Interruption

Good heavens I'm tired. Day two of March, my friend managed to convince me to go vegetarian this month, lets see if I survive the first week. Because I got no comments, I'm going to reiterate, the previous comment: Heads up, excluding the Titanic drabble, I'm working on two stories right now just for fun, but I wanted to get your guys opinions. Which should I work on first to put up on FFnet? A version of Dangeresque 3 (which you'll have to forgive me for being a lot off, I can't afford the game D:), or a super-hero's one? As you can tell, I've been disappointed by Heroes lately, so I've been drabbling my own superheroes one, which is okay and fun. Jessie's saying that's the darkest one I've written so far though. So far. I love how she put that. Anyway, put in a vote, I'm choosing by your guys suggestions.

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Chapter 19

And all the Earth strove common round --

Without Delight, or Beam --

What Comfort was it Wisdom -- was --

The spoiler of Our Home?

-Emily Dickinson

The Cheat stared at what was left of his hands. They rested on his lap and he attempted to wriggle one of his fingers. After he felt a stab of pain he stopped. He could still feel where his fingers used to be, but the doctor just said that they were a symptom of phantom limbs. The Cheat sighed in disdain. The doctor had said he was lucky to be able to keep four of his fingers and that he didn't lose the rest of them. It had come at the cost of his left ear. He didn't really consider himself lucky though, he had lost the ability to flick the bird on both hands! Now what was he going to do when he finally got a car to drive?

Frostbite sucks. The Cheat thought.

He looked up from his bandaged hands as a man walked into his room, closing the door behind him. The man smiled and sat down in one of the guest seats. "I presume you're 'The Cheat'?"

"Depends." The Cheat drawled. "Why do you want to see him?

He laughed. "You're definitely Javier's friend. I'm Dr. Johnson." The psychiatrist was undeterred by The Cheat's glare. "What's your name?"

The Cheat looked away at the words. "What if I don't want to tell you?" He ignored the fact that he couldn't tell anyway.

Dr. Johnson just nodded and wrote something on his notepad. "Okay then Mr. Cheat. Can you tell me what happened?"

He snorted. "I'm sure you have my file, why don't you tell me?"

"Because you need to tell me what happened yourself." Dr. Johnson explained patiently. The Cheat instead crossed his arms and refused to speak, glaring at him out of spite. He was unruffled. "I can wait all day; surprisingly I don't get many patients."

They waited like this for two hours, Dr. Johnson reading a book while The Cheat just stared at a wall. Finally he started speaking. "I was going for a walk."

He shook his head. "Not that, I'm talking about when your sister died."

The Cheat froze and looked at him coldly. "Why do we need to talk about that?"

"Because your friends have informed me that you're in denial about your sister dying." Dr. Johnson explained patiently. "My goal is to help you realize that she's gone. If I don't, you can do this again anytime you want to." The Cheat didn't respond and he spoke again. "Your friends want you to get better, that's my job as well as the doctors. They don't want you hurt again."

The Cheat glared at the ceiling but began to speak.

He pulled his sweater closer to him and grabbed his sisters hand. "Michelle, don't go too far ahead." The Cheat chastised.

"Sorry big brother." She murmured. He sighed and she smiled. Michelle knew too well how to pull his heart strings.

"One day those big puppy eyes are going to get you in trouble." The nine year old warned.

She laughed. "Yeah, but you'll be around to protect me! You wouldn't let anyone hurt me, would you?"

He felt a smile unwillingly coming to his face. "Of course you know that." He ran to catch up with her, them racing down the street towards the ice cream shop. The Cheat didn't have much money, but what he did manage to save, he would use to treat both of them to small delicacies they couldn't afford at home. Usually this was ice cream. Michelle always ordered the ice cream with the most chocolate in it, while The Cheat loved strawberry. After he had gotten back his few dimes in change, they walked back outside. A few of the older folk were murmuring to each other that it was good that a big brother was so good to his little sister.

Of course, they got into arguments and occasional fights, and she broke into his room too many times to count, but what siblings didn't?

After she had finished her cone she ran ahead laughing. Michelle rounded a corner with a giggle and The Cheat followed unhurriedly, just finishing off the last of his treat. When he turned down the street he saw her at the intersection.

She was looking both ways, like their parents had always told them too. Before he could call to her to wait to cross until he was with her, she started to walk across the pavement. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the lights blinking on the stoplights, but this didn't register in his mind as any sort of theat. He started to jog to catch up to her when the real danger appeared, speeding down the street like a madman.

