Author's Note: I write for love, skill, learning, entertainment, humor, and the reader. I live to write, but I write to live.
Lonely Illness
By Lil' Slugger24
'He sat behind her on the faithful day. He watched her red hair bounce as she moved while coloring her picture, the one that now hangs on the refrigerator. He haphazardly scribbled on his own paper that told the story.'
"I'm going to have to ask you to please verify that last sentence."
Ron Stoppable opened his eyes and stared at the man spinning a golden coin in front of him. Ron was a twenty year old man with blonde hair and brown eyes. He had three spots of freckles just under each of his eyes. He had grown quite a bit during his senior year in high school but still only barely reached six feet in height.
"Damn. You snapped out of it again, Mr. Stoppable." the hypnotist sighed. He placed the coin in his pocket casually and grimaced at the patient. "You have a rare hypnotized state. You tell your answers in story form. More accurately, poetic story form. It is very hard to understand your tangents, Mr. Stoppable. I'll need you to come back again tomorrow. Same time, please."
Ron nodded and was led out of the room by the doctor. "Thanks anyway, Doc."
The doctor merely bowed his head and turned back to his office. Ron waved a final good-bye and walked on as well. He felt dizzy, as usual when he went in for his daily treatment.
There had been something messing with his head for a while now. He couldn't figure it out with regular psychiatric methods. He had tried psychologists, shrinks, even electroshock therapy, but nothing could trace the base of his problems.
He returned to his room in the psyche ward. He lived in a special area of the Marlando Institute for the Mentally Impaired, in short, insane asylum. He wasn't aloud to go out with 'normal' people but he wasn't allowed into the actual hospital with its inhabitants.
The walls were sealed, but the room was furnished. A side table rested next to his small bed, its bottom platform stacked with books. These were his entertainment for no electrical outlets in the room limited possibilities to view television or listen to the radio. A dresser stood alone on the opposite wall with a mirror on the top. This was the only special feature of his room.
Conversations developed between himself and his reflection. He was so lonely. With only the doctor to talk to, he had no contact with the outside world, no visitors, no phone calls, nothing. His books became his reality. Coming to this place to fix his first problem was causing him new ones.
"Another day, another unsuccessful attempt to return to sanity…" Ron said to himself. He was desperate to get out of the asylum. Horrid food choices, abusive employees, the constant loneliness…
In reality, there were wonderfully catered meals, the doctors and nurses were extremely nice and respectful to their patients, and other patients could interact with each other, even if they were strongly impaired mentally, they could have conversations through phone lines in protected rooms. Other patients also were able to have visitors, but Ron was in an insane quarantine. He felt as though he were infected. Hate surged through him suddenly.
"Arrgh…" he groaned. His stomach was clutched by his hand and he felt sick. "I wish I knew what was wrong with me.
A buzzer sounded and his room's door swung open. The doctor who had previously hypnotized him stepped in briskly and grabbed Ron's shoulders.
"Who is the girl with bouncing red hair?" the doctor asked quickly.
Ron was taken off guard and shocked at the suddenness of the question. His stomach stung again and he grasped his abdomen harder.
Then he found himself blurting out the answer without thinking, "Kim… Kim Possible…"
Ron was surprised when the name was uttered from his lips. He hadn't spoken of her for so long. The last time he saw her was at their graduation.
"Booyah! We're done with school!" Ron shouted with his diploma in hand.
Kim Possible grinned widely at him and hugged him close as a way of celebration. "You are, but I've got college to attend."
Kim was a beautiful red-head with green eyes and a slim figure. She had a brilliant smile that could lift anyone up in low spirits.
Ron's hands fell to his sides. "Oh, yeah…" He had remembered the day she got her acceptance letter to Yale. That had been a day of happiness, seeing as how graduation was so far away. However, today was the last time he'd see her for a long while.
Kim looked him in the eyes, "Hey, come on. Cheer up, Ron. We'll still talk on the phone like every day."
Ron nodded and smiled. He was pretending, but he wanted her to think he was happy for her. They spent the rest of the day together and that night, when it came time for her to leave, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered into his ear.
"I'll miss you, Ron…"
He touched his cheek lightly and watched her wave from her car's window. He smiled and returned the gesture to her, holding a tear back until she was out of sight.
