Jason was released from the hospital not long after he was put on a medication called Dithium. Unlike with the Drozac, Jason noticed a profound difference with the Dithium very quickly. His first night on Dithium, he was wired full of energy and couldn't sleep until the next evening. This was followed by sleeping less in general and feeling more energized throughout the day. Although there was an initial problem with falling off balance, the side effect tapered off and he was considered ready for release back into the culture.
The pain in Jessica's face tore at his chest, when he had to say goodbye to her. “You'll be out of here soon too,” Jason assured her.
“I hope so. I don't want to forget what the outside world is like.”
“That won't happen.”
“I'm going to live with my grandmother in Hendersonville.”
“That's not far from where I live.”
“I know.”
“I can take the bus on the weekends to visit you.”
Jessica hugged him and said, “I'll miss you.”
“I'm looking forward to when you get out of here.”
“Me too.”
The two separated and stared at each other.
“I love you,” proclaimed Jason.
“I love you too,” said Jessica
“We've gotta go,” said Jason's mother.
“I'll call you tomorrow night around seven,” said Jason.
“Okay.”
Jason followed his mother out of the hospital with mixed feelings. He loved being free again, but he would miss seeing Jessica every day.
Each evening Jason called Jessica to talk and on the following Monday, he returned to school. Walking onto the campus, he realized what Jessica meant about forgetting what the outside world was like. The environment seemed so much different and the other kids behaved differently toward him. Some gave him questioning looks and the word, crazy, was mixed into conversations nearby.
When he saw Doug with some of Doug's other friends, in the school cafeteria, he decided to sit down with them.
“Seat's taken,” said one of the boys.
Jason looked at Doug. “How are you doing?”
“Fine,” said Doug, apathetically.
“He doesn't have a lighter,” said another.
Jason ignored the slight and found an empty table on the other side of the lunch room, where he ate alone.
When classes were over for the day, Toby approached him at his locker, and Toby asked, “Why didn't you call me when you got out?”
It was a relief to see Toby behaving as he had before. “My parents are being pretty tyrannical right now.”
“How were things in that hospital?”
“It was boring, but I found a girlfriend there.”
“Are you guys still going out?”
“Yeah. I call her every night.”
“At least you got something out of it.”
“I shouldn't have been put there in the first place. They could have just sent me to a psychiatrist for the medications.”
“What do they have you on?”
“Dithium.”
“What's that like?”
“It keeps me awake through the day.”
“You wanna come over after school?”
“I'd like to, but my parents are being very strict right now.”
“No problem. Is everything else going good?”
“Now that you mention it, people are acting different.”
“Don't mind them. Some people are just assholes.”
“Doug blew me off at lunch today.”
“He does the same thing to me when I try talking to him. Things change.”
“I've gotta go before I miss the bus home.”
“Don't be a stranger.”
“I'm sure my parents will relax after a while.”
The conversation left Jason with some hope of remixing with the kids at school. He would just be more of a misfit now. Although Doug had been a friend since kindergarten, it would be easy to get over. Jason would be spending his weekends with Jessica anyways, when she got out of the psychiatric hospital.
That night Jason had his first nightmare. He was on a football field and saw a cheerleader standing alone in the middle of it. Rather than just looking, something beyond his control forced him to run toward her and tackle her to the ground, where he began raping her. The mixture of dread and sexual arousal was too warping to remain asleep.
Jason awakened with a startled flash and realized he'd had a wet dream. The warping sensation from the dream sunk into a draining desperation tinged with feelings of helplessness. How many more nightmares of that type would he get? Something had to be done about it. He decided he would begin attempting astral projection every night at bedtime. Then he drifted off to sleep.
The next day, a couple of plain girls joined Jason at lunch and he seemed to fit in better. One of the girls obviously had a crush on him, but he wasn't interested in anything more than some conversation.
After school had let out, Jason was walking home from the bus stop, when he noticed a taller boy, with a strange air about him and a goatee, walking toward him. The strange looking boy was wearing a black t-shirt with an unknown occult sigil and boots. The cloth bandage around his right hand looked like it was clean and gathered in several layers. Jason assumed it was probably a weird fashion statement.
“Kike,” muttered the strange looking boy as he passed by Jason.
Jason was oblivious to the epithet, wondering whether he'd even heard it being spoken. Why would that guy call him a kike? He wasn't Jewish.