'Today is the day. Today's the day I finally discharge from the mental hospital. My stay at BMH was bittersweet, to say the least. Just like my bittersweet vacation from last year. Though, this time, I hope Aiko isn't unconscious on the floor whenever I get home. Or worse: Tiffany.
I'm supposed to be picked up by someone once I head out the front door. I'm not sure if Tiffany's going to pick me up or someone else. Knowing my luck: Audrey's gonna pick me up in some stupid Church van with a bunch of bible thumpers on board.
It's almost time to go and begin the next chapter in my life. I know my phone's probably flooded with nasty DMs from the Waffleslam mercenaries. Whatever it may be, I know how to handle it. My mental state has never been better. I feel as close to my previous self from three years ago as possible. Yeah, I still have the vague memories of Greenseed's abuse in the back of my head, but after Dr. Spengler pulled that miracle with his CUNT machine, it doesn't affect my everyday life like it did before.
I've gotta bid my friends farewell before I head out the door. They've been a great help these last few weeks.'
"Lil? Zoey? Suki?" he called for his three friends.
The goth, the cyber chick, and the weeb approached him, knowing what time it was.
"I'm afraid it's time for me to leave." Justin said.
"Of course. You can't stay here forever." Zoey said, feeling optimistic.
"I know." he replied. "But hey, hopefully you three will be discharged next month. Maybe you three could visit me in Commotion City, yeah?"
"Yeah," the goth stated. "Like, anywhere besides Daten where my conceiver is. I'm gonna stay my ass as far away from her as possible."
"Oi! I'm REALLY gonna miss you, Senpai!" Sarah added, having a frown on her face.
You know what? She's been nothing but nice to me. She deserves a hug.
He then came up to her, squeezing the overly-obsessed weeaboo as tight as he could.
"SUGOI!" she shouted, embracing his grasp.
God, she has the BIGGEST obsession with me. She's still a sweet girl though.
He let go of her, satisfying the weeb until her potential discharge next month.
"Suki, be on your best behavior so you can discharge next month. I wanna see you again REAL soon." JD said, encouraging her to act right.
She nodded. "Hai! I promise I'll be good. EHEHEHEH!"
That laugh... It's cute but obnoxious.
The goth then suddenly gave him a hug, having no hesitation this time. This caught him completely off guard.
"See you around, dude. Hope we cross paths again, or whatever." Lillian said, sounding a tad nicer for once.
"Uh, y-yeah. Totally, Lil. Hope you get better soon."
Lastly, Zoey came up to him, shaking his hand.
"Farewell, Justin Dark. Once I'm able to depart this place, I'll be sure to cast that good luck spell that I promised almost one year ago."
Oh shit, I forgot about that too. So much has happened in the last year that I forget little things like that.
"Thank you, Zoey. I'll be sure to speak to Lola for you. Take care."
He felt like a hand shake wasn't enough. So, he hugged the emotionless cyber chick, making her feel comfort for a change.
"Love you, Zoe. And again, I am REALLY sorry you had to witness Bagworth's disgusting mind. You didn't need to be exposed to that."
She nodded, feeling a tad uncomfortable with him bringing that up again.
"Y-Yes. It's alright. I should've never messed with that magic to begin with. Otherwise, the experience would've never occurred."
Justin took one last good look at the place. Leaving Blackwing Mental Hospital was the end of his previous chapter. He's done so much self-improving these last few weeks. He didn't need spirituality, religious beliefs, or even masking emotions to get better. All it took was the will power to get psychiatric assistance, combined with a machine made by a kooky doctor that ended up being a good guy in the end.
"Oh Justin? Your ride's here." David said, getting his attention.
He took one last look at everyone, sad that he was leaving three of his now closer allies behind. They'll be out before I know it.
"You all take care now. But I've got a life to get back to."
Suddenly, Pablo came up to him, having one final encounter with the ex-playboy now with a more stable mindset.
"Tell Vin I'm trying, alright pal?" the tan man said, trying to get JD to convince his Brazilian friend that Pablo was trying to improve himself.
"Sure." he said, not taking him too seriously.
Even though he believed in second chances, he knew Pablo was a lost cause. He had been relentlessly stalking Vinnie and Kyanna for a while all because he was homeless. It was pretty obvious he wasn't going to change.
Justin was escorted out to the front of the hospital, giving him a good view of the ghostly mountain town of Blackwing. He also received a bag of belongings that Tiffany had sent while he was getting treatment.
In it contained some fresh clothes, his glasses, and of course: His bulky black cellphone. However, something felt off. Who's supposed to pick me up?
He then turned on his cellphone, having it turned off for a few weeks at that point. So, the notifications were all going to blow up in his face at once. Missed emails, messages, and even social media posts that he didn't care about would all be in his face, annoying the crap out of him.