The doctor held Ron in his position so he wouldn't fall over. He looked without enthusiasm at Ron's vomit soaking the carpeted floor.
Ron hated that memory. So much to the point that it made him throw up. But there was something else now, the pain had stopped. Was it because he just had a stomach flu?
"Are you finished?" the doctor asked. Ron placed his elbows on his knees and looked up to the nearest wall. He nodded lightly. "You have to be sure, this next might induce a new vomit session."
Ron stood though the doctor tried stopping this action. "I'm fine… This is the best I've felt in a long time…" Ron stated.
The doctor didn't seem convinced, but time was of the essence. "Alright, come with me. I think we've found the root of your problems."
The doctor walked quickly out of the room and down the hall. He motioned for Ron to follow, which he did. They entered a corridor that Ron had never seen before. The walls were white, as every other hallway, but these walls had windows. The doctor stopped at a door and waited for Ron to catch up to him.
"This is going to be a bit of a shock to your system." he said gravely. "You will experience pain of great magnitudes. Are you ready? There is no going back now."
Ron nodded. He was suddenly scared at the thought of pain. The doctor opened the door and Ron squinted in anticipation of light. However, the room was as black as night. The doctor didn't seem surprised for some reason.
The doctor took Ron by the arm and led him gently, yet promptly, to a position somewhere away from the door. The doctor then closed the portal to the hospital and all light was gone.
"Sit." he commanded.
Ron was confused. "What?"
The doctor repeated and went on to explain there was a seat just behind him. Ron found it with his hands and placed himself upon it.
The doctor surprised Ron when he started talking, like he knew Ron had accomplished his feat. "I am in a side room and will be monitoring you during this session of therapy. In front of you about two meters is a glass separation unit. There are walls to you right and you your left similar to that of your room. The doors have been securely locked and when the lights come on they will be incredibly bright. I want you to begin speaking immediately when you see what has been brought to you. Understand?"
Ron was overwhelmed but nodded. Again the doctor scared him when he spoke again. It was dark, how could he see Ron's actions?
"Good." the doctor readied himself before calling a final demand into the PA. "Good luck. This should be the cure we're looking for. So make sure you tell us exactly what you're feeling. Here we go…"
The lights blazed with a glory that made Ron shut his eyes for a moment. He blinked a few times to clear the blurred vision of the room. The doctor hadn't lied. The room was just as he described. Well, as far as Ron could tell. His vision hadn't cleared entirely yet.
He paused from his exploration at a figure in the glass. Was it his reflection? Maybe he was imagining it and this was just a test to see if he was insane.
"Hi, Ron…" said a voice from the figure.
Ron's eyes widened and he began to tremble. He looked madly around and felt sick all over again. He began to shed tears but wasn't crying. He dug his fingernails into his chair and looked around for the doctor to come and help him. The man in white was no where to be found.
Of course, Ron's doctor wasn't the only one in on a project as big as this. Another top doctor in the hospital was aiding him. And he was concerned by Ron's reaction.
"Are you positive we shouldn't have restrained him? He looks as if he's going to kill himself!" Dr. Ralph Stand frantically explained.
"I know what your saying, but any constraints would place his mind in the hospital and not in this old reality which is key to finding his source problem." Dr. Jones, Ron's doctor, argued conclusively.
Dr. Stand was still not convinced. But he didn't continue his rebuttal against his correspondent openly. "Right. I'll start taking notes on his life readings and stress levels. You keep monitoring his actions."
Dr. Jones nodded in agreement and the other doctor walked to his station. So far, the procedure was going as planned. Jones wanted to stay out of this for as long as possible but if Ron did start harming himself, he would have to step in which would throw this plan out of the window. They had one good shot at fixing Ron, a screw up could mean full insanity. Perhaps, if the screw up was large enough, even death.
The blonde man continued to thrash about maniacally in his seat. He glanced in a jerking movement around the room and to the ceiling above but mainly focused on the girl on the opposite side of the glass. A haunting heartbeat pounded in his ears.
But he stayed in his seat. Though he looked harmful, he had no intention of violent maneuvers. He was just sitting their and trembling as if he had seen a ghost.
Kim stared from her side of the glass. She looked on with concern but no fear. She knew Ron wouldn't hurt her even if he had the chance to. She wasn't a movie-dramatic heroine, she just knew Ron that much.
