn't going to fix--"

"I said I was sorry. I said I was sorry!" Kirstie shook her head, hands coming up to cover her ears. "I said I was sorry!"

Mitch knew the signal immediately, and he shook his head at her. "Kirstin. It isn't your fault. Take it easy."

Her eyes filled with tears. "It was my fault. It was all my fault. I could've tried to help them..."

Mitch rubbed her back and looked around the room, knowing exactly what would bring her back to reality. "Kit, what color is the ceiling?"

She looked up, wiping one of her tears. "White."