As soon as May and Wally walked in through the front door, they were met with the surprise of Brendan sitting on the sofa.
"Brenny, when I gave you the key to my house, I didn't mean come over when we're not home." said May.
"Well, I was waiting for you guys to get home so we could play Call of Duty together."
"You have an X-Box Live account, you can just get on that."
Brendan shrugged, "X-Box Live fucking banned me for camping. Can you believe that?!"
"Well, duh!" May responded, crossing her arms, "It's against the rules."
Brendan then became indignant and said, "Microsoft can't tell me how to play a game that I spent my hard-earned money on! If I wanna get on and camp, that's my right, because I spent the money!"
"No! Just because you spent the money on the damn game doesn't mean you get to do whatever the fuck you want with it! You have to obey the rules!" May shouted.
Then, the bickering started. Their arguing always added to Wally's stress. He ran upstairs to his room with the notebook and mechanical pencils that May had bought him at Staples on the way home from the hospital.
Wally layed down on his stomach on the bed with his notebook and began writing furiously. He just felt so sad and angry with the world, he just wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.
He wanted to take a blade or a flame to his skin so badly. Trying to prevent himself from doing so, he kept his therapist's words in his mind, "When you self-harm, it only reinforces the cycle of self-blame and self-hatred that has consumed you."
But he didn't know what else to do.
I can't stand it anymore! I have to cut! He reached for the nightstand drawer and opened it, only to find that all the razor blades and pocket lighters were gone. May must have taken them...
He ran frantically through his mind for something to alleviate his despair, but to no avail. The monsters in his head had won. Perhaps he had become a monster himself...
All he wanted to do is give up.
He noticed a full bottle of sleeping pills sitting on the nightstand, grabbed it, and swallowed all the pills in the bottle. He then layed down on the bed, curled up into a ball, and prepared to be finally free of his pain.
A little while later, May came upstairs, knocked on Wally's bedroom door, and said, "I know that you've been feeling rather blue lately, so Brendan and I decided that the three of us should go out for dinner, and we were gonna let you decide where we should go."
No response.
"Wally?"
Still no response.
She opened the bedroom door and saw him curled up on the bed.
She smiled and said, "Time to wake up, sleepy head," she walked up to him and gently shook his body a few times, "Come on, wake up..." she flipped him onto his back and noticed how pale his face was.
Then, her heart skipped a beat when she saw the empty sleeping pill bottle that she just had filled up at the pharmacy earlier that day.
May let out a piercing scream.
Brendan rushed up the stairs and said, "What the hell hap– Oh my Arceus! Wally!"
"Brendan! Call for help!" May shouted frantically.
Without hesitation, Brendan pulled out his PokéNav and immediately dialed 9-1-1 and put the device on speakerphone so they could both hear the operator's instructions.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"
"M-My f-friend," Brendan stuttered, noticing the empty sleeping pill bottle on the bed, "I-I think he tried to kill himself! It looks like he swallowed a bottle full of sleeping pills!"
"Is he breathing?" the operator asked.
Brendan placed his hand in front of Wally's nose and mouth, "Yes, but barely," he stated.
"Do you know how to preform hands-only CPR?"
"I do!" May piped up.
"Do that, we're sending an ambulance right now."
"Okay," she responded as she dragged Wally off of his bed and onto the floor and started giving him chest compressions.
After a few minutes of that, Wally's eyes fluttered a bit as he let out a weak groan.
"Wait a sec!" said May, "He's started responding!"
"What... what's going on?" Wally groaned.
"You're gonna be okay," May reassured him, "An ambulance is gonna come and take you to the hospital."
"Monster... monster..." he started babbling.
"What do you mean?" May asked.
"I've... turned into... a monster..."
Sirens. Wally was in the EMT's hands now.
May and Brendan sat next to each other in the hospital waiting room, waiting to learn of their friend's fate.
A nurse walked into the room and approached the couple.
"How's Wally?" May asked, concern evident in her voice
"Your friend is doing just fine," the nurse responded, "But we want to keep him here for a few days for a psychiatric evaluation."
"Psychiatric evaluation?" Brendan responded.
"The young man on the phone told the 9-1-1 operator that Wally tried to kill himself," the nurse replied, turning to Brendan, "Was that you?"
"That's what I assumed when I saw the empty bottle," Brendan responded.