She had gotten a horrible pain in her chest the week before and it scared her. Her doctor waved it off as stress, she was in college, after all. But Kim had an added symptom which she kept to her self. With the pain came continuing strands of thoughts of Ron. The doctor recommended her to take a few days off of school.
The pain continued after a couple of days and she couldn't take thinking about Ron anymore. She found his location from and old friend named Wade, who was now working for the CIA computer department. Kim knew him from years past when he organized her missions for her.
After a long drive, she arrived at the mental ward and couldn't believe this was Ron's new residence. Upon entering the establishment, she gave personal information and asked if she could visit the patient Ron Stoppable.
Fate struck when Ron's doctor, just coming from his hypnosis session, passed by and saw her red hair and heard her mention Ron's name. He grabbed a hold of her and she knocked him down from being startled. She apologized and helped him up.
However, the doctor only asked her name and rushed off. Of course, not before commanding that Kim stay put. He mentioned to the woman behind the front desk to page Dr. Stand to come and take Kim to the decommissioning room.
The rest was done quickly. The assisting doctor led Kim down a corridor and into a strange dark room and asked that she talk to Ron when he arrived. Kim was confused but obeyed. She had thought she was just taken to an extra special visitor's chamber.
Now she was watching the man she once knew as a boy fight at the parallel that separated sanity for insanity. It was a horrid sight to watch. The most awful of which was seeing Ron cry. Was it of pain? Was he happy to see her? Was it hate? Who was to know?
A voice came over the PA only in Kim's side of the room. "Talk to him, damn it!" Dr. Jones commanded. "We're losing valuable time!"
Kim jumped at the sound of the voice and began suddenly talking as if she had everything to lose. Then again, Ron was everything to her, and he was at stake here.
"So, how have you been?" Kim questioned her tactics. She was suddenly regretting her decision to find Ron. "I have been doing just fine. I have been getting good grades and am moving up in cheer ranks. The mascot is okay but he'll never be as good as you."
The blonde man continued his actions. The PA announced again in Kim's side. "It's not working and we're losing his brain waves. Start talking about something else. Memories, classes you used to take, things he's familiar with."
Kim began to shake slightly. She looked again to Ron who was blinking more rapidly and wheezing slightly. She could tell his consciousness was depleting. Without her success in conversation, he would miss this opportunity.
"Now, Damn it!" the PA screamed.
"Remember when we went on missions? Shego and Drakken were our arch foes. Well, except for Monkey Fist. He was your enemy. I remember when you inherited the mystical monkey power from that freak. You were so brave to take on your fear and save the world."
Ron continued blinking and slowly slipped down further in his chair. He was calming down which seemed like a good thing, even though it wasn't. In order for this to get better, Ron's motions should get worse. That was what the assisting doctor had told her.
A tear began to drop from Ron's cheek. He moved his lips, covered in cold sweat to form words. However, no sound escaped his throat. Kim choked back her tears. She had to be strong for him.
Then a realization struck her. Her chest didn't hurt anymore. Why did it only stop now? Was she so scared for her friend she just had gone numb? Had it all been in her head?
"Ron, I know you remember when we worked at Bueno Nacho." Kim said, the lump in her throat messing with her voice's steadiness. "The time you became so proud of what you were able to do better than me and I got jealous. Drakken almost destroyed all of Wisconsin with a magma cannon."
Ron's eyes closed briefly. Kim gasped and the doctors readied to burst through the door. Suddenly, his eyes opened again and he looked around peacefully. Everyone held their breath as he glanced around until his eyes caught hold of the red-headed girl. A smile crossed his lips.
"KP…" he mouthed with no sound.
All was well and Kim let out a loud sigh of relief. But the celebration came too soon. The red-head was shocked to hear the PA again.
"This isn't the end!" the doctor shouted. "His breathing has increased and this is only the eye of a much larger storm! Don't stop talking!"
Kim looked to her friend again as he began to shake again. The few years away from crime fighting had begun to make her soft as she had noticed she had let her guard down. Unusually optimistic actions caused Ron to fall back into the loop.
There was little time for depression. Kim and both doctors knew it. In fact, only Ron was the oblivious one to the actions and set backs taking place in the quest to save his sanity.
