I am a Monster

Chapter 1

As soon as Isaac Andrew Lahey heard his brother Camden knocking, he knew his time was up.

He rubbed the palms of his hands on his washed out jeans, eyes wandering from the curtains to the Marvel poster on the wall, then got up from the bed and opened the wardrobe, staring blankly at it. He chose a pair of trousers and a couple of sweaters, folded them neatly and put them inside one of the two bags on the floor. Shoes and a few books went into the other one.

He looked around: nothing had changed. Pictures still on the corkboard. Chair at the desk. Computer was on, showing a colourful screensaver. The wall still painted red, the floor still cold, the window glass still damp and his cheeks still dry. Even the lacrosse team poster was still on the back of the door.

He picked up the bags and turned off the lights, standing in the doorway one last time.

"You got everything, Isaac?" Camden smiled friendly at him, hiding the sadness that was slowly making its way through his chest.

"You didn't pack much, why is that?" he added, trying to start a conversation that would have been one sided anyway.

Isaac avoided his brother's eyes and shrugged, then took the stairs down.

The truth was that he left the room as it was because he was hoping to come back one day. To do his math homework on the bed, to sleep with the lights on, to look out the window and inhale the morning air that smelled like water.

He rubbed his hands on his jeans once again and reached the car that was parked outside, glancing one last time at what was once his. It was hard leaving a part of himself in that house, but when the cellphone he was holding slipped out of his hands and smashed on the asphalt, he couldn't help but feel the same. Broken.

....

Scott woke up with his face pressed against a book. Drool stains on the page, right hand still clutching the pencil. He rubbed his eyes lazily, feeling an epic headache coming on. He tried to focus on the book to discover which subject had kept him up all night but the few words he managed to catch, like "atoms" and "molecules", were so blurry and vague he gave up entirely. It might have been chemistry just as well as history, with Christmas break on its way he barely had any willpower left, if at all.

He crawled to the bathroom and turned on the lights. Was that ink, on his face? He scratched it away, almost too harshly, then took a shower. He dressed up and pulled himself to the kitchen.

His mother, Melissa, was serving breakfast. The dark circles under her eyes not only made her look older than she was, they were also a clue indicating the kind of night she must have had. She was already wearing her scrubs and her curly hair was up in a ponytail. She put pancakes on a plate and poured more batter in the pan, smiling heartily to her son.

"Mom, did you pull an all nighter?"

Scott frowned as she nodded slowly. His pancakes were drowning in maple syrup.

"The hospital faxed me these forms", she sighed, "and they had to be filled out by this morning."

Melissa sat down at the table, holding her cup of coffee with both hands. He looked at her, then at the giant pile of paper on the cupboard nearby, which was made up by three folders and a couple of plastic files.

"What for?" he asked with his mouth full, wiping crumbs away with a napkin. Before answering, his mother took a sip of coffee.

"Looks like there will be a new patient in my ward." She got up and put the cup in the sink, then headed to the living room to get her bag and car keys. Scott reached for the first folder and started reading. It was basic patient data, such as name, surname, age, birthplace/date and so on. He turned the page while taking another bite of pancakes. It was all so boring, full of rules and regulations, until page eight. He read the first section and stopped chewing; he read the second one and his pupils dilated; he read the third one and almost choked.

"Scott, could you please bring me lunch today? I don't think I'll be home in time." Melissa took the folder from his hands and added it back to the pile before opening the front door. Scott, still fighting with the piece of pancake in his mouth, quickly waved his mother goodbye. Swallowing soundly and finally able to breathe again, he left the plate in the sink after acknowledging he had eaten enough for that morning. He climbed the stairs to go play Halo in his room. He had a sweetish taste on his tongue and his brain couldn't help but connect it to a boy named Isaac Lahey. The more he blinked, the more the words about Isaac's past flashed before his eyes.

After a while he got up from the floor and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Maybe he ate too much.