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Description
A loud banging Woke Al. She eased herself up from the couch. Her bones ached as she wobbled toward the door. She pulled the door open still rubbing her eyes.

"Mornin' Pepper." She mumbled.

Pepper's face was hard, she didn't even flinch at Al's toplessness. " It's noon, Al."

"Is it?" She asked waving Pepper in while she tottered into the kitchen and put a kettle on. "I had a rough night."

"That makes two of us." She shut the door and planted her hands on her hips. "Al, did you know about this?"

"About what?" She climbed up on her stool to fetch her mug with the woodland animals dancing across it, and some loose leaf tea.

"About Gerry."

"Which of his many faults did you finally stumble upon?"

"This is fucking serious! I woke up last night and found him on the kitchen floor covered in blood!"

Al whipped around.

"He was eating raw meat like an animal!"

Al rolled her eyes and turned back to her tea. "Oh, that. You scared me for a second there."

"Are you kidding me Al? Do you realize how dangerous that is? What sane person does that?"

"Gerry, apparently." She said calmly taking up the kettle and pouring the steaming contents into her cup.

"Are you aware that he believes himself to be possessed by a demon? A demon he says you put there?"

Al dropped an intricate tea infuser into the mug with a plop and stared at the wall a long moment.

"Why would he think that? Why would he think he's possessed?!"

"Because he is."

Pepper worked her jaw. "What?"

"I'm sure he gave you an over dramatized made-for-TV version of events, but he is in fact possessed."

"There are no such things as demons, Al. They aren't real." She shook her head. "They are just a fucking metaphor!"

"Funny, they seem pretty real to us." She muttered stirring her drink.

"Only because you believe in that nonsense! It's all in your head!"

Al looked up at the ceiling. "I don't believe in electricity or gravity!" She turned leaning against the counter. "Strange, the power is still on and I haven't floated into space yet. Maybe it takes a minute for my deluded perceptions to alter reality."

Pepper huffed. "Al, Gerry isn't possessed. He's sick. He needs professional help. I knew you two came from a strange religious community, I just didn't know you had been brainwashed to this extent. God, it's a good thing I got him some benefits-"

"You what?" Al snarled. "You put him back in the system!?"

"Of course I did! How his he supposed to make a living off the grid like that?! How can he be independent when the legally doesn't exist?!"

"The way we have for years! And don't even start with that independence bullshit, all Gerry has done is moved from leeching off my tits to yours!"

Pepper's face fell. "I thought you two were friends, I thought you actually cared about him-"

"I love and care about him enough that I didn't plaster a fucking bullseye to his back like you have! You don't even understand what you've done! Well, I'll tell you, you've killed him! Do you have any idea how hard I've worked to make the two of us disappear?!This isn't some fun adventure for me, I'm trying to keep that stupid fuck alive!"

Pepper shook her head sadly. "And to think I was trying to convince Gerry he was wrong for ditching you. I'm getting Gerry help. You should do the same for yourself." She turned back toward the door .

"Don't do this, if he loses what little grounding he has, if he stops trusting reality... He can't lose control. You don't understand how important that is-"

"Stay away from him Al. You're bad for him." And out the door she went.

Al slammed her fist into the counter and ran to the door throwing it open. "Do not medicate him! I swear to God Pepper, if he dies because of you!"

Pepper stopped and placed her hand on her side arm. "You can scare Gerry, Al, but you don't scare me."

Gerry wrung his hands as the psychiatrist took down notes. She looked up at last.
"You have a rather unique collection of symptoms, but I'm confident I can help you through this."

Gerry nodded slowly.

She smiled warmly. "There is no need to be so nervous, mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. Would you feel this way if you had the flu? This is really no different. "

Gerry licked his dry lips, it was hard to push away the embarrassment he felt revealing his whole messed up life to this woman.

"With a regular counseling sessions I think we can get your problems under control."

Gerry frowned, counseling? How the hell was that going to help him? "But, what about..." His voice dropped off, "the voices?"

She glanced back at her notes. "The auditory hallucinations, yes. These thing can be frightening, but if we can avoid unnecessary medication I'd like to attempt to do so."

"But..." He averted his eyes. "Sometimes I have really dark thoughts, and I know everyone does... But the voices... encourage them."

She thumped her pen on her tablet. "Are any of these thoughts violent? Toward yourself or others?"

"Yes." He muttered.

"Have you ever acted on them?"