It was a large multicolored van that had a large peace sign on the front. It happened so quickly it didn't register in his mind. There was a screech of brakes before it crashed into her. Michelle didn't have time to make a sound, being launched forward a few feet before laying still. The van didn't bother to stop, just driving around the body and continuing to drive down the street, a large red dent on the hood.

The Cheat stared at where his sister lay, a numb feeling spreading through him as a sort of tingle. One bystander screamed and immediately the scene was swarming with people. He was jostled backwards out of the crowds and he could hear the sounds of ambulances rapidly approaching.

The Cheat, feeling a stab of panic, cried out for Michelle. The crowd didn't listen, moving around him like a living organism that had swallowed him. Feeling the feral fear, he started to push his way towards the center where the body lay.

The ambulances had arrived quickly and were already putting the body on a stretcher. The Cheat ran forward through the barricade, grabbing onto one of their pant legs and crying for them to give his sister back. They tried to work around him impatiently, trying to revive her, but she was already gone.

One woman finally pulled him back kicking and screaming from the scene.

"I don't really remember much after that." The Cheat finished. "My memories just sort of stopped after I saw them put her in the ambulance. It stopped mattering after that point." Dr. Johnson looked at him with a quiet sort of understanding in his eyes that made The Cheat angry, though he wasn't sure why. "Isn't this the time when you're supposed to ask me 'So how does that make you feel?' or some other psychiatrist shit like that? That's the trouble with you people. You think you understand but you don't."

"I'm not saying I understand you at all." He said calmly, throwing The Cheat off guard. "But I will ask you the common question. How does that make you feel?"

The Cheat clenched his fingers, ignoring the pain. "Angry. I'm upset at the van owner for not even stopping to make sure she was okay." His voice shook as he struggled. "I mean, who DOES that?"

Dr. Johnson nodded wisely. "How do you feel about your sister after the accident?"

He looked for something to say but shrugged in defeat. "I don't know."

The psychiatrist looked up at the clock. "Well, that's all I'll force you to go through for right now, I'll see you in two days."

"Aren't you supposed to like, give me a week to 'reflect' on what I've remembered." The Cheat muttered. Give him a break from all this psychology shit.

Dr. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "We both know you're not going to stay in the hospital long enough for me to talk to you enough to help if we went a week at a time."

As he left he closed the door behind him, leaving The Cheat in silence to stare at where he had left, the only sound being the screeches and screams that continued to play over and over in his head.

Javier dropped the backpack next to the hospital cot. "Guess what I have for you?" He practically sang.

The Cheat groaned in response. "Dude, how am I going to get this all DONE?! I only have four fingers, do they realize how hard it is to write?"

He laughed. "Don't ask me, but Ms. Conner said that she wants the math homework done, amputee or not."

The Cheat just continued to groan. "This stinks. Can I get some help?"

Javier scoffed and opened up the books. "Dude, did you really think I was going to not help you? Just tell me what to write."

He smiled wearily. "Thanks man. Can we start with math first?"

"You LIKE math?"

"Yeah," The Cheat said without thinking, already looking at the problems. "It's pretty easy; I don't have any trouble with it. See right here, this is..."

Javier stared in disbelief as The Cheat started speaking math, throwing out numbers and calculations like it was nothing. "You're not just making this up off the top of your head are you?" He asked.

The Cheat looked offended. "Why would I do that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you get D's and F's in all your classes."

He shrugged. "The homework got too boring."

"I'll need to study with you for the next math test." Javier joked, starting to write down what The Cheat had said.

He gave him a weird look. "You really have that much trouble with it?" The Cheat asked in surprise. "I find it kind of fun."

"You're insane!" He claimed.

Dr. Johnson chose that moment to walk in with a smile. "Hi Javier, Mr. Cheat, how are you two doing today?"

The Cheat didn't look that excited to see the man, but Javier grinned. "Pretty good Dr. Man." He stood up and put The Cheat's books back in his bag. "Can I talk to you alone for a second though?"

They left the room and Dr. Johnson turned to him. "Is this about you or Mr. Cheat?"

"I'm selfish." He joked. "It's about me. See," He scuffed his feet against the tile floor. "My big brother is having me stay at my house, and I've been getting nightmares again. When I slept with Homestar I didn't though. Why?"

