Jack was beyond the point of being simply depressed by the time he had gotten to his assigned room. Even though no one besides himself would ever recognize the pain behind his eyes that he felt, he felt the lowest that he has ever been. He felt as if he was separated from reality and in a whole world of his own, because no one understood and no one seemed to notice. He thought that he felt this way only because he wasn't good enough to be happy. He figured that if he was really meant to be happy that he would, and because he isn't he's not meant to.
He looked at the room number and realized he was in room '666' and he found this terribly ironic and somewhat fitting for whom he was. motioned for him to enter his new home, but Jack was hesitant. He was always wary of going into strange bedrooms with men who say it's alright. He felt a soft push from behind him and Jack caved as he opened the door and looked around his bedroom. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room, and a single window between them. It wasn't big enough for Jack to sit on it, and he figured that he could always go back to that room to watch the rain. He noticed there were two closets and two desks. He also noticed the bathroom on the other side of the room.
One of the beds seemed to have already been taken, and whoever had taken it seemed disorganized to say the least. His, Jack assumed, clothes were scattered all over the bed and on the floor and Jack thought this was literally hell on earth because he hated people who were slobs. His eyes began to water again as he realized this was just what he deserved. He is a bad boy and deserves to be punished. He is a freak that doesn't deserve to be part of mainstream society and Jack once again gripped his head as he fell to his knees about to cry again. He couldn't take it, he couldn't take it any longer, and he felt that he was treated to good.
As he had another episode on the ground his roommate walked out from the bathroom. He had long dirty blonde hair, but looked like Justin Bieber with slightly longer hair. He had greenish-blue eyes and was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a light blue t-shirt, "Whoa man, don't go freakin' out on me!" The boy said as he placed a hand on Jack to calm him down.
Jack felt the boy's embrace and figured he would not be abused by someone of his own age. Pulling out his pocket knife he swung it at the boy who noticed it beforehand and jumped back. Jack stood up as he pointed the blade at the boy with a shaking hand. The boy looked at Jack with a mixture of confusion and shock.
"Let's calm down here, okay? I'm Zack, I'm your roommate, and I do not want to hurt you. You must be Jack, am I right?" Zack said as he lifted his hands into the air, and Jack just nodded a bit to confirm the male's assertion.
Jack didn't trust the boy, not even from the beginning. He was just like the others and he wouldn't allow his guard to fall around such a liability. Jack knew that the owner placed him in this room with Zack in order for Zack to have someone to play with and take advantage of. He knew that the owner was aware of his own mental state and was sadistically making him endure mental turmoil through this battery and possible sexual assault. Jack didn't lower the knife, but Zack stepped forward and Jack thought he was either very brave or very stupid.
"Jack, put down the knife. I do not know what you thought I was going to do to you, but I would never hurt you. I have been hurt enough to know not to hurt someone. Plus, it's almost orientation, and someone will come to collect us. Do you want them to see you have a knife? They'll lock you up forever, and that's not good for anyone," Zack said trying to reason with Jack.
Jack contemplated what the boy was saying and wasn't ready to believe it. He thought that Zack wanted him to drop the knife so he could then take advantage of him until someone did come. He then realized that orientation was soon and this was still a hospital, or so what he was told, and that they don't let patients walk alone in mental institutions. Jack then figured that if the boy did attack he wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He dropped the knife and Zack let out a loud sigh realizing that he would be alright.
Almost on queue there was a knock on the door and Jack jumped away from it hiding next to one of the beds. Zack gave him a weird look and walked over and opened the door and Jack saw one of the boat's employees at the door. He got up slowly figuring it was time to go have some brunch as well as go to the orientation. He hesitantly moved forward and Zack wisely kept his distance as they walked down the corridor. Jack noticed there were few patients, but a lot of rooms on this boat. He wondered what the extra rooms were for. He didn't believe that this was legitimate anymore. He looked over his shoulder to see another employee walking behind them. They continued down the hallway and then down a flight of steps, down another hallway, and finally entered a large dining hall. The employees guided them to a table with the name "Sector 4" on it and they sat down. Zack sat next to him and Jack felt very uncomfortable.
walked up onto the stage that stood at the front of the dining hall, "Welcome everyone to the Sacred Ship! Some of you might have noticed that there are very few of you here, and this ship seems too large to accommodate you all. There is an explanation to this. Because the cost of rehabilitation is so much the higher levels of the ship are being used to host vacation cruises," As he said this murmurs rippled through the crowd as people seemed to be unhappy with this, and Jack couldn't believe his ears. He thought that this man was an emotional sadist for having people like him having to stand by while regular people are happy. He couldn't believe it. This man thought Jack was a monster and Jack knew this would happen, but believed that people actually cared about him, "Now, now I know what you all are thinking. The cruise part of this ship has all the features that the rehabilitation part has. However, the part of the ship where people are vacationing is strictly off-limits and no one is allowed there. Understand? No one," He said and everyone murmured again.
Jack looked around the room and couldn't believe what he saw; these people didn't even look like they had been abused. He was beginning to think that this whole thing was a giant ruse that the woman at the foster home had organized to torture him. He gripped his head as tears once again began to blind his vision. What had he done? He thought to himself as he hunched over with despair. He thought that he was a good boy at the home, did everything she asked and yet he was still abused mentally. He needed to get out, and as he got up to leave he saw an employee move towards him, and he obediently sat back down.
"Dude, what's the matter with you? Every five minutes you freak out about something. Just chill out," Zack murmured from next to him.
