A Finished Puzzle (Sequel to 'My Missing Piece')

Getting Deep

It's been four more days, which means only three until I get out. I have a session with Jackie every day at the same time in the same room. She stopped asking questions about my family and began asking me what I liked to do instead. It puzzled me but I liked this way better. I got pulled out of my thought by Jackie clearing her throat. I blinked at her. "You look very skinny," she said, pointing her pen at my abdomen, "Have you been eating?" I ran a hand through my hand and lied, "Yeah. The food here is shit so I guess it doesn't give me any nutrients.." She scribbled something down in her notebook. I tried to remember the last time I ate. It was right before I Gavin checked me into this facility, almost eleven days ago, besides the granola bars that Tracey snuck me during the days she was here. "So let's talk about an older subject for a minute, shall we?" Jackie breathed out. I shrugged. She scribbled in her notebook while she spoke, "You were in a plane crash a while back, correct?" I nodded. "What happened ?" I felt my breath hitch at the memory of the crash playing vividly in my mind. I gulped before speaking, "I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen and I was scared. I held onto Gavin trying to protect him even though it probably wasn't going to work. I was scared that we wouldn't get to experience being married to Gavin. I was scared that we weren't going to make it. So I told him that I loved him and held onto him. I woke up after we crashed and Gavin didn't wake up and I was terrified."

"That sounds horrible," Jackie frowned. I nodded, "We were stuck on an island for two months." "At least you had each other," she added. "Yeah. At least we had each other," I smiled slightly. "So have you been on a plane since?" I nodded, "Once with Gavin to see his mother." "Just his mother?" Jackie questioned. I nodded again, "She wanted to give us money for our future kid." "Oh, so you two are adopting?" "Our friend is having a baby that she can't take care of so we called and got paperwork to adopt it," I explained. "That's sweet." I nodded for a third time. "Is that why you're in here? To hopefully fix yourself before you become a father?" Jackie tapped her foot on the tiled floor quietly. I watched her feet, "I don't want to be like my dad." "You aren't like him. You're just scared," she reassured me. "I pushed Gavin into our glass coffee table when we were arguing once. That's what my dad would do," I shut my eyes. Jackie let out hum, "What were you fighting about?" I thought back to the incident, "I... I don't remember actually." "So it wasn't an important fight." I shook my head. "You two are newly weds. It's alright to fight sometimes, it's more common than you think."

"Are you sure?" I eyed her. She nodded, "My parents were married at twenty and had too many fights to count before I was born, but they're still married today. In fact, they haven't fought since." "Oh," I looked at my hands. "That's not really what you think is the matter, is it? That you think you're like your father," she poked at me with her words. I shook my head. "Then what is it, dear?" She asked. "What if I'm not good enough? I never made good friends in school because I was that asshole kid who everybody felt sorry for," I felt tears prick my eyes, "I moved here, got the job I had. I dated Lindsay. Then she broke it off before I proposed because she knew something about me that I didn't." "And what was that?" Jackie asked, not looking up from scribbling in her notebook. "That I was gay and loved Gavin instead. I didn't even consider that then. I just knew Gavin and I were really close, but I wasn't gay. At least I didn't think so then," I scrunched up my nose. "You think that you spend your days just getting by and not actually mattering, but you have people that care. I'm going to revisit an old question again. Is it your fault?" Jackie finished her sentence by leaning towards me. I shook my head and meant the word that was about to come out of my mouth, "No."

I guess Jackie got the information she needed because she stopped the session early by saying that she didn't need to see me anymore. That I just had to spend the next two days here and she would sign me off on the last. I stayed in my room after that and decided to sleep since it was late anyways. I woke up the next day and decided to at least try the breakfast they put out here. I took one bite of the so called 'French toast' and couldn't handle it. As good as the food looked, it was disgusting. I scrunched my nose up and tossed the food away. How did anyone eat this? I rolled my eyes and stood up. I tried to exit the cafeteria without making a scene and of course, I just had to do so. I bumped into some guy on the way out and he wasn't too happy. "Watch where you're going dickhead!" He shouted at me. This guy was much taller than me and I didn't want to get into a fight. "Don't be an ass. I obviously didn't mean to bump into you," I rolled my eyes and pushed passed him.

When I made it out into the hall, the guy grabbed my arm and socked me right in the cheek. I brought a hand up to my cheek and glared at him. Well I guess he was put in here for anger issues.. He started shouting at me again, calling me names, but resorted to screaming at nothing. He had me pinned against the wall now. I swear I would've drove my fist into his abdomen if some of the staff hadn't came over and pulled the guy away. A girl I've never met came up and started to check me out, making sure I was okay. "Oh, I'm sorry. He was put in here for his anger and we thought he would be okay on the medication," she apologized. "It's fine. I had worse," I shrugged. She grabbed my chin and moved my head to the side, "You're definitely going to have a bruise." I shrugged again. She stepped back a bit and held out her hand, "I'm Katie." I shook her hand, "Michael." "Aren't you famous on the internet or something like that?" Katie cracked a smile. "Something like that," I replied. She didn't say anything back so I pushed myself off the wall. "It was nice meeting you and everything Katie, I just.. I need to head back to my room alright?" She nodded, "That's fine. Maybe I'll see you around."