Eventually, the police started letting more people go. Ashley was the next to leave after Jessica, her parents dragging her home even though she wanted to stay with Chris – or so Josh heard since all of this had been relayed from Sam. Ashley didn't drop in to say goodbye. Not that he'd expected her to.
Josh couldn't say he was entirely surprised when Matt popped in for a visit, but he hadn't been expecting him either. Emily was with him, but she lingered in the hallway, probably assuming she was out of sight.
"Hey, guys." Matt glanced around awkwardly at everyone else in the room, his gaze pausing briefly on Dr. Hill.
Oh, boy. Once again, Matt was way out of the loop. Jess was too, but she had her own troubles to deal with. Matt… he was the only other one who hadn't seen Josh at his worst. That was weird to think about. Josh had kind of been getting used to the fact that all his friends saw 'I need serious help' written on his forehead. But all Matt had seen was him helping lug around Mike and Jess and then running off into the woods with a Wendigo on his tail. Yeah, he'd heard about what happened, but seeing it was an entirely different thing.
"Hey, Matt," Chris greeted. "How's Emily?"
"Still angry." Matt winced, shooting Mike a look.
Yikes. Josh was happy to not be Mike right now. Hey, wait… Someone was actually mad at someone other than him. Ha. That was nice. Not that he knew why, though. No one seemed to want to go into detail on what had happened between the two of them. And he wished they would because, frankly, he was really damn curious.
Mike leaned so he could see out the partially closed door. "What do you want me to do, Em? I've said I'm sorry a thousand times!"
What the– Mike was apologizing? Mike always defended himself, even when he didn't have a real argument. Right now he just looked… tired. What the hell had he done to make things this bad between them?
"And it'll never be enough, you asshole!" Emily stalked into the room, throwing the door the rest of the way open. She jabbed a finger at Josh. "This lunatic had more justification for what he did than you!"
Um, thanks? Josh wasn't quite sure how to take that. "Good to know we're still friends, Em…"
"Shove it, nutcase! I'm not talking to you!"
"Emily!" Chris shot out of his chair. "Not cool!"
"Oh, you don't have any room to speak either!" Emily stepped over to him, looking surprisingly intimidating for her height. "You just sat there!"
Josh pressed his thumbs to his tear ducts. He was fine with people yelling at him – he deserved it – but seeing the the group bicker with each other over something he didn't even know the details about was a load of stress he didn't need.
"Hey, Em, lay off! I'm the one you're mad at, not Chris!" And now Mike was standing too.
"Yeah, well, from what I heard, he didn't exactly help…" Matt muttered.
"Come on, Matt, that's not fair." And there went Sam… "We were all scared and under a lot of pressure–"
"Didn't keep you from having common sense!" Emily snapped. Wait… so Emily still liked Sam? Yay? "They were just being a bunch of paranoid idiots–"
"Excuse me." Dr. Hill silenced everyone, standing from his chair.
Oh, crap, that was terrifying. When had he gotten so tall? He was supposed to be the nice old therapist guy. Maybe his hallucinations were more accurate than he'd realized.
"Perhaps you would all like to lower your voices and discuss this civilly? If not, could you kindly take this outside?"
Ohhh, snap.
Therapist: 1. Bickering Teenagers: 0.
Mike, Matt, Sam, and Chris had the decency to look ashamed – even if some of them hadn't really done anything wrong – but Emily just scowled. "Who are you? And who the hell made you king the world, jackass?"
"Hey, you watch your mouth, Emily!" Josh sat up straight, glaring at her. Nobody gave his badass therapist lip but him. Well, probably his other patients too, but Josh couldn't do anything about them.
"Or what?" Emily's fury turned on him in an instant, and she crossed her arms. "You gonna tie me up and saw me in half?"
"Emily!" Matt protested.
"Would anyone here actually mind that at the moment?"
Chris face-palmed. "Josh. Dude. Not helping!"
"Enough." Dr. Hill pressed. "If you are all going to choose to behave like wild animals, I believe there's a park close by in which you can bicker until you freeze to death. This is a place of healing." He dragged his chair over closer to the bed and then moved the one Mike had been sitting in to rest beside it. "Michael, Samantha, Christopher – you may leave. You two" – he jabbed a figure in at Emily and Matt – "sit."
Therapist: 2. Bickering Teenagers: 0.
"Yessir!" Chris scampered out of the room as quickly as he could with his still-healing ankle, and Mike trailed behind him. Sam hesitated at Josh's side, but he gave her a nod, and she left too.
"Um, so, wait… Who are you?" Matt asked.
"He's my therapist." Josh rubbed his forehead. Why did he think this was not going to go well?
"Your therapist?" Emily snorted. "Wow, well you've clearly been doing a fantastic job. You gonna pull out some cards with ink spattered on them and ask us how they make us feel?"
Oh, dang.
Therapist: 2. Dragon Lady: 1.
Dr. Hill gave her a patronizing smile. "And you've clearly gotten your education on therapy from Hollywood. Sit, please."
