Caught in Limbo

Noah arrived at work, always 10 minutes before anyone else, he liked to show he earned his place at the top in his field. As he got through all the security checks and set up his work area he felt a slap on his back.
“Hello Mikey” Noah says abruptly.
Mikey grinned at him and returned the hello. Mikey was 30, tall, thin, with brown hair he always had spiked up. Noah wondered why Mikey insisted on spiking his hair, because his field of work was to depict date and time DNA samples, Mikey said it was to “keep my hair from falling and messing up my samples”. The thing is, he had to wear a hair net anyways, and whenever he was done working he would spike it right back up. Noah always thought Mikey just was going through a permanent early-mid life crisis, that would explain why he insisted Noah called him Mikey.
“Early as always Mr. Big Shot” Mikey shot another grin.
“Yes and I can see you still look like you work at a surf shop” Noah replied. “Dude I always look like this get a grip”. He still says dude, Noah cringes a little everytime Mikey says dude.
“Anyways how can I help you today, got some brain samples you want me to analyze?”
“Nah man it’s, well it’s a personal matter, can you come over to my house after work?”
“Personal?” Noah was intrigued.
“Well personal as in I only want you and me to talk about it, just come over ok? I think both of us will benefit from what I discovered.
Mikey walked away back to his place of work, Noah wondered why Mikey was so insistent on him coming over, and why does it involve him as well? Noah ignored these thoughts as he began his work. He had nothing exciting to work with in the past few days, brain samples, animals, no people to hook electrodes up to and scan. A week ago he was studying emotional problems with teenage girls. A fellow scientist’s daughter came volunteered (was told to) take part in his project. He got the young lady on a touchy subject and she balled for a good half hour. Spouting trivial things about how her makeup wasn’t perfect and some guy didn’t text her today, ect. Noah left the room during that examination to go take some aspirin, that girl could wail. Although, sitting in his chair cutting up a brain sample he almost wished he had that girl back. The problems she complained about were so trivial, so minute. It must be nice, Noah thought, to be so absent minded to huge problems that the small ones seem earth-shattering. To be so blissfully ignorant, unaware of society teetering between peace and anarchy. Ignorant to the depression of today’s economy. Noah laughed softly, at least that girl knew what she was missing in her life, and she can fix issues that trivial in no time. Noah took a deep breath, no he wasn’t going to succumb to that empty void in his heart again. Not at work, this is where he had to prove he was the best. By the end of the day Noah was exhausted, he remembers he has to go over to Mikey’s today for whatever strange reason. He considers canceling, but, Mikey is a good friend, hell, he is his only friend really. The surfer bro attitude can cause a burning feeling in the pit of Noah’s stomach, but Mikey seems to know Noah better than he knows himself sometimes. Noah pulls into Mikey’s driveway and rings the doorbell to come inside, might as well listen, he can do at least that.
Mikey offers for Noah to sit down, he stands in the middle of the room, awkwardly. He looks as though he’s trying to think of something to say but really he just looks constipated. Finally he starts talking, tentatively.
“So you and I have known each other for years now right?”
“Right, and?”
“Aaand well....I know about your little issue you’re having with finding yourself right?”
“Right, well I would call it more me wondering what all im gonna do in my life.” Noah starts to get annoyed, what the hell is Mikey getting at?
“Listen, you can call it what you want but you’re missing something aren’t ya? Well I have a solution”. Mikey drags Noah to the window and points outward. “There”. Outside his window his a stone church on a hill, the same one Noah passes, but never truly notices every day.
“That place? The refurbished one with the adornments that look like eyeballs and everyone is a radical over-religious nutcase?”
“It’s NON DENOMINATIONAL Noah.”
“It’s a church, it doesn’t have to have a denomination to be full of nuts, and besides is that even a thing?”
“Noah listen, my colleagues recommended this place to me for anyone who is searching for a meaning of life, be it love, happiness, a meaning to live”. Mikey nudges Noah at that. “It sounds like a perfect fit for you”
“A church isn’t going to do anything but waste my time Mikey!”
“Or it could give you something to keep you happy”. Mikey gets even more serious as he continues, “Noah im worried ok?”
Noah becomes a little less stubborn and looks up, “why is that?”
“Well you’re a neurobiologist aren’t you? Have you ever studied someone where they seem perfectly content, nothing wrong with them, except they feel like something isn’t right in their life? They try to figure out what’s wrong, they can’t so they use drugs or alcohol as a placeholder for that hole, eventually they go insane until finally...”
“They kill themselves” Noah answers in a hushed tone. Noah looks down at the ground and sits for a while, still. Could Mikey really think he would do that to himself?”. It’s true Noah has studied the effects of depression and similar declines into madness but he never imagined it could happened to him. Nevertheless Noah is a numbers guy, and even if the percent chance of him doing this to himself is less than one it’s still there. Besides, Mikey is worried about him, he has to at least humor him. Noah stands up and grabs Mikey on the shoulder.
“I’ll try it, once, if I hate it I won’t do it anymore”
“Alright thanks bro you’ll love it!” Mikey sounds pleased.
“You have to go with me too however, and I only said yes because you didn’t speak to me in your normal high school douchebag tone.”.
Mikey laughs and waves goodbye as Noah leaves, Noah thinks as long as it’ll make his best friend happy, he might as well try. Besides, it’s only one hour on Sunday, how bad could it be?