Normalization

Fein is feeling a bit better. He made a new friend that isn't himself. He still doesn't know too much about Get Wells and he feels bad for The, but at least he knows more.

He sees a Dot waiting for him to get in another wheelchair. This time, Fein is hesitant to sit on it. He remembers what The said.

"Is something wrong, sir?" The Dot says, reaching for a strange instrument on her side.

"No," Fein snaps his eyes forward. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" The Dot asks.

"Nothing important." Fein fidgets with his fingers. "I'll get on it now."

Fein follows orders as Nel bang's his head against a nearby wall. The Dot pushes him down a hallway different from the one that leads to his room. After going down the short hall, a room Fein could only identify as a waiting room with a few people in it. This changes as more people are brought in either by a wheelchair like Fein or just being walked to the room.

The Dot signals Fein to sit in a different seat and tells him to wait. The Dot walks away. Fein sees some other Dots near the entrances and exits of this waiting room. The room is pretty big and it is connected to multiple other rooms. Quickly, this waiting room area gets filled up.

"I know this might not be important," Ethan looks around the room. "But how many patients do you think are in this 'school'?"

"I see 49 in this room alone." Lumo tries answering.

"What do you think, Fein?" Ethan ignores Lumo. "Guess."

"I think a lot of people are sent here." Fein vaguely guesses.

"538," Ethan estimates. "It's just a guess though."

"Showoff." Mumbles Nel.

A Dot walks up toward Fein as the four of them stare at the Dot. "Now is quiet time." The Dot says. "Don't talk, please."

"Oh sorry." Fein apologises. "I hav-"

"Shhh..." The Dot whispers, putting his finger on Fein's lips. "Don't. Talk." The dot walks back to an entrance.

"What's up with him?" Lumo asks.

"I don't know." Nel tells Lumo. "Fein, Scream."

"Why does he even keep you around?" Ethan face palms. "Fein, don't scream."

"This isn't the Fein I know!" Nel exclaims."Fein had a personality, you know! He had friends, he had a dog but YOU decided that's 'not productive'".

"Are you blaming Proke's death on me?" Ethan stares down Nel.

"Proke's death, the failure of Project Time Man, the burning of Fein's house," Nel lists multiple events. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here! Thanks a lot!"

"No... problem?" Ethan says in confusion.

"Hey," Lumo tries to stop them. "I don't think this is good for Fein's mental st-."

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Nel attacks Ethan.

While this is happening, Difemanim can tell that Fein is losing it. Difemanim tries to calm him down.

"You seem stressed." Difemanim blocks the chaos from Fein.

Fein shakes his head.

"Stop lying," Difemanim looms over him. "I am trying to help you. Tell me the truth."

Fein nods his head.

"Okay, we are getting somewhere." Difemanim says in an attempt at a calming voice. "What can I do to calm you down?"

"I want my comfort friend." Fein whispers as he fidgets with his fingers. "Someone to either help me calm down or them to calm down." Fein looked around if anyone was listening.

"Aren't they part of you?" Difemanim asked.

"Maybe Fred." Fein whimpers quietly. "Probably Simon, but I hope Fred."

"Uhhhh..." Difemanim thinks. "I think I can do something, hold on."

As Difemanim continues to think, Fein gets more and more stressed until another one of Fein's "Friends" appears. This one isn't as friendly and is called by Fein a Toxic.

His name is Joseph. Joseph wore a suit with a boonie and also had a mustache. Joseph isn't the only Toxic, but that isn't important right now. Joseph is responsible for a plotting and sometimes aggressive attitude used in debates.

"What is going on?" Joseph stretches.

"Make them stop." Twitchs Fein.

"Men." Joseph unenthusiastically tries to get the fighting to stop.

"I don't think it'll wor-." Lumo turns to Joseph. "JOE! I- um- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! You've gotta go!"

Joseph clenches his fist and pulls out a handgun. With it he pistolwhips Fein and fires the weapon in the air. All the "Friends" jump as well as difemanim. Nobody else does because the gun is as real as the friends.

"სიჩუმე!!" Joseph shouts in Georgian. "I leave for one goddamn second and you worthless shit brains are doing nothing of use. IN A LINE!"

The friends line up and stand in a uniform fashion. Joseph paces around them.

"LUMO!" Joseph begins his lecture. "How did you allow this to happen?"

"Is Fein going to be okay?" Lumo asks.

"სიჩუმე!" Joseph repeats. "ETHAN! Answer the idiot's question."

"Fein is fine, but with his imagination, he is likely to have a bleeding nose at the very least." Ethan answers.

"Example!" Joseph says as he knocks Ethan unconscious with the same tactic he used on Fein. The other friends jump, then get back in line. "NEL!"

"Ye- yeah?" Nel shakes.

"Why am I not surprised by this?" Joseph lectures. "From what I know, you have done NOTHING FOR THIS GROUP! I wouldn't be surprised if you were the little сука that killed Proke and burned down our house!"

"I didn-" Nel tries to say before he gets shot by Joseph. Difemanim turns upset and confronts Joseph.

"Боже мой!" Joseph examines Difemanim. "I haven't seen YOU before."

"Stop killing friends randomly." Difemanim demands. "It is damaging to our goal."

"You are ნამდვილად not a friend." Joseph laughs. "If I could permanently kill the others, we wouldn't be in this situation. They'll be back, I'd give Nel the beginning of next day."

Difemanim walks away from Joseph. Joseph continues.

"All of you... I mean, LUMO! You, the unconscious Ethan, the temporary dead Nelson, and the Phony are all responsible for Fein being locked up with these retards! Fein wasn't a psychopathic idiot with me! Just a psychopath."

