Oscar Glyde Won't Heal Your Pride

35: Hidden Weapons

Chapter 35: Hidden Weapons

[Corner store parking lot, A Few Blocks From Oscar's House, 1:07 PM]

(Oscar enters Mr Goering's car; Goering is sipping from the straw of a take-out soda cup - he's dressed in casual clothes)

MR GOERING: "What's that?"

OSCAR: "Sourpatch Kids. Want one?"

(Mr Goering shakes his head; he puts the cup down and starts the car engine)

...

[A Road Somewhere, Somewhere Around Town, 1:15 PM]

MR GOERING: (driving) "Why didn't Dr Cho make the cut for you?"

OSCAR: "Well, so far we've had two sessions and I'm still just as fucked-up as before."

MR GOERING: "What do you mean by fucked-up?"

OSCAR: "I'm just not... normal, yet."

MR GOERING: (one-handedly sipping from his soda cup) "Wasn't normalcy supposed to be torture?"

OSCAR: "Look, it's not like I'm expecting ground-breaking results. I don't expect to get over what I saw when Abdul did what he did, or the guilt of leaving Emma alone. I can't stop thinking about these things. And I can't stop thinking about how Dr Cho is being payed to listen to my crap."

MR GOERING: "You're not giving yourself a chance, Oscar. You're not giving Dr Cho a chance, either."

OSCAR: "Maybe I'm tired of giving people chances."

MR GOERING: "No you're not."

OSCAR: "I still don't understand why you're not allowed to hold counselling sessions for this."

MR GOERING: "It's complicated."

OSCAR: "Why is it complicated? Why does everything have to be complicated? You're the school counselor. It should be you."

MR GOERING: "I already explained that Mr Wilks believes it would be better to get a fresh face in for the students to see. And there's things that man knows about me that you don't, that forced his hand."

OSCAR: "Things like what? Like how you want to leave?"

(...)

MR GOERING: "Yes, Oscar."

(...)

MR GOERING: "How's your spring break going, besides being bombarded by an onslaught of gruesome flashbacks?"

OSCAR: "Normal."

MR GOERING: (nodding) "Ah, I see. Because you're in a car with me or because of everything else?"

OSCAR: "Everything else."

MR GOERING: "I'm flattered that this 1996 Nissan Sentra is the highlight of your vacation."

OSCAR: "It really is." (...) "You know how Igor and Ronny left school because of the videos? Why haven't they been arrested yet?"

MR GOERING: (takes a sip) "I was actually gonna ask you about those videos. Were you planning to release them, before Abdul did?"