Sense of Something

Chapter 1 - The Scar in the Sky

Something was off lately. Something about the weather. The sun did not shine too much, there was not a surplus of rain, the clouds had their normal shapes (as far as clouds go), but still, there was something amiss. And everyone knew it.

Gary could not help but stare out the window during these times. Instead of looking at the ground, as he usually did, he gazed at the sky, knowing within every fiber of his being that something, though he did not know what yet, was going to happen.

"So you're sure that that's all?"

Gary jumped slightly as the doctor's voice pulled him back to reality. It had felt like he was not there at all, and instead just watching Earth as a part of him flew above. Another person's voice had broken the concentration that went into flying and brought him practically burning back down to Earth, landing back in his body with an enormous thud. At the moment, he wouldn't mind falling to Earth. Every day he just felt himself sink lower and lower and lower. As a matter of fact, that's why he was there now. "What?"

"Are you sure that's everything you'll need?"

He nodded while stretching slightly, now just realizing how badly his back and shoulders hurt from remaining still in a bizarre position for so long. "I'm sure," he explained, his voice strained due to the stretch.

"Very well," the doctor said, scribbling down a few more notes. "We know you have a history of ignoring the prescriptions, so we have it already prepared for you. You can no longer claim that you didn't have the time to go to the pharmacy to get the pills or that you simply forgot."

Gary sighed slightly. The doctor had him this time. He stood up and began leaving the room, going to the front office. There, a nurse was positioned behind the desk, waiting for him to sign out and pick up his medications. "Your prescription hasn't changed since last time," she whispered, loud enough for him to hear but too softly for other patients to pick up on.

"Thank you, Glenda." He had been to this particular office so many times he knew the staff members, not just by Doctor This or Nurse That, but also by their first names. He began signing himself out when Glenda's fingers stroked his knuckles.

"It's not a problem," she said politely, fishing a card out of her pocket with her other hand. She handed it to him, then watched as he examined it curiously. "If you ever need someone to talk to, here's my number."

He finished signing the paper and tucked the card into his pocket. "Thank you again." He picked up his bag and turned to leave when Glenda called out.

"One more thing before you go."

Gary turned his head to glance over his shoulder. "What's that?"

Nurse Glenda was quiet. She hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Take care, Gary. Whatever you do, please be careful."

Gary nodded. "Thank you." He turned and stalked out of the office, pulling his collar up. He did not want to be recognized. Things were happening.

Gary's depression had been increasingly worsening, to the point where his doctor and hospital visits became nearly a weekly thing. By all means, in his mind, he should have been kept locked away in some institution where he could rot in his madness in peace, but the law of the island dictated he needed to have consent from his family. And Gary lived alone. He ignored the medications and the therapy that the doctors always struggled to give him, which only seemed to rub salt in the wound. To top it all off, his latest attempt had made itself known among nearly every single doctor and nurse of every medical center on the island. This may not have seemed like much to anyone else, especially when considering how there were only a handful of centers, but Gary was, much to his dismay, a bit more sensitive; he was so humiliated he could not go out in public without making sure he blended in, you could never know which one of these faces you would only recognize behind a surgical mask. The doctors tried to assure him that nobody would recognize him, just an everyday 19-year-old living on a somewhat small but still densely populated island. Even so, he worried; it was because the island was small and kept to itself that he worried. No one really knew him, but how long until they found out? He pulled up the collar of his long flowing coat and left, going at a quick pace.