Dr. Jones unbuttoned his collar, a sure sign of nervousness. The doctor rarely, if ever, loosened any articles of clothing. Such actions made him appear unprofessional. But now his sleeves were rolled up and his tie hung loosely over his neck.
"I thought this girl was supposed to be as great as her legend!" Jones grumbled.
Dr. Stand continued his assigned task while offering his comfort. "Calm down. You just wait. Ron's vitals have had good signs and his thought pattern is showing signs of recovery."
Stand was lying, of course, but Jones was willing to take any good news, even if it was fake. Ron's conscious was conflicting painfully with his subconscious. If he did not snap out of his fit soon, brain damage was inevitable. Not to mention that he would be in a forever dream-like state. And, if the events continued their downward spiral, death was a strong possibility. This was important information that Dr. Stand had neglected to tell Dr. Jones.
"Ron, you have to listen to me!" Kim cried desperately. "Remember the day we first met? I told those jerks off for messing with you? You even tried calling for your imaginary friend, Rufus…"
Kim took the last statement she made into serious thought. A new topic had that might be helpful to her friend's recovery.
"Remember Rufus?" Kim shouted. "You favorite pet? Your close friend? The naked mole-rat? That song you wrote about you two meeting? How he helped us on our first mission?"
Tears now sprouted from her eyes. She had to bear the heavy burden of her friend's sanity on her shoulders. She hadn't seen him for so long and was now seeing him like this. A wreck.
"My friend… Rufus… Yo, listen up… have a holla from Ron…" Ron gasped.
Kim stared wide-eyed. Her friend seemed to be better, but his fit was worse. Sweat now coated his face and he seemed to have trouble breathing. He was fighting this battle, right along side Kim, just as he had in their missions.
"Don't stop now!" Dr. Jones yelled over the PA. "He is showing signs of recovery! Stopping will send him back to his original stage!"
Kim shook and started talking again. "Yes, Ron. Rufus… What did he look like again?" She was trying to get him to talk some more.
Ron struggled with his words. "Pink… Small… I remember… Buckteeth…" His gasps of breath becoming more labored.
Kim shouted through the glass. "Yes! Keep telling me, Ron! What ever happened to him?"
Ron shook violently again. He was forcing thoughts of the hospital out of his mind. He became somewhat aware of what was happening. He was surprised to see Kim.
"Kim… Is that you?"
Kim smiled through her tears. "Yes, Ron… I'm here."
The blonde man smiled and opened his mouth for greeting.
"What the hell?" Dr. Jones exclaimed. "He's slipping? He was just talking a moment ago! He's falling again? Brain waves, thought patterns, electric routes to nerves! What the hell is going on in his head?"
"Warn the girl to keep talking!" Dr. Stand hollered. "Now! He's almost gone!"
"Kim! He's falling again! Don't stop talking!" Dr. Jones commanded.
Kim was startled again and looked again to her friend. Shock splashed her face. Her friend was standing and flexing every muscle in his body. Veins popped out of his arms and forehead.
"Ron!"
The blonde man looked up from his stance and stared to the girl with fear in his eyes. "Kim… Help me…"
He fell to the ground and stopped moving. His mind no longer emitted patterns of any type. Everything was lost. A wet spot of sweat appeared on the floor from the excess perspiration on his face.
"Ron! No!" Kim cried. "Don't do this!"
The doctors rushed from the side room and tended to the collapsed man. Dr. Jones checked his heart rate and quickly stood and ran back to the room. A page was sent throughout the building.
"Code Red! Code Red! We have a dying patient in room 2457! Repeat: Dying man in room 2457!" Dr. Jones was heard over the PA of the building.
Kim didn't see anything else. She fell to her knees and cried for all that she was worth. There was sadness, darkness, and then nothing but the faint voices of doctors tending to the care of Ron.
Her eyes opened slowly as she looked around the white room. A faint beeping continuously sounded in her ears and confusion was present in her mind.
"Where… Where am I?" asked Kim to whoever was listening. Her vision was clearing and she found that she was on a hospital mattress, dressed in a gown. The other person lying on the bed next to hers didn't respond. She concluded that they were sleeping and decided to get some rest herself.
The door opened quite suddenly and delayed her sleep. A large woman dressed in white strolled over to her side and checked a nearby machine. She had a pretty face and wore heavy eye make-up. Her hair was black and her skin was pale. She smiled at Kim who stared with question.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Kim asked politely. Her voice was groggy from sleep.