"Enough on that," said the nurse "He told me that he really wants to see you guys. If you like, you can visit with him now."
"That would be great!" May and Brendan spoke in unison.
So the nurse led them to Wally's room, where he was sitting in bed, gazing downward into his lap.
"Wally!" Brendan and May exclaimed happily, running up to him and wrapping him in their arms simultaneously.
"Hello..." Wally mumbled uneasily, averting his gaze from his friends.
"Wally..." Brendan spoke to him somberly, the smile disappearing from his face, "Why did you do this to yourself?"
Wally closed his eyes and replied sorrowfully, "I was just tired of fighting... I just wanted to be free of my unending pain..."
Tears began welling up in Brendan's eyes, "But... I thought that you were getting better..."
Wally began crying his eyes out and said, "Don't you see?! I don't deserve to get better! Everyone would benefit if I just ended my life!"
Hot tears began streaming down both May and Brendan's faces, "Please don't talk that way! There's nothing wrong with you! You are perfect the way you are!" Brendan responded sorrowfully.
Brendan sighed as Wally continued sobbing and said, "Can I step out for a moment? Just to regain my composure?"
"Okay," May replied.
As Brendan left the room, May sat down on the hospital bed next to Wally, placed her arm around his shoulders, and began squeezing his hand.
"Don't worry, Wally. We're here for you." she spoke to him sympathetically.
All of this caused Wally's crying to subside and his face to feel hot and to turn the color of a strawberry. May knew him as an 'innocent little boy', but that didn't change the fact that he was still a hormonal teenager. After all, he had been in love her for a long time.
As she held his hand and rubbed her thumb across his, he resisted the urge to stick his tongue in her mouth right then and there. Brendan was normally a rather mellow guy, but Wally knew that he would flip out if he saw his 'little buddy' making out with his girlfriend.
Geez, Brendan's been out there for a long time, May thought, Maybe I should check on him. She then turned to Wally and said, "Can you excuse me for a moment?"
"Okay..."
So May stood up and stepped out of the room. Immediately after leaving the room, she noticed Brendan leaning up against the wall, eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying.
"Are you okay, Brenny? I've never seen you so emotional before..." May asked out of concern.
Brendan let out a deep sigh, "I'm fine," he mumbled, "I'm j-just s-scared..." he stuttered, letting a few more tears fall down his face.
"Scared? About what?" asked May.
"A-About W-Wally..." he responded, "I just want my little buddy to get better! I thought he was at first, but now he just tried to off himself! I don't want him to die, but I'm absolutely terrified that he will!" he said as he sobbed harder.
May approached him with an embrace and a kiss and said, "Listen, I know that this can disheartening, but we're going to help him. Don't be too worried, just think positive and we'll do everything we can for him."
Brendan nodded as his tears began to subside and his lips curled into a slight smile.
"May Daniels!" a female voice called out to them from down the hall. They turned around to see a twenty-something woman with shoulder-length green hair, sky-blue eyes, and similar features to Wally. It was Wally's cousin, Wanda.
"Wanda? What are you doing here?" May asked.
"Your father Norman called me about his suicide attempt." Wanda replied, tears welling up in her eyes. She then turned to Brendan and said, "I don't believe I've met you before."
"Well, allow me to introduce myself," Brendan replied, "My name is Brendan Birch, I'm May's boyfriend and a friend of Wally," he said, reaching out his hand for a handshake.
Wanda met his handshake, "Wanda Chapman, nice to meet you," she then gave him an inquisitive glance, "Birch. Are you related to the Professor at all?"
"Actually, yes," Brendan responded, "I'm his son."
Wanda then turned to May and said, "How did Wally try to kill himself?"
"He swallowed a bottle full of sleeping pills."
"How long has he been living with you?"
"About six months."
"I see. Is this first time he tried this since moving in with you?"
"Yes. At least that I'm aware of."
Wanda placed her hand on May's shoulder and said, "Thank you for saving Wally."
May was somewhat taken aback by Wanda's reaction, "You're not angry with me?"
"Not at all," Wanda replied, "This is probably the longest he's gone without trying to kill himself since he was eleven years old."
"Oh, Arceus..." Brendan mumbled, "We didn't truly realize how much he was suffering..."
"The nurse told me that they're going to give him a psychiatric evaluation," May said, "Hopefully the doctors will find a way to help him."