Carl rolled over in his bed, trying to get comfortable. It was next to impossible, though, especially with his literally split-personality roommate muttering odd phrases under his breath, saying things so nonsensical that Carl felt he were in a cartoon. The boy in the other bed was sleeping soundly..there was no one to listen if he cried.

But he had done that so much lately..his best friend was gone. Before Jimmy had come to Retroville, Carl had had no friends. Sure, everyonce in a while Libby or Cindy would talk to him, but it was entirely out of pity. He hadn't even been aware Sheen existed, as Sheen was just some nameless face that everyone knew as the "Ultra dork" or some other similar nickname. Jimmy had changed all that...

Change had always scared Carl, it scared him still. Those changes, the ones that Jimmy had made, had made life worth living for, though. But a change as drastic as losing Jimmy? Carl couldn't stand that thought.

And now he was locked up, in this building where everything was white, everything was clean, everything was..sanitary. Carl was now viewed as self-destructive and a hostile threat to anyone around him. All because when Nick had been stupid enough to make a crack about Jimmy, while the doctors were sure Jimmy was going to die...it had angered Carl to a white-hot fury he had never felt before. He had thrown himself at Nick, punching him, unable to stop hitting, not even when he saw blood...Libby had pryed Carl off with two of their teacher's help, but the damadge was done. Nick's nose had been broken.

Carl was sent to the school counselor for 'rage issues', and during that time, he had blown up in the counselor's face as well. And he had stopped eating. That had been his parents' first clue that something was wrong with Carl. It was almost..humorous, Carl realized, laughing in a horrible voice that wasn't his own at this stupid joke. Some of the nurses kept trying to force feed him, but he always pushed them off, and ran to the bathroom. He hid in the stalls there until he was positive the nurses had passed on to some other unfortunate soul.

It seemed almost natural that he was crazy. He had been told it many times by the more popular crowd, but he had never believed it until Jimmy wasn't there to tell the other kids where to get off.

Carl sighed, longing for his room, where at least he could look outside and see the stars. Here there were no windows in the room, lest the prisoners try to escape. In Carl's mind, that's what he was. A prisoner. The only light anyone could see during the day was in the recreation room, and the sunlight came in through slits..there were bars over the window to discourage anyone from trying to escape or jump.

The door creaked open slowly, so Carl closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like you're friend is still asleep, uh..?" Carl recognized the woman's voice. It was Nurse White. A fitting name for this place, without any color, any cheerfulness at all.

"Sheen." the familiar voice said. "My name's Sheen. Listen, could you just tell him I came by?"

"Certain-"

"Wait." Carl sat up, and reached for his glasses. He stood up, knowing he must have looked terrible..Sheen probably didn't care, but Carl suddenly found he didn't like his friend seeing him in this state - in white pants, a white shirt, and now that he had lost five pounds from not eating at all for over a week, his face had started to sink in on itself. He had nearly screamed when he saw his own reflection just two days ago. How much worse could it have gotten in forty-eight hours?

"Good to see you, Sheen." Carl said, trying to manage a weak smile, but he could feel his face twist, and knew he probably had a rather sour expression now.

"Yeah..you too." Sheen looked away, and Carl knew that he was lying.

"How's Libby holding up?"

"She's ...well.." Sheen shrugged. "I only went to school for a day, but she seems to be holding up ok. Or at least, she's putting up a strong fight. Probably just trying to be there for Cindy."

"And..Cindy?"

There was an awkward pause here. Finally, after taking a deep breath, Sheen plunged in. "She's not doing so great. The only time I saw her she couldn't stop crying for longer than three minutes, and she hasn't been going to school either. And I've just got this feeling...that..that something's really wrong."

To Sheen's surprise, and his horror, Carl started laughing. It wasn't the kind of laugh you'd use at a funny joke, more the laugh of a cynical, depraved villain from some movie that was laughing at his foe's demise. "You've got a feeling..that something's wrong?" Carl asked mockingly. Sheen stared at him for a moment, and then nodded. "OF COURSE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG, YOU IDIOT! SHE LOVED HIM! SHE LOVED HIM! HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU BE IF IT WAS LIBBY LYING IN THAT BED, HUH! YOU THINK SHE'S HAPPY ABOUT IT! SHE PROBABLY FEELS LIKE IT'S HER FAULT, FOR ACTING LIKE A TOTAL BITCH TO JIMMY ALL THE TIME, AND ALL YOU CAN THINK TO SAY IS YOU THINK SOMETHING'S WRONG!" Carl's shoulder's heaved up and down, as he struggled for breath. He was refusing to use his inhaler now, not caring if anything happened to him.

Sheen just stood in front of him, his mouth agape. Neither said anything for several minutes. Then, finally. "I have to go." Sheen was refusing to look Carl in the eyes now, and Carl knew why.

No matter how much he would try to deny it, Carl felt that Sheen knew he was right. About all of it.