"No! I've never hurt anybody-"

"What about yourself?"

He lowered his head. "Not in a while... a long time, I..." A scribbling sound stopped him.

The doctor tore off a prescription and handed it to him. "This medicine is new to the market, but has shown real promise in similar cases. Rarely it can make suicidal thoughts worse. If that happens you call me immediately, day or night. Please read the pamphlet that comes with it carefully, we want to make you better, not worse. Understand?"

He nodded.

She smiled then added, "See the receptionist on your way out, she'll get you set up for your next appointment."

Pepper hung her holster and jacket as she came in from work. "What did the doctor say?"

Gerry held up the bottle he'd been playing with. "She gave me these."

Pepper frowned. "Okay, but what did she say?"

"She just said it was real textbook, these should fix it."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Great, so when is your next appointment."

Gerry shifted the bottle back a forth in his hands watching the pills slide around. "When I run out I guess."

"Ugh, that's government healthcare for you. Maybe we should try someone else. She came so highly recommended too..."

"No reason not to try this. It could be that simple."

Pepper crossed her arms. "I really don't like the idea of playing with your health like that."

"I'm not."

She shook her head. "Fine, we'll try the pills." She ruffled her hair. "I'm going to go take a shower and hit the hay. I feel like I have two inches of city grime on me." She shuffled off to her bedroom.

Gerry looked back down at the bottle and reread the label. Take one daily with food , it said.

If one is good two is better.

Gerry blinked, his head swimming.

You want to get better faster. Don't you?

He began tilting the bottle again listening to the soothing tac-shuush-tac sound.

No, you like being crazy don't you? No one can blame you for what you do. You're insane.

"No." Gerry muttered.

You're a pathetic little lunatic and no one can blame you. That's what you want.

"No." He whispered.

Then take your fucking medicine.

Al flipped through the pages of her tome. Over the years she'd read everything she thought might be of use. It couldn't hurt to read everything else. She often read until her eyes ached. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping to clear her vision for another few pages. It was no use. She marked her page and closed the book. She snapped her fingers and it vanished into thin air.

She peeled her clothes off as she climbed into bed. She huddled under the covers and rolled over to look at the staff leaned against the headboard.

"Mom," she said softly, "my last resort is looking like my only option. This isn't what I wanted." She pulled her blankets tighter. "I want to keep my promise, but it's getting harder and harder. I know that a hero must lose something to complete the journey, but this price might be too high. What if I fail? What then?" She sniffled. "I wish you were here now, you'd know what to do. There's always an answer, right? We might not like it, but it's there. That's what you said." She sighed at the silence. "I love you Mom. We'll see each other again, probably sooner than you think."

Gerry rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. His eyes were still stuck shut and his head still clouded by sleep. He simply moved by touch. At last his shins hit the cold toilet. He rested his head on the wall while he relieved his bladder. He groaned as his body slowly began to wake up.

Finished, he pushed himself off the wall and stepped over to the sink. Something in the mirror caught his eye. A dark shape was near the shower, two dashes of red glinted at the top. He turned , nothing was there. He looked back at the mirror, nothing. His eyes were playing tricks. He pumped a dab of soap into his palm and turned on the water. He rubbed his hands together slowly. The pale suds began to darken. He frowned and scrubbed a little harder. Suddenly red cut through the grainy grays of the darkness. Blood. His hands were drenched in blood. His chest tightened and he thrust his hands under the water, stretching and scrapping at his hands, but the red refused to wash away. He panted, on the verge of full on panic. Why wouldn't it come off? Why!?

He raised his eyes again to the mirror. Just behind his shoulder that darkness loomed, ruby eyes burning into his. He screamed, whipping around. His back slammed into the sink and his feet tangled in the rug. He slide to the floor, flailing against an attacker that wasn't there.

The light flicked on. "Gerry?! What happened?!"

He looked over at Pepper, then back at the shower. "There was something there. I saw it move. I-" His lips trembled as her expression scrunched up with distress. "I thought I saw someone in here..."

She stepped over him and jerked back the shower curtain. Empty. "There's no one here, Gerry."

He rubbed his face and stared at his hand. Both hands were their normal color aside from the places he'd scratched.

"Gerry, are you alright?"

"It must have been a trick of the light... I was half asleep..."

She helped him up from the floor and gave his hair a gentle stroke. "Come on, Babe, let's get back to bed."

