Tinder - D.JH.

thirty-three

After a short night of dreamless sleep, Andrea took me to a mental hospital. We told the doctor there what was happening and she checked me in as a patient. They took my electronics and gave me a room. It was quiet and baren.

The walls were tan. My new bed was small and plain white. I had a dresser and a bedside table with a lamp on it. No pictures or paintings lined the walls. In the corner sat a plant, almost as tall as me. It was the most interesting thing about the room.

I sat down on the edge of the bed. Looking to Andrea with a blank expression. "This is the part where I leave." she says, her nail picking at the strap of her purse.

     "I guess so." I say.

     "I love you." she leans down, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. "I hope you feel better soon." she says.

     "Thanks. I love you, too." I say, patting her back. "You were so helpful."

     "It was my pleasure." she smiles, "If you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know."

     I nod. Waving, she turns and leaves the room, leaving me alone.

     Well, alone is an overstatement, because I soon come to find out that I have a neighbour across the hall from me. He has blond hair and blue eyes, rimmed with thick black lashes and purple bags. He's a little taller than me and says his name is Adam.

     "What're you in here for?" he questions, leaning against the doorway to my room.

     "Good morning to you, too." I say back.

     "When did you get here?" he asks.

     "Like ten minutes ago, dude." I flop back, my head hitting my pillow.

     "Cool. I got here about two months ago." he says and I raise my eyebrows, "Anxiety." he winks, throwing up fingerguns.

     "Sounds fun." I say sarcastically, and he nods. "The doctor diagnosed me with manic depression." I say.

     "Oh, it feels good being bad." Adam says, laughing, "We're not supposed to talk about our diagnoses in here, but here we are."

     "Yup, here we are." I say, staring at the ceiling.

     "It's almost time for lunch if you wanna hit up the lunchroom with me. We can eat in my room. There's a telly in there because apparently movies are one of my relaxation methods." Adam shrugs and I nod.

     "Sure." I say, sighing as I stand. We walk to the lunchroom in silence.

     Once we get our lunch of a sad looking ham and cheese and french fries, we decide to head back to Adam's room. He sat his tray down on a table in front of the telly, pulling up two chairs behind it so we could sit.

     Adam sits and I follow suit, clicking on the television. Filing through channels, we finally decide on Friends.

     Not even ten minutes into the episode, I hear a knock on Adam's open door. It was a doctor in a white coat. He had short dark hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He smiled solemnly at me, turning his attention to Adam.

     "Glad to see you're making some new friends." he smiles, nodding his head once before looking at me, "Can I see you in my office, Amaya?" he asks.

     "Maya, and yes." I nod, pushing my chair back to stand up.

     Once we get to his office, a small space with a slightly more lively beige than in my room, he sits me down in front of his wooden desk, him behind it.

     "I was reading through your file, Maya, and I would like to have a talk with you." he says as if he's walking on eggshells.

     "Talk away." I say, nodding to encourage him.

     "You said during your admission that there was a boy named, what was it, Dan?" he asks me, glancing up from his paper with furrowed eyebrows, "You said that he kept talking to you?"

"That was a bit..." I tilt my head, looking for the right phrase, "over-dramatic due to my breakdown I was going through when I said it." I explain, "But yes, there is a boy named Dan."

"Tell me about your situation now, Maya. I can tell you've got a pretty strong head on that set of shoulders." he nods to me.

"Okay, well. I was apparently in a coma for damn near six months. When I came to, my best friend, Andrea, told me that this boy, Dan, had caused my coma. She told me that Dan hated me and never wanted to see me. But before that, Dan and I were dating. We were perfectly fine. We loved each other. I don't know what happened." I frown, looking at the ground.

The doctor takes a breath out, "Maya, sometimes, when people are comatosed, they're in a sort of dream. Now, these dreams can be very intricate and detailed, but you have to understand that they aren't real. That wasn't real, Maya. I'm sorry." he says. "Your's and Dan's relationship, it was all a dream."

Taking a sharp breath in, I feel a tear fall from my left eye, roll down my cheek, and hit the corner of my lips, spreading inwards, "Not real?" I say, my voice shaky.

"No, I'm sorry." he says regretfully.

I nod, having nothing else to say, I stand up and leave. I go straight back to my room where I shut my door, strip off my clothes, and hide myself under the thin, paper-like duvet.