I Never Would've Thought..

Mikey’s POV

I stepped through the doors of the institute. Thank heavens, this was my first time here. Any other time I would have to come here would be seriously disturbing. But I didn’t like this place… I saw a man sitting in a wheelchair with his tongue hanging out at an awkward angle from his mouth and his eyes lolling all over the place, and an old lady sitting opposite him pointing at the soda machine and cackling. I shivered. Thank goodness I had Gerard holding my hand, or I would’ve bolted out of the door, out of that unfamiliar place and back to the outside world where I could be sure of my sanity.

“Hi, we’re here to see Mr Bob Bryar please.” We reached the reception and Gerard spoke to a burly looking nurse. I nearly laughed out loud. Mr Bob Bryar. That sounded funny, but I held back my laughter. In any other situation I would’ve laughed, but when you’re in here, you can’t just laugh, or they’ll have you in a straight jacket as fast as you could say “Sane sane, all the same.” So I held my face straight and stared at the nurse. Oh my god, she had a unibrow and an almost-adams apple. Oh shit. I wonder how long it’ll take before I explode with unreleased laughing fits.

“This way,” She growled and stepped out from behind the counter. She positively loomed and her footsteps were not unlike those of Godzilla’s.

“Sheesh, what kinda people do they employ here anyways?” Gerard whispered to me, smirking.

“People who aren’t people,” was my droll reply. He rolled his eyes and picked up his pace, because Nurse Godzilla was already halfway down the hall with her monstrous strides. Walking rapidly, the four of us nearly crashed into her ample bosom when she stopped abruptly and turned around. Thankfully, I stopped in time to see her name tag, “Call me Sara.” two inches from my nose.

“Here,” she boomed. I looked in and saw Bob sitting up on a white bed, watching television. A pretty nurse was standing at the side of the bed, lighting some candles. She looked up with a smile and explained without us even asking.

“These scented candles are for aromatherapy, they’re supposed to trigger memory inducing cells in the brain. And dear Bob here needs them very much,” She grinned cheekily and extended her hand. We all shook it and she introduced herself. “I’m Sarah, working here as a volunteer.”

“What?” I blurted out, then realized what I said and blushed deeply. Maybe she got that quite a lot because she smiled again.

“With an H. Not the OTHER Sara, sheesh!” She shuddered but giggled at the same time. I smiled at her, an apology on my tongue, but she waved her hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry, I get that a lot.” Wow, she must’ve read my mind. Anyway, I focused my attention back on Bob. He was looking at us and frowning.
“Do I know them?” He turned to Sarah and inquired.

“Yes you do Bob, they’re your old friends!” She patiently replied. She must’ve had a lot of experience. I smiled at Bob, and his eyes widened.

“OH I REMEMBER!!!” He yelled and pointed at me, bouncing on the bed.

“You do…?” I could hardly believe my ears, and stepped towards the bed.

“YEAH!!! Mr Pervy!!!” He exclaimed in delight. The others raised their eyebrows and burst out laughing. Sarah giggled at Bob’s exclaimation and patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Things are going to improve, most definitely.

Oh well… If they were going to improve, I had a feeling there was still a LONG way to go…