Chapter 27

1. Chapter 27 By Ashley Chang & Michelle Kaye

2. I was glad it was a one-way mirror. I didn’t want to talk to the bastard too much- he wasn’t the most affable person. “Surprisingly, he wasn’t that hard of a nut to crack, was he, Dr. Luce?” the nurse giggled, blinked her eyelashes profusely and handed him a file. You could tell she was trying to hit on my father, the aging whore. She knew he was married, too. “Thank you, Ms. Jolsen.” he mumbled as he took the folder. I can bet you anything none of these PhDs had a clue about Holden- they probably thought that just a few meds would fix him up, as if he would change his attitude and start applying himself, but at the moment he looked sharp as anyone in an insane asylum could be.

3. “I’m going to talk with Holden. Here son, take these over to the front desk. You know where that is?” “Of course I do.” “Watch your tone with me, boy. Hasn’t your mother taught you better?” I was now alone with the nurse who had grown solemn at my father’s sudden change of mood. It wasn’t my mother’s fault, she had good intentions.

4. My parents had moved out west near Hollywood where my father could get away from the bitter cold of New York. My mother had convinced me to come visit. So here I was, in their house with nowhere to go (since they wouldn’t let me out, thinking I would get “lost”) and my mother chanting “idleness is the devil’s workshop”. I swear, they still think I’m six. After a week, it seemed like they both started treating me like a disregarded pet, nagging each other to “take care of me.” Again, all I can say is that they think I am six. If they had let me out of the house more I could have been more out of the way, but I suspect that my father thought I would find myself some prostitute. That actually sounded pretty good to me.

5. Yesterday, my mother had persuaded my father to “take me to see his work” today. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful for Carl to see you work? You two need to bond anyways, have some father-son time.” I wasn’t a fool. She just wanted us both out of the house while she entertained and tried to impress her friends. My father only complied because he knew she would lock him out of the bedroom that night and I was the one sleeping on the couch as of then.

6. I gave the nurse the folder and watched my father through the mirror. “Holden,” he was saying, “ you are going to apply yourself next year aren’t you boy?” His tone was warm and friendly, but his eyes gave him away. At least he was trying to be concerned, though. When I contracted pneumonia at Whooton, he didn’t even call to see how I was doing. That’s probably what Holden wanted though, attention- even if it meant failing his classes and getting himself into an insane asylum. After he left Whooton, I had heard about his brother, sure it was a shame, but he overreacted. I’m guessing he was the only one who paid attention and could take Holden’s stupidity. When he died, I guess Holden’s mind snapped.

7. “So Holden, do you miss your family?” My dad was starting to question him again. “Well, I don’t really miss anyone from god damn New York. I mean, I guess now that I think of it, yeah, I start to miss people, you know? I mean, if you never really gave a person a thought, how would you start to miss them? You wouldn’t even goddamn really remember them. I miss Phoebe, and her made-up middle names. Every time I saw her, she had a new name-it goddamn killed me.” “Phoebe-your younger sister?”

8. So Holden had a sister. I guess she’s young enough that she could deal with him. They probably think alike with her still a kid and all and him being slightly mental. With only a dead brother and a little sister to comfort him, I guess that’s all it took for him to break like an egg. But the meds won’t give him his brother back. I bet when he goes back to New York to his pathetic life, he’ll remember what happened, but who knows how long that will take. I guess like he said, if you never gave a person a thought, you wouldn’t start to miss them. Over here, he has no reason to think of his brother and can rebuild his esteem for now.

9. Fin