"I'm Nurse Patty, I'll be taking care of you for the next few days." she responded. "You know, just until you're okay again?"
Kim was still confused but asked nothing more. The nurse finished her business and gave a final 'good-bye' before exiting. Kim's eyes were almost back in focus and she looked again to the patient next to her.
Ron lay with wires covering his arms and legs. A tube was inserted in his mouth so as to help him breath. A heart monitor beeped monotonously beside him and an IV machine fed into his arm by a needle. Kim's mouth dropped at the sight. She suddenly remembered the events that had happened in the hospital shortly before.
"Ron!" she cried. She instantly regretted her action for she suddenly felt faint. However, she stood from her bed and kneeled beside his. Her legs gave out a few times but she held on to his dear hand.
Nothing but tears were emitted from Kim. She stared at her friend whom she figured was a goner. All these machines, all this life support, it was her fault. All she had to do was bring him out of his state. That was the only mission she had been given for a long time, and she failed.
"Ron… I am so sorry…" Kim sobbed. "Please, come out of it an tell me you're 'okay…' Make me laugh… Tell me you're going to be alright…"
The blonde man remained still. The monitor continued its rhythm, but Ron kept silent. Kim held her head to her friend's hand.
"Ron…" Kim whispered through tears. "Please… I miss you…"
The girl continued to cry. Everything had gone wrong. There was no hope left. She would attend her friend's funeral knowing it was all her fault. The world had stopped spinning on that day. The world had stopped spinning because of her.
'Unlike most fairy tales, the good guy never wins.'
Kim read the quote engraved on Ron's casket. He had written in his will how he wanted this statement to be carved into his coffin. She wore black and held a tissue. Tears had caused her make-up to run and she stood in front of the dead man's casket.
"Hey, Ron…" Kim said. She was saying her final 'good-bye' to the man she had let down. She placed her hand on the coffin and smiled through her tears. She missed him so much.
Everyone else had left already. She wanted to stay until they were all gone so she could be open with him. It was hard for her to look upon his resting place and smile for him.
"I don't know if you care… But I wanted to let you know that I did care…" Kim said, her voice cracking under strain of tears. "I let you down and just wanted you to know that I had wanted to tell you I have always loved you as a close friend. I kind of wish we were something more, but know that wasn't going to happen. After all, we were too close to be that close."
A final touch of the casket made Kim break down and weep. She pressed her head to the coffin for a final time and walked away. She turned back just once and waved. The casket shrunk in size the further she walked away. A blue tarp covered the freshly dug up ground. Ron lay inside, finally at peace.
Kim drove home and got back to her studies. Ron was gone and she had to move on. As hard as letting go was, it was necessary. But memories always stayed there. Instead of the last moments of their lives together, their first moments of childhood and when they first met. The good often defeat the bad.
However, the disease beat Ron. A young man doesn't deserve to die the way he did. Kim knew that as well as all of the doctors who had helped him in the past. The cause of his mental illness wasn't found.
A single theory arose when the two doctors who monitored Ron's visit with Kim compared mental notes on the subject.
"Mr. Stoppable had a rare case of separation syndrome." Dr. Jones declared to his partner. "You could tell by his readings that he cared for the red-headed girl much more than a regular friend ever would."
Dr. Stand nodded slightly in agreement. "If a child is neglected by its mother, it will eventually die. Mr. Stoppable must have seen the girl at that level of importance. However, instead of dying instantly, he went through a dozen cases of mental illness. In the end, it was too much for his system and death was his final illness."
Dr. Jones was silent for a moment before continuing. "We cannot tell her this…" he trailed. He was, of course, referring to Kim. "This is best left as heart failure under immense stress…"
Dr. Stand was surprised to see a man of Jones's profession even considering to falsify medical records. However, he took his correspondent's suggestion into consideration. "I agree… Creating a fake death certificate will be a first. However, it will be better if the girl doesn't know that his death was partially her fault…"
They exited the room with their coffee mugs in hand. The conversation was never spoken of again. Nor was the incident in room 2457.
Kim never learned of her fault in Ron's death. However, she never let herself forget that if she had just done the assignment given to her, Ron would still be alive.
"Good-bye, Ron…" she said at his grave many years later. And that was the last she'd ever see of him.
THE END