Folie A Deux

Chapter 4

Not long after that I dropped out of college because of financial issues, and voila here I am today back at the university. You know, this would’ve been the perfect ending if Professor Carl was here.

He gave me back my life and he helped my mom with the best that he could. I need to give back to him. So after classes are over I decided to visit him, to help him get back on his feet. I bring Chinese food with me and I knock on the door. Still no answer. I knocked again. He opened the door quite reluctantly,

“Who is it?”

“It’s Jimmy”

“I don’t know who you are or what’s your business here but please leave” He said as he began closing his door. I stop him from doing so

“Sir it’s me! The one you always call James even though my name is Jimmy. The one you gave a $20000 check to for my mom’s chemo sessions. I’m the person who dropped outta college, but now I’m back in it and now I’m trying to help you so please let me help you!”

He then opened the door and let me in. We sat down. I noticed that there were suitcases packed and it looks as if he was going somewhere. He noticed that I was staring at the packed suitcases,

“I realized that living this way isn’t healthy for me so I decided to move to a house near the lake left to me by my great aunt who passed away a long time ago.”

“Oh, that’s good for you...” I said in the most awkward manner. He chuckled and said, “Not really, I always forget to take my meds and end up hallucinating,” he then picks up a bottle of meds and puts some onto his palm.

I don’t know how much he should be taking but that seems a little too much. I look at him worried, he then begins laughing at me, “Don’t worry, we’re all gonna die someday might as well choose how,” he takes the bottle again and tries to swallow more pills. I stop him, I take the bottle of pills from his hand.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” I snapped

“Jimmy, the world for me has gone to shit, might as well quit.” Then I stood up and punched him, knocking him off the chair he was sitting on. He gets up and looks at me pissed beyond belief, “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I said, “Just because you lost your job because of some nervous breakdown doesn’t mean the world’s gone to shit and you should just quit”

“You think all of this is because I lost my job?”

I paused, wondering what he meant by that. I couldn’t say anything, it was as if I lost my voice and the only thing that I managed to do was to mouth ‘what happened?’ I’m guessing he noticed it because he continued saying, “It was everything that happened after I lost my job that showed me I had nothing left to live for, my fiancé left me, I couldn’t take care of myself, and for the first time in my life I felt like no one could save me this time” tears then began to streak form his face, “It was the moment I finally realized that I had no more second chances and the game of life—my game was over...” He was still crying.

I didn’t know what to do, but my body knew exactly what to do. Without me knowing it I stood up and hugged him saying, “Not yet...please...”