Description
A loud banging Woke Al. She eased herself up from the couch. Her bones ached as she wobbled toward the door. She pulled the door open still rubbing her eyes.

"Mornin' Pepper." She mumbled.

Pepper's face was hard, she didn't even flinch at Al's toplessness. " It's noon, Al."

"Is it?" She asked waving Pepper in while she tottered into the kitchen and put a kettle on. "I had a rough night."

"That makes two of us." She shut the door and planted her hands on her hips. "Al, did you know about this?"

"About what?" She climbed up on her stool to fetch her mug with the woodland animals dancing across it, and some loose leaf tea.

"About Gerry."

"Which of his many faults did you finally stumble upon?"

"This is fucking serious! I woke up last night and found him on the kitchen floor covered in blood!"

Al whipped around.

"He was eating raw meat like an animal!"

Al rolled her eyes and turned back to her tea. "Oh, that. You scared me for a second there."

"Are you kidding me Al? Do you realize how dangerous that is? What sane person does that?"

"Gerry, apparently." She said calmly taking up the kettle and pouring the steaming contents into her cup.

"Are you aware that he believes himself to be possessed by a demon? A demon he says you put there?"

Al dropped an intricate tea infuser into the mug with a plop and stared at the wall a long moment.

"Why would he think that? Why would he think he's possessed?!"

"Because he is."

Pepper worked her jaw. "What?"

"I'm sure he gave you an over dramatized made-for-TV version of events, but he is in fact possessed."

"There are no such things as demons, Al. They aren't real." She shook her head. "They are just a fucking metaphor!"

"Funny, they seem pretty real to us." She muttered stirring her drink.

"Only because you believe in that nonsense! It's all in your head!"

Al looked up at the ceiling. "I don't believe in electricity or gravity!" She turned leaning against the counter. "Strange, the power is still on and I haven't floated into space yet. Maybe it takes a minute for my deluded perceptions to alter reality."

Pepper huffed. "Al, Gerry isn't possessed. He's sick. He needs professional help. I knew you two came from a strange religious community, I just didn't know you had been brainwashed to this extent. God, it's a good thing I got him some benefits-"

"You what?" Al snarled. "You put him back in the system!?"

"Of course I did! How his he supposed to make a living off the grid like that?! How can he be independent when the legally doesn't exist?!"

"The way we have for years! And don't even start with that independence bullshit, all Gerry has done is moved from leeching off my tits to yours!"

Pepper's face fell. "I thought you two were friends, I thought you actually cared about him-"

"I love and care about him enough that I didn't plaster a fucking bullseye to his back like you have! You don't even understand what you've done! Well, I'll tell you, you've killed him! Do you have any idea how hard I've worked to make the two of us disappear?!This isn't some fun adventure for me, I'm trying to keep that stupid fuck alive!"

Pepper shook her head sadly. "And to think I was trying to convince Gerry he was wrong for ditching you. I'm getting Gerry help. You should do the same for yourself." She turned back toward the door .

"Don't do this, if he loses what little grounding he has, if he stops trusting reality... He can't lose control. You don't understand how important that is-"

"Stay away from him Al. You're bad for him." And out the door she went.

Al slammed her fist into the counter and ran to the door throwing it open. "Do not medicate him! I swear to God Pepper, if he dies because of you!"

Pepper stopped and placed her hand on her side arm. "You can scare Gerry, Al, but you don't scare me."

Gerry wrung his hands as the psychiatrist took down notes. She looked up at last.
"You have a rather unique collection of symptoms, but I'm confident I can help you through this."

Gerry nodded slowly.

She smiled warmly. "There is no need to be so nervous, mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. Would you feel this way if you had the flu? This is really no different. "

Gerry licked his dry lips, it was hard to push away the embarrassment he felt revealing his whole messed up life to this woman.

"With a regular counseling sessions I think we can get your problems under control."

Gerry frowned, counseling? How the hell was that going to help him? "But, what about..." His voice dropped off, "the voices?"

She glanced back at her notes. "The auditory hallucinations, yes. These thing can be frightening, but if we can avoid unnecessary medication I'd like to attempt to do so."

"But..." He averted his eyes. "Sometimes I have really dark thoughts, and I know everyone does... But the voices... encourage them."

She thumped her pen on her tablet. "Are any of these thoughts violent? Toward yourself or others?"

"Yes." He muttered.

"Have you ever acted on them?"