He nodded. "I think you're a touch person." At Javier's raised brow he explained. "A 'touch person' as I call them like's to have physical contact. There are certain people that can't stand being around others, and people that crave it. You're one of the people that it helps, despite the incident with Senor Cardgage."

"So..." Javier thought about this for a minute. "Like, if I was sleeping with ANYONE I wouldn't have nightmares?"

Dr. Johnson nodded. "Basically. However, if you stay by yourself long enough you'll start to grow out of that touchy needing feeling."

Javier wondered how long it would take for Strong Mad to go back to college. Then again, would it be rude to go back to Homestar's house after Ms. Runner finally got him out of the house? Maybe he could invite Homestar to stay over at his place? "Okay. How's The Cheat doing?"

"Mr. Cheat." He sighed, rubbing his temple. "I have a feeling he's going to be a tough case, there's so many unknown factors. He won't even tell me his name."

"His name is..." Javier trailed off in confusion. What was The Cheat's name?

Dr. Johnson gave him a concerned look. "You don't remember? Interesting..." He trailed off, looking at the floor in thought.

"What do you mean?" Javier asked, confused.

Dr. Johnson looked up. "Can you tell me his parent's names?"

He looked at the psychiatrist cautiously. "The Cheat doesn't want me to tell."

"Never mind that." Dr. Johnson said impatiently. "I'm not trying to force him to go home; I want to research his family line."

Javier nodded and gave him the names. After the doctor had scribbled them down Dr. Johnson went into the hospital room. Javier was about to leave, but forced himself to wait five minutes. It sounded relatively calm until he heard the muffled explosion of The Cheat. "What the hell makes you think I don't know my own name?"

He shook his head and left. Homestar was in the waiting room reading a book when he came back. He looked up and smiled. "There you are, how's The Cheat?"

"Okay, I think." He sighed, waiting for Homestar as he gathered his stuff. "Dr. Johnson is worried about him though."

"Aren't we all?" Homestar pointed out dully.

"True." He acknowledged. "He doesn't seem to be feeling too much pain with his hands any more. The doctor said the only thing that would really give him troubles would be the phantom limbs."

Homestar nodded. "It's annoying, but it goes away a bit later. Pretty weird feeling, my right arm felt like it was six inches to short."

Javier shivered. "No offense, but I would hate to be an amputee. It would wig me out."

"Actually, the only bad part is the looks people give you when they see you're an amputee."

Yeah, he knew what that was like, even if it was not exactly the same situation. "I get that from people everyday. I need your smart relative to make me a fake face that looks real, like you arms." He only partially joked, hating himself for it.

Homestar smiled at him. "Strong Bad, you look perfectly fine. What's happened has happened, and take them as a sign you can survive, even in what seems like the worst situations."

"That was the corniest crap I've ever heard."

"I blame movies like The Notebook."

The Cheat sulked. He hadn't even bothered to turn on the TV, since Dr. Johnson would be here any-

There was a knock and he groaned as the man came in. Something about his smile threw The Cheat off though, and he looked at him curiously. "What do you know?"

Dr. Johnson sat down across from him. "Before I tell you, I need you to admit you don't know your name."

He rolled his eyes. "Not this shit again. I told you for the last time, I know my own name, what idiot wouldn't?" The remark was snappish.

"Even if I told you I could tell you your real name?" Dr. Johnson said coyly.

The Cheat froze at the statement. "What?" His voice sounded dry as he stared at the psychiatrist.

"You're name is James."

The word struck like an anvil to the chest and he could feel his hands shaking. "You're lying." He finally managed to say.

Dr. Johnson raised an eyebrow. "Don't lie to me, I can practically see the memories you're seeing right now."

The Cheat twisted away from him with a panicked look. "Get away from me." He snarled.

He refused to move. "James, you need to stop repressing your memories. That's not going to help you at all."

He cried out as he cradled his head, body shaking violently. "Get away from me!" This time it sounded more like a plea.

Dr. Johnson stood up. "I'm going to give you some time to calm down."

The Cheat hated him. He hated the way he could act so calm. The rage seemed to boil in every coil of his body and he glared at the man until he had left. Once he was alone he stared at the wall, not sure whether he felt excited or like he wanted to cry. Reaching out to grab a glass of water without looking, he felt it slip through his fingers and crash into the floor. The trickery and pain of the phantom limbs seemed to mock him as he pulled his hand back, staring at the two fingers with a sense of loss.