Supermarket - Bobby Hall Page 0,56
knowing smile. “You’ve gotten close before, close to breaking through and gaining a sense of reality, but you would shut down after reawakening, entering the loop again before we could make any sustained progress.”
I was silent for a moment. “What do I do now?” I asked.
“I believe we can beat this, but you mustn’t let Frank drag you back. Frank is still a voice in your head. He still affects your actions and your take on reality. I really think you can make it out of your psychosis, but it’s going to be a fight. I can help you . . . I’m here to give counsel. However, I can’t tell you how to defeat Frank.”
“Defeat? What exactly do I have to do?” I had been thinking more along the lines of intense group therapy, but the way she was describing it, it seemed I would be literally battling this fucking guy.
“Everyone has demons, and no one can be told how to deal with their personal ones, Flynn.”
“Man, this is heavy, Doc.”
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” she said, “so we can’t just destroy the world you built in one either.”
As I sat contemplating everything we had just discussed, I still had so many questions.
“That’s it for today,” she said, as though reading my mind. “We will resume tomorrow.”
“Wait, what about—”
“There is only so much the mind can handle,” she said, rising from her desk and walking over to the office door. She opened it.
“I understand,” I said. Then I got up and started walking out. “Oh, wait! Doc, just one more thing.”
“Yes, Flynn?” she said.
“What about . . . Mia? Whatever happened to Mia?”
“You can ask her on Tuesday,” she said, smiling. “That’s when she visits you.”
With that, she shut the door.
Walking down the bright hallway, I spotted a calendar and saw that Tuesday was only three days away. I couldn’t believe Mia was still visiting me here! After two years. After everything that had happened, and everything I inadvertently did to her. All I could think about was Mia. I was getting so excited. But my excitement was turning into anxiety, into a sense of dread. My hands began to sweat. I noticed the floor changing shades of gray right under my gaze. The hallway lights began to flicker, like the fluorescent lights in the supermarket.
As I looked up, the hallway grew darker, my heart beat faster, and my head started to spin. I was shaking. I began to run, trying to make it to my room as soon as possible, but with every step, the hallway began to transform into . . . an aisle at the supermarket.
“You can’t escape it, Flynn!” Frank yelled from behind me. He crept toward me, like Jason Voorhees approaching his victim. The muscles in my legs began to burn. With every leap, an item from the supermarket entered my periphery. Shelves of bread and cereal popped toward me, crashing through the hospital wall. The farther I ran from Frank, the closer I got to the supermarket.
“Never again, Flynn! Don’t you understand, man?! WE’RE THE SAME PERSON. GET USED TO IT!”
“I’m nothing like you!” I screamed.
“We’ve already been through this, man! This isn’t the first time, but it will be the last!”
“Just leave me alone!”
“You don’t get it! If you don’t come back, I won’t exist anymore!”
“Good!” I yelled.
“I’ll never stop, Flynn. Not ever. I’m taking over this time, Flynn. I’m taking over this time for good,” Frank said. He began to laugh menacingly.
His laughter struck fear into me. My head started to feel dizzy and my legs started to wobble. Trying to escape, I tripped over my shoelace, smashing my head on the tile floor. But just as my skull connected, it pushed through and met . . .
. . . a sweat-drenched pillowcase. I had awoken from the nightmare. Tears ran down my face. Why? Why was this happening to me? I couldn’t escape my own mind. I wanted out. I was exhausted. I fell asleep, not sure what to expect upon opening my eyes.
CHAPTER 13
PAWN
I woke in the morning to the sound of sobbing. I was scared to open my eyes, not sure of what was awaiting me.
“My baby!”
It was my mother. She was beaming with one of those huge crying smiles. But I could tell from her dubious tone that she wasn’t sure just how long I’d stick around this time. My mother was kinda like the mom from that cartoon Bob’s Burgers. I don’t know if you’ve