Jack ignored the boy because he understood that he only wanted Jack to stay near him is because he obviously wanted to have his way with him. He wouldn't let that happen. He would rather die than allow someone his age take advantage of him. Jack stopped and then thought to himself that he just defended himself. He gripped his head tighter as he realized by allowing people into his mind they would control his mind to think that he didn't deserve abuse. He did, he did deserve it and Jack thought that he wouldn't let him in. He began crying as the owner of the facility continues talking. He noticed someone take a seat next to him and he raised his head.
Daisy had just sat down and he noticed a large bruise on her cheek and this caused Jack to move away from her. It was his fault she got hit and it was his fault that she now had that bruise. He knew that she would hit him back so he raised his arms defensively and closed his eyes. He opened them shortly after to notice that she was smiling at him. He didn't understand her line of thinking, because he had hurt her, and she didn't want to hurt him back. She just sat there analyzing his every movement. He felt uncomfortable under her gaze and so he turned back to the stage to see the new manager, an older looking woman, to take the stage.
"Hello patients of Sacred Ship Rehabilitation Facility, I am Kayla your new manager and activities organizer. I am here to make sure everyone has a comfortable stay here and everyone makes progress. My son, Bobby, shall also be a patient here. For the sake of not embarrassing him I shall not make him come on stage, but I shall let you know that I do not tolerate any sort of violence towards others or towards yourself while you're on this cruise, and if I do catch you harming another person or yourself the consequences shall be dire," She said authoritatively.
"Told you," Zack murmured towards Jack
Jack looked at this woman and felt nothing but utter fear from her; because he knew she was the one who thought he was a monster. She was the one who was going to make him suffer through hours of mental torture and physical torment. He was utterly frozen in fear of the possibility of him having to be part of an abusive scheme. Daisy saw the signs of Jack's oncoming episode so she quickly poured a glass of water and threw it in Jack's face. At first Jack was shocked that she would do something in front of everyone. He thought that she had no shame in what she was and couldn't believe she took pleasure from publicly harming someone. As the water cool his temperature he felt only embarrassment as people around him began to laugh. Jack's lower lip began to quiver as the laughter continued, but the laughter was in his head because everyone was appalled and shocked that she'd do such a thing. Jack got up and began to cry as he ran out of the dining hall.
"Nice job Daisy," Zack said getting up preparing to chase after his roommate, but Daisy grabbed his hand making him sit back down.
"I'm sorry. I thought that would work, I truly did because it worked for whenever I went through an episode much like the one he's about to go through," Daisy admitted and Zack's expression softened when he realized she was only trying to help.
"It's alright, but I think Jack is different. His case seems to be more severe than the rest of ours. He hates physical touch, doesn't speak, and has these continuous episodes," Zack said leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, Jack is definitely different than you and me, but I wouldn't say his case is more drastic. The pain he went through was obviously more severe than the pain you and I went through," Daisy said looking down the hallway where Jack went.
Jack sped through the hallways desperately trying to get back to the room with the large window. He needed to watch the rain because it was the only way for him to calm down. He knew it, he fucking knew it. He knew that everyone thought he was a freak and he knew the people here are no better than the children at his old school that used to bully him. He could still hear the insidious laughter in his head as he ran through the hallways. He didn't know where he was going, and moving solely on instinct. Somehow he was able to make it back to his room, and he opened the door and quickly picked up the pocket knife on the ground and ran out the door again.
He moved faster now that he was on a mission to do something. He had to make the pain go away, because the memories were coming back and they were coming back quicker than he was able to repress them. He finally had made it to the room with the large bay window and he nearly dove to the ground as he sat down looking out the window. He tried to see if the rain would calm him down before he did anything drastic, but after five minutes of watching the rain the memories were still rushing back and he could do nothing about it. So he decided he had to force the memories out one way or another. Taking out his pocket knife he placed the blade against his skin, and this time Daisy wasn't here to stop him.
As he was about to do it he noticed a figure in the doorway and he instantly got up and pointed the blade at him. The figure chuckled and walked in. He had dirty blonde hair that spiked in the front, but the shades of blonde varied through the hair. He had crystal blue eyes and rosy lips as he moved towards Jack. Jack was confused as to why the boy was so calm about things. He knew that he was holding a knife and could attack him at any moment, but the boy moved so eloquently and without any fear. The boy finally sat down across from Jack looking out the window as well. Jack then sat back down and looked at the boy.
The boy looked back noticing Jack's stare, "Oh, don't mind me, continue doing what you were about to do," The boy said and this caught Jack off guard, he hadn't met someone who actually wanted the boy to hurt himself. He was confused and in response tilted his head at the boy with a quizzical expression, "My name is Bobby, the son of the manager, and I honestly don't care. If you feel the need to hurt yourself to make things better than I feel no pity towards you," Bobby said and this really confused Jack and Jack watched as Bobby continued to look out the window.
Jack figured if the boy didn't really care that he was going to hurt himself then he really could do it. Jack placed the blade at his skin, but something about this boy caused him to not want to do it. He wanted to do it, but because the boy didn't care if he did it made the whole act sort of ridiculous. Jack couldn't understand why he was feeling this way. What had the boy done to him? He thought to himself. Bobby then looked Jack in the eyes.
"What?" Bobby said before Jack did something that he never thought he would do. He dropped the knife crawled over to Bobby so that their faces were inches apart. Bobby thought he was going to kiss him, but Jack hesitantly, very hesitantly hugged him. Jack hugged the male for a split second before realizing they were touching and he got up and ran off. Bobby sat there confused as to what just happened, and Jack couldn't believe he actually just hugged someone. He thought he was going mad.