Wednesday July 5th, 2056 - II

Andrew and Mike head back inside, and make their way to the cafeteria.

"Hey, they're back." Wilhelm says.

They order their food and sit down next to the others.

"What were you chatting about anyway?" Wilhelm asks.

"About Helen, and happened to me before." Mike responds. "As a warning."

"No reason to be worried, Andrew." Wilhelm tells him. "She won't leave you like she did with Mike. I don't think she could leave a teenager behind like that."

"Wilhelm I'm not saying it'll happen to him like that. I just warned him for the possibility."

"You wouldn't have had to warn him if you're not sure." Wilhelm says. He sounds agitated.

The atmosphere fills with tenacity. Everyone is feeling it, and their mouths feel like they've been sown shut.

"You know he's gonna look at her differently now, don't you?" Wilhelm says.

"I only told him because I didn't want someone else to have a breakdown like mine, just because she would straight up leave them." Mike raises his voice.

Chris slowly takes a bit from his food, while keeping an eye on Mike and Wilhelm.

"No. It was your intention just to make her look despicable. A faggot like you doesn't even respect women, so your actions fit perfectly." Wilhelm says aggressively.

"I told you not to call me that." His tone makes it obvious Mike is trying his best to keep his calm. "And, I already told you those weren't my inte-."

"I'll call you that whenever I want, because it's the truth." Wilhelm interrupts. "You're a faggot who is a pest to society. You don't deserve to be ali-"

"Shut up!" Mike shouts. "Can you shut the fuck up for once!"

Andrew and Chris are still silenced. Andrew notices Joe has already left, without anyone realising.

[Maybe I should leave too. But, I kind of feel responsible for this. Not really responsible. But, what's the word again…]

"Why do I have to shut the fuck up?" Wilhelm says. "Maybe you're the one tha-"

"Because you're being so fucking annoying! I'm sick of that righteous voice which you throw at me all the time! Why does being a faggot make me different from anyone else? I want to get a long awaited answer from you on that one!"

Wilhelm slams his fist on the table. The shock makes Andrew jolt, and he moves slightly to the side, away from Wilhelm and Mike.

[Associated, that was the word. There's no one else besides us in the cafeteria. I might need to get someone if this goes any further.]

"I don't need a reason!" Wilhelm yells. "It's a fact, no one wants the likes of you in society! Everyone I know agrees, so give up that fake 'sexuality' of yours. Humans we supposed to love the other, not the same."

"I don't agree with that." Andrew says.

[Why did I say that. Why did I say that. Why did I say that. I don't have anything to follow it up with. Why did I have to open my mouth?]

"So you're one of them too." Wilhelm turns to Andrew. "Another faggot just like Mike, who just wants attention and nothing else. It lines up with your lack of interest in Helen."

The presence of his large and wide body makes Andrew break out in sweat.

[I shouldn't have done that. I don't know what to respond. There's nothing to respond, he won't listen to whatever I tell him anyway.]

"Wilhelm don't bring him into this!" Mike says.

"Shut up!" Wilhelm says. He makes a fist with his hand. "I'm sick of playing games with you. Chris and Joe are fine, and Andrew was before you corrupted him."

"I didn't do anything to him, I just told him the facts." Mike says. His facial expression becomes more serious. "Actual facts, unlike the things you spit out."

Wilhelm raises his fist, and in a second, he moves it towards Mike.

[I failed. I should've seen this coming. He's a nice guy, but I always had a feeling he had a strong, unchanging opinion. I should've stopped him long before this would happen.]

Andrew evades his eyes, and Mike's pupils quickly shrink of the fear.

"Hey!"

Wilhelm stops mid-punch and looks to the exit. Helen is standing there, sweating profusely. Joe is standing behind her, together with another male nurse. Wilhelm lowers his fist and he falls back onto the couch. Helen and Joe sprint towards them.

"No more discussions." Helen says. "The fact that Joe was the only one who decided to search me meant I was almost too late."

Helen walks towards Mike and Andrew.

"You two are coming with me. Chris too, I want someone impartial as well. Wilhelm, you're going back to your room. He will guide you there." She points to the other nurse, and he attends to Wilhelm.

"Joe, you should go with us too." Helen says.

Joe shakes his head and makes movements with his hands. Chris reads the signs carefully.

"He says he doesn't want anything to do with this anymore." Chris says.

"I get that. You can do whatever you want." Helen's voice is agitated. "Guys, let's go. Sorry it had to go this way Wilhelm, we'll talk it over later."

"Sure thing." Wilhelm says, while staring blankly in front of him.