After a few minutes of hearing the same text tone over a hundred times, he finally called his loving girlfriend, who sent him a letter the week before.
"Come on, pick up." he said, wanting Tiffany to answer as soon as possible.
"Tiffany, answer the phone." he added, getting very impatient.
Unfortunately, it went to voicemail. She was most likely busy at work on this day, so her phone was probably on silent or 'Do Not Disturb'.
He left her a voicemail, informing the blondie that he was now discharged and in need of a ride.
"Hey, Tiffany. Um, I just wanted to let you know that I just got discharged from the hospital. I'm not sure if you're coming to pick me up or not. I know Blackwing is 3 hours away from Commotion City, but I wanna talk as soon as possible. Anyways, I love you and I hope to see you soon. Bye!"
JD then sat on the bottom of the steps in front of the institution, waiting on word of who was supposed to pick him up in this foreign town.
"Shit..." he said to himself, feeling a bit anxious. Is anyone gonna pick me up? Did they just suddenly forget about me?
All of a sudden, a checkered cab pulled up. The driver rolled down the window. He was an old man, roughly 70 years old. He wore a brown cap and had a hook as one of his hands. The cab driver looked very suspicious, almost like some sort of serial killer.
"Hey, are you Justin?" he said, getting the 23 year-old's attention.
"Uh... Y-Yeah. That's me. Who wants to know?" he replied.
"I was told to take you to the airport. Your wife Tiffany called a cab."
WIFE?
"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not married." he said, lying to the creepy-looking old man.
"Come on, kid. Tiffany Maye called me to come and get you. Please, get your keester in the cab. I'm taking you to the airport."
Airport? Am I flying somewhere?
"Okay, sure." he said, getting inside of the checkered cab. Even though he thought this was very odd, he felt obligated to trust this old man behind the wheel.
"Alright, buddy. You apparently have a visitor at the Commotion City airport. So, Mrs. Tiffany told me to bring you there."
"A visitor?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah. She told me their name but I forgot. It was weird anyway. Sounded Asian or something."
Hmm... Someone with a weird, Asian name?
As they drove out of the ghost town, giving him one last good look at Blackwing, him and this cab driver had a chat to fill in the dead air.
"So, how long have you been a cab driver?" JD asked.
"Me? God, probably since I was your age, kid. I've been driving for well over 50 years."
"Damn. And it never gets boring to you?"
"Nope. In fact, I always find a chance to drive, even if it's going down the street. This old cab has a lot of sentiment to my family. I used to take my grandson on rides whenever he was a kid."
"Ah, that's sweet." he said, thinking this hook-handed cab driver wasn't as creepy as he seemed to be at first.
"Yeah, he's grown now. My grandson Will spends too much time playing those video games or whatever. He should really get outside more."
"Will?" he asked.
"Yeah. Will. He's my grandson."
"Uh, what's your name?"
"Me? My name is Gordon Kennison. Why do you ask?"
Ugh, is this Will Kennison's grandpa?
"I think I know Will Kennison. Isn't he blonde, has red skin, a short-temper and is a major Christian?"
The old man gasped, not knowing how this random stranger seemed to know his own grandson.
"Y-Yeah. How do you-?"
"He's pretty famous on the internet."
"Ah." Gordon said. "I get it now. That kid does picture shows on the interweb, right?"
"Y-Yeah. Something like that."
The cab driver shook his head, ashamed of what his grandson had become.
"That boy used to be better than this. Whenever I'd babysit him, I didn't just give him a cellphone or peepad or whatever it's called. No, I took him on cab rides and got milkshakes for him."
That must explain why he's kind of pudgy then...
"You know, this internet thing was a big mistake. Back in my day, you didn't need a cellphone to talk to someone. Instead, we wrote letters."
Justin nodded, knowing a bit about this topic.
"And instead of playing video games, you played ball outside."
Trust me, Gordon. I get it.
"I know, Sir. Sometimes, I wish I could spend just one day where we didn't have this social media, internet epidemic that's messing everyone's heads up. I know from experience. Will spends too much time on the internet yelling at people for not being Christian."
The cab driver looked at him from the rear-view mirror.
"You know what? You seem like a good kid. My grandson could learn a thing or two from you. You don't force religion."
Ain't that the truth?
Later on, they had reached Commotion City airport.
"Okay, kid. Here's your stop. Have a blessed day." Gordon said.
"Thank you, Mr. Kennison. See you around."
He drove off, JD waving goodbye at him. Now, it was time to see who the visitor was and what was next in-store for him.
Justin sat at a bench, keeping a lookout for any familiar faces. However, he figured he'd look at his DMs to see what had been going on.