Ohhhhh, burn.
Therapist: 3. Dragon Lady: 1.
Josh let out a short, demented laugh. "It is adorable how you keep thinking sarcasm is going to work on him. Believe me, it won't. I've tried."
Matt sat down, but Emily kept glaring.
Josh sighed heavily. "Emily, sit in the damn chair. You'll just be here even longer if you don't."
Emily kept her arms crossed and her glare steady as she finally sat down. "Is it even legal for you to start trying to counsel us?"
Josh wanted to strangle something. "For the love… Em, what are you going do? Sue him?"
"I could."
"Yeah, well, then I'd hire a lawyer for him and you'd lose."
Emily scoffed. "I'm not exactly poor, honey."
"You are compared to my family, honey."
Matt groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "Can you guys just… not?"
Dr. Hill cleared his throat loud enough to draw their attention back to him. "Emily, I would like to ask you simple question: how much of your anger is actually directed at Joshua for his actions?"
Emily's lips pressed into a firm line for few seconds. "Come to think of it, not all that much. His prank only got to those two lovesick idiots who I am mad at." A glint suddenly lit in her eyes, and Josh was honestly more than a little terrified. "Maybe I can enlist you to get back at Mike too."
"Em!" Matt protested. "Seriously?"
Josh was starting to think maybe he wasn't the only one in the group who needed help. "Okay, seriously, what the hell did Mike do?"
"The prick almost shot me!" Annnd she was yelling again.
Almost? As in… accidentally, right?
"He held that damn gun right in front of my face!"
Or not. "…Why?"
She rolled her eyes, uncrossing her arms to gesture at her right shoulder. "I got bit by a Wendigo and the idiot jumped to the conclusion that I was going to turn into one."
O…kay. That made sense for both sides, he supposed. "And you're mad at Ash and Chris because…?" Right after he'd posed the question he realized that this was probably the first time Dr. Hill had heard about the Wendigos. Oh, boy. He was going to think they were all a bunch of fruitcakes.
"They didn't try to stop him! They encouraged him!"
That didn't sound like Chris and Ashley at all. But… fear did strange things to people, he was learning. Apparently, it made him make a bunch of self-endangering decisions to save people who possibly hated him. And it made Sam into a resourceful non-pacifist. And Mike into Nathan Drake. And as for Chris? He'd pulled the trigger on a gun pressed to his head to save the girl he loved. Why the hell would he later encourage Mike to shoot Emily? It didn't add up. Was Emily bending the story? Exaggerating? Or… was Chris trying to protect Ashley? Would he go that far? Side with Mike in regards to shooting Emily if he thought she was putting Ashley in danger? Josh honestly wasn't sure.
Josh shuffled under Emily furious gaze. "Well… um… I wasn't there, and I'm really not in a position to be judging anyone, so… Switzerland."
Anger shifted to confusion. "What?"
"You know? Neutral?"
Emily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fine, whatever."
Silence. Awkward.
Matt toyed with the armrest of his chair. "Sooo, you guys are good, right?"
Emily grunted, standing. "He annoys me a lot less than some other people right now."
Aw. That was… probably the nicest thing she'd ever said to him. "Right, sure."
Dr. Hill looked pleased enough. Yay.
Matt stood up too, stretching out his hand. "Hey, man, thanks again for saving my ass out there. Em and I have got a plane to catch. Whatever it is you got going on with you, I hope you get it figured out soon. Good luck, and I'll see you back home."
"Thanks, Matt." Josh shook his hand.
So… talk with Emily and Matt. Check and check.
"Matt, come on already." Emily moved over to the door and grabbed the handle. "He's got a therapist to help him deal with his craziness–"
Whatever was on the other side of that door, it was enough to shut Emily up. Huh. Scary thought.
Emily cleared her throat. "Mr. and Mrs. Washington…"
Josh's heart somehow managed to simultaneously rise and drop. "Mom? Dad?"
"Joshua!"
Josh got more than a little amused when his mother almost plowed through Emily to get to him. Matt's football reflexes served him well and he dodged out of the way, leaving Josh to be enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.
His left shoulder flared in pain under the pressure, but he endured it and pressed his forehead into her neck, much like he had done with Sam the night before. It was a different kind of comfort, but one he clung to all the same.
Dr. Hill said something quietly to his father and the door clicked shut a few moments later, three sets of footsteps fading with distance. Just him and his parents then.
Josh sniffled. No, he was not crying – it was the angle that his nose was pressing into his mother's collarbone. That was what was making his eyes water. Definitely.
He still had no idea what to tell them. He wished Sam or Chris were here to at least back him up on the Wendigos. Without them, there was no way his parents would believe those things existed. Hell, with Sam and Chris here, his parents still probably wouldn't believe the Wendigos existed, and he wouldn't blame them. That night was crazier than he was, and that was saying something.
Bah. He could deal with that in a minute – right now he was enjoying the motherliness of his mother's motherly hug.
Next up: Dr. Hill makes an important discovery.