Wilhelm and the nurse leave the room, and head left to the patient rooms. Helen, Andrew, Mike and Chris head to Helen's office, and Joe goes to his own room.

Helen and Andrew sit down on one side of her office table, and Mike and Chris take the other side. It is a large wide table, with a few papers and books stacked up on one side. There is also a desk in the room with a laptop on it, with a screen bigger than Andrew has ever seen before. The room is dark, as the window is opposite of the sun's current position. The wall is filled with medical posters, and the bookcase with books. A task board hangs on the wall, filled with different coloured post-its stuck to it in various columns. Helen swipes away a few papers from the table.

"Sorry for this mess." Helen says. "But you'll have to deal with it for now."

No one gives a response.

"I have to say, I don't have a clear idea of what happened, or what caused it to be more specific. Joe tried his best to explain it to me, but I couldn't comprehend everything. Not his fault, but that means that Chris will have to explain it to me." Helen tells them.

"I don't know what caused it either." Chris says. "From the yelling I was able to deduct that it was about Mike's sexuality, I think."

"I thought we sorted that out a long time ago." Helen responds.

"It wasn't about that." Mike says.

"Did I say you could spe-"

"It was about you." Mike interrupts Helen. "He got mad because he didn't understand someone not having an eye on you."

Helen doesn't finish her sentence. "Continue." She says.

"I told Andrew about when I was expelled." Mike starts. "When we returned for lunch, Wilhelm ask what we were doing, so I explained. He insisted that I was 'corrupting' Andrew by telling him about my expulsion. And with 'corrupting' he probably thinks forcing Andrew to be gay, or something. I don't really understand. Then he started calling me names for being gay and such and we got in that fight. That's about it."

[Looks like that is about it, I think.]

"So, what do you mean with, 'not having an eye on me'? Does everything think I, look good? Or something?"

"Well, let's just say that Wilhelm certainly does. We talked about it this morning. Andrew and I both see you as a good friend, but nothing more, and he might think that has to do with being gay. His vision on it is just too old fashioned." Mike explains.

"That's… something I hadn't expected." Helen says. "But, besides that, what does it have to do with your expulsion?"

"Well, after I was expelled, you suddenly sort of left me, without saying anything. I get it, you have to take care of the next patient, but it shocked me back then. So, I told Andrew about it, to make it less of a shock for him." Mike explains. From the tone of his voice it is noticeable he is trying to keep his emotions from leaking out.

"Oh, I see." Helen responds. "Well, I always thought you were able to handle something like that. You seemed like you were doing fine afterwards as well."

"I got over it, I believe." Mike says.

"In a way, it's good that you told Andrew about it. I never really thought about the impact it could have on someone." Helen says. "Mike, if you need me just ask. Even if it's just to have a chat about nothing, if I have the time, it's fine."

"Thank you." Mike says and smiles.

"The same goes for you, Andrew. And Chris too, even though he wasn't one of my patients."

Andrew nods, and Chris evades his eyes.

"Well thank you, Helen." Chris says.

"My pleasure." Helen returns. "Then let's call it a day, and leave what happened today behind us for now. I'll talk it over with Wilhelm too, hopefully you can apologize to each other at dinner, or tomorrow morning."

"I'm up for it." Mike says. "Andrew and Chris, if you're at the cafeteria around six, we can have dinner together."

"Sure thing." Chris says. "I'll relay it to Joe as well. Maybe Wilhelm too, if he's ready."

Andrew returns to his room, and sits down behind his desk. He opens up a random book from the bookcase, and starts to read it. A lot of time passes, and he is already halfway through.

[I wish I read this much back when I was still in school. It would've helped me a lot, I think.]

He places a bookmark on the page of a new chapter, and closes the book. He leans back in his chair and looks at the clock.

[Five-ten. In about fifty minutes I need to be at the cafeteria.]

He turns his eyes to the bookcase on the other side of him.

[Everything that happened today, it's tough to comprehend it all. I didn't expect there to be something so tense between them. Sensitive topics. For the time I've been here, this is the first time an outrage has happened. Not an outrage, more like, I don't know, a minor conflict maybe. I should be more wary. Even more wary. I am holding most of my thoughts back already, but I should listen more and talk less.]

Andrew closes his eyes.

"I should think less too, it's tiring." He says to himself.

He opens his eyes again, grabs his phone from the desk and turns it on. He fills in his password and looks at the apps.

[It's mostly games, and the default stuff. Safari, Chrome, YouTube, the App Store. The App Store and Safari most likely won't even work. Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, even Minecraft and Terraria. Could they still be in business?]

