Damned.

Michel turned the corner and bumped into a large and burly male nurse. He clutched at his side and blinked nervously.

“Good, you’re already out of your room,” the nurse said. “I was about to come and get you since apparently you forgot about your group therapy today.”

Michel stroked his stubbly chin. “Did I? Is today Wednesday already?”

Michel could tell the nurse didn’t have much patience.

“Okay, okay, okay. Let me just run to my room quickly and I’ll go straight away. Cinq minutes, d’accord?”

“Don’t speak none of your frou-frou French to me. Just be down stairs in five minutes.”

Michel was about to mention that he had said exactly that but thought better of it. He walked briskly to his room and took the narrow novel from the waist band of his white pants. He flipped through the pages and inhaled the scent. He lovingly placed it in the dresser along with his copy of Hop on Pop. Michel made his way to the first floor of the hospital (isn’t that what they call it?) and self consciously walked into the room designated for his group therapy.

“My, my Michel,” Dr. De Clercq said, eyeing the man over the rim of his glasses. “You’re very late today. Not a very good impression for your second meeting, hm?”

Michel lifted up a corner of his mouth and nodded his head to everyone. “Désolé. Time just got away from me.”

Michel took a seat beside his roommate, Alec. They hadn’t really talked much since Alec moved in but, then again, Michel wasn’t an easy guy to make friends with. Sometimes his hobby turned people off; after all, it landed him in this place.

“We were all just expressing our feelings about being in such a new environment. Jakob was just about to share. Go ahead Jakob.”

All eyes snapped at the twenty-something year old man. He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. “There’s really not much to share. Of course I miss being at home and my wife and what have you… But being military for so long sort of helps with versatility.”

The doctor nodded understandingly as he uncrossed and re-crossed his legs. “Michel, why don’t you share with us as well?”

Michel fought the urge to roll his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I was here before everyone else… even if it was just a couple of weeks. Not really much to share…”

“Well why don’t you tell us what makes you special amongst the group?” Dr. De Clercq offered. “I think its best that we all know about the struggles our peers are fighting so we are able to further help them along their path to recovery.”

“I’m on a quest for knowledge,” Michel replied without batting an eyelash. “I told my family that, I told my lawyer that, he told the courts that, and I told the brute of a man who escorted me to solitary that… Why can’t a man just read his books in peace?”

Dr. De Clercq flipped through some pages on his clipboard. “Well, as far as I know Michel, you actually ate some of the books that you stole…”

“Stole, borrowed… ate, became one with… You’re speaking about semantics here. ‘To-may-to’ versus ‘to-mah-to’ as the Americans say, yes?”

Dr. De Clercq shook his head and scribbled something on his clipboard. “Unfortunately we don’t have much time left so we’ll end it here for today.”

The eight patients rose from their chairs, all muttering something under their breath. Michel and Alec walked back to their room.

“I gather that I didn’t miss much,” Michel said, trying to start up a conversation.

Alec looked down at the floor as he walked. “Not really… but that Sam girl is pretty vicious.”

“Vicious? She seemed shy to me, very timid.”

“Her uniform is red. That means she’s dangerous. I know I’m staying away from her…”

Michel chuckled lightly. “Aren’t you wearing red yourself? Would you advise that I stay away from you as well even though we’re roommates?”

Alec paused and gripped the hem of his red shirt. His knuckles turned white and suddenly he was ripping his shirt right up the middle. He ripped it into shreds and Michel’s eyes widened as Alec kicked a dent into the poor plastic trash can that happened to be right beside him.

Alec stuck his head in the trash can and yelled. “I hate this fucking place!”

Michel stood in a guarded stance, waiting for what Alec would do next. He was prepared to run if he had to but Alec simply stood up straight and took three deep breaths. He picked up the remnants of his shirt and tossed them in the trash can.

Alec glanced at his roommate. “My therapist has been helping me with my anger.”

Michel nodded silently. They were about to continue down the hall until Michel saw his book supplier being dragged between two stocky male nurses. His head was limp and both Alec and Michel were sure that they had injected him with their infamous tranquilizer.

“You know him?” Alec asked.

Michel cleared his throat but shook his head. It was better to deny any association that way, they wouldn’t get suspicious. He had to protect his books.

When they got to their room, Chelsea, the flirtatious nurse, stood by Michel’s door with a disapproving frown on her young face. She pulled Michel’s two books from behind her back.

Michel leapt for his books. “Where did you find those?”

Chelsea pulled a syringe from her pocket and held it threateningly. Michel immediately got a hold of himself. Alec was sitting on the farthest corner of his bed, hugging his knees.

“Michel… I thought you were doing better,” she scolded.

“I would be doing impeccably if you crazy people would just give me my books.”

Chelsea shook her head. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble by having these books and poor Arthur had to pay the price.”

“Pay the price? What price?”

“Oh don’t you worry about that. If you refrain from taking the books of other patients then you won’t ever have to worry about it. Is that understood?”

Michel took a step forward. “What’s going to happen to Arthur?”

Chelsea giggled brightly. “He’s just getting some special treatment. Apparently just his group and solo therapy haven’t been making enough of an impact. He’ll do much better with this treatment.”

Michel wanted to let out a sigh of relief since she said Arthur should do much better but the smile on Chelsea’s face seemed twisted. He was left wondering exactly what kind of treatment Arthur would have to endure.

“Don’t forget, dinner is at six,” Chelsea said making her way to the door. “It’s Chef’s Surprise tonight.”