"Let's see... BroPapa acting stupid again. Dwayne's flexing about doxing me. Shit, I almost forgot I was doxed. I should really tell Tiffany about that."
As he was scrolling through the messages, someone sat on the bench next to him. He could feel their prescience. However, when he looked up, he saw the face of a close friend who was native to the tropics. A girl with deep tan skin, black hair, and a purple dress.
"LAILANI?!" he shouted, happy to see the sweet Polynesian girl again.
"Hey, Justin." she replied, feeling the same way.
He threw his phone down and immediately hugged her, happy to see her again after so long. Screw those DMs, Lailani's here!
She made a cute chuckle as he was squeezing her, glad that he was happy to reunite after nearly a year of silence.
"W-Where have you been? What are you doing here? Are you still working for Brooke?"
Lailani sighed, not ready to tell the whole story just yet. "We'll talk about that later. Right now, we have a flight to board."
"A flight?"
"Mhm. Tiffany told me everything that's been going on and she asked me to take care of you for the next couple of weeks. So we're going to my cousin's house on Inna De Poona for some relaxation and... Yeah, I need to wash your hair. I'm not really a fan of the black."
He felt his head, almost forgetting that JK had changed his hair like this. I'm not a fan of the black hair neither.
"Oh, right. Okay, well I guess we should board the plane then. You lead the way, Lailani. I have no idea what's even happening right now."
She then led him to the plane scheduled to fly out to the tropical island known as Inna De Poona. It was now time to return to the tropical island that JD once did three-ways on just to save the world from a couple of horny space hookers.
On the plane, him and his Polynesian friend sat down in a seat, ready to fly to her cousin's house in the tropics.
"So, why your cousin's house?" he asked, not sure what her reasoning behind this was.
"Ehm, well... Let's just say that Ms. Belrose and I had a disagreement and she fired me. So, I had to leave Love Lei Resort and live with some extended family until I find another job."
Hearing this shocked him, though he wasn't completely surprised by this. The way Brooke's been acting lately, her firing Lailani was inevitable.
"I'm sorry, Lailani." he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Justin. It was probably for the best anyway. She was doing some... Bad things."
I oughta have a word with Brooke. Nobody does Lailani like that. Not even me.
As they were about to take off, Justin was tapped on the shoulder. Considering that he was on an airplane and someone tapped on his shoulder, he knew who it was.
"Lola? Is that you?"
The flight attendant gasped. "What? How did you know it was me?"
He turned to her, smiling at the independent colored woman. "Come on, now. I knew it was my old friend Lola Rembrite."
She chuckled at him. "Good to see you, JD."
"Nice to see you too. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping you updated. It's just-"
"Don't worry. I already know." she said in a serious tone.
Crap...
"Really?"
"Yep." Lola replied. "Jessie's been keeping me posted on what you've been going through. I'm sorry you've been feeling depressed here lately."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm fine now." he reassured.
"Are you?" she said, looking at him dead in the eyes.
"Yes. I just left the hospital and am getting back on my feet. No need to worry about me."
Hearing his tone sounded pretty convincing to her.
"I'll take your word for it."
Suddenly, a thought crossed his head. I should really tell her about her loyal assistant.
"By the way, Zoey's fine."
"Wait, Zoey?" she exclaimed. "You've spoken to Zoey?"
"Yep. Not only have I spoken to her, but I ran into her while I was in the hospital."
In the hospital? What's a girl like her doing in a mental institution like that? Lola thought to herself.
"Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. She just had a lot going on, that's all. They didn't have phones in that hospital, so that's why she's been silent. Thankfully, she's supposed to discharge some time next month. You might hear from her by Christmas."
This made Lola very relieved to hear. Even though the cyber chick had basically ghosted her, dropping off the face of the Earth out of nowhere, at least now she knew that Zoey Greene was safe and sound, as well as a valid reason for her sudden disappearance.
"I'm glad to hear that. That girl Nikki's a bit unreasonable at times. Still, she makes pretty unique clothing designs, I'll give her that."
Huh, I knew they had issues in the past, but I didn't think they were still relevant.
"Y-Yeah." he replied. "Maybe when Zoey gets released, she can come back and help you with your fashion business. I told her about you while I was in Blackwing."
"That was very wise of you, JD. You really are a gentleman, you know that?"
He blushed. "Y-Yeah. But hey, I'm just glad me and you never had any issues. Things have been crazy lately."
"I bet. Well, I've got to get back to work. Enjoy your flight and if you need anything, you know how to reach me."
He grinned. "Of course. Thanks, Lola."
"Don't mention it."
She walked away, giving him some optimism for the next part of his current life. The plane then took off, now on route to the tropical island known as Inna De Poona. Wonder what adventures I'm gonna go on this time?