"No! I've never hurt anybody-"

"What about yourself?"

He lowered his head. "Not in a while... a long time, I..." A scribbling sound stopped him.

The doctor tore off a prescription and handed it to him. "This medicine is new to the market, but has shown real promise in similar cases. Rarely it can make suicidal thoughts worse. If that happens you call me immediately, day or night. Please read the pamphlet that comes with it carefully, we want to make you better, not worse. Understand?"

He nodded.

She smiled then added, "See the receptionist on your way out, she'll get you set up for your next appointment."

Pepper hung her holster and jacket as she came in from work. "What did the doctor say?"

Gerry held up the bottle he'd been playing with. "She gave me these."

Pepper frowned. "Okay, but what did she say?"

"She just said it was real textbook, these should fix it."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Great, so when is your next appointment."

Gerry shifted the bottle back a forth in his hands watching the pills slide around. "When I run out I guess."

"Ugh, that's government healthcare for you. Maybe we should try someone else. She came so highly recommended too..."

"No reason not to try this. It could be that simple."

Pepper crossed her arms. "I really don't like the idea of playing with your health like that."

"I'm not."

She shook her head. "Fine, we'll try the pills." She ruffled her hair. "I'm going to go take a shower and hit the hay. I feel like I have two inches of city grime on me." She shuffled off to her bedroom.

Gerry looked back down at the bottle and reread the label. Take one daily with food , it said.

If one is good two is better.

Gerry blinked, his head swimming.

You want to get better faster. Don't you?

He began tilting the bottle again listening to the soothing tac-shuush-tac sound.

No, you like being crazy don't you? No one can blame you for what you do. You're insane.

"No." Gerry muttered.

You're a pathetic little lunatic and no one can blame you. That's what you want.

"No." He whispered.

Then take your fucking medicine.

Al flipped through the pages of her tome. Over the years she'd read everything she thought might be of use. It couldn't hurt to read everything else. She often read until her eyes ached. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping to clear her vision for another few pages. It was no use. She marked her page and closed the book. She snapped her fingers and it vanished into thin air.

She peeled her clothes off as she climbed into bed. She huddled under the covers and rolled over to look at the staff leaned against the headboard.

"Mom," she said softly, "my last resort is looking like my only option. This isn't what I wanted." She pulled her blankets tighter. "I want to keep my promise, but it's getting harder and harder. I know that a hero must lose something to complete the journey, but this price might be too high. What if I fail? What then?" She sniffled. "I wish you were here now, you'd know what to do. There's always an answer, right? We might not like it, but it's there. That's what you said." She sighed at the silence. "I love you Mom. We'll see each other again, probably sooner than you think."

Gerry rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. His eyes were still stuck shut and his head still clouded by sleep. He simply moved by touch. At last his shins hit the cold toilet. He rested his head on the wall while he relieved his bladder. He groaned as his body slowly began to wake up.

Finished, he pushed himself off the wall and stepped over to the sink. Something in the mirror caught his eye. A dark shape was near the shower, two dashes of red glinted at the top. He turned , nothing was there. He looked back at the mirror, nothing. His eyes were playing tricks. He pumped a dab of soap into his palm and turned on the water. He rubbed his hands together slowly. The pale suds began to darken. He frowned and scrubbed a little harder. Suddenly red cut through the grainy grays of the darkness. Blood. His hands were drenched in blood. His chest tightened and he thrust his hands under the water, stretching and scrapping at his hands, but the red refused to wash away. He panted, on the verge of full on panic. Why wouldn't it come off? Why!?

He raised his eyes again to the mirror. Just behind his shoulder that darkness loomed, ruby eyes burning into his. He screamed, whipping around. His back slammed into the sink and his feet tangled in the rug. He slide to the floor, flailing against an attacker that wasn't there.

The light flicked on. "Gerry?! What happened?!"

He looked over at Pepper, then back at the shower. "There was something there. I saw it move. I-" His lips trembled as her expression scrunched up with distress. "I thought I saw someone in here..."

She stepped over him and jerked back the shower curtain. Empty. "There's no one here, Gerry."

He rubbed his face and stared at his hand. Both hands were their normal color aside from the places he'd scratched.

"Gerry, are you alright?"

"It must have been a trick of the light... I was half asleep..."

She helped him up from the floor and gave his hair a gentle stroke. "Come on, Babe, let's get back to bed."