Since people asked me about it and said they'd be interested in seeing more, and having nowhere else to put it as of yet. . . Here's more.
The droning of an buzzer awoke the boy from a restless sleep to the same ceiling. He sighed as he sat up off the padded floor, he peeled off the thin blanket.
Time was still a blur to him, but he was beginning to perceive differences in the world around him. He could've been here a few weeks, or several years and it wouldn't have made a difference. He was still detached, but since he had first awoken in this new cell, he had slipped into a routine. He woke up, they slipped breakfast through a slot next to the door. That was morning. A while later a woman in white came in with a wheelchair to take him to his medical examination where a man in a white coat would try to talk to him, that was noon. They fed him his dinner there, let him use the toilet, give him a bath, and then returned him to his cell where he went back to sleep. That was night.
The cell itself was relatively small, white and padded on all four walls and the floor. Well lit by a single incredibly bright ceiling lamp, sterile, and bleach white. It wasn't anything like the previous hospital rooms he had woken up in.
It wasn't a hospital, it was a madhouse and he realized it.
But at least it was an improvement over his previous accomodations, still a prison, but a much gentler prison. He wasn't in chains, or an embarassing hospital gown although his new blue patient uniform wasn't much of an improvement, he didn't have a detonator around his neck. . . .
He panicked again the second the thought crossed his mind. Quickly reaching for his neck expecting it to be there. He exhaled in relief after realizing it was gone again, and then again in sadness.
The people here weren't cruel. . . at least they fed him. Well. . . what passed for food in this place.
As if to make a point, out of a vent next to the door slid a covered plastic tray.
He stood up and slowly walked over to the plastic tray, barely noticing it. Carefully taking the top off. It was garlic rice with carrots, a small piece of cake, a cup of orange juice, and a rubber spoon. No forks or knives. In addition to the food there was also a tiny cup with two bright blue pills next to the food. With a message on his napkin in Japanese.
"Take one before, and one after you eat."
Someone had drawn a smile on the memo. He would have cried at the gesture if he hadn't cried out all his tears long ago. Instead he sighed and carried the tray back to the center of his cell. He took one of the pills, and ate in silence. Unaware he was being watched through a camera in the upper corner of the room.
- - -
"Are you a relative?"
"Not by blood, and I haven't seen him in over a decade. But under the circumstances. . .I'm the closest thing to one he has. I trust the proper authorities graced you with the truth about our. . . shall we say delicate situation?"
The doctor persused the patients file for a moment, and majority of the information in it was blotted out, even the patients name.
"Just the broad strokes, not the fine details. Which isn't helping us make any progress in treating him . . . but cases like him aren't uncommon at our facility."
"What exactly is wrong with him?"
"My best diagnosis is Catatonic Schizophrenia brought on by extreme and chronic physical and emotional abuse. He's mentally regressed to a borderline infant mentality as a defense mechanism to cope with his trauma."
"May I please see him now?"
"I don't think that would be such a good idea sir. Patients with problems this deep"
"I traveled all the way from Berlin for him. I'm not leaving until I can see him."
"Please."
The doctor sighed "I recommend waiting for the anti-psychotics to work. We'll arrange to have him brought outside to the garden. I figured we'd try a different tactic today. . . I've learned an open air environment does wonders for our patients."
"Word of advice, sir." "Don't try to push him too much too quickly. Otherwise it could set back what little progress we've made with him indefinitely."
- - -
He finished eating and then took the other pill without complaint. When he finished, the buzzer on the door rang and it opened, in came a nurse with a wheelchair for him to sit in. She said 'something special' was going to happen to him today. He didn't pay attention to it. She lifted him up from his spot on the floor, and slowly led him out of the room step by step, before sitting him down in the wheelchair. She wheeled him down the hall, past several other rooms, noises came out of them, other patients crying and moaning in pain. The nurse hummed a song in another language under her breath as she wheeled him down the tiled passageway. He saw a glimmer of a pond next to a meadow of flowers outside of a window as he passed.
The nurse pushed him out of a dim passageway and into a brightly lit outside world. The nurse wheeled him into the meadow, under the shade of a tree and stopped. She said something attempting to be calm and soothing, and then left him there for a minute. He inhaled deeply through his nose for a moment, the sweet smell of the flowers was a welcome change from the sterility of the room. But it was a small victory, a small victory in a string of failures too great to overcome.
"It's been a long time eh Shin-chan?" The boys didn't react to ignore the voice of the man in the shade of the tree. He sighed in "There's a lot of things in this life that don't change, but I never thought you'd be one of them. You haven't aged a day."
"But me?" The older man touched his own face as he walked out of the shade of the tree. Shinjis eyes widened in suprise as he walked out of the shade of the trees. "I've got a lot of miles."
It was Ryoji Kaji. He had a few wrinkles, but he wasn't an old man just yet. His once thin beard was now full, and had specks of grey in it. He wore a plain black suit with a tie, and a pair of dark glasses.
The young boy turned his head away. He tightly clenched his eyes shut, tightened his mouth into a thin line, preparing for the insults, the accusing looks, the coldness and hatred.
Kaji walked over to the boy in the wheelchair, he squatted down next to him. trying to meet him eye to eye despite his glasses coming between the two.
"Shinji." Kaji said, a soft understanding in his voice. "I'm not going to hurt you, alright?"
The boy began to fidget and quiver in anxiety, he turned away from Kaji in his wheelchair."Go away." He said, barely putting any effort into his voice as he did. "Please, just stay away. . . "
Kaji turned away for a moment and removed his glasses. His eyes were familiar, but now they were tired, carrying their own sadness inside them. ". . .I can't do that Shin."
"No more. Please. . . no more." He kept his head down, trying his best to avoid eye contact with Kaji. Kaji, carefully, slowly reached over to the boy and lifted his head up with both his hands, finally making eye contact with him.
". . .Kaji?"
"It's me Shinji. . . I'm here."
It was here the boy finally broke down. He grabbed Kaji with both hands and quickly hugged him, catching the older man off guard. Clutching his shoulders tightly as if afraid he'd fall apart in front of him. He began to cry and sputter again.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. . .I couldn't save Rei. . ." He moaned in self-loathing as the tears began to roll down his face. ". . .I couldn't save anyone. . ."
Kaji slowly reached up and hugged in return. "I'm sorry too kid. . ."
". . .sorry wont bring them back. . .Thousands dead. . .all . . .me." He gripped Kaji tighter. Tears still trickling down the side of his face. He sobbed again before he lett go of Kaji and slumped in the chair, sadness overwhelming him again.
"All me."
outsane_geek wrote:It's not like he was guaranteed a happy ending popping out of the goo; he was just given the chance for one.