He opens up Chrome and looks up 'Minecraft'. Results fill his screen.

[Chrome still works, at least. And it doesn't look like Minecraft is still alive, these results are decades old.]

He looks up the other games on his phone too, but to no avail. He also tries opening apps.

[Only Chrome and YouTube seem to work, although I still haven't tried all of them.]

He opens Clifftell College's timetable app, Xermelo. After launching, a message pops up.

"You need to update your selected school." Andrew reads aloud.

[Update it? Clifftell College doesn't exist anymore?]

He opens the list of schools and looks up 'Clifftell'. The app gives one result.

"Clifftell High."

[So they just changed the name, I suppose. That would be really odd, but it makes more sense. The college part was already gone before I went there.]

He selects the school and tries to log in with his name and password, but it says the account doesn't exist.

[Makes sense. Looks like it's almost six already, I should go to the cafeteria. Time still flies when you're on a device, looks like that hasn't changed.]

Andrew turns off the phone and leaves it on the desk. He gets up and heads for the cafeteria.

He arrives at the cafeteria, and Helen and Mike are already sitting at a table. They don't have their food yet, so he waits with his order and decides to join them first.

"Hey, good afternoon." Mike says to Andrew. "Were you able to find a little peace?"

"Good afternoon to you too, and yeah, I read a book." Andrew replies.

"You really like reading, don't you?" Helen says. "I find it hard, making up a story from just letters in my head. I prefer comics and movies, they're way clearer than books for me."

"Everyone has their preferences." Mike says. "I don't mind either, it just has to be a compelling story."

"I agree." Andrew replies. "A story has to be interesting and reasonable."

"Well, enough about books and stories, I wanted to tell you two something." Helen says.

They both look up and at Helen.

"What do you want to tell us?" Mike replies.

"I… overheard you two talking… in the Garden." Helen says uncomfortably.

Mike looks at Andrew, and Andrew looks back.

"Well, that's not a big deal, is it?" Mike says. "We explained what we said there in your office today as well, so I don't see it as a problem."

"No, it's not about what was said. I feel bad for eavesdropping on you, so… my apologies." Helen says, as she looks them in the eyes directly.

"It's fine, Helen. There's no need to apologise." Mike responds.

"I also want to… deeply apologise… for leaving you so suddenly, Mike." She continues.

Mike opens his mouth but doesn't respond.

[I feel bad for him. For both of them. Helen is realising she made a big mistake, and Mike has to take in her apology, which he didn't expect to ever come. The pressure on both of them, the stress. They have it worse than I do.]

"It's… fine. I already got over it, but thank you for your apology." Mike replies.

Chris and Joe enter the cafeteria, with Wilhelm following right behind them. The three of them sit down at the table. Wilhelm sticks out his hand towards Mike.

"I'm sorry for calling you that." Wilhelm says.

Mike doesn't shake his hand yet.

"Do you promise not to call me that again? Just 'gay' or 'homosexual' is fine, but don't use that other word." Mike tells him.

"You know me. I can't promise anything, as I don't like breaking promises. But, I'll try my best, for sure." Wilhelm says calmly. "Chris and Joe explained to me what you were talking about, and I understand it mostly."

"Mostly?" Mike asks as a response.

"Not entirely." Wilhelm responds. "But, as Chris said, I might just be old fashioned. Sorry."

Mike grabs and shakes Wilhelm's hand. Wilhelm looks up, as if he didn't expect it.

"Just try your best, that's enough for me." Mike says. "I accept your apology."

A slight smile covers Wilhelm's usually rough face.

"I can't really understand, how some people can be so forgiving." He says.

"Well, maybe it's our different generations?" Mike says.

Wilhelm laughs. "Could be, but I wouldn't understand. Let's get our food everyone, I'm starving." He says. They all get up and order their food.

The six of them have dinner together, and talk about all kinds of things. Both laughter and sorrow can be heard from their conversations. The sorrow is most often short lived, and followed by positive lines and laughter again. After dinner, they all leave the cafeteria and head to their rooms. Andrew showers, dresses up into his pyjamas and falls onto his bed.

[It's only eight, but I'm exhausted. This day was tiring, too much happened.]

He pulls his blanket over himself.

[But, it feels like Wilhelm changed. Prior to today, he seemed stubborn and righteous to me. Like my dad. Today, he changed. I wonder if my dad changed too, or anyone that I knew. They should've in forty years. I wonder why… I haven't heard anything from them yet.]

Andrew closes his eyes, and he quickly falls asleep. The lights turn off by themselves after a short time.