"Fein isn't a psychopath." Lumo explains. "And what about The? He's pretty smart."

Joseph points the gun at Lumo, but then puts it back down. "Fein is the smartest person I know because of me. He is also the stupidest because of you guys and Hans. GOD I HATE HIM! Once I get my hands on him I'll put him through so much pain!"

"Yeah." Lumo looks down.

Joseph walks up to Fein.

"OBUDŹ SIĘ!" He shouts at Fein. With this Fein got up.

When Fein looked around, the friends weren't there. Only the patients, the Dots, Difemanim, and himself.

A Dot walks up to Fein and wipes the top of his forehead. The Dot show's Fein that his forehead is bleeding. Because of this injury, Fein gets to cut the metaphorical line that the other patients are waiting in. The Dot brings Fein into a nearby room with two other Dots and someone who isn't wearing the same uniform the other Dots are wearing.

"Hello Herschel." The Unique Dot greeted Fein.

"Just call me Fein." Fein requests. "People usually address me as Fein."

"I'll just call you Herschel, Herschel." The Dot told him.

"Can you just call me Fein?" Fein tries again.

"I have some questions, Herschel." The Dot ignores the request.

"If you didn't kill Nel," Lumo turns to Joseph. "Fein could stand up and get some respect. You want him to be respected and now he won't be."

"Nel will be back." Joseph stands up straight with his hands behind him. "Cooperation is key for survival."

"If Fein's status is lowered by some randos," Ethan walks in the room with a bloody nose. "He will be treated worse and worse."

Joseph rolls his eyes as The Dot continues.

"Do you know my name?" The Dot asks.

"Headass Mcgee." Slides out of Feins mouth. He proceeds to cover his mouth in shock.

The Dot stares down Fein as another one takes notes. This continues for an uncomfortably long time.

"It's... Dr. Webster." The Dot answers. "I'd advise you to behave."

"I'm sorry- that just slipped out of me." Fein apologises.

"You better." Dr. Webster glares at him. "I have a list of questions that I need you to answer."

"Sounds fun." Fein relaxes in his chair.

"Yes," Webster says unenthusiastically. "First question, Where are you from?"

"We need to know what exactly they are talking about." Ethan wipes his nose. "Where were you born or where do you live? If it's where you were born, it's Richmond, if it's where you live, it's Los Angeles."

"Where was I born or lived?" Fein asks back.

"Born, dipshit." Webster says, annoyed at Fein's behavior.

"Richmond, Virginia." Fein answers.

"Nice job, Herschel." Webster sarcastically says, calming down a tiny bit. "Next question, who are your closest family members?"

"My three children, Herschel, Alaska, and Marcus." Fein answers. "I also have a wife. Her name is... Her name is... Uhhhh..."

"I heard y'all were talking about this early." Lumo thinks. "How did you forget Cl-"

"COLUMBUS!" Joseph responds.

"Caroline?" Ethan guesses. "No wait, Columbine!"

"Columbine!" Fein incorrectly states. "That's her name."

"It's Clarie." Lumo says in a disappointed tone.

"I MEAN CLAIRE!" Fein corrects himself.

"Okay," Webster glaries at Fein judgingly. "Any parents or siblings?"

"I have a mom, a dad, and six siblings." Fein breezes through the question.

"No shit you have parents." Ethan says.

"He could've been a test tube baby." Lumo reasons with Ethan. "They have to consider that."

"Great!" Webster says in a more cheerful tone. "We are getting somewhere. Have you ever been diagnosed with anything that may impact your mental health."

"We thought I had MPD, but that's clearly not true and I don't have a proper diagnosis." Fein gets more confident in his answers.

"Do you know anything about this location?" Webster asks. "Anything at all."

"Say no." Ethan stares down Fein. "The more we know and the less they do, the better we will be."

"Say no." Lumo says sternly. "If they know you know, who knows what they could do."

"SAY YES!" Joseph pushes away the other two. "I know that they should be listening to us, but COMPLIANCE IS KEY! Don't be a degenerate."

Lumo and Ethan rapidly shake their heads while Joseph slowly nods with a smile on his face. Fein looks at Difemanim and he just shrugs.

"No, not at all." Fein made up his mind. "In fact, I only know why I'm here and I'm kinda scared."

"You shouldn't be." Webster sighs in relief as the Dot with the notes writes another thing down. "You shouldn't be, we are just trying to normalize you so you don't hurt yourself and your loved ones. We are trying to help you and you must remember this."

"Normalization sounds... weird." Fein responds as Lumo face palms himself.

"It's not as bad as it might sound." Webster comforted Fein. "Now, last question. Why did you burn down your house? Did the voices tell you to do it? What did Evan tell you? Did you see spirits? Tell me."

"Evan!" Joseph giggles at Ethan. "They think your name is EVAN! Stupid spider doctor!"

"The Doc's talkin about us!" Lumo gets excited. "I wonder what they think about me!"

"Stop gushing." Ethan orders Lumo. "Tell her you don't know. Even if we do know which friend did this, I think it could've been Hans, we can't tell this suspicious 'doctor'."

"I-I don't know." Fein honestly tells Webster. "I don't even remember doing such a thing."

"That's all we need!" The Dot taking notes announces. "You can ask Dr. Webster one question."

"Can I see my family?" Fein asks instantly.

"Ummm..." Webster thinks and talks to the other Dots. "We can see if we can make an appointment for tomorrow."

"Okay." Fein nods.

"You are ready to leave now." Webster points toward a nearby wheelchair. "Thanks for the information, Mr. Herschel."

"No problem, Doc." Fein says, tempted to correct the doctor. Fein gets in the wheelchair and as he gets pushed out, Webster stares at him.